The End of the Small Screen?

[6charlong]

First, a word of apology. You see Ray Bradbury’s works finally came out in eBook format, that’s One. Two, Amazon, and only Amazon, had an “Opening Day” sort of sale on Ray Bradbury books: $1.99. Obviously since all I have this week is $2.39, my problem was: which one. (I bought Something Wicked This Way Comes.)

But the point of this post is that having bought it at Amazon I didn’t have it on my Kobo Aura, and when I opened up the Paperwhite to download my new book I received an almost palpable shock. I had set my beloved Aura aside for what? Apparently I’d forgotten how small a six-inch screen actually is. Was it worth saving $4 and change to read a favored book on this cramped screen?

Then I realized that the race is on. Surely Amazon has to answer the Aura’s challenge. They always announce the next model in late summer, so it should be soon. I think they will have to offer a bigger eInk screen, something that can even display newspaper pages for example--something with better formatting. Now I can’t wait to discover what Amazon will do.

[tubemonkey]

I'm hoping Amazon will come out with a 5" screen. I want an ereader that will fit in my shirt pocket.

[fjtorres]

Six inch readers are not going anywhere any time soon.
I would welcome an 8in HD eInk reader but the mainstream market has shown little appetite for anything but 6in models.

[6charlong]

Kobo's Mini is the right size. It's smaller than the PRS350 or the Astak Pocket Pro, but it's crippled with an unlighted Vizplex screen. A lot of people are watching for a front-lighted version.

Amazon could do it.

[Mivo]

6" seems to be a pretty good compromise for all sorts of purposes and preferences. It's portable, but still displays quite a bit of text even at slightly larger font sizes, and a 6" device is fairly light, so it can still be held comfortably in one hand. Much bigger and heavier than the Glo, and I could just use a tablet (I prefer e-ink, but size, weight and extremely low battery consumption are also reasons why I read on an e-ink device).

The 6" displays also allow for a device to be in the current price regions of €120 and below. Larger displays cost more and get closer to the prices of the more powerful tablets. The relatively low price of 6" e-ink devices is one of their stronger selling points. Hardcore e-ink fans, which includes many of us here, wouldn't mind paying twice that to get what they prefer, but I don't think the market as a whole is as accepting. A bigger screen also requires a better processor and more RAM, as otherwise pages start to appear more slowly.

The Pyrus mini is only 4.3" and I find it actually more comfortable for reading in bed (laying on my back) than the 6" Glo, but it doesn't have front lights. I'd buy a sub-6" reader with buttons and lights without hesitation. There are probably more people who would get a bigger-than-6" reader than one that's smaller, but I feel that 6" might be the size that makes a solid happy medium.

That said, I like gadgets and would probably consider a reader with a larger display too, but 6.8" (I think that's what the Aura has) isn't enough of a difference for me. 9.7" and we're talking! There were some 8" ones in the past, but that format seems to have fallen out of favor.

Originally Posted by 6charlong

First, a word of apology. You see Ray Bradbury’s works finally came out in eBook format, that’s One. Two, Amazon, and only Amazon, had an “Opening Day” sort of sale on Ray Bradbury books: $1.99. Obviously since all I have this week is $2.39, my problem was: which one. (I bought Something Evil This Way Comes.)

Is the sale over, or is there a special way to access it, since I'm not seeing anything close to that $2 price tag?

On screen size, I've adapted to the Aura too so 6" screens feel small. I suspect that it will be fine for most users though.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by Mivo

6" seems to be a pretty good compromise for all sorts of purposes and preferences. It's portable, but still displays quite a bit of text even at slightly larger font sizes, and a 6" device is fairly light, so it can still be held comfortably in one hand. Much bigger and heavier than the Glo, and I could just use a tablet (I prefer e-ink, but size, weight and extremely low battery consumption are also reasons why I read on an e-ink device).

