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Is E-Ink Dead?

A

Aslar

Newbie
Ever since Amazon announced the Fire I have been worried that E-Ink technology is not going to be around much longer. Between the Fire, the Nook color and the growing popularity of tablets in general is there going to be a place in the market for E-Ink?
 
I hope not, sometimes I read for 20+ hours at a time. I can't do that without E-Ink and my Kindle. I think Amazon is working on color E-Ink technology.
 
No way E-Ink or something similar is dead. I'm with slbailey1 on this, I think there will be a similar replacement technology soon that works with color screens.
 
If E-Ink keeps advancing then it should be alright. What worries me is that consumers are getting so used to LCD and color fidelity that color E-Ink won't advance fast enough to remain competitive in the market.
 
Aslar said:
If E-Ink keeps advancing then it should be alright. What worries me is that consumers are getting so used to LCD and color fidelity that color E-Ink won't advance fast enough to remain competitive in the market.
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This is a true possibility, I even find myself looking at an E-Ink and immediately perceiving it as not worthy. That's a bad perception to gain, when in reality I know it is much easier to read on.
 
For readability there is no comparison in my opinion. But there are plenty of people out there who don't see it that way. One of my co-workers reads all his books on his iPhone! With that you not only have the back lighting causing eye strain you have a small print as well.
 
Aslar said:
For readability there is no comparison in my opinion. But there are plenty of people out there who don't see it that way. One of my co-workers reads all his books on his iPhone! With that you not only have the back lighting causing eye strain you have a small print as well.
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I read a ton of articles on my Nexus S 4G daily and I can attest to the fact that it isn't ideal.
 
E-ink is great until there is something similar for reading in direct sunlight with as much ease as e-ink it will not be going anywhere.
 
I thought e-ink was hype until I personally saw it for my own two eyes. The great battery life that an e-ink reader offers and it's fantastic readability (is that a word) in sunlight are selling points alone.

For me the biggest part is that I feel like I'm reading a book and not trying to read on a computer screen!
 
I don't think e-ink will die soon. I know many Kindle owners who have looked into iPads, XOOMs, NOOK Colors, etc... and most of them have said that e-ink is dramatically better on the eyes for books, so I believe there will be a market for quite some time.
 
I'm not a fan of e-ink since to me it's very hard to read. Must be something with my vision on monochrome screens like e-ink. My eyes just must need more back lighting of the screen than e-ink provides.
 
BTW, what ever happened to Pixel-Qi? I know they're still around, but other than the Notion Ink Atom, is there any other device coming out that'll have Pixel-Qi?
 
Like others have said, readability still is an probably always will be an issue. As awesome as these ereaders are, I'm not sure I really want to read from a backlit screen all the time.
 
Kelmar said:
I thought e-ink was hype until I personally saw it for my own two eyes. The great battery life that an e-ink reader offers and it's fantastic readability (is that a word) in sunlight are selling points alone.

For me the biggest part is that I feel like I'm reading a book and not trying to read on a computer screen!
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it is now caus eyou are absolutely right. e-ink cant be topped... the fire is for a different 'crowd'....
 
Honestly, I doubt it's dead. I suspect even with the Kindle Fire, Amazon will still see a ton of sales of the original set - when it comes to a good experience for consuming the written word, there's no real comparison. Kindle Fire isn't any danger of being a "book replacement". Thin sheets of E-Ink such that you could load a chapter at a time... that'd be really awesome to see.
 
I agree with most others, e-ink is here for the foreseeable future. Nothing LCD can touch it's battery life and full sunlight visibility.
 
I have a Kindle Keyboard device, and plan on getting a tablet as an ADDITIONAL device, but not to replace my e ink Kindle. I love reading on the e ink, love the size, and really LOVE the battery life! For all those reasons, I think e ink deserves to continue to thrive.
 
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