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Back to my ireader, anyone else find it tiring to read on the ipad?

I find iPad's screen brightness can get a bit tiring at times, and while sepia helps, there's no sepia option when browsing. However, ereaders like the kindle and Sony's readers annoy me because of the slow page turns, and I also find that they look grey on grey, and the lack of contrast gives me a headache. So while I often wish the iPad screen wasn't quite so bright, it's a much better ereader for me than any other options on market at the moment.
 
I had a Kindle 2. I read MUCH more on my iPad (26 books in 2 and a half months, compared to 10 in six months). I haven't changed the brightness settings from the factory default, and I didn't know iBooks 1.1 had a sepia option till just now when I read this thread--but my problem with the Kindle was always the poor (gray on gray) contrast, so the white iBooks pages and a decent brightness level are really welcome to my eyes.

When I take the iPad out in the sun, the screen feels more like the stuggle I had with the Kindle 2's lack of contrast--but it's still readable. The "overheating" warning is more likely to cut my reading outdoors short than the glare is.
 
I haven't really had any problem reading on my iPad although I tend to enjoy holding a book in my hands when reading, usually the only thing I read on my ipad is webpages, articles and emails. When the iPhone 4 retina display hits the iPad (hopefully in the next generation) I wonder how that will affect iBook readability on the larger screen.
 
My wife had the Kindle DX before getting an iPad. I asked her this question and she would never go back to the Kindle. She reads now more than anything.

I also have picked back up my love for reading. When my wife and I first got married, I always was reading something. Over the years, my reading had cut back to maybe one book per year. Since getting my iPad, I have read three or four books in just the last month.

Neither one of us have had any issues with the screen for long reading periods. I am very prone to migraines and have never even had an episode since using the iPad.

BTW, my wife and I are both quickly approaching 40. :cool:
 
Seeing as I am in the minority here, I should probably consider a visit to the optician guys and gals...:eek:
 
Just turned 42. Love reading on my iPad. No problems or eyestrain at all. Gave my kindle away.
 
There is a long long thread about this very subject on one of the eink reader forums. It seems to be a mixed bag with some folks enjoying the ipad for reading and others prefering an eink reader.

I have 2 Kindles and 3 Sony eink readers and 2 ipads. I can go back and forth between them without much issue. I have a small preference for the eink readers. Pigment on a surface is just a bit easier to read than a backlit screen (for me).
 
applesupergeek said:
Seeing as I am in the minority here, I should probably consider a visit to the optician guys and gals...:eek:
Click to expand...
You might be getting a skewed sample here. I'm an active ebook reader so I tend to read any thread about ereading, ibooks, etc. - I suspect your thread title attracted a disproportionate number of people who are active and interested in reading on the iPad whereas many people who tried ereading and didn't like it might have just skipped over your thread unless they really felt a need to vent.

How did your experiments with iBooks on a Sepia background go?

- Julian
 
This is totally out of topic BUT...

applesupergeek, looking at your old posts, I was wondering if you ever got your iPhone 3g back? I have recently lost my own iPhone 3g 16GB and I feel like I am the only one this situation has happened to. In fact, I feel pretty devastated. I also have NOT put on a keypad lock due to the fact that I was constantly using my phone and wasn't too keen about inputting a password every minute or so. At leas, in your case, you had the mobileme app. I am from Canada and my service provider does not offer any way of tracking IMEI numbers and it's not a "big enough" issue for the police to actually search for it. Please reply to this post or email me @ jmenez@hotmail.com as I would like to ask you more questions on how you dealt with this situation.
 
I was a huge Kindle DX fan. Now I read my books on the iPad.

I put an anti-glare (Powersupport) film on to eliminate glare. Not that I would necessarily need the anti-glare , but it doesn't effect the reading at all, so there you go. I was actually a little surprised that I would spend hours looking at an LCD like that.

Maybe it won't work out though. Time will tell.

If they improve the contrast enough on the Kndle I will buy another one. They are great and probably will get better.

