Quote:
Originally Posted by crossi
I've played with iPads in stores and I actually bought a Fire. I find I really dislike the Fire for pretty much everything. The weight seems uncomfortably high for reading and web browsing is awful. Even browsing Amazon's books is bad. Each time I go to the next page of books I need to expand the page again to get the text the right size. I keep selecting a book or other link when all I wanted to to was expand it or scroll and selecting one of two closely spaced links if one is just below the other is frustrating. It took me five tries once to get the right one. I haven't tried an eink reader with a touch screen but if they are as difficult to control as tablets then I probably will avoid them if at all possible. I take the Fire to work occasionally to use during my break but after half an hour of frustration with nothing accomplished I give up and go looking for a free computer terminal. Sorry about the rant but I've about given up on tablets and touch screens and am about ready to toss it as wasted money.
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I love them.
Else I wouldn't have bought a few dozen of them.
You're certainly right: Web browsing can be bothersome. Switching back and forth between mobile and PC version of a website. Scrolling endlessly on a small screen....
That's one of the reasons, why I've got more than a single unit.
In principle:
For pure reading, eINK imho can't be beat.
The readers (Kindle Paperwhite, Nook GlowLight, Kobo Aura to name a few) are extremely light. Way lighter than a tablet or even a paperback. Their battery lasts "forever", easily days of constant reading. The displays are fantastic, whether you're in the sun or a dimly lit room.
Personally, I can read fine on a tablet and do so often enough. But if possible, I always take a tablet plus a reader with me, even on a trip or on the train.
For web browsing, tablets are perfect. I clearly prefer them over my MacBook Air.
But the display of the tablet has to be big enough. My MacBook Air is 11". Of course a 6" or even an 8" tablet does have some disadvantages in comparison. But my 10.6" Surface Pro 2 for example blows my MacBook Air out off the water. I can use a mouse or a touchpad and all the tools we've gotten used to on PCs. But the touchscreen in addition simply is brillant.
And:
I'm traveling a lot.
In the past, some 10 years ago, this usually was pretty boring.
My only gadget back then: I've had iPods and the likes and connected them via SCART to the TV. So at least I was able to watch my own shows and movies in the hotel on a business trip or on vacation.
But now, with a single gadget (=tablet), I've got it all:
- Thousands of eBooks with me, all the time. And I even can buy other ones in an instant, Globally, wherever I am.
- Movies and TV shows. Of course I could watch them on my MacBook Air as well. But hooking a tablet via HDMI to the TV in a hotel is a different kind of beast. And again: I can download or stream movies and TV shows for a sheer endless supply.
- Playing games. I'm not into action games. But some brief session of Sudoku, KenKen and such is really great.
- Surfing the web. Agreed, some websites are frustrating, especially on small displays. But
for the majority of my websites, there's an app anyway. I love to check new locations in Tripadvisor. Their app works great. I book my hotels in the HRS or booking.com app and so on.
- Last but not least: On most of my tablets, I've got 3G. With the smart tariffs from Telekom, I can surf in a foreign country for a few Euros per days. Some 5 years ago, I've paid more than € 400 in a single week on vacation in Italy. Of course, I can do the same with a surfstick on my MacBook Air. But it's more convenient on a tablet and a PC certainly at least doesn't have an advantage.
Meaning:
I can do all, I need to do to "survive" a week on vacation or a business trip, on a single unit. Some may be a bit of a compromise. But else I'd need 5 different pieces of hardware for at least 3 times the price and weight...