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E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

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Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#81
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as if being 1.6 heavier does not matter? Or 1/3rd of price? I can hold kobo libra 2 with one hand, the battery lasts long, PPI is high, what to not like?

The Y700 came with a rubber case which makes it significantly easier to hold than the plastic Kobo. The metal body and minimal bezels also look much more premium. It's also _extremely_ better at everything, including for reading books, so the higher weight and (2x, not 3x) cost are well worth it. The Kobo battery doesn't even last that long with the backlight and wifi on, and at least mine wipes its storage and OS wh…

You come across as biased and angry, which makes your statements unconvincing. In what universe 375g device is easier to hold (with 1 hand) than 215g I have no idea, esp. keeping in mind that kobo has buttons for easy scrolling with one hand.

You also miss the point, that limited functionality of readers is feature not bug. It massively reduces impulse to start browsing youtube etc.

All together, price, weight, battery time and limited functionality is what makes the whole proposition attractive. I personaly do not need yet another androd tab even for free.

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#82
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I planned to use the tablet to connect to a tmux session and mirror a shell session on my laptop. I could then type on the laptop but use the RLCD display. Not a crazy idea, but might look a little weird. I’ve had a reMarkable 1 for a few years, and even had fun hacking it [0] but ultimately it’s too restrictive and slow for what I ended up using for, which was reading and annotating PDFs away from my desk. [0] https…

I believe the HannsNote can serve as a monitor as its running android or am I mistaken? What's the benefit of tmux over it behaving as a regular monitor?

That would be better, I’m sure. I’ve not looked at what’s available. I’d prefer to avoid using a Google account, so limiting myself to F-Droid.

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#83

E-ink is special because it has basically no downsides when compared to paper. This makes it perfect for reading regular black and white books and for the vast majority of readers it's all they need. As soon as you try to do more, there are tradeoffs, like with anything else. I've never found a screen to be anywhere near as good as paper for writing (unless it comes with a keyboard, but even then it's not as good for…

It has some downsides compared to paper: 1. White paper is significantly whiter than white e-ink 2. Black ink is significantly darker than black e-ink 3. Large A4-size e-ink displays are expensive 4. Large e-ink displays are sensitive and can break, you have to handle with a lot of care But otherwise there are tremendous advantages over paper. And with a textured screen cover, writing on e-ink is just as comfortable…

I should have been more specific. I think it has (virtually) no downsides compared to a standard paperback book. I very much enjoy high quality and larger scale printing that is certainly not achievable on any screen, including e-ink. Also, when it comes to textbooks and references, books are simply a better technology than screens, in my opinion. But, again, this isn't specific to e-ink.

I haven't tried writing on e-ink. Is it better than the most expensive Apple tablets? Any time I've tried the lag is noticeable and I can't stand it.

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#84
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Y700 came with a rubber case which makes it significantly easier to hold than the plastic Kobo. The metal body and minimal bezels also look much more premium. It's also _extremely_ better at everything, including for reading books, so the higher weight and (2x, not 3x) cost are well worth it. The Kobo battery doesn't even last that long with the backlight and wifi on, and at least mine wipes its storage and OS wh…

You come across as biased and angry, which makes your statements unconvincing. In what universe 375g device is easier to hold (with 1 hand) than 215g I have no idea, esp. keeping in mind that kobo has buttons for easy scrolling with one hand. You also miss the point, that limited functionality of readers is feature not bug. It massively reduces impulse to start browsing youtube etc. All together, price, weight, batte…

The Kobo has a thinner side and harder and sharper edges than the Y700 with the rubber case.

Personally I'm not overly distracted by android apps when I'm reading a good book, but YMMV.

My Kobo doesn't have any buttons.

It also forces me to go on wifi and make a Kobo account to use the device at all (even if I'm just interested in copying epubs).

In short and honestly after 5 years of ownership: fuck Kobo and and fuck ereaders in general.

