e-book reader and eInk

Thread Starter

PG1995

Joined Apr 15, 2011
832
Hi

I don't own an e-book reader but plan to buy one soon. I have never seen someone using a stand-alone e-book reader; I mean most people simply use their computers to read e-books.

After searching the net I see most dedicated e-book readers use eInk technology for screen display. Please check this table. I'm more interested in color screen e-book readers. Surprisingly enough, Kindle Fire doesn't use eInk technology rather it used capacitive touch display. Another yet unreleased e-book reader PocketBook A 10" also doesn't use eInk technology. Previously, I heard that e-book reader use display which give them more real paper feel. I was wondering if these e-readers which doesn't use technologies such as eInk can deliver the experience. Please let me know. Thanks for the information.

Regards
PG
 

kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,794
The difference between e-ink and lcd is if it draws power or not. E-ink draws power when being changed, while lcd draws power constantly. I am not aware of any paper-feeliness, both are just pixel-based displays, both with their pros and cons.
 

steveb

Joined Jul 3, 2008
2,436
I am not aware of any paper-feeliness,
Perhaps not paper-feel, but the monochrome E-ink, has a paper-look. The biggest advantage I've found with the E-ink is the ease of reading in the sunlight. As far as I know, even the best color computer displays don't do well in direct sunlight, while the E-ink is best in bright light.

PG1995, ... Personally, I use both a laptop computer with LCD (Mac Air 11 inch) and a Kindle DX (largest size) with E-ink. Sometimes I use both at once, if I want to look at two books at the same time, which is often. Otherwise, I choose the one most suited for the lighting conditions.

A great advantage of the E-ink, is the long battery life. I go for a month without recharging. Most computers and other color tablets barely last through a work day.

A significant disadvantage of the E-ink, is the slow response. It is plenty fast enough for page by page reading, even with pixel based PDF documents. However, if you want to quickly scan through many pages to find something particular, it is too slow and a computer is much better for this purpose, while a real book is even better still.
 
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cravenhaven

Joined Nov 17, 2011
34
Also note that most ebooks are very light, considerably lighter than a real book. The other advantage of the e-ink screen is that they are very comfortable to read for long periods as you might do when reading a book. An LCD screen is somewhat more tiring.
 

Lundwall_Paul

Joined Oct 18, 2011
236
I don't know much about e-readers but I would look at the selection of books avaliable before I invested in one. I do not think that all E-books work on all
e-readers.
 
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