MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - iPad Anyone else NOT like reading on their iPad?

hgwlackey · 06-13-2010, 05:47 PM

I love reading on my iPad. I had a Kindle 2 for six months, and I read 10 books on it. I've had the iPad for a little over two months, and I'm currently on book #20. 1.5 books/month to 9 books/month--that's a big jump.

I know that a lot of people love eInk screens, but for me the lack of contrast in anything but perfect light, the having to fiddle with the book light to try to improve the contrast, and the increasing frequency of fiddling as the book light batteries waned distracted me from the reading. Don't get me wrong, when I got the Kindle, it was, for my needs, the best device on the market. I loved it--but during that time I also read hardcopy books about as often as I read Kindle books. Both formats had their pluses and minuses. Then the iPad came out, and now I'm not only not reading hardcopy books at all (if I can help it) but I'm reading more books on the iPad alone than I was reading of Kindle and hardcopy books combined

Also, last week I bought three epubs that, if the Kindle were still my ereader, I wouldn't have considered buying in anything but hardcopy: programming books (from O'Reilly, who rock hard for their DRM-free ebook offerings). For this sort of book, I need the bigger screen (solvable with a Kindle DX), and I need to be able to flip the pages back and forth without getting frustrated over the lag (NOT solvable with a Kindle DX or any other eInk reader).

I can think of little ways I'd like to see the software improved, and yeah, sure, I wouldn't complain if the iPad weighed less (though its current weight doesn't bother me either), and I'm sure I'll appreciate improved screen resolution on future models, but overall, I think today's iPad has it fairly nailed for my needs and peculiarities.

06-13-2010, 05:47 PM	#132
hgwlackey Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 9550 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Tennessee, USA Device: Kindle Touch, HTC Thunderbolt	I love reading on my iPad. I had a Kindle 2 for six months, and I read 10 books on it. I've had the iPad for a little over two months, and I'm currently on book #20. 1.5 books/month to 9 books/month--that's a big jump. I know that a lot of people love eInk screens, but for me the lack of contrast in anything but perfect light, the having to fiddle with the book light to try to improve the contrast, and the increasing frequency of fiddling as the book light batteries waned distracted me from the reading. Don't get me wrong, when I got the Kindle, it was, for my needs, the best device on the market. I loved it--but during that time I also read hardcopy books about as often as I read Kindle books. Both formats had their pluses and minuses. Then the iPad came out, and now I'm not only not reading hardcopy books at all (if I can help it) but I'm reading more books on the iPad alone than I was reading of Kindle and hardcopy books combined Also, last week I bought three epubs that, if the Kindle were still my ereader, I wouldn't have considered buying in anything but hardcopy: programming books (from O'Reilly, who rock hard for their DRM-free ebook offerings). For this sort of book, I need the bigger screen (solvable with a Kindle DX), and I need to be able to flip the pages back and forth without getting frustrated over the lag (NOT solvable with a Kindle DX or any other eInk reader). I can think of little ways I'd like to see the software improved, and yeah, sure, I wouldn't complain if the iPad weighed less (though its current weight doesn't bother me either), and I'm sure I'll appreciate improved screen resolution on future models, but overall, I think today's iPad has it fairly nailed for my needs and peculiarities.