Will Tablets Kill Off E-Readers?

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Has the era of the eBook reached its peak and now in decline? According to a new report, the meteoric rise in eBook sales is now being matched by its rapid sales decline, brought on in part by the popularity of tablets.

“Single-task devices like the eBook are being replaced without remorse in the lives of consumers by their multifunction equivalents, in this case by media tablets,”
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my pocket tablet.. has replaced e-readers! Galaxy Note2 freakin rocks.. best phone ever.. and wicked battery life....
 
Many people will alway prefer e-ink. But, you can get china tablets for like $50. I'd imagine an e-reader could really be made for as little or less. So I suspect they'll live on, but massively price adjusted vs. today.

OTOH, the proprietary nature of the major e-reader makers may be a way to keep prices high and essentially force you to buy an expensive 2nd device.
 
jpm100 said:
Many people will alway prefer e-ink. But, you can get china tablets for like $50. I'd imagine an e-reader could really be made for as little or less. So I suspect they'll live on, but massively price adjusted vs. today.

OTOH, the proprietary nature of the major e-reader makers may be a way to keep prices high and essentially force you to buy an expensive 2nd device.
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It does seem like e-ink has fallen off the face of the earth with even the tablet style nooks and kindles being pushed over the e-ink varieties.

Maybe a dirt cheap open source e-reader would make for a good kickstart.
 
Well, the way I use an E-Reader, that being late in the evening when I don't want to be looking at a bright backlight, is kind of immune from being replaced by a backlit tablet. E-Ink also has much better outside visibility.
 
It would be neat if someone could figure out a dual screen device to be both. Like a tablet with a covered e-ink display on the backside.
 
There is a lot of overlap, really. My iPad is a top notch, expensive e-reader. But, I am the type of user that wants the all in one, powerful tablet. Having it double as an e-reader is a huge plus. I don't mind the backlight, etc..

But, having a $50 e-ink book reader is a huge plus. You can get Android tablets sub-$100, and my Nook Color did an amazing job (just busted it out again to give it more life - slower than I remember, but still very very useful!). But, having a few dozen or hundred books on a single device dedicated to books it a huge plus. But (and I'm sure it's changed by now, I hope), I found that they didn't display graphics very well and were slow on transitioning to other pages.

E-readers will lose some market share by tablets, but I don't think they are going away. My Grandma prefers the e-ink (she can read it 100x better than a color iPad display, even using Retina display). The older persons eyes are better at reading the e-ink displays.

So, I guess after contradicting myself a few times, I'm in the middle of the road. I'm interested in how this plays out. e-readers need to market themselves carefully and make them useful and keep the price low. Cheap tablets don't make very good e-readers mostly due to speed, display and UI. Expensive tablets make poor e-readers due to price. No one wants to buy an iPad to strictly use it as an e-reader.
 
E-readers have a place. But, things are changing and it's 'place' I think should change accordingly. There is no reason why the technology of e-ink couldn't be applied to other things...like keyboards maybe. Since e-ink doesn't require constant power, it can be used to change the individual characters on key faces. Not to mention all kinds of other display mechanisms (watches, clocks, meters, signs and stationary tags, low-end cellphones, etc.). Imagine how it could dramatically increase the battery life of cellphones. Think of what it might be to see grocery store shelves with e-ink price tags rather than littered with half-torn paper stickers. What about printer displays? With just a little modification, it could be adapted to use as electronically shading windows. The possibilities are seemingly endless.
 
Kind of funny, eReaders are tablets with more restrictions and used to come with e-ink displays. Tablets is essentially just an e-reader with a backlit display and less limitations on software side.
 
unholythree said:
It does seem like e-ink has fallen off the face of the earth with even the tablet style nooks and kindles being pushed over the e-ink varieties.

Maybe a dirt cheap open source e-reader would make for a good kickstart.
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People don't need to update to the latest e-ink reader. Once you have one, you're good for a long time.
 
As the owner of an e-reader and a tablet, I do 100% of my book reading on e-ink due to comfort and clarity. I use the tablet for magazines, web browsing, graphic novels.
 
I love my e-reader because my eyes don't get tired when reading on it for long periods of time and the battery life is pretty amazing. Now I do use my Kindle Fire all the time for Comics though.
 
E-ink is a lot more comfy to read with. I have a non-touch e-ink Kindle and it's really unbeatable at reading stuff. There's a web browser too, but getting text entered using arrow keys and an on-screen keyboard is totally a pain. Though a tablet would be better for anything else aside from reading, I owned my fair share and they're not really that much better than a computer aside from being faster to turn on and off. If I want to do something online, I'm probably going to just turn on a laptop or netbook since it's easier to type in stuff.
 
