Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/08/color-e-ink-reader-reviewed.html
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I’m kinda sad that the hype around e-ink readers has mostly cooled down but it’s good to see new ones still being made 
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If that’s what the content is laid out for, then yeah. I mean, things are best read at the size they’re designed for, especially comics. But that seems like a circular argument – if comics are designed to work best in their printed form, then digital versions will be the second-class option by design.
In the UK, you used to get longer compilation titles in a roughly Kindle-shaped format, and I always thought those were cool (except they were mostly war stories I think). So the size can work, and a device this size is clearly more convenient than an iPad; if the comics industry really wanted it to happen, I think this is more what it would look like.
… actually, if they really wanted it to happen, they’d be designing comics from the ground up for the Comixology-type experience, on the screens everyone already has in their pocket.
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Woah! That’s a big disc. I remember the 8" floppies that some CP/M systems used instead of the 5.25" ones, but 10"?
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the description sort of reminds me of the comic book like reader that Josh Baskin proposes in the movie Big
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Here in Mexico we used to get comics printed in a smaller format, about two thirds of a standard comic and for the longest time that’s what I was used to. 6" is a little small but 7" or 8" should be fine.
Why would anyone spend the money on this when they could get a fully functional tablet for roughly the same amount? Battery life?
I have used one of the older iPad Pro models to read comics, and as an experience it was just a smidge shy of perfect.
The colors are bright and everything is clear. The battery lasts long enough that you really can burn a full day reading comics.
Page turning (and bubble zoom) were both fast and fluid, nothing took me out of the story.
The single page view was a little larger then a normal comic, but not so much so that anything was distorted. Double page view (if the comic had a 2 page spread) was smaller then a comic, but not unreasonable.
Two places that it fell down: a comic weighs like 3 ounces. That iPad Pro is like a pound and a half. Doesn’t matter for reading one comic, but it does over several hours. You will eventually end up resting it on something even if you normally prefer to hold comics up as you read. The iPad Pro isn’t priced like a comic, also e-comics while priced like comics are very “moreish”, like you get to the end and the “tap to buy next in series/cross linked other comic with concurrent events/crossover” are all right there, and with a tap (plus confirming the purchase) you are reading the next one. Also you just spent money.
Fortunately in my case I was writing comic reading software so this was “testing”, and I didn’t actually need to pay for the iPad Pro or comics with my own money.
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Eye strain? E-ink (BW at least) is 1000x nicer to look at than LCD screens. I can read for hours on my Kindle, but can’t for more than 15 minutes on a tablet or computer.
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I am really excited because color e-ink has finally made it into a commercial device you can buy.
Even if it’s not very good it’s a short amount of time before this is scaled up
What I keep screaming from the rooftops for is a double color capable e_ink reader that unfolds like a book, and you can swipe sideways to see any book in its natural reading format- side by side pages.
I would pay 1000$ for something like this that had significantly large screens, say, 12×14. Even black and white would work for me.
I want all my books in my library scanned and readable wherever I go, with something that opens and reads like a real book, without the eyestrain, or horrible battery life of LCDs.
Someone please make this!
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I thought this whole market was dead. I remember around the time of the early generation iPads (like maybe the first “retina” screen) people were talking about this with some regularity, and then radio silence. This is promising. I would pay so much more for a device with this kind of screen, even if it’s just for passive content consumption. So much more comfortable for my thirty-something year old eyes.
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Apparently (I did not know this!) a comic book is also called a “floppy.” (Sorry if you were making a joke and I am ruining it by explaining it…)
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And they are. Nothing quite like having to zoom in and out to read word balloons on a two page spread.
I like reading novels on them. Using them for reference books or learning something? I hate them. I would really like being able to use one for reading graphic novels.
I love my nook or kindle for reading novels/short stories. Would love something like this for graphic novels.
Being able to sit under a tree inthe back yard on a sunny day and read a tablet? I dom’t want to do that all that often, but there are definitely times.
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10 inch color e-ink?
I’d pay up to 500 for that (euro’s or dollars or pounds).
My smaller b&w kobo h2o is GREAT for books (epub) but not for anything else. I use my tablet (pixel c, best tablet ever, if you got a working one … still is!) for comics and pdf’s but it’s still sub-optimal.
But a 10" colour e-ink? THAT would be great for pdf’s and comics.
(still pining for that transflective LCD screen which was in the OLPC … want a 15" version of that in a laptop for coding on the beach!)
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I really want a colour reader, but I’m trying not to get too excited [weeps in Mirasol]:
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Readable in just about any light is the plus for me. My ancient Nook is great in situations where a tablet or phone has me diving for the Brightness control. I almost miss commuting, just because it made reading classics such a joy, anywhere: train platform, coffee shop, etc…
Hmm. Might be time to charge it up again
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