Having busted e readers before; being able to flex a little probably does wonders for it's survivability. Light weight + thin + rigid is just a dangerous combo.
kindles are extremely fragile devices. I broke my first one when it fell down from couple of inches. second time when I kept in car boot well packed inside padded laptop bag in its own cover.
I not buying another one. whole point of having light ereader is to use it lightly, without cover.
E-readers would be good if they were robust enough. All the trials using ereaders so far have shown that current devices aren't nearly robust enough, nor repairable enough, to be useful.
Does anyone know how durable are the current e-ink readers? May it be so that Amazon moves away from e-ink readers in particular because they can't be made reliable?
I like to read books and I was a theoretical fan of e-ink readers, but I never owned one. My younger brother, on the other hand, was against them: "why buy the device that only reads books?" On a recent trip to the countryside he borrowed a (PocketBook 301 plus) reader from a friend and put it in the tent's pocket together with a phone, iPod and other such stuff. In the morning, he found that the screen failed because it had a tiny crack. Maybe someone accidentally kicked it or something, but modern phones, iPod and such withstand abuse rather well, and this thing broke after one night - it even was in its own leather case that covers the screen! Googling revealed that cracking screen is a common issue.
I start to suspect that those e-ink screen are a flawed technology as they are. There might be a reason Sony makes their readers with a metallic case, but do they last even then?
Does anyone know if the new Kindles are more rugged? My classic Kindle was in a protective cover when it dropped a short distance from a table to a wood floor. The screen did not crack but the e-ink display was permanently frozen.
Just an anecdote but I broke a Kobo Aura exactly like you did but never had any issues with kindle or with a pocketbook
I really like Kobo but they do seem rather fragile.
Yeah, a large, heavy book fell on my Kindle, breaking the screen. I took that as an excuse to get an iPad, and while I have loved owning one of those, I just bought a replacement Kindle, because the reading experience is just plain better.
Don't see why you got down voted. It's a valid opinion. Speaking as someone with an iPad and iPad 2 (both of which I love) they're a tad heavy for reading in bed. So are thick paperbacks, but the Kindle and Kindle Fire might just win on this factor alone.
There is also an issue of maintainability and spare parts. For example, the technology behind how phone screens work is broadly understood, leading to people being able to replace their phone screens if they are broken or no longer working. There is no such thing for Kindle or e-readers more generally, because a lot of this is hidden in patents. so if you're a consumer and want to purchase one, and it breaks somehow you're SOL.
I really prefer the old Kindles that had the physical paddle buttons to change pages instead of a touchscreen. It's a much better UX, and those things are virtually indestructible.
I don't know that this necessarily kills the Kindle and other ebook readers, but it will definitely require some serious adjustments.
Up to now, ebook readers held an a huge advantage with the e-ink screen and ergonomics. Ebook readers still have an advantage when it comes to ergonomics, but I think they'll have a hard time appealing to the average consumer based on ergonomics alone.
The ergonomics advantage isn't even one that ebook reader manufacturers can expect to keep. It will be reduced to just about nothing as soon as someone makes a netbook with a screen that can rotate around and fold down so it can be used like a tablet.
There must be price cuts. I can't imagine enough people will prefer the simplicity and ergonomics of a dedicated ebook reader over an equally priced- and now equally functioning- netbook to sustain a business.
They also need to focus on what they're good at and figure out what inherent advantages there are in having a dedicated device. Ebook readers need to be as simple as books, they shouldn't have to boot up, they should be extremely light, you shouldn't have to worry that some email worm is going to keep you from reading your books, etc.
In any case, this is only a good thing for consumers. We're likely going to see cheaper and better ebook readers as well as better netbooks.
1st one: Kobo Mini. Was inside a case and between two books in my rucksack and broke just carrying it home from work
2nd one: Another Kobo Mini. Broke inside the thigh pocket of my combat trousers. It was also in a case and had the screen facing inwards, towards my leg, specifically to avoid the risk of me bumping it against something.
3rd one: Kobo Aura. I had high hopes of this one as, unlike the previous two, where the screen seemingly had no form of overlaid protection, this one's outer screen was actually made of hard plastic. However, after a drop of a mere two or three feet onto carpet, the e-Ink screen in that somehow managed to break inside, leaving the hard plastic outer unmarked.
Maybe I've just had really bad luck [or maybe I should try a different brand than Kobo next time!] but e-Ink screens just seem ridiculously fragile to me. I was especially annoyed with the last one [the Kobo Aura] where the vibration of it hitting the carpetted floor was enough to break the screen, even behind a layer of hard plastic.
Even if I could afford it, there's no way I would risk £300 or £400 on an e-Ink device. Not until the technology toughens up a hell of a lot.
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