So long pulp.
 
No problem here either and I'm older than 40 ;)

I dim the screen when I read in bed with the lights out. Slowly but surely phasing paper media out of my life. New York Times subscription is going.
 
The iPad is my first experience in e-readers. I find it just great on the road. At home I still have quite a bit of paper to get through. Even after about 5 books I still get a kick out of the animated page turning.
 
No eye tiredness directly caused by the iPad, but I spend more time reading now because of the device, and that leaves me tired.
 
MikeTemple said:
I am used to reading a book before I go to sleep as a way of winding down.

I find the bright screen stops me from relaxing in the same way, so for bedtime reading, it's paper and ink for me.

I'll try using the sepia background and see if that helps.
Click to expand...

There was an article a few weeks ago about the bright light from LCD screens like laptops and cell phones and now iPads are effecting peoples circadian rhythms and messing up their sleep.

To applesupergeek on the vision side of the discussion: Get some cheap reading glasses at the drug store. We keep several pair laying around the house. It just makes it easier to focus after you reach age 40.
 
jmenez said:
applesupergeek, looking at your old posts, I was wondering if you ever got your iPhone 3g back? I have recently lost my own iPhone 3g 16GB and I feel like I am the only one this situation has happened to. In fact, I feel pretty devastated. I also have NOT put on a keypad lock due to the fact that I was constantly using my phone and wasn't too keen about inputting a password every minute or so. At leas, in your case, you had the mobileme app. I am from Canada and my service provider does not offer any way of tracking IMEI numbers and it's not a "big enough" issue for the police to actually search for it. Please reply to this post or email me @ jmenez@hotmail.com as I would like to ask you more questions on how you dealt with this situation.
Click to expand...

Sorry in advance to others for the digression.

No I didn't, and I too was devastated for a while. I was intending to ask apple to blacklist it so it could not connect to the store but I haven't done it yet (I did ask the mobileme guys but they told me to contact itunes), my mobile phone carrier (uk) would not blacklist it. And I too didn't use a lock and ultimately mm remote wipe never worked, I have a small hope the phone was actually dropped somewhere inaccessible by me instead of having been stolen. In any case I change most all the passwords and I am looking to buy the 4 now. The ipad has diminished some of the pain. P.m. me if you need more info.
 
It really depends on where I am. Outside or in indirect sunlight, I almost always prefer the Kindle. But I do enjoy the dark background available on the Kindle app on my iPad. So does my wife, when I want to read in bed and not bother my wife with extra light.

I read recently, or heard on NPR, a story about artificial light and our internal clock, and I think that, as an insomniac, there is a lot to be said about that. I try to keep light at a minimum at night, but a good book keeps my mind focused on something rather than the tasks waiting for me the next day. So what does that mean for me? Probably reading a week with the Kindle and bedside lamp and a week on ipad and see which prevails.

Both are easy on the eyes, however, in the element that seems to work best.
 
For me personally, I enjoy reading much more on my iPad. Especially compared to traditional paperbacks. The first book I read on my iPad (Angels & Demons) I read faster than any other book in my life.
 
I am getting an anti glare thingy, thanks for the heads up. Let's see how this works out, it might be the glare, because I can't handle it on the new iMacs... Come on apple...
 
ScrewTheDaisies said:
I had a Kindle 2. I read MUCH more on my iPad (26 books in 2 and a half months, compared to 10 in six months). I haven't changed the brightness settings from the factory default, and I didn't know iBooks 1.1 had a sepia option till just now when I read this thread--but my problem with the Kindle was always the poor (gray on gray) contrast, so the white iBooks pages and a decent brightness level are really welcome to my eyes.

When I take the iPad out in the sun, the screen feels more like the stuggle I had with the Kindle 2's lack of contrast--but it's still readable. The "overheating" warning is more likely to cut my reading outdoors short than the glare is.
Click to expand...

