Next Kindle Expected To Have a Front-Lit Display

An anonymous reader writes "Amazon doesn't show off prototypes unless it is pretty confident about the tech, so you may be surprised to find the next Kindle is probably going to have a front-lit display. The lighting tech comes from a company they purchased back in 2010 called Oy Modilis. It specialized in such lighting and has patents related to whatever Amazon decided to use. The display is meant to be lit in a blue-white glow, and if it's anything like Flex lighting probably won't impact battery life too much. The question is, does anyone really want or need a light for their Kindle?"

Comments

Not a huge concern

[neokushan]

The kindle works very much like how a book does - you can read it in the same conditions, with the benefit of a consistent size, portability and of course the ability to carry many "books" with you at the same time. There's a plethora of itty-bitty book lights and similar reading aids out there that work just as well for the kindle as any book. You can also get cases with lights built into them specifically designed for the kindle. This is a welcome addition, but seems more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Re:Not a huge concern

[ccguy]

All the years I spent reading paper books, I never once thought "if only this thing had a built-in light."

Well, just marry someone how wants to sleep while you read in bed.

Re:Not a huge concern

[PopeRatzo]

All the years I spent reading paper books, I never once thought "if only this thing had a built-in light."

As an avid reader from a very young age, with parents that would say "Lights out, Giacomino, you got school tomorrow!", a light was one of the first things I thought should be built into all books.

And comics! And later, glossy magazines with women in various levels of undress that my friend in the 6th grade stole from the back of his dad's bottom drawer (but here's the killer...) that I was later to learn also had short stories (!) by Nabokov, Henry Miller and Philip Roth. That may have been what really set me on a life of literature: the close association between naked ladies and very sophisticated writing. It's why after all these years, even though he is very creepy, if I were to see Hugh Hefner on the street, I would personally thank him.

Yes, lights built into all books, stat.

Re:Not a huge concern

[itsdapead]

I feel the same way. All the years I spent reading paper books, I never once thought "if only this thing had a built-in light."

If you google for "clip-on book light" you'll get enough hits to suggest that there is a demand for a way to illuminate a book in the dark without turning on the bedside lamp, and I guess Amazon sold a lot of those covers with the built-in light. Of course, building one into a book isn't sensible, because you'd need one built into every book. With an ebook reader, it makes sense. In other news, you probably never thought "if only this book had built-in WiFi, 3G, speakers, a headphone jack and a micro-USB socket" but I'd wager that at least one of those is on your "must-have" list for an e-reader.

Re:Not a huge concern

[zippthorne]

Eh, if it doesn't impact the battery life much, or substantially change the device dimensions, then I don't see the harm. I know I'm tired of people pointing out my e-reader is not a tablet and thinking they're getting some kind of dig in by asking if I can read in the dark. If you see me reading it, and ask about it, and I tell you I love it, you're not clever for pointing out that I could play bejeweled if I'd bought an iPad.

A light is not enough to overcome the format issues, and general Amazon scumminess to get me to switch from my ePub native e-reader, though...

Re:Not a huge concern

[fooslacker]

I actually think it's a bigger deal than that because of the changes in the way we read and the context of what is possible now versus when paper books were the only medium to communicate the written word. While I agree with your basic analysis regarding traditional books I think the difference is the iPad and other tablets (note I'm ignoring the Fire because I see that as a poor compromise between an iPad and a Kindle non-Fire)

Before these devices the Kindle was the undisputed king of readers and all it had to do was replicate the book experience as closely as possible and I was thrilled. With the iPad I now actually read more on my iPad than my Kindle because the interface is better (Kindle is addressing this with various touch technologies but I don't yet have an eInk touch version) and I can read in the dark at the end of the day. However, the reading experience on the iPad leaves a bit to be desired in any overhead lighting environment because of glare (I haven't tried the new one as I'm still on iPad2). As a result I used to be completely happy with my Kindle but now I have two devices that I'm probably 70% happy with because the context of what is possible/available has changed.

As you said book lights can solve the problem but it's just another complication to the process that needs batteries and to be attached and to be stored and generally adds to the inconvenience. This wasn't an issue with books because there wasn't an alternative but since the context has changed and I now know it's an extra hassle it becomes annoying.

I think these technologically evolutionary improvements are exactly what has a chance to create revolutionary functional change (not that this one necessarily will if it is poorly executed) and win Amazon back some market share. As a result I love when companies focus on experiential design facets of a product rather than just cramming the latest chip in something and adding features to add features regardless of how well executed the feature may be.

Re:Not a huge concern

[fafaforza]

I don't understand the resistance to something like this. What if you're on an overnight flight and don't want to use the overhead light because everyone else is asleep. What if your subway lights go out (as they sometimes do in NYC).

