Electronic ink technology provides unlimited options for reading lovers, but the development of this technology over the past decades was characterized by extreme slowness compared to smartphones. However, it has begun to witness an unprecedented acceleration over the past few years, and the credit was due to many major companies innovating colored smart reading devices (electronic ink).

Long Reading Without Eye Strain

Ahmed Fouad, a specialist in electronic ink technology and smart reading devices, explained that electronic ink technology is a technology developed in order to provide a experience very similar to paper reading (non-colored). It is dedicated to long reading without eye strain, through special screens that carry inside them infinitesimal capsules whose diameter is smaller than the diameter of a human hair. They move only when changing the page on the screen (page turning), then the particles remain in a static state (which makes them slower), meaning that they do not need any energy as long as they are on one page, and therefore they save energy significantly.

The advantage of these screens is that they are white even when they are closed, and they do not reflect light, which makes them provide a very comfortable experience for the eye. It is also possible to read under direct sunlight clearly, unlike smartphone screens with Back Light technology, which constantly and intensely broadcast light from behind the screen so that the screen is lit in front of our eyes, and because of its direction towards the reader, this causes strain and injury to the eye.

Sony and Amazon are the Pioneers of Smart Reading

Although this technology has existed for a long time, it did not appear seriously until 2004, when Sony presented its first device in this field, before it was followed by Amazon by providing its famous device "Kindle" in 2007, and then the rest of the companies followed them.

Electronic ink devices evolve much slower than smartphones, and this is not necessarily a defect, because the main purpose of these devices is reading only, while the development of smartphones is extremely necessary as they provide several services such as photography, video services, games, communications, and satellite connection.

Colored Devices 

But during the past two years, the pace of development of electronic reading devices (electronic ink) has accelerated and some companies have released colored devices for the first time.

Advantages of Smart Reading

Among the most prominent advantages provided by smart reading devices are:

• Total comfort for the eye during long reading.
• The devices are dedicated to reading only, away from any distraction due to application notifications.
• Your entire library is with you anywhere, meaning you can read any book at any time.
• The electronic reader is light compared to a massive paper book.
• Battery lasts for three weeks.

Smart Reading in the Arab World

Reading devices began to spread in the Arab world since approximately 2018, and in that year Amazon announced official support for Kindle devices to read Arabic books and made them available in its library. Also, Chinese companies began to provide very advanced reading devices, supporting the Arabic language fully, in addition to supporting many famous file formats such as EPUB and PDF, the possibility of uploading private files, and the possibility of installing exclusive reading applications such as Abjad and Jarir Reader, for example.

Kindle devices are available in the Arab world through Amazon websites on the Internet. As for Chinese devices, the best of which are Onyx Boox and Likebook devices, they are significantly widespread in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and one of the most famous companies that has a long history in these devices is the Maqrou company. Recently, there has been a remarkable interest from Arab readers in such devices, which means the beginning of their spread in the rest of the Arab countries soon.

I believe that Arab publishing houses will support electronic books, as many Arab publishing houses have turned to providing their books in electronic format starting from last year. Also, in order to increase the awareness of the Arab reader of this technology, I have dedicated an entire tab specialized in electronic reading devices on my personal website "Alam Moazi Platform", and the platform released a free electronic book in PDF format entitled "A World That Looks Like Us" authored by writers from various Arab countries as an initiative to support electronic books.