LCD vs. E-ink: An Analysis of the Reading Behavior

Electronic books (e-books) have become an important part on the book market. Advantages like a storage function, the possibility of adjusting font size or searching for keywords make e-books an interesting advancement of the classic paper book. An e-book can be defined as the digitized copy of a printed book, or an electronic book that is available in a digital format or a text in a digital format. E-publishing arised in the early 1970s (Ardito, 2000). Several companies launched e-reading devices like the Newton or the Palm Pilot. The new generation of e-readers includes, among others, the Sony reader, the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook Reader. This generation of e-readers is equipped with e-ink display technology. E-ink technology has several advantages: The battery life is astounding. For example the new Kindle reader gets up to a month of battery life. Another advantage is that they can be used outside without glare. E-ink displays look more like printed-paper than any other display does. Their technology is based on tiny microcapsules, with a diameter in the size of a human hair. Each microcapsule contains positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid. When an electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule where they become visible to the user. This makes the surface appear white at that spot. At the same time, the black particles are at the bottom of the microcapsules where they are not visible. By reversing the electric field, the black particles appear at the top of the capsule, which now makes the surface appear dark at that spot ("E Ink: Technology", 2011). Some of the new eLCD vs. E-ink: An Analysis of the Reading Behavior