E-ink screen book readers – is it worth buying in 2022?
E-books with E-ink screens imitating ordinary paper gained great popularity in the world in the 2010s with the help of Amazon. In this article, we will figure out whether e–ink readers are really less harmful to health and answer the question - is it worth buying them if you already have a smartphone with a good display in your pocket?
E-ink screens are less harmful to vision – myth or reality?
It is quite difficult to study the effect of gadgets on eye health, because vision deterioration occurs over a fairly long period and can be caused by many factors that are almost impossible to control within the framework of scientific research.
However, scientists have concluded for certain that the state of vision depends more on genetic predisposition than on the influence of the environment. We are already programmed from birth to make our eyesight deteriorate at a certain age. Therefore, someone can read books for days on end and maintain excellent eyesight until old age, and someone will not be able to see normally from the first grade at school, without having read a single book without glasses in his whole life.
It turns out that E-ink screens are no better for vision than ordinary smartphones? Roughly speaking, yes, but…
According to surveys of users of e-ink readers, their use leads to less eye strain than when reading from the same smartphone or tablet. However, it is important to take into account what people compare their experience with. Because reading a book on a smartphone with a good display can be as comfortable as on a book reader with E-ink.
Which E-ink screen readers are currently on the market?
The screens in most modern book readers consist of capsules containing microscopic black and white balls. When it is necessary to display letters on the device, the balls fill the space necessary for this and freeze in this position until the book is "scrolled" further or turned off, which greatly saves battery power.
E-ink screens are divided into several generations:
– Vizplex – the first generation with low sharpness and a resolution of 800 × 600 pixels,
– Pearl – with high contrast, but low resolution,
– Carta and Carta Plus are the most common with a resolution of 2,200 × 1,650 pixels and high contrast.
Relatively recently, e-books with color E-ink screens have also appeared on the market. The technology is called Kaleido, but so far it is not very widespread, and the cost of such devices is very high.
Among the main advantages of book readers are:
– the ability to work without recharging for several weeks,
– good readability of the text in the sun,
– low weight, which is convenient for long-term reading.
In which cases will a smartphone be enough to read books?
If you don't feel much eye discomfort when reading books on your smartphone, then buying a separate book reader with an E-ink screen won't change much for you. Most often, smartphone owners complain about OLED screens, the brightness of which is regulated by pulse width modulation. That is, the display "flashes" very often (turns on and off a hundred times a second). And the more intense the flashing, the brighter the smartphone screen seems.
Some people do not notice the flickering of OLED displays, and for some it can cause very strong discomfort. Therefore, if you encounter such a problem, you can safely buy an e-book with an E–ink screen - it will be much more comfortable for you to read on such a screen.
We will also list the disadvantages of book readers with electronic ink that smartphone owners may not like:
– low page turning speed (in older models up to 5-10 seconds),
– inability to read in the dark (if there is no built-in backlight, which can tire the eyes even more than a smartphone),
– small functionality compared to other devices (for example, you can not select and copy text).
Eziz OVEZOV
Photo: unsplash.com
