Shawn does one of his typical in-depth reviews. He does a number of comparisons to the iPad, as well. Personally, I don’t get the Kindle — never have.
∞ Shawn Blanc reviews the Kindle Touch
Shawn does one of his typical in-depth reviews. He does a number of comparisons to the iPad, as well. Personally, I don’t get the Kindle — never have.
I wish someone would write a Kindle Touch vs. Nook Simple Touch piece. I saw a couple, but neither really answer the fundamental question of which one is better. They just compare.
I get all the books I want/need from the library for free, and other books and magazines are actually cheaper to buy from the local stores than buying online. So I never understood why anyone would pay $200 for a device that requires you to buy the books & magazines to read on them.
I get that you can have dozens or even thousands of books on there at a time, but how many books can you read on a week long trip somewhere? You have to carry the Kindle and a charger anyway, so why not just save the money and carry 2 paperbacks.
The only interesting thing I see in the regular Kindle, for people that read a lot of books, is the e-ink. I think this is easier on the eyes for long reading sessions than a computer screen or iPad.
Lucky for me I don’t read that much so the iPad and iPhone work just fine for me and do a hell of a lot of other things as well.
I wouldn’t have paid $200 for a Kindle either, but now that they’re below $100 (for the cheapest), they start to make more sense.
Also, you don’t have to carry the charger around. The battery life is significantly better than even the iPad. Given that it uses virtually no battery when suspended, people rate it on the order of weeks-to-months.
I never got it either, until I tried to use the iPad on a beach. You can’t do it easily. You *can* turn up the brightness to maximum and it becomes barely readable under an umbrella, but it gets hot too quickly and the iPad shuts down. Still, I refrained, because I wanted to stay converged, wasn’t willing to pay $200+, and for most use cases the iPad was superior for me. (In fact, with a nice leather case, I find the iPad holdable in one hand!)
But, when the newest cheap Kindle hit $79, I finally jumped — partly because of the Lending Library, and partly because I’m going on vacation to the Caribbean next week. (I didn’t want anything more than the cheapest one, since the iPad handles everything else.)
I have to say, the ebook usecase is better on the Kindle, and I say this hoping that I’d prefer the iPad. The e-ink display *is* easier on the eyes. The iPad’s LCD doesn’t bother me at all (I stare at screens all day for a living), but when I’m tired, it’s not the best thing for your eyes. The Kindle’s screen is easier. Its matte surface is great for sunlight — the brighter, the easier it gets. It’s super-light, so carrying it along with the iPad isn’t a problem.
And, the biggest thing — that’s all the Kindle does. Every time I read an ebook on the iPad, I get antsy and keep on switching out to email or a game every 30 minutes. With the Kindle, it feels like a book, and there’s nothing else to do, so your focus stays there longer.
BTW — don’t use the Kindle for magazines where layout/typography/imagery is important. The iPad is infinitely superior for that, and won’t change. So, I’ll still do a lot of reading on the iPad. But, thanks to the Kindle, I might get into books again.
You can checkout library books on your Kindle now. There are also thousands of public domain books.
Right. If you read a lot of books, it’s a better device for that function. The battery life is incredible. The e-ink is great on the eyes. The feel is ligher and more compact which works nice for laying in bed. Having both an iPad and Kindle, I look at it like this: I could buy a 27″ iMac and hook it up to my cable system and use it as a TV. It has much more functionality than just a TV. But If I’m just going to watch TV, I’d be better off buying a TV.