While I agree that this sounds like all the drawbacks of an ereader with none of the bonuses of a phone, I think compartmentalisation is a pretty big factor. If the back of your phone is for reading, some people will be less likely to get distracted while their phone is flipped over - even though they’re literally holding the likely source of their distraction.
Edit: I feel stupid, but it occurs to me that you don’t have to have it attached to the back of your phone. I’m actually considering getting one now…
To an extent that’s how it works with my ebook. Got a case off Etsy that has a snap-shut pocket the size of my phone. That couple seconds to unclip it and slide it out in addition to unlocking it makes it a lot less tempting to check on that ding that went off while reading.
you can’t overstate how much nicer it is to read on an eink screen compared to a phone. but the magnet gimmick is silly, it’s hard to use it like that and negates one of the main benefits, which is how light it is
I have an eink ereader, and it really is wonderful, but I absolutely would not use it as much if it was the size and shape of my phone. For short stretches I guess it’s fine, but one of the reasons I got an ereader is because my phone was so ergonomically bad for reading.
i’ll try not to sound like a shill here (i bought the x4 a few months ago) but i thought the same and tried it anyway due to how cheap it was. the text can of course be set to the same size you like it on a normal ereader but it’s so light that you can hold it in thumb + forefinger without effort, i quickly came to prefer it over the old kindle paperwhite i was using
Honestly, people seem to really like them based on the comments here. 70 seems silly to essentially combine two products I already have, but I may give it a week or so and if it’s still top of mind go ahead with it. I really appreciate people bothering to share their experiences with it, since I really was not convinced by the article.
I think of it less as “combine”, and more “separate” on purpose. There’s the images pointing out how much stuff one had to carry before that a smartphone replaces as one slab but… it doesn’t do most of those things as well.
I really like my X4 from that standpoint. It’s much longer battery than my phone screen grants, and I don’t have to open any menus to toggle anything to say “go away, notifications”, or anything like that. I’m separated from everything else on my phone while I read on it.
That’s fair. I did get an ereader in part to have a dedicated device for reading that had an eink display, so I get that desire. Part of me still feels it’s a bit ewaste-y, but whatever gets people to read more is generally good in my opinion.
While I agree that this sounds like all the drawbacks of an ereader with none of the bonuses of a phone, I think compartmentalisation is a pretty big factor. If the back of your phone is for reading, some people will be less likely to get distracted while their phone is flipped over - even though they’re literally holding the likely source of their distraction.
Edit: I feel stupid, but it occurs to me that you don’t have to have it attached to the back of your phone. I’m actually considering getting one now…
To an extent that’s how it works with my ebook. Got a case off Etsy that has a snap-shut pocket the size of my phone. That couple seconds to unclip it and slide it out in addition to unlocking it makes it a lot less tempting to check on that ding that went off while reading.
you can’t overstate how much nicer it is to read on an eink screen compared to a phone. but the magnet gimmick is silly, it’s hard to use it like that and negates one of the main benefits, which is how light it is
I have an eink ereader, and it really is wonderful, but I absolutely would not use it as much if it was the size and shape of my phone. For short stretches I guess it’s fine, but one of the reasons I got an ereader is because my phone was so ergonomically bad for reading.
i’ll try not to sound like a shill here (i bought the x4 a few months ago) but i thought the same and tried it anyway due to how cheap it was. the text can of course be set to the same size you like it on a normal ereader but it’s so light that you can hold it in thumb + forefinger without effort, i quickly came to prefer it over the old kindle paperwhite i was using
Honestly, people seem to really like them based on the comments here. 70 seems silly to essentially combine two products I already have, but I may give it a week or so and if it’s still top of mind go ahead with it. I really appreciate people bothering to share their experiences with it, since I really was not convinced by the article.
I think of it less as “combine”, and more “separate” on purpose. There’s the images pointing out how much stuff one had to carry before that a smartphone replaces as one slab but… it doesn’t do most of those things as well.
I really like my X4 from that standpoint. It’s much longer battery than my phone screen grants, and I don’t have to open any menus to toggle anything to say “go away, notifications”, or anything like that. I’m separated from everything else on my phone while I read on it.
That’s fair. I did get an ereader in part to have a dedicated device for reading that had an eink display, so I get that desire. Part of me still feels it’s a bit ewaste-y, but whatever gets people to read more is generally good in my opinion.