Why would anyone buy e-Readers
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I see myriad of ads for new e-readers, and I wonder why would anyone buy an e-reader nowadays, when there are so many cheap Android tablets available, and there are various apps for reading books and magazines too? What is your opinion on this?
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I have both a Kindle Keyboard and a Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 has various eReader apps on there but whenever i want to read something i still reach for the Kindle.
But I still use my kindle when I want to read in sunlight or read text for an extended period of time (like a book). It's light, it's cheap and more durable than a tablet with much better battery life.
When one can now get an e-reader for £29, they are a really great device to have.
Additionally tablets are backlit which makes them very poor devices to use to read before bed. Anything with a backlight that's shining into your eyes (computers and TV's are as bad) as it increases your alertness and suppresses the production of melatonin which is a sleep inducing hormone. This is why 'lit' eink devices front light the screen so its not shining directly into your eyes so is less of a problem (and its why on a Paperwhite the settings hint tell you to set it lower in the dark than in bright light as it should be just bright enough to read without strain not so bright that its 'white' in look)
^^^^^ In a nutshell. Wouldn't read a book on anything else having recently got a basic Kindle
Unless of course you have an iPad, then your just reading nothing but positive reviews of your iPad, to dull the ache that you may have paid over the odds for something you really didnt need to spend as much on (what do people really need in a tablet)
You can add notes to passages and highlight passages. Admittedly unless its a Keyboard ereaders or has a touch screen its a bit cumbersome to do but its something most can do. If anything this works better on an ereaders as its easier to find the particular highlighted section or note.
Its only really the lending thing which isn't possible
I wouldn't use a Kindle for reference works or anything heavily dependent on pictures such as newspapers or magazines.
I don't deface books and I never lend books to anyone so it's not a problem.
You can lend in the US, but for some reason haven't brought this feature here yet. No technical reason why not.
Or if you're feeling naughty, use Calibre.
Suspect its a legal/copyright reason. After all lending someone an actual book you bought isn't really 100% legal even though everyone does so to introduce lending they have to find a way to do it inside each countries framework and ensure that they have the publishers on board who will want to be compensated for books being lent
Newspapers are really best read in paper form. At least you can hide behind a newspaper when you don't want to be seen When I talk about scribbling in books I'm talking more of making notes along the side of things like textbooks or reference books rather than just random nonsense. I used to do it at school. Sometimes I give books away to a charity shop or to a friend when I'm finished with them or I no longer want them.
You can lend books on the Nook.
Only under bright light conditions. Under normal lighting it's a matter of preference. In dim lighting or the dark then the advantage clearly swings in favor or LCD/OLED.
E-ink readers have a clear advantage if you want long battery life without charging.
Surely if you can see value in the limited capabilities of e-ink based readers then you should be also to see the value in the much more capable iPad.
That's a myth. Any source of writing that is difficult to read is a strain on the eyes.
Turn down the brightness.
OLED displays are not backlit, only LCDs are. In either case it doesn't matter as you can obviously adjust brightness.
An equally bright diffused light source affects your eyes the same wherever it originates.
As I said, you can adjust brightness on OLED and LCD displays. The brightness, resolution and size of text on whatever display you use, in addition to your vision, determines whether it will be easy or hard to read and whether it will be a strain to your eyes.
I noticed LCD is not good for my eyes, e-ink (with an external light in dark) is much better.
Adjust the brightness of your LCD. Maybe your LCD is also of a low resolution.
I think it's my eyes. At work I can look at an LCD screen for 8 hours, but I am not looking at it constantly. If I have to stare at it like when reading, my eyes start to feel it after a while. A higher resolution might be a solution, but e-ink is cheaper
Not anymore as many eink readers have built in lights.
But you don't have to use them. if you are outside in daylight or in a lit room then there is no need to use the built in light.
As been said above, battery life, easy on the eyes, lighter to hold, cheaper and it does what I want it to do, which is to allow me to read books.
I got no need for a tablet, so why would I spend the extra amount on one?