lol, I remember Amazon was running a campaign before with the kindle where you could get "200 KB of free downloads per month!"

...that's like getting a car because the dealership tells you that they'll give you 5 drops of gasoline for free a month.

lul

eInk is very different from OLED, but because OLED also lacks a backlight its a potential substitute. You give up some of the advantages of eInk, but you do get A LOT more in potential features. You'll probably never see a dedicated eReader with OLED, but tablets with OLED will be viable for longterm reading.

I couldn't find anything about that promotion, but it doesn't really make sense. Amazon (at least currently) offers the downloading for free, its the product you pay for. I hadn't heard anything about an older model like that, but it would definitely be a bad decision.

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

eInk is very different from OLED, but because OLED also lacks a backlight...

...?

OLED = Organic Light Emitting Diode

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

...?

OLED = Organic Light Emitting Diode

Yup, which is exactly why they don't need a backlight, the individual OLED pixel emit light themselves (unlike LCD screens).

OLED emits light directly from the pixels, rather than having a backlight that is filtered to produce colours (like LCD). Apparently this is easier on the eyes.

http://globalgeeknews.com/blog/2009/...nd-eye-strain/

There are a myriad of reasons why it probably won't replace eInk in dedicated eReaders though.

EDIT: Wow, nevermind. BJ posted nearly the exact same post =/

Originally Posted by Entropy

Sony's Reader seems relatively affordable at $199 for the 5" non-colour touchscreen, and $299 for the 6" colour touchscreen model.

Granted, e-readers aren't necessarily my area of expertise, but if all you're looking for is a portable PDF reader and price is a concern and you don't plan on purchasing many books legally, then try exploring your other options.

Sony's Reader does have its own proprietary book format, but again, I can't really tell you anything about it and its popularity. Don't expect many textbooks to pop up for it though. =\

There's also a 7" model is you can manage to shop in the US..

The eReader is a piece of shit:
Very limited amount of formats to put on the device
Page turning can be very slow unless you have proper ebook format
It stops working in the cold
It can be very bulky and hard to hold in your hand
If you break it, theres a very limited warrenty (basically they just assume you're a negligent moron) and the cost to fix it is very extravagent compared to the purchase price
The sleeve the device comes in doesn't do anything to protect it
Sony is a terrible company
The cost/quality ratio is very poor compared to other devices (ie. kindle)
Battery life is okay
(based on last year's model but i don't think its changed much)

I heard kindle is pretty good; i was going to get it instead but at the time it wasnt availible for purchase in the US. The iTouch does well for eBooks but its hard to get good modern books for free.

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

OLED emits light directly from the pixels, rather than having a backlight that is filtered to produce colours (like LCD). Apparently this is easier on the eyes.

http://globalgeeknews.com/blog/2009/...nd-eye-strain/

There are a myriad of reasons why it probably won't replace eInk in dedicated eReaders though.

EDIT: Wow, nevermind. BJ posted nearly the exact same post =/

I guess the first reason would be because an OLED screen about the size of an ereader's is around 2000 dollars right now, lol

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

I guess the first reason would be because an OLED screen about the size of an ereader's is around 2000 dollars right now, lol

That's completely untrue considering there are already sub-$500 devices with 6"+ OLED screens, and at the rate the industry is gearing up for OLED production prices are going to plummet, heck there are even estimates that say OLED will be cheaper than LCD within 6 years. a Kindle with an OLED screen would be a bit more expensive.

http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/... ery_life.php

That's expected out in a year or so

Yeah, that's a pretty important one :p

I still think eInk will have a niche though, even if prices come down. I don't know much about OLED, but I've heard that in direct sunlight it can be pretty hard to read. eInk is still the best choice for a dedicated eReader, just because of its similarity to paper. The similarity means people don't need to adjust their reading habits.

EDIT: Again, BJ beat me by a minute, lol. I don't actually know about the pricing of OLED screens, but its cool that they're so cheap already.

Originally Posted by Tailsnake

That's completely untrue considering there are already sub-$500 devices with 6"+ OLED screens, and at the rate the industry is gearing up for OLED production prices are going to plummet, heck there are even estimates that say OLED will be cheaper than LCD within 6 years. a Kindle with an OLED screen would be a bit more expensive.

http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/... ery_life.php

That's expected out in a year or so

What? I remember seeing one at the sony store for >$2000 that was really small. Of course, this was about 2 years ago, so that might have been why :p

OLED TVs sre still expensive.

http://5z8.info/best-russian-sites-f...z8y7q_hitl er

(I'm almost sure they're sold in Canada but I couldn't find anything on the Canadian site)

They're being used more and more in personal media players though without too much of a difference in price.

I have a feeling this has something to do with the type of OLEDs used. Like, they do something different with the TVs that make them ridiculously thin, while they don't have to worry about making PMPs thin since there's usually a bunch of other parts that fatten them up naturally. Maybe someone with more insight can clarify.

Originally Posted by Entropy

OLED TVs sre still expensive.

http://5z8.info/best-russian-sites-f...z8y7q_hitl er

lol, that's the exact thing I saw.