I think that for the most part they will die off.. there will be a few base ones from companies like amazon that also offer a much more feature packed "tablet" of an ebook reader, but e-ink will almost cease to exist..
 
I have one of the older Amazon Kindles with a keyboard on it.

If the tablet can offer the following, then I'll use a tablet over my Kindle:
- High-DPI screen for easy-to-read text
- No glare under sunlight
- Long battery life; longer than 6 to 10 hours with one to two weeks of standby power like my Kindle
- Lightweight; my Kindle is easier to hold and grasp than any thick book
​
Until then, an e-reader and a tablet both have specific purposes for different things. A tablet can be a very good e-reader like the Nook but I've read glare has been a common issue under sunlight. That and the text isn't as crisp as a dedicated e-reader.

If there is a tablet that fits what I listed above, yeah, I'll definitely buy one.
 
octoberasian said:
I have one of the older Amazon Kindles with a keyboard on it.

If the tablet can offer the following, then I'll use a tablet over my Kindle:
- High-DPI screen for easy-to-read text
- No glare under sunlight
- Long battery life; longer than 6 to 10 hours with one to two weeks of standby power like my Kindle
- Lightweight; my Kindle is easier to hold and grasp than any thick book
​
Until then, an e-reader and a tablet both have specific purposes for different things. A tablet can be a very good e-reader like the Nook but I've read glare has been a common issue under sunlight. That and the text isn't as crisp as a dedicated e-reader.

If there is a tablet that fits what I listed above, yeah, I'll definitely buy one.
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Your Kindle only lasts about 10 hours? I'm a pretty heavy reader...usually a couple hours a day with a Project Gutenberg thing or a Kindle e-book using my e-ink version and it lasts over a month between recharges.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Your Kindle only lasts about 10 hours? I'm a pretty heavy reader...usually a couple hours a day with a Project Gutenberg thing or a Kindle e-book using my e-ink version and it lasts over a month between recharges.
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It does last longer than 10 hours. I'm speaking about how most tablets don't even last longer than 6 to 10 hours depending on the model.

I have yet to see a tablet last as long as my Kindle after a full charge.
 
I think it is more of a sign of limitations created by the economy. An e-reader is a specialized device in that it is best suited to read books and does a few other functions with limited capability and success. A tablet is a general purpose device in that it does many things well, including reading books, although it may not work as well a specialized device. If people's budgets were unlimited they might own both devices but if they must choose the will tend to choose the more multipurpose device since it can give a bigger bang for the buck. For the e-reading aficionado they might gravitate to the specialized device like an audio aficionado might favor turntables or high end CDs. That's my take on it.
 
BluRays and HDTVs really aren't that expensive. Are people really so poor that they have to read the book and cant' just wait for the movie version to come out?
 
octoberasian said:
It does last longer than 10 hours. I'm speaking about how most tablets don't even last longer than 6 to 10 hours depending on the model.

I have yet to see a tablet last as long as my Kindle after a full charge.
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Oh derp! Literacy...it fails me! :)

Ducman69 said:
BluRays and HDTVs really aren't that expensive. Are people really so poor that they have to read the book and cant' just wait for the movie version to come out?
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3/10 troll faces
 
I ditched my iPad and went for the Kindle Touch because reading on the iPad for a extended period of time is tiring. It also shows text much better under sunlight. Besides, the battery life of Kindle Touch is MUCH MUCH longer than these tablets.
 
I think tablets probably will replace them, but I'd prefer to use an e-reader to read books over a tablet. Either way, I'd still prefer reading a physical book over anything.
 
Right now there is research and development into E-Paper capable of color and video. If these advances can make it to the market it could expand the versatility of e-reader type devices to make them more enticing in terms of capability with conventional tablets.
 
The majority of my reading is still of recently created and essentially live media. tablets work better, retina class displays seems to be substantially easier on the eyes.

i just never seem to read just plain books, read plenty of textbooks though, those suck on ereaders.

but i can totally see the appeal for people who like to read conventional books. especially considering space constraints.
 
Nothing compares to dedicated e-ink readers in readability and battery life, that's a given. I don't seem them going anyplace soon.
 
I don't know if they will die off, but i hope they don't. While they pretty much have one purpose, there are some really nice things about them as opposed to tablets. Most of it is related to health of course. E-ink is much better for your eyes (doesn't cause the same eye strain as the artificial light from a tablet), and doesn't cause some of the issues screen-reading in general can in regards to insomnia and such. At least, those would be my reasons for preferring e-readers over tablets and such.
 
Fershlugg said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20694019
Smartphone with second e-ink screen unveiled by Yota

I know it's only smaatfone size but it could be the start of a new solution.
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I can't see it being useful on a smartphone, but as a proof-of-concept I'll take it.