What will eInk people complain about next, electric light bulbs? Kerosene lamps were fine, and your horse drawn carriage got 12 paces to a fart and no one complained?

Re:Not a huge concern

[hawguy]

I use a small clip on light on my Kindle, but there's still significant spillover to the wall when I'm laying down with the Kindle - my partner gets to watch the shadow of my kindle playing on the wall or ceiling while she tries to sleep. That's with the light on "low" setting, *and* a small piece of kleenex taped to the light head to diffuse and reduce it - the stock light is even brighter with more spilover. When I roll over to my side, the light slides so I need to re-position it, which takes some doing to keep from seeing a hotspot of glare from the light on the screen.

It would be so much nicer if the light was built-in and was always positioned perfectly with no glare and no excess light shining on the wall.

I just hope it's dimmable nearly all the way to zero - neither my Android phone nor my Nook dim far enough for me in a pitch-dark room.

Re:Not a huge concern

[TheRaven64]

All the years I spent reading paper books, I never once thought "if only this thing had a built-in light."

You can buy them for paper books too. I have one which clips onto the top of a book and lights the current page.

Re:Not a huge concern

[fooslacker]

Not sure you read my post correctly. I get that you don't want a light but your preference is not particularly relevant to my point unless of course there are so many people like you out there that the feature doesn't help sell new Kindles.

I prefer eInk too and yet I read more on my iPad currently primarily because I read at night before I go to sleep and since I read on my iPad most of the time, I rarely take the time to go find my Kindle for the times when I'm not reading in conditions where I need a light. I don't particularly like the ipad as a reader and actually prefer the eInk screen, weight, and battery life of my Kindle. The two areas where it sucks are the interface which is a pain when managing thousands of titles and the lack of ability to read in a dark environment. I don't want a screen that glows all the time but I would like a light I can turn on and off that makes it readable in a dark environment that doesn't tether me to a lamp and hence lying or sitting in one position for hours at a time.

My point was to say that these types of features can't be dismissed because a book doesn't have them as I believe that ereaders have changed what the experience of reading means in many cases and in that context and as a development strategy it is important for Kindles to compete with functional use cases (e.g. reading at night) and feature sets (e.g. good UI for managing large numbers of books) that other reading devices support, so that they can then win on things that differentiate them like eInk, battery, and price.

Most people want a light for their Kindle.

[Anonymous Coward]

I read in bed most nights... not very practical without a light. I have the case with a built-in light. Yes I could use a tablet but e-ink is the way to go for long fiction books. Plus the Kindle is the best investment in history if all you want to do is read, you can leave wi-fi off if you have DRM psychological problems and the battery lasts for weeks and load it up with classics from project gutenberg. That's why nobody cares about rooting their e-ink kindle, it only does one thing well but does it perfectly.

Re:Most people want a light for their Kindle.

[arkhan_jg]

Much as I loved my kindle 3 (with surplus keyboard), I've since switched to the kobo touch after a problem with the kindle screen out of warranty - it's gone all 'ghosty'. Same idea as the kindle touch, except that _still_ isn't available in the UK yet; they wouldn't even ship a US version to the UK. It's up for pre-order now, finally, at £109 - or the kobo touch is available now from a ton of places, has been since xmas, and is only £80 (or the non-touch version for £49 @ asda, vs £89 for the kindle basic). Plus it reads epubs (drm-free or adobe digital editions), so you can buy books from all sorts of places that may be cheaper without having to sod about with calibre conversion, you don't have to use the kobo store.

While amazon after sales support is admittedly 2nd to none, they're not automatically the best value for e-ink readers any more. I do agree that e-ink is the way to go for reading books though. Small, light, portable, cheap, and a battery life measured in weeks not hours, as well as a well-stocked library in something smaller and lighter than one paperback. I'm saving so much weight in my luggage alone it's been worth it!

I did have a separate light for the kindle - it fitted into the leather case - and it did prove handy on the odd occasion when travelling and didn't have a decent light to read by - planes, trains and hotels especially. I would use it in bed at night, but my wife happily falls asleep with her own light on, let alone my bedside one. I can see how a built in light would be useful if your partner was more sensitive to bed-side lights, as a strap on light does add weight and alter the balance quite a bit. I haven't had the need to light up my kobo yet, but will probably just duct tape my current bendy one to it if needed!

Re:Most people want a light for their Kindle.

[arkhan_jg]

Into their 2nd biggest market after the US 7 months after the US - september 28th 2011 in the US, April 27 2012 in the UK. And there will probably shortages making it even longer before general availability. They withdrew the kindle keyboard without 3G (the model I had) leaving only the kindle basic @ £89, or the kindle keyboard @ £149.

