Patrick H:

Your right the the technology seems dated, because it is essentially the same concept as a classic digital watch. An electric current is applied to the screen to make it opaque. No current for “white” on a page, or turn the current on for “black” on a page. Simple, eh?

LCD screens works in a somewhat similar way.The problem lies in the inherent darkness of an LCD screen. Because the screen are somewhat transparent, the solution is to slap a light on the backside of the LCD screen to light it up. Think about it, if you were to read a book off a monitor, you’d be essentially staring at a light bulb while reading a 500 page novel. It gets hard on the eyes overtime.

E readers, on the other hand, have no back light. They are transparent enough that ambient light will be enough to light up the screen. So it really is like reading off a printed page. Also through recent development in technology, it takes no additional energy for an e reader to display a page once it’s been loaded. On the other hand, LCD screens have to have a constant supply of energy to function, even if the “page” is never turned, because that back light needs power, and and so do those those liquid crystals.