The whole point of kindle and other ebook readers are its screen. All smartphone/tablets shines bright backlit light to your eye and casuing eye strain (most people do it so long that they don’t tend to notice it anymore). First generation e-link screens doesn’t have light, and it tends to be more paperlike than your screen. Also unlike your smart phone/tablets, it is distraction free. The hardware specs are low and you can’t switch to chatting, surfing the web, turn on music or watch a video. Books and only books. Also, with phones, I always need to watch the battery and ebook readers can last months if not weeks on one charge (depends on how much you use it).
Newer readers (like for the last decade), all have frontlit screens, which is unlike the backlit smart devices. Light shines from the top to the bottom, through layers of screen and reflected back at the bottom, thus diminishing its effect and lessen eye strain. Ebook readers strives to achieve the quality of reading on paper with the ease of taking it everywhere (try log around a doorstopper around for few days.
In essence, ebook reader try to keep reading as close to paper as possible, to avoid/lessen eye strain (front the early lightless ebook readers to newer lighted readers), with the benefit of taking it everywhere (have you tried carrying some doorstoppers around?). Though media tends to portray ebook vs paper as neither / or, while in reality you’ll see many people perfer both. I myselft purchases physical books because I love the smell of paper books, and I devour books on my kindle (I have 3, from kindle keyboard (no light), paperwhite (first gen with light) and voyage).
I have a Kobo eReader, it’s mostly because the display is way closer to an actual sheet of paper than anything else. I can read for longer without having a headache, and I even send long web articles to it using the Pocket service.
The battery life is also incomparable to our phones, which can be measured in weeks on a single charge. It’s nice when travelling, no need to worry about wasting your phone’s battery and spare it for emergencies.
Others have commented on how the display looks like paper but I will add that the battery life is incredible, the devices are very lightweight, and because they’re only designed to display books you don’t get any distractions from notifications or any other things you might do with your cell phone.
My Kindle is more than 10 years old, one of the ones with physical buttons to turn the Pages. No crappy software/spyware, enough storage to hold tons of books, and one of those E ink screens that don’t shine at you. When the battery on this one finally dies I will be performing surgery on it and replacing the battery rather than buying a new one
E-ink screens are amazing, they looks very different to normal displays, they actually look almost like paper, and does not strain you eyes like a phone or computer display.
After understanding that the rest is easy, an ebook reader is small, lightweight, has a battery life of several weeks of active use, and can hold vast ammounts of books.
Books are awesome, but ebooks are more conveniet in the modern world.
At the risk of making it sound like a cult, I didn’t understand either until I got one (although in my case, I didn’t understand why people would want one instead of an actual book, not instead of a phone).
Honestly it’s really handy. Super lightweight so I don’t get a wrist pain from holding it up at an awkward angle. Battery lasts for months so I can just pick it up and throw it in a bag for a holiday and never think about it. All of my books neatly organised. No notifications interrupting like you would end up with on a phone. Much bigger screen than a phone despite being much lighter, so more text on one page. All of that on top of the reduced eye strain, it’s a no-brainer for me.
I have one of the backlit, touchscreen ones these days and the light is useful I keep it on warm light and the dimmest possible for use at night. But I have to admit the older version with the side buttons was better than the touchscreen, I often find myself accidentally skipping pages with the newer one.
I’m with you. Years ago now I got one and was blown away. I had hundreds and hundreds of paper novels and thought id never ever want to read on a screen, now I only have about 10 special books, and have moved exclusively to ereader (and audiobooks…).
The screen is better than paper. It lasts for months on a charge. It can carry thousands and thousands of books. I can use it in the dark without bothering anyone else with the light.
The only downside is, of course, in the event of The Apocalypse, I may not have electricity. But even that is mitigated by having a couple of solar powered usb chargers :)
Mitigated, not solved completely. Hopefully society rebuilds before the solar chargers die?
Lack of notifications and other distracting apps is a big reason I prefer my ebook over reading on my phone. I have pretty bad ADHD, if what I’m reading doesn’t have me hyperfocused I’ll switch over to another app completely unconsciously.
Reading in the dark is the main reason I prefer my ebook over an actual book. It’s so easy to keep reading after my husband goes to sleep. Mine is old enough to have a power button, but they stupidly put it on the bottom edge so I frequently click it and turn my book off lol
Yes, they have e-ink screens which look like paper. Very high resolution and very low power draw with perfect viewing angles and no issues with direct sunlight make it worth it to buy an extra device.
Though the amazon ones are software-locked afaik, so you can’t put your own books on there.
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