Comparing the various Kindles now on offer -

alwyn

10 Sep 2012, 09:50 PM | Post: #1

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Comparing the various Kindles now on offer

The main advantage of the original Kindle e-reader was and still is that the e-ink technology makes it exactly like a book, although only in black & white. This means that it can be read in bright sunshine and, with the addition of Amazon's 'lighted cover', also in the dark.

The new white-paper back-lit Kindle would seem to be an advance on this, although it is only available as an import in the UK.

Whilst it would be nice to have colour the Kindle Fire presumably suffers from the same problem as all tablets, laptops and desktops, namely that it can't be read in bright sunlight.

Whilst pricing of its products is very competitive it seems to me that there is a danger in having too much variety. Apple's great strength under Steve Jobs was in keeping the number of products to the minimum, giving enormous attention to detail and making the product as user-friendly as possible. Time will tell if this strategy will continue following Steve's death.

So what I am suggesting is that Amazon should concentrate all its fire on producing a product that uses the e-ink technology with colour and back-lighting such that it could be read in bright sunlight. That would be a real winner.

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frogplate Reading Scar Night - Alan Campbell

10 Sep 2012, 10:45 PM | Post: #2

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RE: Comparing the various Kindles now on offer

(10 Sep 2012 09:50 PM)alwyn Wrote: So what I am suggesting is that Amazon should concentrate all its fire on producing a product that uses the e-ink technology with colour and back-lighting such that it could be read in bright sunlight. That would be a real winner.

For the foreseeable future at least there will be space for at least two devices. Amazon are positioning the Kindle as the portal to all their services not just for books. So they need a device that can do HD video as well as one that can be read in bright sunlight.

Colour e-ink technology has been demonstrated and is likely to be relatively inexpensive to manufacture. However it currently cannot produce the vivid colours or contrast ratios of an LCD display. Although you can display video on e-ink displays they are pretty sluggish compared with an LCD display and it is not a good experience. It is going to be quite a few generations of Kindle's down the line before a lit colour e-ink display would be anything other than a compromise.

By the way, the Paperwhite actually uses a *front*-lit display. There are LEDs in the frame around the display that shine onto a grating that is etched into the top surface of the e-ink panel. The light travels from the edge of the display through the top surface, is diffracted down onto the e-ink surface and then bounces back to the viewer's eye. The design of the grating is a pretty neat bit of engineering, and yet it adds very little to the Kindle's manufacturing cost.

Cheers,

Jonathan

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alwyn

11 Sep 2012, 10:12 AM | Post: #3

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RE: Comparing the various Kindles now on offer

[quote='frogplate' pid='82613' dateline='1347317131']

For the foreseeable future at least there will be space for at least two devices. Amazon are positioning the Kindle as the portal to all their services not just for books. So they need a device that can do HD video as well as one that can be read in bright sunlight.

Colour e-ink technology has been demonstrated and is likely to be relatively inexpensive to manufacture. However it currently cannot produce the vivid colours or contrast ratios of an LCD display. Although you can display video on e-ink displays they are pretty sluggish compared with an LCD display and it is not a good experience. It is going to be quite a few generations of Kindle's down the line before a lit colour e-ink display would be anything other than a compromise.

By the way, the Paperwhite actually uses a *front*-lit display. There are LEDs in the frame around the display that shine onto a grating that is etched into the top surface of the e-ink panel. The light travels from the edge of the display through the top surface, is diffracted down onto the e-ink surface and then bounces back to the viewer's eye. The design of the grating is a pretty neat bit of engineering, and yet it adds very little to the Kindle's manufacturing cost.

Cheers,

Jonathan
Thanks for this Jonathan. I think I'll just stick with my original Kindle. I am a satisfied customer because Amazon replaced my first Kindle foc after I had inadvertently squashed it! My hope is that my Times newspaper subscription will continue to add more content, especially following the substantial increase in price. For existing subscribers this is due to begin in October so I hope that perhaps the cryptic crossword will be available in editions soon.

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hayleylsl Reading When we die- Cedric Mims

13 Sep 2012, 08:51 PM | Post: #4

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RE: Comparing the various Kindles now on offer

This issues Micromart has a review of different e readers, and they discuss how colour e-ink works on one of their reviews- i haven't got the magazine to hand, but its very interesting, and even with micromart's rubbishy paper you can see the colour e-ink isn't that vibrant at the moment.

I had a look to see if they had a site and tried to register but it wont let me so i dont know whether you have to subscribe to the mag to see the articles.

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