E-books (readers) are a significant invention in the world of books, a new library era, a cultural innovation that will improve the reading of future generations.


But now about the choice of e-book. Agree, it is very convenient when in your bag is not a heavy voluminous volume, but a compact and thin device that can hold thousands of different books.

Moreover, in these books you can change the font size and typeface, adjust the margins and line spacing, and in some cases, make notes. A book that can be read in any light, even late at night without disturbing anyone.

When choosing a “reader” (readers, books), we noted 5 main components that you should pay attention to when making a purchase.


Screen


Perhaps the most important is the main part of the reader, which provides you with eye contact. Here e-books are divided into two types:


Book with conventional LCD screen


Book with screen technology E-Ink (electronic ink).


But in fact, the first option immediately disappears, if you see such a book with an LCD screen, then this is a marketing ploy. This is not a book, but a tablet with limited functions, we do not even consider such a device as a book. If a reader with an E-Ink screen has a viewing angle of 180 degrees, then a reader with an LCD screen has a much smaller degree and you will have to read strictly at a certain angle. Even if only two people want to read from one screen, for them the image will lose readability and contrast. In addition, the LCD screen in an open area fades and dims a lot and it becomes very difficult to read from such a screen, while the E-Ink screen will produce clear and bright text, like a natural paper book. And most importantly, E-Ink does not harm your health, which cannot be said about LCD. So we put tablets, phones, netbooks, everything with LCD screens aside.


Now you know that when choosing a reader, it is important that the device has an E-Ink technology screen. But even this point has its own subtlety. E-Ink displays have several generations. They differ in image clarity, resolution - the number of dots per inch - and price. Here are their main types.


E-ink Pearl. The oldest format on the market today. The resolution of books with such a display is small - 800 × 600. The letters do not look very clear, but you can read if you get used to it.


E-ink Pearl HD. The same, but with a resolution of 1024 × 758. There are practically no new devices on Pearl and Pearl HD.


E-ink card. This is the latest and main generation. The resolution is still 1024 × 758, but at the same time, Carta has an improved contrast ratio compared to the Pearl family - 15 to 1 versus 10 to 1. This means that on such a screen the letters will be clearer, words and lines will merge less, and eye strain will be reduced even more. The best screens today boast 1448x1072 resolution with 300PPI pixel density for 6 inch screens like Boox Poke5 and 1872x1404 with the same pixel density for 7.8 inch screens like BOOX Nova AIR2.


Screen size


When choosing an e-book, people first of all ask themselves the question: What screen size should an e-book have. There are standard sizes 5, 6, 7 - 9, 10.3, 13 inches. All sizes have their purpose.


5.6 inch books are the travel format. Such books are well suited for those who often travel long distances for work or travel. It is compact, does not take up much space, you can even carry it in your pants pocket.


From 7.8 to 10 inches, this book will already be good for home or office reading. This size will be more comfortable than 6 inches, you can afford more sparse text - large fonts, spacious intervals and increase reading speed, you do not have to constantly pull your hand to turn pages. And with the help of a stylus, you can make notes in the text of the book. The reader is quite a moderate size, fits in a lady's handbag.


10.3 and 13 inches, these sizes are perfect for people who read documents in Pdf and Djvu format.


For example, models such as Boox Note Air2 and BOOX Tab X are among the most premium models. These can be technical drawings, all kinds of layouts, diagrams, in general, everything that is usually located on A4 paper. For a student, such a book can be used both as a notebook for lectures and as an educational computer. For a musician as a musical score and a library of music, for an artist-designer as a working easel for drawing. In an office environment, you can make plans and schedules on it. And it’s not even worth talking about the comfort of reading, this is a whole landscape sheet, a real banner!

 

Backlight


This is also an important part of the e-book. The backlighting of an E-Ink screen is very different from LCD monitors. With E-Ink, the light is not directed into your eyes (as is the case with active LCD screens), but is horizontally scattered over the area of \u200b\u200bthe “paper” using special LEDs and a diffusing plate. This reduces eye strain from direct light. This book can be read

b in bed, in the dark, without turning on the night lamp without interfering with the sleeping person nearby. And warm, lamp light won't spoil your melatonin (sleep hormone) that prepares your brain for sleep, after such reading you will quickly fall asleep. The reader also has a cold backlight, it is very good when the room is dim, this may be due to the time of day or cloudy weather outside the window. In this case, you can add a cool backlight slightly. This will give good contrast and clarity to the text and it will immediately become a pleasure for the eyes to read. Such a book provides more comfort than a regular book. When you buy an e-book, be sure to get a book with warm and cold backlighting.


Formats


Now there are many different formats for reading and all of them are relevant to this day. But not all readers can support them. The most popular formats are FB2, EPUB and MOBI. They are the most common formats for fiction and are supported by most modern books. There are also important formats such as PDF and Djvu, they contain a lot of technical literature, in which it is important to preserve illustrations. Djvu mainly contains old scanned literature, this is especially useful for those who work with old textbooks, archives and historical literature.


Processor and memory (reader performance)


This part is the last and final when choosing a book. On the one hand, here we can say that the processor clock speed does not particularly affect reading, but on the other hand, the opposite can be said. It's one thing when you read the simple FB2 format, there won't be any particular inconvenience, this is understandable. And if you read a more cumbersome format with illustrations? There will be a strong and unpleasant flicker for the eyes when you turn the page and this is due to a weak processor. After all, E-Ink liquid ink technology resembles a high-speed laser printer that draws each line in order, and the higher the processor frequency and the amount of RAM, the faster it will do it, and you will not notice flicker. When working with a browser on the Internet, having a powerful processor and solid RAM will be especially important! There is a huge amount of updates happening every second. When you select a reader, see that the processor clock speed was at least 1000 megahertz, and the amount of memory was at least 512 megabytes, the best option is 1800 megahertz and 2 gigabytes of RAM. Such those. indicators can boast of ONYX Boox. Readers of this brand have the most modern productive indicators for all the points described above. Now you have the most complete information to make the right choice, buy the very right reader.