On Wednesday, we argued that Amazon's Kindle, and ebook readers in general, are still not as good as real books. They bring a lot of great extras, but the core function -- reading -- is still better on the dead tree equivalent. Now another poor imitation of an age-old tool has come to our attention. The portable video magnifier.
These things hope to replace the time-proven magnifying glass with a considerably more expensive high-tech alternative. Hovering at around $1000, they are essentially boxes with a high contrast screen on one side and a camera on the other. You know, like nearly every cellphone and digicam you can buy.
Like the Kindle, these magnifiers add a few digital-only extras: storage of images (a whole twenty in the case of the pictured SenseView). Also like the Kindle, they require batteries and the pressing of buttons. The sense view costs $1300 and magnifies up to 22.5x. By contrast, this loupe from Amazon offers 10x and 20x magnifications. The cost? $5 (reduced from $50).
I'm sure there are some advantages to these expensive electronic eyes. If anyone out there has experience, or even worse eyesight than me, leave a comment.
The Magnifying Glass Gets an Electronic Twist [NYT]
Product page [GW Micro via Book of Joe]
