iPad Kindle Review: Kindle 3, iPad Thoughts

[kjk]

http://ireaderreview.com/2010/07/30/...ipad-thoughts/

Not a review, more the blogger's thoughts on both devices. Worth a read if you are trying to decide to get one, the other, or both. Also sounds like the Kindle 3 screen is MUCH better than the Kindle 2.

( I do question his: "LCD is just as good as eInk is a fallacy. Yes, there is 5% to 10% of the population that isn’t affected. The rest of us are human" statement. Made up percentages don't make an opinion more valid But let's not get into the whole eInk/LCD thing. )

One thing that did strike me, and it has come up before in threads here (and other iPad/eReader articles I've read); the whole "iPad has all these distractions from reading" issue (the blogger mentions Chess in his article-wonder which app he's using!).

When I read, I read. Doesn't matter if its the iPad, my iPhone, my Sony, my paperback, or the back of a cereal box.

[junkyardwillie]

I think the iPad is the better device. People that are crazy about reading books want to read the actual books mostly. People that are willing to cross over to an electronic format are typically not the people reading 8 books a week, they may read 2-3 per month. In the downtime between reading a book, the iPad can do a lot more than a Kindle can and you have easy access to read a lot of other material, RSS feeds, websites, magazines etc that are better displayed in color than in B&W. The only real benefit of a Kindle is if you read outdoors constantly and at that point you might want to think more about skin cancer than what your next book will be.

Also "LCD is just as good as eInk is a fallacy. Yes, there is 5% to 10% of the population that isn’t affected. The rest of us are human." What study did he do that concluded this result? Its odd that people have been doing work on monitors for about the past 15 years easily and haven't had much of a problem reading on it (the internet took off on monitors) but now that eInk is available people must not be able to read on an LCD screen. I guess 95% of people browse the web by clicking a link in Google and then printing out a hardcopy of each page of a site to read it.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by junkyardwillie

People that are crazy about reading books want to read the actual books mostly. People that are willing to cross over to an electronic format are typically not the people reading 8 books a week, they may read 2-3 per month.

I'd have thought the opposite was true, with voracious readers seeing more of a point in eReaders, and also finding it easier to justify the purchase by volume read (and carried).

Graham

[carld]

Originally Posted by Graham

I'd have thought the opposite was true, with voracious readers seeing more of a point in eReaders, and also finding it easier to justify the purchase by volume read (and carried).

Graham

I agree. I'd say our ranks are crammed full of voracious readers. As you say, we can justify the cost of the device specifically because we read so much.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by junkyardwillie

Also "LCD is just as good as eInk is a fallacy. Yes, there is 5% to 10% of the population that isn’t affected. The rest of us are human." What study did he do that concluded this result? Its odd that people have been doing work on monitors for about the past 15 years easily and haven't had much of a problem reading on it (the internet took off on monitors) but now that eInk is available people must not be able to read on an LCD screen. I guess 95% of people browse the web by clicking a link in Google and then printing out a hardcopy of each page of a site to read it.

Every time people bring up the issue of e-ink there is always somebody who trots out the response that people having been using lcds all day for years, but this ignores a crucial difference when reading a book it is a lot closer to your face than when you are using a monitor not to mention the obvious point that if you are using an lcd all day then why extend that if you have other options.

Personally, I can read fine on my ipad and I have been doing so quite a bit lately to try it out, but I still prefer to read on an e-ink reader if I am reading for an extended amount of time.

[VictoriaP]

Originally Posted by junkyardwillie

I think the iPad is the better device. People that are crazy about reading books want to read the actual books mostly. People that are willing to cross over to an electronic format are typically not the people reading 8 books a week, they may read 2-3 per month.

I'm not sure where you got this from, but I read an average of a book a day on my Kindle last year. It was both easier and faster than reading on paper. Moreover, those I know who've purchased ANY kind of ereader are the type to do the same--utterly voracious lifetime readers. Most light readers think an ereader isn't worth the cost.

[pagansoul]

I'm in the 1 or 2 books a week, not counting comics and magazines. Depends on the amount of pages. I tend to read at least 100 pages (text) a day but it takes me a lot longer to read my comics and magazines as I am looking at illustrations. I do have to charge my ipad every night because even if I'm not reading I am playing the music in the background. It sits right next to my work PC. My Kindle never got the same workout when I used it. I never played music on it. I think the best thing about the Kindle was using Calibre to load news feeds on to it. I'm going to have to start doing that on the ipad.

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Every time people bring up the issue of e-ink there is always somebody who trots out the response that people having been using lcds all day for years, but this ignores a crucial difference when reading a book it is a lot closer to your face than when you are using a monitor not to mention the obvious point that if you are using an lcd all day then why extend that if you have other options.

Personally, I can read fine on my ipad and I have been doing so quite a bit lately to try it out, but I still prefer to read on an e-ink reader if I am reading for an extended amount of time.

Sometimes (depending on the person) it just will mean that you will be finally able to read without your glasses on. I get all kind of reading material through the lcd screen my laptop (for 8-10 hours a day if not more), and after a while... ouch.

[dwharrison]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Every time people bring up the issue of e-ink there is always somebody who trots out the response that people having been using lcds all day for years, but this ignores a crucial difference when reading a book it is a lot closer to your face than when you are using a monitor not to mention the obvious point that if you are using an lcd all day then why extend that if you have other options.

I've also heard that when you use an LCD at work, you are not staring at it consistently. You are looking around, at documents on your desk, at people who come to your desk, and so forth, and that gives your eyes chances to rest that they may not get when sitting down and reading. I think there is some truth to that. Also, my monitor is further away from my eyes than I can comfortably hold a book or ereader, so the distance may be a factor as well.

Personally, I don't have a problem reading on LCDs including my iPad but then I never have the brightness all of the way up. A properly adjusted LCD should really not be much brighter than a sheet of white paper under ambient lighting.

Of the two, I prefer the iPad simply because it means that I don't have to reach for another device when I want to do something else. The downside is that when the children are awake, I inevitably hear a chorus of "I want to play a game."

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by dwharrison

I've also heard that when you use an LCD at work, you are not staring at it consistently. You are looking around, at documents on your desk, at people who come to your desk, and so forth, and that gives your eyes chances to rest that they may not get when sitting down and reading. I think there is some truth to that. Also, my monitor is further away from my eyes than I can comfortably hold a book or ereader, so the distance may be a factor as well.

Whenever I have had a workstation assessment by the health and safety people in work that thing about looking away regularly is something that they make a point of mentioning, doing something to allow your eyes to relax rather than staring at the screen the whole time.