

To change content, you have to refresh the entire screen. Of course, e-readers have some disadvantages:ġ. Since e-readers pretty much uses light from surroundings, no need to crank up the display brightness unlike smartphones and tablets for content to be readable in direct sunlight.

Sunlight legibility which is related to 2. E-readers, while not completely removing eye discomfort, significantly reduces this since e-ink does not need a backlight (unless you're reading in the dark) and uses only the reflected light from the surroundings to illuminate the display.ģ. Of course, that causes eye discomfort or bad effects to your eyes after long periods of time staring at your phone or tablet. All tablets and smartphone still need some light to display content on the screen. That's one reason why people still buy dedicated e-readers. But still it's gonna be way longer than any tablet or smartphone.Ģ. However, if you're gonna use your e-reader at night, battery life is gonna go down significantly when using a backlight. That's because e-ink only uses power when flipping or changing pages. On the other hand, Kobo, Kindle and other dedicated e-readers usually have battery life in days, weeks or even months. That's because they still have to light up pixels while displaying text, hence they consume power while displaying text. Most tablets and phones won't last half a day, or a day at most if used (probably if you turn down display brightness to the minimum) as an e-reader. It's true that many tablets and smartphones can be used as e-readers by installing the Kindle app or some other e-reader app, but they still don't have two (or three) things that dedicated e-readers like the Kindle and Kobo have:ġ.
