Mobile EBooks
I’ve been fascinated by ebooks for years. It seems like such a good idea to load books I want to read onto some sort of electronic device; easier to carry, less paper production, added interaction…the advantages just seem to go on and on. And yet I have yet to find an ebook solution that really works for me.
One issue is hardware.
I have a laptop with an excellent display, and it’s easily high enough resolution for reading. But the device itself, a large clamshell really intended to sit open in front of you on a desk, doesn’t work very well in many situations where I just want to read. It gets hot. The battery life is only 3-4 hours. It’s expensive and has its own special briefcase, and I’m not about to toss it into a bag of other junk to take with me.
I’ve looked at the Sony Reader and (pictures of) the Amazon Kindle. The screens are pretty good, battery life is said to be excellent, and the combination of price and ruggedness is getting close to the right combination. But they’re not as portable as I’d like, and on an electronic device I find it irritating that the “page” still exists — only now as an interface metaphor. It’s like an automobile from a century ago including a holder for your buggy whip. (As an aside, the Kindle comes with a cellular connection. Nothing to do with calls; it’s just for data, and the end user doesn’t pay anything extra.)
For some reason, I can occasionally find a mobile phone with a pretty good screen. These are much more portable, have better battery life, don’t get (quite) as hot as a laptop, and fit in my pocket. On the other hand, even though the screen is high resolution it’s still too small for reading for very long. Still, I think this is a pretty good solution, at least for now. A phone with a bigger screen would be nice, if the hardware guys are listening. There are several ebook readers available, but actually I think the browser does a better job than any of them. I’ll go into more detail about this in the next post.
No, the page metaphor is not just an interface metaphor, but it exists for technical reasons. With ePaper, keeping the current content on the screen is free (in terms of power usage). However, changing the screen costs power and is also relatively slow. Thus scrolling would not be an option.
BTW that’s also the reason why Kindle has that LCD bar at the right.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper)
You hinted at something I find fascinating - the situation where something ‘goes digital’ but doesn’t benefit from a new way of organizing or interacting with it.
Case in point, digital music. Why on EARTH do people still buy digital music by the ‘album’? The album concept completely baffles me, specially in a day and age where it’s just as easy to purchase single tracks. Historically, with ‘albums’, there are ~10 tracks, 3-4 of which are actually great, 2-3 of which are so-so, and the rest are crap. And yet people still purchase and organize music accordingly.
Personally, I have my digital music sorted by Artist and then Genre. Oftentimes, I’m in the mood for a GENRE of music, not necessarily a single artist.
Tim, thanks; I didn’t know that. It seems kind of unfortunate, but it’s interesting that the electronic medium that’s most like paper also uses pages. I should just get a Kindle to try in person.
I’ve actually read quite a few novels on various mobiles over the years, and I think it works just nice (really like using the MobiPocket Reader for that)…
I’m not sure if I really wanted to carry another device for it, though. Sony’s Reader and the Kindle are both more comfortable for reading for sure, but they’re quite expensive and yet another thing you need to charge and look after and carry around.
I’ve probably read around 300 eBooks over the last 4 or 5 years.
Mostly I read on my old Toshiba E830 PDA, which has a 4 inch 480×640 screen. Wonderful resolution. 10++ hours battery live. TOtally portable. Great for reading in bed without keeping the wife awake - no need to put the bedsidfe lamp on
I also regularly use my Nokia E62 - the screen is about half the size, but the resolution is essentially the same, since it’s 320×240. It;s not quite so nice to use as the E830, because the Toshiba has a toggle switch at the side which makes it a lot easier to scroll/page throught he book. With the E62 I have to flick the joystick with my thumb - easy, but not so comfortable.
Lastly, I have used my Nokia 6682 for reading … the experience is not so nice as the other two, but it is still very practical.
All three devices have similar battery lives for reading on the go, but the phones are my choice for when I am actually travelling… I carry a phone anyway, I don’t need to carry two devices.
Anyway - I know fine that reading books on a mobile device is not for everybody, but for me it’s perfect. I cannot finish a paper book these days because I genuinely find it uncomfortable on my hands and elbows (pins and needles) compared to using an electronic device.
Plus, like I said, I can read in bed