I can understand colour for comic books but not as much as a 7" device, and especially when it can effect the experience. E-ink, the company, has some work to do.
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Amazon Launches First Kindle With Color Display [Updated]
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LOL @ the Update! "Fine, Amazon, we'll cut that penny off your prices - then we'll immediately say that almost everyone will actually pay more than that. You'd have been better off with us just rounding up."
That said, I have a "Boox" brand color e-ink tablet, and it's great. Nearly as good black and white text as my Kindle Oasis, with a far bigger screen and longer battery life - and it cost barely more than the Oasis did. (Although this new color one does cost less than the Oasis did; but Boox also sells a smaller model that is the same size as the new Kindle color, probably using the same eInk screen, for less than the Kindle color, while being a full Android tablet at the same time.) With "good enough for its use case" color.
iPad and Kindle serve two completely different purposes. E-ink displays are way better for reading, the Kindles have much better battery life, and they don’t have all the distractions like the iPad.
I spent a while agonizing over whether to get a new Kindle, or get my first iPad. And I've concluded that I just hate Amazon's software. Their OS and apps feels so rough and cheap to use. It's everything I disliked about Microsoft in the 90s.
I don't disgree with you that Kindle's OS is a PITA, but if you're purely using it to read ebooks (which I imagine the majority of owners are), then how much time do you actually need to spend in that OS compared to something like an iPad where it's a fundamental part of the user experience?
I prefer my Oasis with the actual buttons tbh and hubby has a paper white so I have used both.
It means I can hold it one handed and easily change pages without moving my hand... what is about tech people not wanting a physical control for something that is MUCH better with a physical control ?
Fair. I prefer minimal, so without page buttons. I still maintain there is no great reader on the market.
"It continues to have a 300 pixel-per-inch resolution for black and white, with a 150 pixel-per-inch resolution for color."
Might sound to be a stupid question but... what does that mean exactly?
Say we do display a comics page, containing images + speech bubbles + text inside.
If the text is exclusively black, would it be constrained to 150 DPI still (because the entire page is not fully black & white)? Or would it be displayed at 300 DPI instead? (and the rest – the images themselves – be 150 DPI?)
In other words, I am wondering if in comics I would still get very sharp texts (as long as they are in black color).
Might sound to be a stupid question but... what does that mean exactly?
Say we do display a comics page, containing images + speech bubbles + text inside.
If the text is exclusively black, would it be constrained to 150 DPI still (because the entire page is not fully black & white)? Or would it be displayed at 300 DPI instead? (and the rest – the images themselves – be 150 DPI?)
In other words, I am wondering if in comics I would still get very sharp texts (as long as they are in black color).
I would imagine the whole display switches between either one of two modes:
1) B&W at 300dpi
2) Color at 150dpi
At best on a page by page basis
At worst on a book by book basis
The problem with Boox is that it's basically an e-ink Android device. The Kindle app works okay, but not great, on it because Android apps are designed for tablets. I find Amazon's implementation much better.
Just NOW getting color??!
wah-owwwwwww…after reading comments I see the tech isn’t easy to do color but still, you would think it would’ve been done long before now. Amazing. Onward and upward...
wah-owwwwwww…after reading comments I see the tech isn’t easy to do color but still, you would think it would’ve been done long before now. Amazing. Onward and upward...
Yeah, the Kindle app isn't great, but it's usable.
The built-in ebook reader works great, though.
If you're all-in on Kindle purchased books, sure, an Amazon device may be better. But if you have lots of ebooks purchased from other sources, other e-readers are better.
The fact that it can run Android apps just makes it far more flexible in its usability than a pure book reader.
I think you are confusing Amazon products.
The Amazon Kindle line (with eInk display) just act as book reading, Ereader for library books, reader for eMagazines or [some Kindles] as note taking devices. There really is Not any access to any other apps using a Kindle. Although using 3rd party software (e.g., https://calibre-ebook.com/) on a computer, one can use Kindle with ebooks from Apple Books or Barnes & Noble.
There is a different line of Amazon tablets (Fire Tablets) that are closer to traditional Android tablets but with LED display that can run Android Apps [Although the Amazon Fire Tablets come locked to the Amazon Store, they can be tweaked to access the Google Store]. They are primarily very low cost devices oriented to media consumption, email, web browsing and simple games.
That's my point - the Boox is an Android tablet that uses e-ink to be a great e-reader. It's the reading quality of a Kindle with the usability of a Kindle Fire.
But e-ink displays are typically not very good for displaying video (video retention and update frequency)
No, that is the one thing it doesn't do well on. But if I absolutely need to watch a video, it is at least possible. And I can ChromeCast it to a TV if I want. Something you can't do on an e-ink Kindle.
They tend to be darker and always need the lighting to be on when reading indoors.
It's unusable for anything beyond 10 fps cartoons (e.g. Anime). Nevertheless, talking head news should be tolerable.