My thoughts on eReaders

Amazon Kindle (eInk), Chapters Kobo Touch (eInk), and Nexus S (LCD ... which is actually turned on) in direct sunlight.

Have you ever considered getting an eReader, but weren't sure what was the best choice for you?  There are lots of choices out there, so the decision can be overwhelming.  You like the idea of not having shelves and shelves of books taking up space, or maybe you like the idea of borrowing books from the library without leaving your home?  Maybe you just want to cut down on the weight of your carry on luggage for your next flight?


I have spend a lot of time with several different eReaders over the last few weeks and have noted the benefits and drawbacks of each one.  it is important to understand that there is no single eReader that is perfect for everyone.  The purpose of this article is to help you decide if an eReader is right for you, and if so which one to spend your money on.


The first thing to consider when looking for an eReader is the type of display that best suits your needs.  There are two completely different screens that are very different under the hood.  These screens are the traditional LCD displays, and the less traditional eInk displays.  I will get to the differences between these two screens, but to better understand why they are different, let’s first discuss the difference between the color spaces they use.

Color Spaces –

Have you ever wondered why the primary colors in a TV or computer monitor are different than the primary colors we all learned in grade school art class?  Maybe you didn't even know that!  Well the answer is simple really.  They use two completely different color spaces!

In a subtractive color space, like paint or a pen and paper, we start with a base of white.  In other words, we start with all light being reflected.  And then to adjust the color, we add a light absorbing substance (i.e. paint) until the the colors we don't want are absorbed, eventually resulting in black.  This color space relies on an external light source like artificial light or the sun so that it has something to reflect.  The primary colors in this color space, as we all learned in school, are red yellow and blue.

In an additive color space however, like an LCD screen, the complete opposite is true.  We start with black (think about a TV when it is turned off), and we begin emitting light, until all colors have been introduced and we get white.  Devices that use this color space typically require an internal light source such as a florescent light or a series of LEDs.  The primary colors in an additive color space are red, GREEN, and blue.

LCD Displays –

LCD displays use an additive color space, which means that they require an internal light source. This additional light means that it uses a great deal of power, and has a battery life of only a number of hours. It also means that using a display like this in direct sunlight is nearly impossible, since the light emitted by the device needs to be bright enough to overpower the ambient light that is hitting it (in this case the sun). Also, the glossy screen often causes glare that makes the display even that much more difficult to read. Take a look at the picture above, the LCD screen in the picture is actually turned on, yet it looks black.


The advantages of LCD Displays though, is their bright vibrant colors, ability to redraw the page (typically 60 times per second) so animation is possible, and they are also easily readable in low light. These displays are great for reading magazines indoors.

eInk Displays –

eInk uses a subtractive color space, which means that they rely on an external light source (just like a paperback does). The lack of an internal light means that the battery life for these devices is measured in weeks, not hours. It also means that, since the screen simply reflects or absorbs light, they work as well in direct sunlight as a regular paper book or newspaper. These displays are great for reading novels or newspapers both indoors or outdoors, and are generally easier on your eyes than a back-lit LCD display


However, although color eInk screens exist, they are not good enough for most manufacturers to use in their flagship devices. Therefore, as of the time of this article, all good eInk displays are grey-tone. Also, if you plan to read in low light, just like a regular book, you will need a lamp to light up the page.

Color eReaders –

That said, if color is important to you, multi-day battery life is not a concern, and you do not plan on using it outdoors, you have choices.  If money is a concern, your best choice currently is the Barnes & Noble Nook Color.  For $250, you get a color tablet with a stripped down version of Google's Android operating system, and gives you full access to the Barnes & Noble book store.  The advantages of the B&N Nook Color is it has a vibrant color LCD screen which makes it great for reading magazines, allows animation which is great for some children's books and newspapers, and even lets you play many of the same games you would expect to see on smartphones.  Plus, it is very easy to root the device and install a full version of Android, making it the cheapest Android powered tablet you can buy, which would then include the Amazon, Kobo, and other book store apps as well (not just Barnes & Noble).  Or, if you wanted to spend more, any modern tablet will have the ability to be used as a great color eReader, but most are double the price of the Nook Color.

eInk eReaders –

If the majority of what you want to use the device for is for reading novels and newspapers, you don’t want to worry about your battery life, you have problems with eye strain reading off of a computer screen, or you often read outdoors, then an eInk screen is likely your best choice.

There are a number of choices in this category, including the Amazon Kindle, the Chapters Kobo Touch, the Barnes & Noble Nook (eInk version, not the color version), and the Sony Reader.  The new Nook has been given excellent reviews, but unfortunately the Barnes & Noble's store does not have a very strong selection of eBooks available to Canadian customers due to copyright restrictions, making it difficult to recommend it north of the border.  And the Sony Reader is very expensive and does not provide enough value.  

From this point on in this article, I will only be comparing the Kindle 3 and the Kobo Touch.

Amazon Kindle vs. Chapters Kobo Touch –

So if you've decided that eInk is best for your purposes.  Now, how do you know which device you should buy?  At the time of this article, the Kindle 3 is the current model, although the Kindle 4 has been announced and should be out by the end of this year.  Since it isn't yet available, I will only be discussing the currently available model.

The Amazon Kindle has long been the leader for eReaders.  Amazon's store is very well established, and offers a large selection of books, newspapers, and some magazines.  The refresh rate on the Kindle is very good, and the contrast is excellent.  Amazon also offers a feature that no other company offers ... free 3G!  This comes in handy when you are traveling, and you want to keep receiving your magazine and newspaper subscriptions.  No matter where you are, you can enjoy your morning coffee with a fresh copy of your local newspaper waiting for you at no additional cost!  This is a huge bonus for the Kindle, especially if you are often in locations without reliable access to free access to WiFi.

