E-readers

mac.d

I'm with Quizzical Squirrel, wou;dn't be without an ereader with a light now. It's different tech to the backlit TV, tablet & phone screens, they are front-lit and use a diffuser to spread the light over the screen, which is why its not as perfect as the evenly lighted display you get on tablets etc.

However, if you buy one and the lighting is very uneven/blotchy and you see shadow cones at the bottom, you should return in and try another, as these unevenly lit screens are not a good example of what an lighted ereader should look like.

One with a built in light is definitely better if you read indoors by lamplight, put the light at a low setting on your ereader and it makes a huge difference. And when you are out in bright sunlight, you either don't need the light at all, or strangely you put it a high setting to make it look better.

If you want a Kindle and buy books from Amazon, go for the Paperwhite, unless you want to splash out on the better Voyage. If you don't really plan to buy books from Amazon, consider getting one of the Kobo models, and you can also borrow library books with the Kobo.

They do one similar to the Paperwhite (Kobo Aura 2), but some people might be interested in the models with the bigger screens, there is the Aura H2O (6.8") and the Aura One (7.8"), though they are more expensive.

onomatopoeia99

I love my original, unlit kindle. Way more relaxing to read than a computer screen or tablet.

Since it has no lighting of its own there needs to be some ambient light, so if you read in bed with the lights out it won't be suitable.

mik67

mac.d that was the problem with my kindle, the cones at bottom of screen, didn't know how to describe it.

worried_jim

I use books, find they do the job perfectly. I'll get me coat........

pmduk

worried_jim wrote: »

I use books, find they do the job perfectly. I'll get me coat........

we were all like that once, til we learned different!

mac.d

mik67 wrote: »

mac.d that was the problem with my kindle, the cones at bottom of screen, didn't know how to describe it.

Shadow cones from the lights along the bottom of the Kindle screen. It is hard for them to perfect this, but click on the link below to see an example of one of the first generation Paperwhites compared to the second gen (and we're now on the third). The one on the left still isn't perfect, but its more like what your Kindle (or Kobo) lighted reader should look like.

http://news.softpedia.com/images/extra/LINUX/small/kindle_small_09.png?v

Source: Kindle Paperwhite 2014 review.

Nilrem

worried_jim wrote: »

I use books, find they do the job perfectly. I'll get me coat........

I still use books for some things (favourite authors get the hardback and then the ebook, whilst artbooks are always in paper), but there comes a point where if you like to retain your books you start running out of space in the house

I moved over to an ereader very early (practically the launch of them in the UK, before Amazon released their first kindle here), as when you reach the point that you have no more room on the shelves, and no more room you can put shelving up on it becomes a problem

Mind you the fact a lot of my favourite books are rather long also factored into my initial decision (a 700 page book tends to weigh a bit especially in hardback, and in paperback doesn't tend to last many readings).

I still love the feel of a nice book, but I'm more interested in the contents than the form factor.

As a side note a few of the older folk I know love ebooks for the simple reason they don't pay more/have trouble finding versions of the book they can read or have to use a magnifier (many books don't get a large print version).