Earlier, a mobile device capable of storing a home library and at the same time having a very modest size could only be found in some of the fantastic stories. Now, e-books with e-ink can be easily bought at almost any computer hardware store or ordered online. What they are, what advantages and disadvantages they have, this will be discussed in our article.
Smart Ink
The electronic paper used by e-ink books dates back to the 70s of the 20th century. The first device to use this technology was called the "hericon". In it, the space between two transparent sheets was filled with a thin layer of very small polyethylene balls and then filled with oil. Each ball was painted in two colors: the first half of the surface was white, and the second half was black. Depending on the sign of the supplied charge, the layer turned up one way or the other. ATas a result, a white or black dot appeared on the surface of such a device. In practice, such an invention was not widely used, but at the same time it inspired inventors for new research. Modern electronic books with electronic ink work on the basis of an LCD matrix, which contains a layer of transparent microcapsules. Each of them contains a viscous liquid in which there are particles of white and black. The former are positively charged and the latter are negatively charged. As soon as a positive charge enters such a cell, white particles will bounce off the bottom of the "electronic paper" and float to the surface. Negatively charged black particles, on the contrary, will be attracted downwards. As a result, the point of the image in this place will turn white. If you apply a negative charge to the capsule, the reverse process will occur, and in this place the pixel will turn black.
Benefits
E-books with electronic ink can hold a solid library that you can take with you everywhere. Many "readers" are able to access the Internet, where you can replenish your collection with a new bestseller. In addition, such devices, as a rule, have a headphone jack, if your eyes are tired, you can listen to an audiobook or relax with music. The most important advantage that an e-book with ink has over a monitor is that the image does not flicker on it. This means that the eyes will not be so tired. Due to low power consumption, the charge will last for several weeks, and even ifturn off the power, the image will remain on the screen for a long time, since the lion's share of energy is spent only on the initial drawing. The light weight of the device and the independence of the image quality from the angle of the screen is an additional plus that allows such gadgets to successfully compete with plain paper.
Flaws
E-ink e-books have three drawbacks. The first disadvantage is the low speed of image formation. For this reason, watching the video on the "ink" screen will not work. The second drawback is that a fairly bright light is still needed for reading. Even the most modern "readers" cannot boast of the background of the pages of perfect whiteness. Of course, it is very light, but so far it is inferior in color to ordinary paper and in low light it seems a little gray. The third and final drawback is the foggy prospects of color screens. So far, this type of reader is too expensive, page changes take a long time (up to 2-3 seconds), and battery power is consumed too quickly.
Prospects
However, hopes for an affordable and high-quality device with color "electronic" ink still remain. It became known that PocketBook is currently working on this, and the first "reader" of this type will appear in the CIS by the end of 2013. So, despite the competition from tablets and smartphones, the technology is evolving. And the day is not far off when a high-quality e-book with color ink on a perfect snow-white background will become available.