The biggest, and really the only complaint I have about the Kindle is that it lacks ePub support.  Kindle uses Amazon's proprietary format called MOBI.  They have not yet opened up the device to other formats because they want to keep all Kindle owners buying their books from Amazon.  The concept is much the same as game consoles like the Xbox or the PlayStation.  The manufacturers will subsidize the cost of the device, often selling it for less than it costs to make, so that they can make money off of the games.  Amazon sells the Kindle for a very good price, expecting that they will make their money back from book sales.  However, most other eBooks from stores like Chapters, or most libraries that lend out eBooks, use a format called ePub.  Kindle's lack of ePub support is disappointing.

Up until now, the Kobo has been a terrible device.  Chapters is still selling the old Kobo eReader ... do not buy it!  However, the new Kobo Touch is a completely different device.  The 6" screen is virtually identical to the Kindle's screen, and it's speed and battery life have been greatly improved.  A bonus is that the Kobo allows you to reduce the number of complete page refreshes.  This means that, if configured, instead of flushing the entire page before redrawing the new page, it will only flush out the lines that need to be cleared.  The entire page will only be flushed every 6 pages (to make sure no ghost text is left behind), further improving battery life.

The biggest noticeable change with the Kobo is the infrared touchscreen.  Since everything uses a touchscreen interface, there is no need for any physical buttons and therefore it is much smaller.  This can be both good and bad. The smaller size means that it is more portable and looks much more elegant, but some people will find it harder to hold with one hand.  The extra real estate on the Kindle from the keyboard may be more comfortable after reading for a long period, especially if you hold it over your head while laying down.  It is also worth noting that the touchscreen makes the Kobo much more intuitive to use in this world of gesture based user interfaces.

Also, some people may complain about the page turns on the Kobo.  The touchscreen sometimes doesn't pick up gestures as cleanly as some other touchscreen gadgets like smartphones, and sometimes changes two pages at once.  This is a minor inconvenience, but depending on what you prefer, the physical buttons on the Kindle seem more solid.  So, if you like touchscreen interfaces, the Kobo Touch is great, but if you prefer physical buttons, the Kindle may still be a better choice.  This is something that really needs to be experienced first hand before you can decide.

Initial Setup, Navigation, and Additional Features - 

There was a big difference between getting the Kobo and the Kindle set up after taking them out of the box.  The Kindle is shipped to you already tied to your Amazon account.  This means that, if you get the 3G version, the Kindle is ready to use the first time you turn it on.  If you get the WiFi-only version, then the only setup required is to connect to your personal WiFi network.  No computer is required, which makes this task very easy.

The Kobo on the other hand was not as straight forward. Before it could be used, you have to download Kobo management software onto your computer, install it, plug in the Kobo, and configure it to your account.  If you already have a chapters account, this really is only a 5-10 minute process, but it is an additional non-intuitive step that might discourage some less-technical customers.

However, once the devices are setup, then the Kobo is far more user friendly.  The touchscreen make the device very simple to browse through the online store, find books within your library, and make changes to the appearance of the text (i.e. font, size, line spacing, margins, etc.).  The Kindle can do all of this, but you are forced to browse through a list of options using a 5-way joystick.

Both devices have a web browser (WiFi only), but neither are anything special.  The touchscreen makes the Kobo's web browser much easier to use, but this would really only be used in a pinch.

Also, both devices have built-in dictionaries, which is surprisingly useful.

However,  the Kindle has one big feature that the Kobo is missing.  Audio with text-to-speech.  On a Kindle, you can listen to Audible books, which is a nice touch for those of you who like listening to books being read to you while you are working or in a car.  The Kindle also has text-to-speech, which means it will take a standard eBook and literally read it to you (in a very dull monotone voice).  This is a nice feature.

Access to Books - 

Book access is a big consideration.   You want to be sure that the books you want to read will be available on the device you buy.  Generally, as discussed earlier, you can only buy books for the Kindle from the Amazon store, although the Kindle will also support non-DRM (un-copywrited) PDFs as well.  It does not support books borrowed from the library because library books use the ePub format and Adobe's ADEPT DRM licensing encryption.

The Kobo supports Adobe's DRM ePub format, so borrowing books from libraries is completely supported.  Plus, you are free to purchase books from the Chapters Kobo Store as well.

Although both Amazon and Chapters have very good selections, there are titles that are available from one store, but not the other, so unless you want to jump through hoops, it is worth looking through each store to see which has the higher percentage of books that you would likely want to read.  As publishers become more open to eBooks, selections will become much stronger.  In fact, there are already cases where books are being published electronically and are never printed.

That said, there are workarounds.  I hate being in a situation where I am invested in a single brand.  What happens if I buy a library of books from Amazon, and want to switch to a different device?  I also ran into a situation where there was a book I wanted that was only available on the Kobo store, but I wanted to read it on my Kindle.  In addition, I wanted to borrow books from the library and read them on my Kindle.  This sparked some experimentation.  I will not go into details on how it is done in this article, but I will simply say that yes, if you are a tech savvy user, it is in fact possible to convert an ePub book from the Kobo store or your local library to a MOBI format for use on the Kindle, and it is also possible to make a Kindle book and convert it for use on the Kobo.  

Conclusion - 

So what should you buy?  Here is a brief summary:

If you don't read outdoors, you like color screens, and battery life isn't a concern, buy a color eReader like the Barnes & Noble Nook Color.

If you like touchscreen interfaces, and feel that borrowing books from the library is an important feature, buy a Kobo Touch from Chapters.

If you like physical buttons for turning pages, and do a lot of traveling where you may not have access to free WiFi, get an Amazon Kindle.