40 ms·

I really thought e-ink was going to be great but keep getting disappointed. I really prefer tablets with their color IPS screens now, some combination of the co

by rr808 5y ago

I really thought e-ink was going to be great but keep getting disappointed. I really prefer tablets with their color IPS screens now, some combination of the color with fast CPUs is much more appealing. PDFs look great as well as epubs. Reading outside in the park or on the beach really doesn't happen anyway thank goodness.

adhesive_wombat 5y ago
A 10 inch tablet is definitely streets ahead for PDFs, which are usually authored for A4ish paper anyway. Shrinking that down to 6 inches is pretty horrible, even with a hiDPI eink screen, and if you zoom and pan, the update speed is dreadful. However, I do far prefer reflowable text on an ereader. I just had to give up on the idea of one device fulfilling both use cases: you can't have a 100g, one handed, two week battery device that you can read in a sunbeam as well as a device that can handily render a PDF and allow smooth zoom, pan and searching.
Koshkin 5y ago
Yes. And the smooth scrolling is a whole experience in its own.
ghaff 5y ago
I have an older Paperwhite and I rarely use it. If I'm traveling I probably will have my tablet with me anyway and if I'm hanging out waiting for someone I already have my iPhone with me and that's good enough for a short read.
dole 5y ago
I feel like this is another major factor on the poor implementation and adoption of eBooks that doesn't get bitched about enough; the infernal eInk display patents. I shudder to think what kind of display world AND publishing world we'd have today if they hadn't sat on it for this long...
- robinsoh 5y ago
  > the infernal eInk display patents. I shudder to think what kind of display world AND publishing world we'd have today if they hadn't sat on it for this long... what infernal patents are you talking about? Your claims are fairly typical of what I see on HN around this topic and if you look at my comment history, you'll see how no one seems to be able to provide any substance or evidence. You'll also see how I've explained that it is PHYSICS that limits the performance of electrophoretic displays.
open-source-ux 5y ago
"I really thought e-ink was going to be great but keep getting disappointed" That's interesting, I'm the opposite to you. I much prefer to reading books using an e-ink screen. I have a Kobo Clara HD e-ink reader. It has a 300 PPI screen which is very comfortable to read from. I can read for long periods without getting fatigued. I can't do that using IPS colour monitors or tablets, even the high-resolution screens. With an e-ink screen I can read properly, not skim-read like I do on a monitor or tablet. My thoughts on whether an e-ink reader is suitable or not: - Small e-ink screens (e.g. 6 inch) are only suitable for paperback-sized, text-only books (fiction or non-fiction) - Small e-ink screens are not suitable for reading PDFs - A general rule of thumb when deciding whether to purchase an e-book: If the physical book is larger than a paperback size, then it is unlikely to be suitable for an e-ink screen (unless the book is text-only). - Small e-ink readers are not suitable for any books with complex layouts, layouts designed for larger books, or books with colour graphics: charts, diagrams, photos, etc. Amazon, in particular, encourage publishers to convert as many books as possible to Kindle format regardless of whether those books are suitable for e-ink screens.

by rr808 5y ago

adhesive_wombat 5y ago

A 10 inch tablet is definitely streets ahead for PDFs, which are usually authored for A4ish paper anyway. Shrinking that down to 6 inches is pretty horrible, even with a hiDPI eink screen, and if you zoom and pan, the update speed is dreadful. However, I do far prefer reflowable text on an ereader. I just had to give up on the idea of one device fulfilling both use cases: you can't have a 100g, one handed, two week battery device that you can read in a sunbeam as well as a device that can handily render a PDF and allow smooth zoom, pan and searching.

Koshkin 5y ago

Yes. And the smooth scrolling is a whole experience in its own.

ghaff 5y ago

I have an older Paperwhite and I rarely use it. If I'm traveling I probably will have my tablet with me anyway and if I'm hanging out waiting for someone I already have my iPhone with me and that's good enough for a short read.

dole 5y ago

I feel like this is another major factor on the poor implementation and adoption of eBooks that doesn't get bitched about enough; the infernal eInk display patents. I shudder to think what kind of display world AND publishing world we'd have today if they hadn't sat on it for this long...

robinsoh 5y ago
> the infernal eInk display patents. I shudder to think what kind of display world AND publishing world we'd have today if they hadn't sat on it for this long... what infernal patents are you talking about? Your claims are fairly typical of what I see on HN around this topic and if you look at my comment history, you'll see how no one seems to be able to provide any substance or evidence. You'll also see how I've explained that it is PHYSICS that limits the performance of electrophoretic displays.

open-source-ux 5y ago

"I really thought e-ink was going to be great but keep getting disappointed" That's interesting, I'm the opposite to you. I much prefer to reading books using an e-ink screen. I have a Kobo Clara HD e-ink reader. It has a 300 PPI screen which is very comfortable to read from. I can read for long periods without getting fatigued. I can't do that using IPS colour monitors or tablets, even the high-resolution screens. With an e-ink screen I can read properly, not skim-read like I do on a monitor or tablet. My thoughts on whether an e-ink reader is suitable or not: - Small e-ink screens (e.g. 6 inch) are only suitable for paperback-sized, text-only books (fiction or non-fiction) - Small e-ink screens are not suitable for reading PDFs - A general rule of thumb when deciding whether to purchase an e-book: If the physical book is larger than a paperback size, then it is unlikely to be suitable for an e-ink screen (unless the book is text-only). - Small e-ink readers are not suitable for any books with complex layouts, layouts designed for larger books, or books with colour graphics: charts, diagrams, photos, etc. Amazon, in particular, encourage publishers to convert as many books as possible to Kindle format regardless of whether those books are suitable for e-ink screens.