Are B&W E-ink Screens As Good As They Can Be Now?

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Aaand the Libra 2 is capacitive with excellent contrast...

I read a lot on my Libra 2, but it could definitely be better. The screen sharpness is slightly better on my Leaf 2. The warm light is not warm enough in hue on either.

Personally, I'm waiting for a 13" with 300 PPI to arrive. I'll be over the moon!

[Renate]

IR screens do eliminate one layer, but they leave you with a bezel.
That for me is unacceptable.
The old B&N Nook NST was a cruft magnet and the bezel edge alignment was problematical.
Nope, I'll stick with capacitive.

We started with single touch and now we have multi touch and gestures.
Gestures for the big three navigation ops (back, home, recent) is fine with me.
Gestures (vs single touch) for flipping a page is absurd.

I don't want to see ereaders get absurdly thin. (Like Apple.)
Smaller PCBs and using all the area for battery is a good idea.

I'm happy with my Poke5.
As long as the models allow modification I'll stick with Onyx.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Renate

IR screens do eliminate one layer, but they leave you with a bezel...

The old B&N Nook NST was a cruft magnet and the bezel edge alignment was problematical.

What is this 'cruft' and how do I get it? I've been reading on my Nook STG for the last two weeks and it has not yet given me any of this so-called cruft. I suspect it is holding back on me...

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

What is this 'cruft' and how do I get it?

I wrote a decade ago an app that runs on the NST called Touch-1.0.apk (in my sig).
It shows you a visualization of the beams of IR crossing the screen.
Without a finger on the screen all the lines should be the same light gray.
Misalignment of the bezel and cruft will cause some paths to be attentuated.

Here's a screen grab from a decade ago (with a finger).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

What is this 'cruft' and how do I get it? I've been reading on my Nook STG for the last two weeks and it has not yet given me any of this so-called cruft. I suspect it is holding back on me...

Back when I read using an ereader with IR touch, you could get a build up of dust and other garbage under the edges of the bezel which could interfere with the touch working. This was somewhat unaffectionately referred to as crud, crap or cruft as in the sense of rubbish.

[rkomar]

I don't know if it was mentioned above, but colour displays are only half the resolution of the mono displays beneath them. If we want to get to 300 dpi for colour displays, mono displays will need to get to 600 dpi. That may be the driver for even greater resolutions in the mono layer.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Back when I read using an ereader with IR touch, you could get a build up of dust and other garbage under the edges of the bezel which could interfere with the touch working. This was somewhat unaffectionately referred to as crud, crap or cruft as in the sense of rubbish.

Partly, I was just fooling around. Partly, I think complaints about dust and the like on IR screens are made to seem much larger than they actually were.

I don't have a strong opinion on IR vs. capacitive, or flush vs. recessed screens. I'll use whatever.

But circumstances (a broken Clara HD and slow shipping on the case for the replacement Clara BW) has had me reading on my old Nook, and I read extensively on the thing when it was new and never had any issues with dust in the bezels. I'm not saying nobody has had a problem. But I think saying it is an issue is overselling it. Especially since the switch to capacitive does not equal the switch to flush screens and flush screens add an additional layer to the capacitive one.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I think complaints about dust and the like on IR screens are made to seem much larger than they actually were.

Mmm, I've had times where touch did not work at all even though the screen and bezel appeared clean. Using Touch.apk I could see where the problem was and clean it well.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't have a strong opinion on IR vs. capacitive, or flush vs. recessed screens. I'll use whatever.

I don't either, and I have had multiple cats over many years, plus I'm far from being terribly diligent in cleaning the apartment. Never had any problems with cruft under bezels.

But YMMV, of course.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I don't either, and I have had multiple cats over many years, plus I'm far from being terribly diligent in cleaning the apartment. Never had any problems with cruft under bezels.

But YMMV, of course.

I'm the same, without the excuse of companion animals (unless you count the couch potato...) Housework cuts into reading time!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

But they need to keep it light.

Not too light and thin especially if it needs to be thicker and heavier for the better battery. If it's too thin, it's not good to hold.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If it's too thin, it's not good to hold.

I will say I don't like holding my Clara BW without a case. In my opinion it is too thin and light.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Not too light and thin especially if it needs to be thicker and heavier for the better battery. If it's too thin, it's not good to hold.

You can make a thin and light ereader fat and heavy. You can't make thick and heavy ereader thin and light.