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I've been struggling with this in a weird way. I have an iPhone 8, and kindle keyboard, a paperwhite, and physical books. Each has it's plusses and minuses...

I've been struggling with this in a weird way. I have an iPhone 8, and kindle keyboard, a paperwhite, and physical books. Each has it's plusses and minuses... The KKB's screen looks better to me than the paperwhite's (the text seems to be more on the surface rather than below it) and it's got buttons -- but no back light. The paperwhite's backlight makes it convenient because I can read it in bed -- but no physical buttons and the backlight is very blue, which I find annoying. Sometimes it hurts to read it in a dark room. The phone is almost perfect. I can set the text to white on black, use Night Shift to make it even warmer, so I can read for hours in a dark room. It's always with me so I can read anywhere -- but I don't feel like I'm reading a book when I read a book on a phone. It feels like I'm cheapening the experience somehow. Physical books are the least convenient. The reading experience is the best here though and it feels most like what I think reading should feel like. I can easily flip around if I've forgotten some reference. I can easily see my progress. I can put it on a shelf and see it as a reference to a reading experience. It gets to the point of me buying a book, starting it on a kindle, switching to the phone, buying the physical copy, reading that for a bit, then back to the phone. And the problem here is that switching formats feels even less like I've read the book than reading it on the phone alone. It's like it wasn't a homogenous experience. I just want to settle on one way of reading a book but can't. I think this is what is called option paralysis.

hairofadog 7y ago
Very much with you on this. I wish Apple would make a backlit e-ink tablet for books. It really is the best way to read things cover to cover and it eliminates the distractions that come with reading on the phone. I don’t expect they’ll ever do it, but in this world where you have to opt in to an ecosystem, that’s the one I’d prefer to opt into. Setting aside the dream of a DRM-free world, what I’d love is - aforementioned backlit Apple e-ink reader - iBooks app to work with Overdrive (the library-lending app) - iBooks app to make its margins adjustable or at least not take up 20% of the horizontal width of the screen - iBooks store to have a wider range of books (I was recently unable to get both _Theory of Bastards_ and some other notable book there that I forget the name of) - I actually sorta like the way kindle handles comics and graphic novels Looking at the list above a same person might ask why I don't just go with kindle instead of iBooks; the reasons are that a) there are certain aesthetic things that get under my skin about the kindle, and b) using the kindle means investing in the kindle ecosystem, and I'm not sure I want to do that for reasons. I've been thinking of going back to paper books but reading in bed at night is so much nicer with a lightweight, backlit device. I know it sounds pathetic but trying to read one of Neal Stevenson's tomes while lying in bed is a challenge. Anyhoo. Option paralysis! Right on. Edit: billeted list
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  I think you mean a front-lit screen, not a back-lit one. LCD screens are back-lit (from behind), so that the light shines directly into your eyes. Front-lit screens like on the Kindle or Kobo are lit from the sides/top/bottom, so that the light reflects off the e-ink surface and into your eyes, just like paper. On my Kobo, I can just make out the individual front light LEDs on the bottom of the screen if I tilt it up.
  - hairofadog 7y ago
    You're right, that is what I mean, thanks!

hairofadog 7y ago

Very much with you on this. I wish Apple would make a backlit e-ink tablet for books. It really is the best way to read things cover to cover and it eliminates the distractions that come with reading on the phone. I don’t expect they’ll ever do it, but in this world where you have to opt in to an ecosystem, that’s the one I’d prefer to opt into. Setting aside the dream of a DRM-free world, what I’d love is - aforementioned backlit Apple e-ink reader - iBooks app to work with Overdrive (the library-lending app) - iBooks app to make its margins adjustable or at least not take up 20% of the horizontal width of the screen - iBooks store to have a wider range of books (I was recently unable to get both _Theory of Bastards_ and some other notable book there that I forget the name of) - I actually sorta like the way kindle handles comics and graphic novels Looking at the list above a same person might ask why I don't just go with kindle instead of iBooks; the reasons are that a) there are certain aesthetic things that get under my skin about the kindle, and b) using the kindle means investing in the kindle ecosystem, and I'm not sure I want to do that for reasons. I've been thinking of going back to paper books but reading in bed at night is so much nicer with a lightweight, backlit device. I know it sounds pathetic but trying to read one of Neal Stevenson's tomes while lying in bed is a challenge. Anyhoo. Option paralysis! Right on. Edit: billeted list

frosted-flakes 7y ago
I think you mean a front-lit screen, not a back-lit one. LCD screens are back-lit (from behind), so that the light shines directly into your eyes. Front-lit screens like on the Kindle or Kobo are lit from the sides/top/bottom, so that the light reflects off the e-ink surface and into your eyes, just like paper. On my Kobo, I can just make out the individual front light LEDs on the bottom of the screen if I tilt it up.
- hairofadog 7y ago
  You're right, that is what I mean, thanks!