Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrgauth
I am really struggling with a decision. I know most of the arguments comparing the two (size, eink vs backlit, price, etc etc), but what I would like to know is for those of you who are avid readers which of the two could you not part with if you could only have one?
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I have an iphone and a Sony 505. If I had to make a choice, I'd take the iphone, and if it were a Touch rather than an iphone, I'd take the Touch, assuming that I'd have a separate phone - and even if I had no other programs on the Touch (not even iTunes) other than reading programs and Safari.
I use the 505 along with calibre to read internet articles, magazines and public domain books. I don't tend to read ebooks that I have to purchase, in part because I use a mac and do not have easy access to as many current ebooks as I would if I could access Amazon or the Sony bookstore, which does not work with a mac. But that's fine, because there's a lot of good public domain reading out there.
But on my iphone, I have discovered a quartet of apps which make it astonishingly useful as an ereader. The apps are Stanza, Kindle, Google Books and Instapaper Pro.
The Stanza app is my main iphone reader. I use in conjunction with Stanza Desktop. This app allows me to buy books directly from Fictionwise, plus sync with the Desktop to get nearly any public domain book I want. (edit: I have just learned how to use calibre to move books into Stanza, and it is a bit easier to do.
http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/user_m...ghlight=iphone)
Kindle and Google Books are essentially emergency alternatives to Stanza. The Kindle app is the one I use least, simply because as I said, I don't tend to buy recent ebooks. Plus I don't like Amazon for reasons I've articulated on another thread, and try not to use it except as a last resort. But nevertheless, it affords the best access on the iphone to current ebooks, if I can't find them on Fictionwise. Google Books is a bit clumsy to use on the iphone, but once you locate a book you want to read it's easy enough to use. However, I don't know if it stores books on the iphone or accesses the file via the phone network, so it might not perform as needed on the Touch. I use it mainly for certain pdfs that won't translate to Stanza.
So far, what I have listed is essentially a combination of iphone apps which basically compete with my 505. Because of the Kindle app, I could get a little more by way of current ebooks on my iphone, but the Sony combined with calibre gives me magazines and newspapers not generally available on the iPhone. I might add that calibre can be used to get all kinds of internet articles & upload them to the Sony, but the same could be done via the Stanza Desktop, although not as neatly & easily.
The app that pushes the iphone over the top for me is Instapaper Pro.
http://www.instapaper.com/ It works as a Firefox ad-on and as an iPhone app. The app comes in a free version and a 10 buck pro version.
First, you put Instapaper on your toolbar. Click on the button & it saves a copy of the web page you are viewing to a server somewhere. You wind up with a list of all the articles you have saved, in either web page or text format. You can read them in your browser if you want.
But on the iphone, once you've selected your articles via Firefox on your computer, you sync the app and all your downloads are on your iPhone. In the pro version, you can resize the text, email the article, touch any embedded links to invoke Safari, and exit/return to the same point in the article, as a kind of bookmark. Plus, you have something called "tiltscroll" which allows you to just tilt the iPhone back & forth to have the text/webpage slowly scroll while you read it - no need to touch or swipe.
So...with this combination I can get most of what I want to read on my iphone. I can get a bit less on my 505.
The 505 is easier on the eyes. The 505 can show more text per page, and is therefore a little easier to dive into & push the device out of your consciousness.
But the iphone goes wherever I go. On the whole, it requires less fiddling with to load it with reading material. I have found that it does disappear from consciousness as I read. The Stanza app page turning is by a tap (better than a swipe) and it uses a page-curl effect that has a psychological "flow" effect by dragging your attention from the bottom right of the page to the top left of the next one (better than the fadeout/fadein of the 505.)
And the cherry on the top of the sundae is that I also have access to iTunes, with the audiobooks, podcasts, music and even videos.
If all I read were ebooks, and if I always had a large pocket or briefcase with me, or did all my reading at home - I might chose the 505. But given that I always seem to be going somewhere, I'd take the Touch.
Funny thing is, I often find myself reading on my iphone at home, even though I have the exact same material on my 505 or on my computer.
