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Comment by qwerty456127 | Hacker News Reader

Why would an e-ink device even need a screensaver or to turn the display off? Isn't just leaving a displayed picture as it is the most energy-efficient and display-saving solution on e-ink?

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Makes sense just from privacy standpoint. Don’t need everyone to see I’m reading a juicy Harry Potter fanfic erotica or whatever website I had up in the Kindle browser.

> Why would an e-ink device even need a screensaver

To display adverts?

OMG. Thanks g-d I have a PocketBook rather than a Kindle and have never seen ads on e-ink...

Note: Back when I bought my Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon offered an ad-supported version and one completely without ads.

The price difference IIRC was roughly $99/$119, so please don't let the parent mislead you into thinking every Kindle comes with ads.

Thanks. Nice to know.

As unobtrusive as the ads on a Kindle are, there is not really any good reason to pay the extra to avoid them. At least the e-ink ones. If I was going to ever buy another Kindle Fire, I would definitely get an ad-free version though.

I paid extra to get the ad-free version of the Kindle Paperwhite thinking I was dodging obnoxious ads for random products.

Turns out the ad is just a featured book on the lock screen. I regret paying extra. Seeing the ad for Leviathan Wakes on my gf’s Kindle is how I discovered The Expanse series.

What does the lock screen display if you don't have ads? I might not be interested in paying to not have ads, but paying to put a picture of the family on the lock screen might have some appeal.

It displays a randomly selected picture from a preselected set of six. Swapping to your own screensaver requires jailbreaking your kindle, and if you're going to do that, save the $15.

Thanks.... that's a little disappointing, but I appreciate the info.

I have a TV that does that too. I get random artistic photos from Google rather than the curated family photos I would prefer.

The DX doesn't have ads. The newer ones you can pay like $15 to not have ads but they still have screensavers.

Exactly, your choice is either ads-as-screensavers or one-time $15 purchase to get generic screensavers instead.

There's a paired backlight, which consumes power, so there's an off button.

DX doesn't have a backlight (or ads).

If this is true, it's a design mistake. Backlight should never be paired, it should be activated on demand either by a button or by an ambiance light sensor. Having backlight turned on when reading a book on an e-ink screen during a day is a ridiculous waste of battery unless you hide in a closet.

There's a brightness adjust, which goes from "off" to "really quite bright thanks". Ambient light sensor was added with the Voyage? which is relatively recent.

Works really well for well for. Keeps my kids safe from what I am reading. I even have the pin lock enabled for the same reason.

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