The good and the ugly of reading on a smart phone

[jbcohen]

Good:

1) Fewer things to carry: Going to be carrying the phone anyhow so why not use it for multiple things;
2) Free 3G
3) Costs me $0, my employer supplies it and fixes it for $0;

The ugly

1) Terrible battery life
2 ) Small screen, means flipping pages more often
3) Interruptions from email and text

[Cinisajoy]

You forgot the bad.
It is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."
Old Clint Eastwood movie.

[Cosimo]

For me, it's all ugly. I don't enjoy it at all and I have a phone with a large screen.

[Barbara1955]

What did you do before cell phone & the Phone on the wall? Book huge & clumsy. You are reading ....1 ignore phone keep reading or 2 put the book down & answer the phone?

To me its the same difference. Some one call & I reading I going to Answer the phone.

Cell phone I am reading & it rings I can answer when done go right back to reading with out jumping up & down. Or trying to remember where I left the book or what page I was on.

Battery Life... carry a battery boost

[MGlitch]

I generally wear a hoodie/jacket with a pocket big enough for my Kobo H2O. It weighs virtually nothing, and I still have pockets for my iPhone. I can't think of a good reason to read on a such a small screen with what it would do to the battery life, and it being backlit etc. etc.

I ignored the phone in the days of physical books.

[Cinisajoy]

I ignored everything when I was in the middle of a good book.

[NickyWithNook]

My new phone has great battery life. It's a Samsung S7. I plug it in every night but I've never run out of power, even if I'm reading on it a lot. Plugging my phone in at night is an old habit. I'd do it no matter how much charge was left.

The only negative is the small screen, but if I'm into a book I flip pages without noticing.

[Barbara1955]

Hope you 2 didn't miss any emergency phone calls...

[shalym]

Originally Posted by NickyWithNook

My new phone has great battery life. It's a Samsung S7. I plug it in every night but I've never run out of power, even if I'm reading on it a lot. Plugging my phone in at night is an old habit. I'd do it no matter how much charge was left.

I also plug my phone in at night. That's why it's a good thing that I use my Kindle to read in bed.

Shari

[cfrizz]

I will never have less than a 5 inch smart phone which is easy to read. My Note 2 is 5.5". The first thing I do when I get home is plug it in to charge, and put it in my pocket the next morning.

I keep my phone in airplane mode 95% of the time so I don't have to worry about distractions. It gets used mainly as an ereader/mp3 player.

Very few people have my cell phone number, and even they know that they can call me at home or work if needed.

My phone is here for my convenience, no one else.

[Mivo]

For me, the e-ink reader is still the best compromise between real books (which I find easiest and most pleasant to read from, but that are bulky, slow to import, and take up a lot of space) and phones/tablets (versatile multi-purpose devices, high powered, convenient, but backlit, distracting, sunlight-unfriendly, and recharge-intensive).

Mostly, though, it's all about e-ink being easier on my eyes and the readers having the option to turn off the front light when not needed. I spent most of my day in front of an LCD display, I don't need and want to stare at one when reading recreationally.

[michaeltoye]

Your pros and cons are very subjective.

Personally, if I want to read a book, I'll read the book. If my phone is annoying to read, I'll take my kindle.

I'm 46. There's no stigma for me to carry a satchel/bag with my stuff in it.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I will never have less than a 5 inch smart phone which is easy to read. My Note 2 is 5.5". The first thing I do when I get home is plug it in to charge, and put it in my pocket the next morning.

What do you use to read on at home, then? That's when I get most of my reading done. During the day, I may have 10 minutes here and there to read, but most of the time I'm working.

Shari

[Froide]

I do most of my reading while commuting or traveling, and typically carry an ereader (NOOK Tablet, followed by a NOOK HD) with me for that purpose. I also take my ereader with me on trips, and it's my preferred way of reading books (except textbooks, heavily illustrated books, technical manuals, or periodicals), whether at home or away from home. However, when the NOOK needs recharging, or when out and about sans the NOOK, I have no qualms about reading on my smartphone.

So...

The good (about reading on a smartphone):

• It's small, convenient to carry, and always at hand, so I can read whenever, wherever I want to
• It's got onboard reference materials and can access more online, if needed
• It can easily access my existing Calibre and audiobooks libraries, as well as sources of new material via the Internet, portable storage media, or sideloading
• The Samsung Galaxy smartphone screens are not uncomfortably small (for most reading)
• It syncs my reading progress with other devices
• It's easy to hold one-handed
• Reading on it, in conjunction with another device, nicely substitutes for flipping between pages of a DTB - especially handy for reading text passages or instructions on one device while viewing associated reference notes or illustrations (e.g., maps, images, graphs, diagrams, charts) on the other. (Big contributor to my decision to forego buying a phablet to serve as both ereader/tablet and phone)
• It's well-suited to consulting/managing one's shopping list or to following recipes when cooking
• It recharges quickly, even with a portable battery pack

The bad (about reading on a smartphone):

• The screen's too small for this to be my primary ereader or sole ereader, since I read many textbooks, technical manuals, image-laden books, and periodicals that better lend themselves to larger screens
• Unlike NickyWithNook's experience, my Samsung Galaxy S7's battery life is only so-so, when not in airplane mode

The ugly (about reading on any ereading device):

• Its vampiric dependence upon electricity (unlike a DTB), and hence the need to always carry an "electronics" kit (comprising at minimum, a cord, wall charger, and portable power pack)

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by shalym

What do you use to read on at home, then? That's when I get most of my reading done. During the day, I may have 10 minutes here and there to read, but most of the time I'm working.

Shari

My 22 inch pc monitor. I have spent years reading from my computer/monitor when I realized I could easily adjust the size of the font while reading my fan fiction Word docs.

Naturally that carried through for ebooks. I had the software on my pc before I bought my first ereader.