This on a 7" tablet would be awesome. A covering would be nice though. Perhaps something like a built in magnetic flap meant to cover whichever screen is not being used.
 
limitedaccess said:
Right now there is research and development into E-Paper capable of color and video. If these advances can make it to the market it could expand the versatility of e-reader type devices to make them more enticing in terms of capability with conventional tablets.
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The problem with e-ink technology is not so much that it's black-and-white, but that it's very low-contrast and exceptionally slow. I grimace every time I have to interact with any e-ink device. Once you're in your book, all's well, but doing anything else is really pretty terrible.

An LCD with great glare reduction is the ideal option for nearly any scenario. Eye fatigue is drastically reduced by inverting the colors (more software should support this on all platforms and with all e-book formats), the response time is significantly better and, yeah, there's color. Another plus is that you don't need a light to read in low-light scenarios, and a dimmed, inverted screen is less likely to annoy your spouse. The amount of light output can be brought down to practically nil.
 
Wife hates reading on the glossy coating of a tablet, but love her 1st gen Kindle with EInk,
 
wonderfield said:
The problem with e-ink technology is not so much that it's black-and-white, but that it's very low-contrast and exceptionally slow. I grimace every time I have to interact with any e-ink device. Once you're in your book, all's well, but doing anything else is really pretty terrible.
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True, although this can be improved a bit with a rooted device through a "no refresh" hack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chy0MGorjmo (lol)
 
Some of this is also which aligns with your lifestyle more as well ... for me audio books have supplanted the written book in either tablet or e-reader (which means my smartphone is my primary book consumption device) ...

I am on the go too much these days and I can listen to audio books while I am performing other tasks (riding my bike to work, walking for exercise, working out at the gym, etc) ... it would be impossible for me to read a book during some of those activities and I have very little sitting time for reading now to do just that ...

a tablet is a better alignment to my lifestyle since it can do the audio books (when needed) through an app as well as do quality web surfing, gaming, reading magazines, or watching movies ... for people that have the time to sit then an e-reader might be a good fit but for people on the go then smartphones and tablets are better fits, in my opinion ;)
 
SkribbelKat said:
E-ink is a lot more comfy to read with. I have a non-touch e-ink Kindle and it's really unbeatable at reading stuff. There's a web browser too, but getting text entered using arrow keys and an on-screen keyboard is totally a pain. Though a tablet would be better for anything else aside from reading, I owned my fair share and they're not really that much better than a computer aside from being faster to turn on and off. If I want to do something online, I'm probably going to just turn on a laptop or netbook since it's easier to type in stuff.
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Bingo. :cool: Anything you can do on a tablet would be better done on a more portable phone or laptop. They're a gimmick, IMO. The eInk Nook touch with glowlight is a perfect idea for reading and then you have phones and laptops to cover everything else. Tablets are a fad that will fade once the price drops and the market is saturated. Why carry around an oversized screen without a keyboard or phone capability?
 
I see people buying readers simply because of the single purpose and low price. Tablets are a whole different market. E-readers will be just fine until tablet costs compete at the $200 level.
 
I bought a Kindle for $37 brand new...I'm too cheap for the rapidly changing tablet market, my Kindle will be useful for years and years however.
 
Viper87227 said:
It would be neat if someone could figure out a dual screen device to be both. Like a tablet with a covered e-ink display on the backside.
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The XO laptop tries to do this using the same panel for both tasks, it has a high contrast non-backlit monochrome mode, and a standard backlit color mode. I think both modes require constant power though.
 
You can grab tablets now for like $100 and yes I think we all predicted they would be a short lived fad. I am sure there will continue to be a niche market but phones and tablets are in the hands of so many now, ereaders are just an added redundant expense.
 
Just as an aside, how do people find time to use e-readers? Between work, bike commute to work, exercise, some TV, some computer gaming, and daily web surfing I can't do much actual paper or e-reader reading (which is why I had to switch to audio books). Just curious. Even my tablet use has really tapered off now that I have some new computer games to occupy my limited free time. Not enough hours in the day :)
 
BBA said:
I see people buying readers simply because of the single purpose and low price. Tablets are a whole different market. E-readers will be just fine until tablet costs compete at the $200 level.
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My take:
E-reader=="mini tablet with e-ink". Will continue to exist as long as e-ink has a readability and power advantages over LCD/oLED/any backlit color.
Color E-reader=="mini tablet". Judging from where the ipad mini starts ($329), I'd assume were are here already. Size and weight advantages will keep this form factor around regardless of pricing (think why coffee-table books aren't made for general reading regardless of the ease of scaling up a printing press).
Tablet=="full size tablet" I admit I don't understand tablets, but I can't imagine trying to do real work on something the size of a nook.
 
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