Why E-Book Readers Have Such A Long Battery Life

2009 was a good year for ebook readers in general - and a very good year for the Amazon Kindle reader in particular. Although ebook readers have been around for a decade or so - the Franklin eBookman is generally agreed to have been the first and was released in 1999 - they only really took off in a big way during 2009.

It's probably not being too unkind to Sony to suggest that much of the credit for this must be given to Amazon. The Kindle 2.0 launch in February, followed shortly after by the DX in June, caused quite a bit of interest in ebook readers. When Amazon launched the original Kindle in 2007 the level of interest was considerably lower - so why the sudden difference?

One of Amazon's main selling points is the fact that the Kindle reader was, until very recently, the only reader available with wireless connectivity incorporated. This was also included with the original Kindle, so it doesn't really explain the sudden increase in interest in ebook readers. The Kindle 2.0 was, very definitely, much more cosmetically attractive than the original Kindle. There were also many more Kindle books available to choose from. At the february launch of the Kindle 2.0, there were 240,000 Kindle titles available from Amazon's site. In just a few months this rose to 400,000. At the moment, Amazon is adding an average of 500 new titles daily.

Or it could simply be the fact that the public had become more accustomed to digital books. Whatever the reason, it seems as if ebook readers are an idea whose time has come.

Ebook readers are portable devices which let you read ebooks - electronic or digital books. Reading ebooks has been possible for a long time of course, simply by using a PC, or maybe even an iPod. The big difference between reading on a PC monitor and an ebook reader is that the PC monitor uses a backlit LCD display. After a while this can cause you eyestrain. Ebook readers use eInk technology which is much closer to reading text typed on conventional paper - they are not backlit.

Without getting too technical, eInk displays consist of a transparent screen with electrical conductors below it. Sandwiched between the screen and the conductors are thousands of tiny spheres, each of which contains both black and white particles suspended in a liquid. The black particles have a negative charge and the white particles have a positive charge. By passing current through the conductors, either the black or white particles can be driven to the screen in such a way as to form clearly legible text.

E-ink displays only use power when the page is being "written". Once the particles have been set in place they will stay there. The e-ink technology is therefore, not only kinder to your eyes than a backlit PC screen, it also uses much less power. This means that battery life is much longer than would be the case for a backlit display - ideal for a battery powered mobile device.

At the moment there are plenty of companies who are developing their own ebook readers to compete with Amazon's Kindle. More competition in the market will produce a downward price trend, which will benefit consumers. It may be that 2009 will be remembered as the year that ebook readers became popular, but 2010 could be the year that sees them become part of the mainstream consumer electronics market. It's not out of the question that, by the end of the year, they could be every bit as popular - and commonplace - as cell phones or mp3 players.

Check out the Kindle ebook reader and have a look at the wide range of Kindle accessories available to personalise, protect and enhance your reader.