The 6" displays also allow for a device to be in the current price regions of €120 and below. Larger displays cost more and get closer to the prices of the more powerful tablets. The relatively low price of 6" e-ink devices is one of their stronger selling points. Hardcore e-ink fans, which includes many of us here, wouldn't mind paying twice that to get what they prefer, but I don't think the market as a whole is as accepting. A bigger screen also requires a better processor and more RAM, as otherwise pages start to appear more slowly.

The Pyrus mini is only 4.3" and I find it actually more comfortable for reading in bed (laying on my back) than the 6" Glo, but it doesn't have front lights. I'd buy a sub-6" reader with buttons and lights without hesitation. There are probably more people who would get a bigger-than-6" reader than one that's smaller, but I feel that 6" might be the size that makes a solid medium.

I agree with all the great reasons you've listed. I have a kobo mini, and the difference the loss of just one inch makes is quite striking. Going much bigger than the current 6" could add weight and a force it into a two-hander - at least for those of us with smaller hands. (The mini kobo is great though, for certain situations)

[6charlong]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Is the sale over, or is there a special way to access it, since I'm not seeing anything close to that $2 price tag?

On screen size, I've adapted to the Aura too so 6" screens feel small. I suspect that it will be fine for most users though.

I was fooling around on Woot.com and discovered the sale quite by accident at 9:30 last night. It ended at midnight Pacific Daylight Time.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Is the sale over, or is there a special way to access it, since I'm not seeing anything close to that $2 price tag?

That sale was soooo yesterday.

On screen size, I've adapted to the Aura too so 6" screens feel small. I suspect that it will be fine for most users though.

I've never had a bigger screen, but I still want one. At $170, the Aura is much more reasonable than the Kindle DX was. If Amazon will put out a similar model, I'll definitely hope to get one.

[ebusinesstutor]

I read on my Galaxy Note - 5.3" diagonal screen. Light and easy to handle and easy to read.

[speakingtohe]

Mostly I read on my mini or T1. I tried again reading on my Aura a couple of days ago I was just getting used to it when the pages started turning backwards consistently. Turned it off and on and they went forward again.

Happened again this afternoon. Had to turn it off a couple of times before it went forward again. Possibly caused by my setting a margin in the reader (I am happier with shorter lines on the Aura for some reason)

Wish the cool features Kobo boasts actually worked

Helen

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm hoping Amazon will come out with a 5" screen. I want an ereader that will fit in my shirt pocket.

agreed

I began wearing these again to carry my mobile stuff:

[graycyn]

I think the Aura is the perfect size, 6" feels small after using it. 5" feels positively tiny! Now that there are nice sharp screens like the Aura available, I don't feel such a strong need for my Sony 350 other than ebook testing. I hardly ever read on it any more.

There's something about that 6.8" screen, it just feels more like a book, without being too bulky or heavy to be comfortable using the reader. Size is so close to my Sony T1 in lighted cover as to be a negligible difference. No difference to how it fits in my bag.

I'm not convinced Amazon will feel the need to do something similar though. They already have a larger e-ink reader and sure have not been updating that.

[tomsem]

I've been reading on my Paperwhite in landscape orientation for a number of weeks now. The text justification is much better and line length is more like a real book. Might be just a phase I'm going through, but it feels a little less cramped this way (and I use a fairly small text size).

That said, I would prefer more control over the margins than the stock firmware allows (and unfortunately the Kindle apps waste a lot of space in margins too), and if they can squeeze a 7" screen into a same-sized device I'll be interested.

[DStyle]

I'm not a novel reader but I do have lots of computer e-books and 6" is just too small for me. I tried reading on my Xperia Z a couple of times and it just doesn't feel good. I wish either Kobo, Sony or even Amazon will come out with bigger screen, 9.7" and above and hopefully, color e-ink with front-light.

I'm actually looking forward to check out Sony's 13.3" e-reader when I visit Japan next year. Front-light will be even more awesome.

I have been waiting for a long time to own an e-reader. Hope manufacturers don't disappoint us.