Why have you not chosen to use a tablet for reading?

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

Over Christmas, my family went to visit my folks. We had a nice hotel room, but with four people having to charge phones, ipads, hand-held game systems. and all, I was glad that my kindle didn't need recharging over that trip!

I've got a HyperJuice portable charger and it's really useful for when I'm out of the house and wanting to charge my Kindle, iPhone or iPad. Especially since the Paperwhite comes with a USB only. I'm at university right now and forgot to charge my Kindle last night so now I have it plugged in and charging. They're not cheap but the quality is excellent and you can charge two devices at once.

http://www.hypershop.com/HyperJuice-Plug-s/220.htm

[K. Molen]

I love my new tablet dearly, and I do read magazines and comic books on it, but I would never use it to read novels. The plain text reading experience is simply superior on my Kindle in every single way, so there's no reason at all to read novels on my tablet.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

I had to make a business trip - a long weekend- a month or so ago, and it was a royal pain finding outlets in airports to plug in my iPad so I could use it. and the hotel I was in, although it had recently been remodeled, only had one outlet that wasn't being used for in-room lights, tv, fridge, microwave... and those other outlets were hidden behind heavy furniture. I usually travel with a powerstrip, but didn't this trip, and had to decide whether to charge my phone or my ipad over night.

Over Christmas, my family went to visit my folks. We had a nice hotel room, but with four people having to charge phones, ipads, hand-held game systems. and all, I was glad that my kindle didn't need recharging over that trip!

You probably now this but most Flat Screen TVs in Hotels have at least one USB charging port. When we stayed at a hotel last year it came very much in handy because with both our laptops, tablet and two cell phones most outlets were in use already.

[RZetlin]

I do not want to burn out my eyeballs with an LCD screen.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by RZetlin

I do not want to burn out my eyeballs with an LCD screen.

That's why I use this with my Android tablet. The developer is a member here and made it for his wife's Kindle Fire. It's available at the Amazon app store as well.

I use it on all my Android devices.

[Stephjk]

I bought a Kobo Glo and Samsung Galaxy Note at the same time. As far as I'm concerned they have different jobs - the tablet is for web browsing and communicating with my family and the Kobo is for reading. I live on a yacht and spend a lot of time outside so the tablet is useless for reading in sunshine, however it is perfect for taking ashore to find the nearest cafe with wifi.

[shanghaichica]

I have 2 tablets but neither are good enough for reading in long stints. I find LCD screens/back lit dipslays to be too harsh on my eyes. If I read for longer than 20 minutes at I start to get a headache. Incidentally, I had a lot of downtime at work this week and did some reading on my samsung chromebook. I found it preferable to reading on my smartphone or tablets. I think it is because it has a matte screen rather than a glossy screen. However ulitimatley I think that e-ink screens are the best screen for me.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by Blossom

That's why I use this with my Android tablet. The developer is a member here and made it for his wife's Kindle Fire. It's available at the Amazon app store as well.

I use it on all my Android devices.

Thanks for the link I shall give it a go!

[Yapyap]

I don't like reading on LCD screen. I do enough of it for work on the computer all day long anyway; by evening my eyes are just too tired to take any more of it.

And I've tried. I've adjusted colours - if I absolutely must read on the iPad, sepia background is the only one I can deal with at all - as well as brightness, but I need too much contrast to be able to read with the screen dimmed to anything approaching comfortable.

I read one footnote-heavy book on my iPad (footnote-heavy books weren't comfortable on the Kindle 3 I had at the time - not that they're comfortable on touchscreen readers either but a little bit more usable) and after that, in spite of having bought all four books in the series as ebooks already, I gave in and got the whole set as paperbacks as well, because as little as I like reading paper books these days (for the last two years, the ratio has been maybe 5 paper books vs 150 ebooks), it was still preferable to reading on my iPad 3.

It's not the weight (I read sitting in bed, with knees up and any reading material supported like that); it's not the battery life (I charge my iPad every 1-2 days anyway); it's the screen.

[Apache]

I do use a tablet for reading. I use my Nook HD+. I read everywhere with it too. It isn't any larger or heavier than the hardbacks I used to read, so size and weight isn't a problem for me.
Apache

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Do you travel away from electricity a lot?

It's actually pretty easy to do. I've been on planes that don't have AC outlets or USB ports at each seat. I've never been on a bus that has an AC outlet or USB port for charging. It's also impolite to grunt, "where AC socket," instead of greeting people because the first order of business after arriving somewhere is to start the charging process.

I could also imagine scenarios where people travel to places without access to electricity. Camping is a common one. I've also seen cabins that lack electricity (or road access for that matter).

So yes, travelling away from electricity does happen.

[booklover6]

I prefer the screen of eink to a tablet screen any day. I also prefer the longer battery life and lighter weight. This past weekend I went on an overnight trip with my 10 year old. I brought my Kobo Mini and her Lenovo 7" tablet. Lugging that tablet all day was torture on my shoulder. I will never willingly do that again. She didn't use it a ton, and the battery was down to 35% by the time we got home. 24 hours. My Kobo won't need charging any time soon. Eink is better than tablets for reading, for many reasons, to me!

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

So yes, travelling away from electricity does happen.

And thank god there's devices that have batteries that last a month so people can survive such lengthy rustic adventures.

Why are people acting like you have to charge a tablet every four hours or so to keep it from self-destructing? Or suggesting that they might actually read in lengthy enough stints to deplete a tablet's battery in a day of traveling -- thus needing to "grunt for an outlet" the second they arrive at their destination? I get 11-12 reading hours out of my Kindle Fire's battery. Which means I easily get 3 days or so between charges. Admittedly, I don't camp, but I find that I'm usually able to stumble across an outlet in that amount of time ... without having to frantically shove loved ones aside (with no greeting) in order to get to it (and without having to read with the charging cord attached).

I think the battery times on eInk device are fantastic. I do. From a technology standpoint. But I also think the need/use for weeks worth of battery is vastly overrated for the most part (for the majority of users/readers). I also think the notion of the battery-life of tablets being some sort of hardship--on anyone but the most hardcore of readers--is vastly over-exaggerated.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why are people acting like you have to charge a tablet every four hours or so to keep it from self-destructing? Or suggesting that they might actually read in lengthy enough stints to deplete a tablet's battery in a day of traveling -- thus needing to "grunt for an outlet" the second they arrive at their destination? I get 11-12 reading hours out of my Kindle Fire's battery.

It's not the tablet that'll self-destruct. It's the person who's using the tablet that will self destruct!

A few things to consider though:

Very few tablets get 11-12 hours of battery life.

Battery life drops if you're reading outdoors. (The screen needs to be at maximum brightness to be marginally readable.)

Many people will use their tablets for more battery intensive tasks.

Battery life diminishes with age and usage.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I concede that a battery that lasts for weeks might indeed be a must-have feature for a busy, world-traveling, avid reader who often visits rural areas where electricity could be scarce.

It can also be a necessity for people who read in public transport.

If it's a bright day, and I need to set my tablet to full brightness to even stand a chance to be able to see something, I can't make a trip to work and back before the battery runs out (~5 hours, at the moment, and yes, it's a lot of travel time).

I could recharge the tablet at work of course, but then I'd need to take the adapter. It doesn't work with a normal 1 Ah adapter for a phone, and it has a special cable.