[mgmueller]

Quite some time since my last personal ratings...

Touch readers:
#1: nook touch
In addition to its touchscreen it has buttons for turning pages. Quite convenient.
#2: Kindle touch and Kobo touch
Very similar readers, even the stores are extremely similar.
#3: Sony touch
I never liked the placement of the physical buttons, below the screen. It somehow looks and feels somewhat cheap. I don't like the menu structure very much.

Tablets:
#1: Motorola Xoom 2, Media Edition
It's unbelievably compact and mobile, without being flimsy or fragile. I love the quality and placement of the speakers.
#2: BlackBerry PlayBook
I'm not into side loading the Android apps. So, if you just rely on the official market, it still lacks lots of apps. But it has the best "Plants vs. Zombies" implementation I've seen so far! And the Kobo app for reading. Basically, I have most apps I need. And as a tablet, it still has the most advanced OS/UI, a phantastic display and great speakers.
#3: Sony Tablet P
It certainly has some weak spots. It can be rather tricky, to flick from one screen to the other because of the gap inbetween. But I love the compactness and have it with me most of the times. Extremely weak and disappointing speaker, though. Mono! From Sony!!
#4: HP TouchPad
It's a shame, HP killed it. Or do they revitalize it, as rumors say? Still: Great OS, great display. Lacking apps, but enough to work with it.
#5: Apple iPad 3
I hear lots of you scream in disagreement. Yes, the display is great. Yes, whenever I take it out of my closet, I'm again and again fascinated about the build quality and sturdiness. Still, I simply find it boring. It's working out of the box perfectly. But I simply don't have fun playing around with it.
And there are quite a few weak spots: One of the worst speakers of all tablets around. And I really hate the file management. I've mailed some ePUBs to a friend. On Android, you simply would move them to the folder of choice. On iOS, without jailbreak, you can't do anything with it. 3 of the 4ePUBs aren't recognized. You have to import them via iTunes.
#6: Samsung and all the others I've got
I'm using my Samsung units less and less frequently. I turn all my tablets and readers off over night. I simply have too many of them, lots of them I don't use for days or even weeks, so I want to preserve battery. Whenever I start any of my Samsungs, Media Scan takes forever. I really don't get it. Why does it take so long to scan a 16GB SD card? Very annoying.


Dedicated readers (except the touch units I've mentioned separately):
#1: Kindle DX
Still my "all-time favorite". Would it have a touchscreen in addition, it would be perfect. I love the free 3G. I always run out of SIM cards, still very much prefer having 3G when on the road.
#2: nook classic
Still surprisingly good. I love the touch and feel.
#3: Kindle 3
I don't like the multi-function button. Too small for my taste. Else, a great reader.
#4: All the others
I don't use any of them anymore.
I still like iRex iLiad, iRex 800, Cybook Opus, Sony 900, Spring Design Alex and PocketBook 360.
But I've got hundreds of books on each of my touch readers "out of the box" (downloadable from the respective stores, directly on the readers), so I'm just too lazy to fumble around with calibre and such to get my books onto those other readers.