First of all, a matter of concept: when talking about LED illuminated displays I am referring to the new readers that incorporate in their frame a series of LEDs that light up the screen and allow us to read in conditions in which there is little or no ambient light. What comes to be the substitute of the traditional lamp, but much more "chachi" and, possibly, effective.
Faced with this, we have the LED backlit displays, which are nothing other than normal computer or tablet screens, which for smaller devices are manufactured with LEDs instead of other elements, and which they emit light from the screen towards our eyes. With that said, let's get down to gutting the matter a bit.
A few weeks ago the Tagus lux (light in Latin, so very original), which has nothing to envy (or yes) to Kobo Globe or Kindle Paperwhite. All of them present as the most prominent (and novel) element the LED-illuminated screens, but I have to admit that I am a bit classic for these things and I cannot avoid a question coming to my mind every time I see a reader with the screen illuminated by led: Is it really necessary?
Until the Glo poked its paw under the door (a little more or less), the normal thing was to praise the advantages for our eyes of electronic ink and, for moments of low light, put an external led lamp or a cover with light that provided the lighting what did we need all with read without hurting our eyes. Because, why deny it, taking care of our eyes is the main advantage of an electronic ink screen (e-ink for friends).
Someone will say that of: «I have been told that the backlit displays they are not so bad for the eyes. True, I have to spend a few hours a day in front of a computer for work reasons and my eyes have not fallen I have no vision problems (at the moment). But I will not deny that the day I do not use the computer my eyes do not itch or hurt, even though I have spent reading in my dear reader the same hours that I would normally spend working with the computer.
However, for some time now new models have been coming out with what seems essential: a small LED assembly that illuminates the screen "evenly" and that improves our reading experience… So they say, but do illuminated screens really improve it?
I have had in my hands a Kindle Paperwhite And, indeed, the initial reading is more pleasant, the text appears sharper, but in the long run, won't my eyes suffer? Because if I have spent a small fortune on a reader it is because I appreciate my eyes, otherwise I would have bought a tablet that is much more versatile.
The main advantage of the electronic ink it is precisely its growing similarity to paper, to a traditional book. The fact of needing a light source that illuminates the screen to be able to read instead of emitting light towards us reduces the fatigue of our eyes. However, displays with built-in lighting seem to straddle the 'pure reader' (which is little eye strain) and backlit displays (which can be a disaster on the eyes).
The LEDs that surround the screen illuminate it uniformly (although not as much as the manufacturers claim) and with an angle that does not affect our eyes directly, which allows us to read with the advantages of electronic ink but without the disadvantages of backlit screens. In this way we also avoid the reflections that a led lamp can produce on our screen.
In addition to this, several readers of this type have high contrast HD displays, having a higher resolution to the usual (which does not exceed 600 × 800), which is still an added advantage compared to "normal" screens. I leave you a small list with the readers with illuminated screen and HD:
- Kindle Paperwhite
- Kobo Globe
- Tagus lux
- Onyx Box i62HD Firefly
- bq Cervantes Touch Light
- Bookeen Cybook Odyssey HD Frontlight
- FNAC Touch Plus
Apart from these, we cannot forget readers that, like the Nook, add to the illuminated screen without modifying the 600 × 800 original resolution.
Given this, I have to admit that in most cases illuminated screens have a greater sharpness than their unlit sisters, although it is not as uniform as its manufacturers would have us believe (Even Amazon has recognized it from its Paperwhite). With them we can avoid the reflections that sometimes the LED lamp that they incorporate in the case or that we have bought to read in low light produces, apart from being more comfortable to have an "all in one" than to walk with the ordinary lamp.
I think the light has come to stay, although there is still a little way to go until we find the ideal and truly uniform lighting that we readers want.
More information - Kobo Glo, the new Kobo ereader
Sources - House of the book, kobo, Amazon, Backlit displays