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Comment by dx034 | Hacker News Reader

But $400? Seems incredibly expensive for a device that is just able to display text and take notes.

$400USD is with 40% off too! and it's really low ppi, not even up to my personal minimum of 350ppi which really makes for decent, clear reading.

PPI really depends on the viewing distance. You're usually very close to a phone but much further away from a 27" monitor and further away still from a 65" TV.

I'd say for a large 13-inch ebook reader, a 167ppi grayscale display (for anti-aliasing) is pretty good.

Until very recently all ebook readers were around 167ppi (most of them 6 inches diagonally) and most people were OK with it.

The high prices are due to the eInk panels, they must have a very low yield at large sizes making them very expensive.

I agree on distance but there is a massive difference between an 8" device with 300+ PPI and one that's 224~ PPI, and if I'm getting a slightly larger device I'm going to want it as sharp as possible, it's a bit like having a 27" monitor - they look dreadful at 1080P, and I think they're only just good enough at 2160p which is generally 163 PPI - now you can really see the difference between that and a 27" 5K display at 218 PPI which lots a lot clearer.

e-ink based. I would totally buy it if I could test it first, but not going to drop the money for something that ships in september.

Have you seen how expensive e-readers are?

I'm not saying it's overpriced compared to other e-readers, but overpriced compared to printing and tablets.

I really like the idea and hope that it takes off when they release it, hopefully scale could make them cheaper.

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