I also found the grey on grey of E-ink to be very hard to read due to the lack of contrast. As soon as i read a hundred pages on the iPad i was convinced and sold my Sony Ereader. I dont have any issues with the iPad, reading for long periods or short.

I also love the ability to read in the dark in bed, my previous solution of a clip-on book light for the Sony was very difficult because the light was so uneven and tailed off towards the bottom of the page.

One disadvantage, if i'm reading in bed, with my bedroom window open in the dark, moths are attracted by the iPad! :eek:
 
My wife prefers me reading on the iPad at night as it disturbs her less than if I have a bedside light on to read a paper book.

I think it takes me longer to wind down when reading the iPad than a paper book though. I think it is something to do with the light shining straight into your face, it's frequency, or the fact that it seems to take more effort to focus on the iPad display than paper and ink.

There's also the fact that if I accidentally fall asleep while holding a book, I'm not going to bust it if it falls on the floor!

Anyone considered the environmental impact of reading on the iPad? The lifecycle of a magazine on paper involves cutting down trees, lots of fuel for shipping, a plastic wrapper, then the disposal and recycling.

All the iPad version requires is a small amount of electricity.
 
An update to all following this thread, instapapers black background has relieved a lot of the suffering, but I am still going for the matte layer, that effing glare is soo hard to stand.
 
No problem here...

So far I have no problems reading; I love it!
I do most of my reading indoors or at night. It's much better than reading on my HTC Touch Pro II phone on which at one time I had to read an 800 page technical book in 6 nights.

I think if you adjust the backlight and change the color of the background, you'll have better results. Also, using an anti-glare film and/or wearing polarized glasses. could help you for daytime reading outdoors.

I've been reading on computer screens since the days when monitors where CRT green/black, amber/black, black/white, so imagine... I was 13 back then.
I guess it's all matter of getting used to it.
But if it bothers your eyes, then reconsider. It could be a sign of a vision problem. You may need to wear prescriptions when your eyes get tired.
 
Thanks to iPad and iBook,

I am reading my first novel in over 20 years. In 1987, I started college, and that pretty much ended recreational novel reading. Then, in 1991 I discovered prodigy and the Internet addiction began. Fast forward to April 2010...I buy an iPad...and I actually have found some spare time to actually read a novel.

I have only done it a couple of times, but they have been while working out on a stupid treadmill. Thanks to iBooks, I was able to size the text as large as it would go and still flip through pages while running. Reading a magazine was not possible while running because of the inability to zoomin (wth Wired?).

I have only read a tiny bit on on kindles in the store...but I can't imagine how in the world somebody actually prefers it over the iPad?!?!? I am 42 and have spent anywhere from 5-10 hours on my iPad almost every day since day 6 after launch and have read 1ks of pages from forums, to emails, to company reports, to PDF instruction manuals, etc.

I am not bragging, I just think it boils down to what you can get used to. To me, no mater what, I am going to make it work on the iPad. I KNOW I can type faster on a laptop...or even faster on my desktop...yet here I am typing this now on my iPad because I am doing other things that make the get up and down every few minutes ideal for the iPad.

Anyway, point is, that sure, you may prefer another device, or there may be a better way to do something, but the value to have an all in one, or the other advantages of the iPad make it more than worth it to me to put up with any challenges...like I did just trying to move a picture from one picasaweb gallery to another gallery (on the iPad). It wasn't easy, but I found a solution to deal with the iPad challenges.
 
I'd really recommend using Stanza as your ebook reader. You have complete control over the background and text colors, so that you really find a combination that works.

I use a night theme of blue text on black which is really easy on the eyes. It's much better than having only 1 choice or using just Sepia.

You also should change the margins. I find that wider margins, meaning a narrower column of text, really helps readability, too. I wish it had a two page option for the landscape display, but that is apparently coming!

And, finally, as many have suggested, keep the brightness down (we routinely use our iPad at about 15%-20%) (a benefit of that is longer battery life, too).

It's easy to get lost in the book once the settings are right.
 
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