E-reader wars: does the iPad's retina display measure up to e-ink?

> subpixel rendering is truly the way to improve a display

Am I crazy or is that an outright falsehood? The entire point of subpixel rendering is to deal with pixels that are too large. If you make the pixels smaller, subpixel rendering becomes moot. Smaller pixels improve the display in every way that subpixel rendering does, and without the fuzziness or undesired coloring.

Perhaps my greatest concern for e-reading is "how does it affect my ability to fall asleep when I read in bed?". A 10" iPad puts out way too much light even at the lowest setting and keeps me awake. An e-ink device works much better because it uses indirect light. However, I've found that my 4" phone works best of all. On its lowest setting it puts out very little light. And surprisingly 4" is also a better form factor for reading novels. The small screen reduces the amount of eye scan needed, and the small size also allows a very large variety of comfortable reading positions.

I've never found the lcd vs e-ink to be much of an issue as far as eyestrain goes. I read several hundred books no problem on my old Palm IIIc which had, wait for it, 160px by 160px resolution. The e-ink is nice too though, but the need for an external light makes reading in bed a pain. I wish Amazon would just make a kindle with an LED built in(like the Sony PRS-700).

I love reading technical books on my ipad3, but much prefer novels on my Kindle 4 or my 4" phone.