Seven months is a long time in consumer electronics. Amazon had the e-ink market pretty much to themselves for the previous couple of generations. We still don't have the kindle fire or any projection for it. (which to be fair, really involves getting all the rights for the amazon app store, the movie store etc which aren't in the UK either, so I'm not terribly surprised at that).

But the kindle touch? No extra rights needed there, it's just an e-reader, same as the kindle 3. You can buy a kobo touch, and have been able to for months and months (backed by one of our biggest book/stationary retailers, WH Smith) for less than the kindle basic! Even when the kindle touch comes out, it's going to be £30 or 27% more expensive for what is virtually identical hardware to the kobo. If you want cheap, the kobo basic is almost half the price of the kindle basic, for again very similar hardware. You couldn't even import the touch, unless you went grey market for even more money and no warranty support.

Amazon don't have the e-ink market to themselves in the UK any more, even if the Nooks aren't available here. For a while, the kindle beat the crap out of the alternatives for both hardware, and better pricing, but that's no longer true. Amazon need to be aware of that now with their pricing and treating us like a captive market that will hang around and wait if they don't want to lose significant share to the competition. They've still got significant mind share - everybody knows about the kindle - but that won't last forever if they keep treating us like marks to be fleeced.

Re:Most people want a light for their Kindle.

[damnbunni]

My e-reader is fine in sunlight. Sounds like a problem with your particular model.

Screen size is a trade-off; my reader has a smaller screen than most others, but it fits nicely in a pocket. I've seen readers with e-ink screens up to 9", but they're more expensive, of course.

Re:Most people want a light for their Kindle.

[demonlapin]

It's got to be your device. There have been three Kindles in my household, one of each generation, and none has ever looked bad in direct light - in fact they look their best in direct sun. And glare is a much bigger problem with the glossy iPad surface than the matte Kindle surface. Outdoors, nothing beats e-Ink.

Nook is going for Flex Lighting, so no surprise

[UCFFool]

It's likely that the Nook will be using Flex Lighting in its next version, due out very soon. There is even a video of it in action on a reference device. I use a clip-on light, which has the issue of glare off of the screen, so I actually think this is a viable step up, especially since it will not always be used, is always available, and will have a minimal effect on battery life. I'm actually really jealous (since I don't have the cash to play the upgrade game with my Nook Simple Touch).

Not blue light!

[WillKemp]

I wouldn't have a Kindle if you paid me, but occasionally i wouldn't mind if my Kobo touch had a built in light. However, given that recent research has shown that blue light at night is bad for you in various ways, it would be much better if the built in light was towards the red end of the spectrum.

Re:Not blue light!

[Tim the Gecko]

If your so worried about night vision, then why not invest in an eye patch?

Arrrrr!! Write "you're" next time, or face a keelhaulin', ye scurvy dog!

Re:I'm still....

[Anonymous Coward]

Because reading LCD screens, particularly in darkened rooms, is hard on the eyes compared to E-Ink devices (even with their lower contrast).

Yes, I want a light.

[radio4fan]

The question is, does anyone really want or need a light for their Kindle?

Yes.

To me, it's already like a magic book. A magic book that lights up has got to be better!

Yes.

[Xenex]

The question is, does anyone really want or need a light for their Kindle?

Yes. My Kindle has been gathering dust since purchasing an iPad. I actually prefer a backlit screen; easier in low-light conditions. Shrug.

Keep it the same, make sure I can turn it off!

[Secret Agent Man]

The Kindle is a neat little thing. It's the closest thing to a book in terms of text, and can store nigh-unlimited amounts of books. I love the size and the fact that it's comfortable to read for long periods of time. I have the Kindle app on my iPad too, but I can't stare at a backlit screen with a white background for that long. With that said, there's nothing wrong with adding new features! If I'm in an area without much natural light (say, riding in a car at night where turning on other lights may distract the driver), then a backlit screen would be great. As long as I can turn the backlight off (further preserving the awesome battery life, which I forgot to mention in the last paragraph), I'm all for it!

Re:Keep it the same, make sure I can turn it off!

[StikyPad]

I have the Kindle app on my iPad too, but I can't stare at a backlit screen with a white background for that long.

Perhaps you are not aware that you can configure the Kindle app to use white text on a black background?

Re:I'm still....

[ColdWetDog]

Because reading LCD screens, particularly in darkened rooms, is hard on the eyes compared to E-Ink devices (even with their lower contrast).

I'm going to call BS on that. Going white on black and dropping the brightness on my iPad, I can read for hours in a dark room. In fact, it's easier doing that than reading a paper book with a nightlight. Sure, if you crank the brightness up to eye bleeding levels and don't adjust it for ambient conditions then it's going to be annoying, but most people can handle the 'brightness' slider.