E-Readers
Ok, it is just possible that I have an e-reader problem…
Or maybe everyone owns 5 of them, and I’m perfectly normal?
I just bought my fifth, a Kobo Forma.
I started with the original Barnes & Noble Nook, the one with the odd little color screen below the main e-ink screen. It was great, with actual page-turn buttons. And the color screen was actually sort of cool, showing the book covers in color but still allowing the actual reading to be done on the e-ink screen.
After that it was on to the Nook Glowlight, which had a more traditional design using a single e-ink screen. This one abandoned physical page turn buttons, but I liked it anyway.
Number 3 was a Nook Glowlight Plus whose claim to fame was being water and dirt resistant, so great for the boat or the beach!
Up until the Forma, the fourth Nook (Glowlight 3) was my favorite, adding back the page-turn buttons and a color-changing backlight.
I decided to try the Forma because of the larger screen, and the hope of a better UI. Wow, what a nice device! I think my Glowlight 3 has been supplanted.
The things I really like about the Forma:
- Bigger screen
- Faster page turns.
- The home screen does not try and sell me books quite as aggressively as the Nook.
- Better library design, can sort by more attributes, and has an Authors view.
- When sleeping, shows the cover of my current book. Early Nooks could do this, or show a nice “screensaver”, but that feature went away.ยก
- Landscape mode, which so far is interesting but might be nice.
I had not realized just how slow the Nook was at turning pages. I first noticed the difference when a few times I thought the Forma had failed to turn the page. It had. So why did I have a moment of thinking it hadn’t? Because it did it so quickly it wasn’t obvious! I then did some side-by-side comparisons to confirm, and yes, much quicker.
I still love physical books, but do a lot of reading electronically. Great for travel! I will also be keeping my e-reader collection although the Forma is better enough that it may be hard to go back to the earlier Nooks.
And yes, I have an iPad Pro which is terrific, but for pleasure reading, e-ink is the only way to go. Easier on the eyes, especially after a day of working on a glowing computer screen. Add in the noticeably reduced weight and the dramatically longer battery life and there is no question that e-ink wins for reading books.
Six e-readers. That’s a nice round number…
E-Books Update for Early 2014
Just wanted to give an update on my slow but steady transition to E-Books – a process that took on new urgency when we went from suburban life to apartment renters in downtown San Diego.
As someone who has spent a lifetime collecting, reading, and cherishing physical books, this has been a challenging journey. As the technology gets better, it has become easier though.
With my latest acquisition of the new Nook Glowlight (the one released at the end of 2013, not to be confused with the Nook SimpleTouch Glowlight which was its predecessor) this transition has become even easier to accept.
In the beginning, E-Books were read either on a Mac or PC, and the mobile hardware was pretty clunky. Today we have Retina iPads and very nice E-Ink readers. My latest Nook is E-Ink, and although my original Nook was also, this one is miles ahead.
It’s actually getting to the point where in many ways I’m preferring reading on my Nook versus a physical hardcover. Sure, this was always the case when portability was the main factor. “Hey, I can take ten novels with me on the plane, and it takes up less space and weight than one hardcover!”
But now I’m finding that the technology has improved to the point where even when the weight and size isn’t an issue, the experience is as good or better.
What factors are bringing about this change? Here they are, in no particular order.
- Incredible reductions in size and weight. My new Nook weighs about the same as a moderate paperback, and about half of what a really think paperback weighs.
- Higher resolution screen. It’s getting pretty close (~210dpi) to printed resolution. Close enough that it’s not obvious that it’s an electronic page rather than a paper one.
- Frontlight for reading in the dark. The new Glowlight is pretty good, with only some mild darkening at the very top of the page. Fantastic for low-light situations. And since it’s front-light versus back-light like an iPad etc. it should have less of the sleep-impacting effects that have been reported for LCD displays.
- No page-flip “flash” that previous generations of E-Ink typical had.
And then there’s the other factors that have been present for a while: The ability to carry hundreds of books, weeks of battery life, and (if reading a book purchased from Barnes & Noble) the ability to read those books on my iPhone or iPad with my place in the book being synced between the devices. Oh, and not having to try and hold a book open when eating lunch etc. is pretty nice as well.
I’m not ready to abandon my physical books just yet – nothing is going to replace that experience. But for my general reading, I think I’m about at the point where I no longer see switching to E-Books as a necessary compromise to accommodate our new less-burdened lifestyle, but as a pretty nice way to enjoy reading.
Muddlin' Through 