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Your computer monitor almost certainly has a lower quality display than the iPad. Cheap tablets will also have lower quality displays. This may be in terms of brightness, viewing angle, or contrast... and most good tablets will have high quality LCD displays. (I pointed out the iPad because it's still what everyone knows).
Smartphones will also vary widely in the type of display used. Some smartphones I've used have pretty horrible displays while some are bright and crisp.
e-ink ebook readers don't vary as much. Everything looks like it's printed on paper... though the newer ones may look more like a paperback's printing while the older ones look more like a newspaper's printing.
A display hurting your eyes may be due to eyestrain from trying to focus on a hard to see display (such as an LCD in sunlight, or one with poor contrast), or it may be because the display is too bright. Any number of factors may cause reading on a device to be uncomfortable. I know people who read comfortably on ancient, low contrast palm devices while others can barely stand the best LCDs. Most people seem to agree that e-ink does give the best reading experience though.
The iPad and other tablets $500 or more tend to have good quality LCD displays.
Smartphones vary widely, but the display is one of the more expensive components, and is often indicated fairly well by price.
The Kindle, Nook, Sony readers, and many others are e-ink.
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