BIT-101: Kindle and iPad Resolution Compared →

August 17, 2010

Keith Peters compares the font rendering of a Kindle, iPad, newspaper, magazine, and a paperback book under a USB microscope.

I wonder how many years before e-ink becomes indistinguishable from paper media.

jonro

Interesting, but no surprises there. Okay, now let's compare all of those items in dim room lighting If the next version of the iPad has the resolution of the iPhone 4, it will probably lead the pack for readability until e-ink takes another step forward. In the future, as the price of an e-ink display approaches the price of paper, we'll probably have several readers. Maybe we'll use a tabloid size reader for newspapers (as seen in Minority Report) and a tablet-sized reader. Or maybe we'll have a single foldable display. The important thing will be that there is a single e-book format that all devices can display, just like we have for music with the mp3 format. At this time it is impossible to say which technologies will mature and improve before the others. In a hundred years, I wouldn't be surprised if we accessed all media through a neural implant and didn't have to carry any readers.