Are e-readers still too underdeveloped to be worthwhile?

shodan

The missus and I have an Elonex 511EB each which we got from Waterstones.  Absolutely fantastic and reads every book format I've thrown at it.  Epub's being the most popular.  Matched with Calibre software it is awesome!

Theydon Bois

Well the Kindle arrived Saturday, and has not left my side ever since. She picks it up from me on Wednesday, hopefully giving me time to finish the book I am reading. My missus has already commented on 'the look' that I have when I am reading from it, so knows that I now have it on my christmas list.

Smaller than the ipad obviously, but the ink truely is amazing, and no strain at all - I have been heavily reading over the last three days as though I was reading a normal book.

Gets a from me.

Steven

Hypothetical situation where the kindle was for you instead of your mother, would you keep it or refund? Could you envisage "lugging" both it and the iPad around? Obviously on the assumption the iPad is un-sellable (except for the next version). Thanks

Theydon Bois

To me they are two different products. The iPad for internet browsing, games and Comics, and the Kindle for books. I only read a book on the iPad for the book club thing as it was 70p, I doubt I would have bothered with an electronic version for £6 - I personally did not buy the iPad with books in mind.

Although I read a whole book on the ipad, it is too heavy? for comfortable reading - this sounds weird as I type it as most of my books are hardbacks and so probably weight the same, but its the way in which you hold the iPad that makes it different for this purpose. The difference is slight, and could change over repeated use though.

The iPad backlight, which although did not make any differenece to me during the book I read, could be a problem to me after reading a few books - again it would require repeated testing.

I have had the kindle tucked in my bag for reading on the tube, something I would not do with the iPad either. I dont know if this is a cost thing - the Kindle is a sixth of my iPad, but possibly size comes into it as well.

I dont think I am getting my point across - but if I have a spare £100, or get it as a present, I would be very happy and not think 'why do I need this, I have an ipad' at all, and if you gave me both, with identical books loaded on it to read (ignoring the iPads obvious other versitle points) I would probably choose the kindle.

Theydon Bois

My Mum came and took [-]my[/-] her Kindle away last night, and I miss its little monochrome pictures of Jane Austin already

Solomon Grundy

It's a sad day...I felt the same after setting my Dad's up as a Christmas present.

gavan

From the point of view of reading novels, there is no comparison between an iPad/tablet and dedicated eInk device - the eInk device is miles ahead.  eInk is almost like reading from paper - something like an iPad is just like reading from a laptop screen.

iPad/tablet scores for things like comics (does it have CBR support officially?), PDFs and reference manuals.

Given how compact eInk readers can be, if you are at all serious about reading novels then it makes sense to use a dedicated eInk Reader device.  My ideal travel combo would be a 7 or 8" tablet (for internet/video) plus an eReader (for books).

Theydon Bois

See my many cbr comic reader iPad reviews in the iPad applications forum, but the answer is yes.

Dazimus

Having had an iPad for a week or two now, it's not going to replace my Kindle. The weight of the iPad, the size, the backlight and the battery life are all negatives compared to the Kindle. I'm carrying around both in my bag and it's not a problem really as the Kindle is light and fairly small anyway.

While it's handy that the iPad can do Kindle books, it's just not the same.

confused88

Do you mean Ipad 2?