Meet the Kindle
Whether youâre an avid or a casual reader, odds are youâll be spending a lot of time with your Kindle in hand. The device itself does a pretty good job of getting out of the way while you read (something that Amazon makes a big deal of in its marketing). That being the case, letâs take a quick tour of the Kindle device before it fades to the background of that latest thriller.
The Screen
All versions of the Kindle use a screen technology called E Ink. Itâs quite unlike the screens on any computer youâve used before, because an E Ink display looks just like a printed page. That brings with it many of the big advantages of print, namely:
- E Ink is easy to read in broad daylight, unlike the screen on your laptop.
- Itâs also readable from any viewing angle (except when facing directly away from you, of course!). Tilt your screen around and youâll see it looks the same, not faded or, in the case of old LCD screens, like a film negative.
- No electricity is necessary to keep the letters from disappearing.
If you stop to think about it, this last point is a big deal. Pretty much every electronic device youâve ever used needs power to keep the screen going. (This is even true of old LCD wristwatches. Remember when those were cutting-edge?) E Ink displays, like the one in your Kindle, only need power to change the screen but not to keep it going. This is why your Kindle gets incredible battery life. Itâs also why it switches into one of those screensaver ...
