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E-reader wars: does the iPad's retina display measure up to e-ink?
- bryanlarsen 15y agoPerhaps my greatest concern for e-reading is "how does it affect my ability to fall asleep when I read in bed?". A 10" iPad puts out way too much light even at the lowest setting and keeps me awake. An e-ink device works much better because it uses indirect light. However, I've found that my 4" phone works best of all. On its lowest setting it puts out very little light. And surprisingly 4" is also a better form factor for reading novels. The small screen reduces the amount of eye scan needed, and the small size also allows a very large variety of comfortable reading positions.
- ccoggins 15y agoI haven't tried reading on an iPad, but I have on my 10" Thrive. I agree that such a large screen makes it more difficult to read due to the amount of eye movement needed.
- ccoggins 15y agoI've never found the lcd vs e-ink to be much of an issue as far as eyestrain goes. I read several hundred books no problem on my old Palm IIIc which had, wait for it, 160px by 160px resolution. The e-ink is nice too though, but the need for an external light makes reading in bed a pain. I wish Amazon would just make a kindle with an LED built in(like the Sony PRS-700).
- brc 15y agoI have an Amazon cover for my Kindle with a built-in led light which makes reading in the pitch black easy. The led runs off the Kindle battery. So they do make one, but you've got to plump for the extra cover.
- ccoggins 15y agoYep - I've got one as well. I like the way it works but I really notice the compromise on the extra size.
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoKindle Fire?
- ccoggins 15y agoKindle Fire isn't e-ink. With my regular Kindle and the Amazon case with LED that uses the Kindle battery I still get a good 2 weeks between charges. The case is a mediocre compromise - it shuts the light off if the Kindle goes off which is nice, but it makes the Kindle quite a bit more unwieldy.
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoI see, I was confused about what you mean by LED built in, my apologies.
- ccoggins 15y agoNo worries - I notice that I did not actually specify "e-ink kindle" in my statement above.
- steve19 15y agoI love reading technical books on my ipad3, but much prefer novels on my Kindle 4 or my 4" phone.
- dpark 15y ago> subpixel rendering is truly the way to improve a display Am I crazy or is that an outright falsehood? The entire point of subpixel rendering is to deal with pixels that are too large. If you make the pixels smaller, subpixel rendering becomes moot. Smaller pixels improve the display in every way that subpixel rendering does, and without the fuzziness or undesired coloring.