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because a sunny day at the equator is about a kilowatt per square metre. A typical mobile phone display is about 100 cm^2 (0.01 m^2), so you would need to emit 10 watts to match sunlight. As far as I can tell OLEDs are 20% efficient or less so you would need an input power of 50 W. Even at 60 deg. N where I live we get over 300 W/m^2 in August so would still need about 15 W of input power to the display.

Just aim the light at the user's face and those power requirements reduce by 99% :)

How so? Diffuse and reflected sunlight is still orders of magnitude brighter than you can feasibly generate in a mobile phone.

Perhaps the solution is eye tracking and steerable lasers lighting up the retina directly. That should cut the power requirements by a factor of a few thousand!

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really miss, and worry that I will never be able to replace my Fujitsu Stylistic ST-4110 which had a transflective display (which allowed using it in full-bright, direct sunlight, even at the beach) and a stylus --- closest I came was a Samsung Galaxy Book 12 (which I wasn't able to replace). The problem is, trying to out-bright the sun on a battery-powered device is exactly as stupid as it sounds, and solutions su…

There's a new company whose name I forget making a transflective display tablet.

I would be very interested in this, esp. if it runs Linux.

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#87

It would be nice to see somebody do a device that isn't crippled in terms of hardware and software. In my experience, most hardware companies aren't very good at software and vice versa. Apple seems a rare exception to this rule. I'd love a laptop that I can use outside. Even my current macbook pro isn't that good outside. It kind of works but it's not that comfortable on the eyes. And that's supposed to be a screen…

> Even my current macbook pro isn't that good outside. There's a hack for that. Involves running a full screen transparent overlay which tricks the OS into letting you turn the screen brightness all the way up. Silly that it's necessary but works very well. I don't remember the name of the program.

I think you're referring to the Vivid app, which I find works very well for this purpose with recent Macbook Pros: www.getvivid.app

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has some downsides compared to paper: 1. White paper is significantly whiter than white e-ink 2. Black ink is significantly darker than black e-ink 3. Large A4-size e-ink displays are expensive 4. Large e-ink displays are sensitive and can break, you have to handle with a lot of care But otherwise there are tremendous advantages over paper. And with a textured screen cover, writing on e-ink is just as comfortable…

I should have been more specific. I think it has (virtually) no downsides compared to a standard paperback book. I very much enjoy high quality and larger scale printing that is certainly not achievable on any screen, including e-ink. Also, when it comes to textbooks and references, books are simply a better technology than screens, in my opinion. But, again, this isn't specific to e-ink. I haven't tried writing on e…

Writing on recent e-ink tablets is like writing on paper. The lag is difficult to notice. I don't know how it compares to Apple tablets.

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I should have been more specific. I think it has (virtually) no downsides compared to a standard paperback book. I very much enjoy high quality and larger scale printing that is certainly not achievable on any screen, including e-ink. Also, when it comes to textbooks and references, books are simply a better technology than screens, in my opinion. But, again, this isn't specific to e-ink. I haven't tried writing on e…

Writing on recent e-ink tablets is like writing on paper. The lag is difficult to notice. I don't know how it compares to Apple tablets.

Which device(s) in particular? I'll try to find one to try it. Most electronics retailers tend to be displaying the Apple type stuff and the copycats. I assumed it was representative of screens in general.

Re: E Ink faces growing competition in the "paper-like" display space

#90
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You come across as biased and angry, which makes your statements unconvincing. In what universe 375g device is easier to hold (with 1 hand) than 215g I have no idea, esp. keeping in mind that kobo has buttons for easy scrolling with one hand. You also miss the point, that limited functionality of readers is feature not bug. It massively reduces impulse to start browsing youtube etc. All together, price, weight, batte…

The Kobo has a thinner side and harder and sharper edges than the Y700 with the rubber case. Personally I'm not overly distracted by android apps when I'm reading a good book, but YMMV. My Kobo doesn't have any buttons. It also forces me to go on wifi and make a Kobo account to use the device at all (even if I'm just interested in copying epubs). In short and honestly after 5 years of ownership: fuck Kobo and and fuc…

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