There’s a lot of news about the iPad, and a lot of news about the e-book reader part of the device in particular. So I decided to gather as much information as I can and make a “combination-post”. Turns out there will be three parts.
In this first part I will discuss the readability of the iPad compared to the electronic ink (e-ink) of the Kindle. I also give you some information about Wired, apparently the tech-magazine is going to be available on the iPad soon. There’s even a video about a concept of the Wired tech-magazine.
LCD or E-ink: What is better for your eyes?
In order to make the iBook Store of the iPad a success, one must first know if the screen is good enough to make reading a magazine a pleasurable exercise. In order to understand the difference between the iPad and an electronic ink-based e-reader like the Kindle, one must first know what e-ink really is.
According to Wikipedia electronic ink is the following:
“Electronic paper, e-paper or electronic ink display is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display, which uses a backlight to illuminate its pixels, electronic paper reflects light like ordinary paper and is capable of holding text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed later.”
That’s exactly the kind of technology used by the Kindle. E-ink is very soft for the eyes making it the perfect replacement of real newspapers and magazines. The iPad doesn’t use this technology. Some e-reader-users think that’s a shame because e-paper is less tiresome for the eyes. The New York Times wants to know if LCD-screens are worse for the eyes than e-readers. They asked doctors and experts about their opinion. It seems it depends on the circumstances, the software, the typography and the lighting.
When you’re sitting in your backyard trying to read a book or magazine, e-ink is more readable, but there are also circumstances when a real peace of paper is better readable than e-ink. And even that is not always true, because bad quality of a newspaper and paperbacks can make it even more difficult to read. With tempered light a LCD-screen is better than any form of paper, including e-ink. Mostly it seems to depend on the right amount of lighting, the habit to regularly blink with your eyes and to take a break every 20 minutes.
So is it dangerous to read books from a computer screen? No, say the doctors to NYT. “Most of what our mothers told us about our eyes was wrong,” says an oculist. Still, a big downside of LCD-screens is the fact that the viewing angle is not very big. With IPS LCD-screens Apple uses for their iPads that viewing angle is much better, but the reflective screen can cause fatigue. The flickering of the screens has also been solved. According to one of HP’s labs’ employees modern screens have a refreshing rate of 120 Hz: that’s faster than the human eye can see.
The conclusion is: the iPad nor the Kindle (or any other e-reader) is the best device to use when you want to read a book. It depends on several conditions. However, the IPS LCD-screen of the iPad is suitable for reading newspapers, magazines and books on. But, there is no optimal technology.
Wired will come to the iPad
Now that we know the iPad is good enough for reading books and other media content on, which books, newspapers and magazines can we expect to see on the iPad? Wired is one of the candidates and already has a working concept of the tech-magazine.
The magazine will be available this summer, says Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired. He was demonstrating the concept at TED last Friday.
“I’m from the media world,” Anderson told the audience “and as you may have heard, we have lots of questions about our future. The good news is I think we found part of the answer…. We think this is a game changer.”
Instead of explaining what the concept looks like, I think it’s better to take a look at the concept of Wired yourself. Below is a video that shows how smooth and interactive a magazine on the iPad can be. Photos turn into videos or 360-degrees pictures. The magazine can be viewed both horizontally and vertically. No prices have been announce yet.
