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

im 39, and have no problems reading on the iPad. Like others have stated... I use the Sepia mode in both the Kindle app and in iBooks, and during the day, my brightness is almost all the way up, but when the lights go out, my brightness on the device is about 50% or so, and in the reader apps, the brightness goes all the way down to 10%. My eyes adjust in about a minute and the 10% brightness is just right.

My biggest issue with reading on the iPad is how I hold it when reading in bed. I prop it up on my waist, and rest the back of the iPad on my leg. The problem with that is that my gut blocks the last 2 lines of text on the page :eek:
 
I like reading on my iPad more than I thought I would - especially PDFs, using iAnnotate and Goodreader. I buy books through the Kindle app, because it's cheaper and selection is extensive. But, to answer OP's question, while I'm getting used to the LCD screen on the iPad I still love my Kindle and use it just as much. It's especially great for long linear reads. And the Kindle lets you underline text and then print the excerpts out (hooked to computer) which is crucial to my way of working. If the iPad ever gets the retina screen that might dramatically improve the reading experience on the iPad.
 
I just finished reading book one of the Percy Jackson series.

I find if I read for about an hour my eyes really get tired. I just turn the brightness way down, and I van continue reading for another hour or so.
 
I read a lot (fiction & nonfiction) on the iPad. Haven't really had any issues indoors or out.

I've been reading from screens since the 70s though, so perhaps it's something your eyes accommodate to.

I actually find it easier to read books on the iPad than a paperback. With the paperback, I go back and forth between glasses/no glasses, fiddle with lighting, and distance. On the iPad, I set the font on the large side, and read without glasses. It's much more comfortable.
 
I read on my iPad all day, every day. I read the papers throughout the day and sometimes AppAdvice. At night I read books before bed, so I read almost 7 days a week. I really find it very enjoyable and comfortable. And my wife loves that I no longer need a bed-side lamp on to read while she's trying to sleep.
 
I had thought the "won't disturb the spouse" factor would be there, but that darn iPad is still much too bright! Even at its lowest brightness setting.

My spouse holds the Apple iPad cover in a way to block the direct light, but I generally can tell when it's iPad time in the middle of the night! :) Of course, the finger tapping or dragging the solitaire cards is telling, too! :)

By contrast, the iPod Touch emits so little extraneous light that it doesn't light up the bed, the room, or the ceiling! :) I can use that and not disturb my spouse at all!
 
thatisme said:
im 39, and have no problems reading on the iPad. Like others have stated... I use the Sepia mode in both the Kindle app and in iBooks, and during the day, my brightness is almost all the way up, but when the lights go out, my brightness on the device is about 50% or so, and in the reader apps, the brightness goes all the way down to 10%. My eyes adjust in about a minute and the 10% brightness is just right.

My biggest issue with reading on the iPad is how I hold it when reading in bed. I prop it up on my waist, and rest the back of the iPad on my leg. The problem with that is that my gut blocks the last 2 lines of text on the page :eek:
Click to expand...

Now you have motivation to lose weight!
 
Saturn007 said:
I had thought the "won't disturb the spouse" factor would be there, but that darn iPad is still much too bright! Even at its lowest brightness setting.QUOTE]


I read books on my iPad all the time (one hour each way on my daily subway commute) as well as often at night. No eye-strain issues at all and this is the first e-reader I've used. (Has my iPad for over a year now!)

As for the brightness at night, this spring my library started allowing us to "checkout" books on our iPad and I have gone through tons of them. The one thing I did not like at first, but really like now is their Overdrive reading app. That allows me to switch to "night mode" where the background is black and the words are white. It cuts down the brightness of the night and makes it very easy to read in a dark room. When I went back to read a book in Apple's iBook, I was dismayed because they didn't have that feature. :(
Click to expand...
 
Sorry, but I'm 16 and it has nothing to do with my eyes but I could never get into a book on the iPad. Something about an LCD screen along with the weight and various features (which is a good thing in any other context) just doesn't allow me to be 'absorbed' by the book like I can be with a paperback or, for that matter, my Nook. The iPad is GREAT for everything else, but as far as serious reading goes....eww, just no.

Plus, reading on the iPad in any room with significant light is a PAIN whereas the Nook looks 90% like a paperback.
 
i'm 42 and my eyes are not very good (have glasses). i never liked reading on an iPad for extended periods of time. short stories, newspapers, internet is all fine. but for real books I finally bought a kindle a month ago. I like the kindle screen much more. the page flipping in iBooks is however much nicer than the page change on the kindle. the text itself and the screen on the kindle is far superior for me.
 
I don't have a problem reading on it indoors the only option I turn on is serpia so the pages are a kind of brown colour instead of a bright White I found it better for reading with this option.
 
From a sample size of two (my wife and myself) I'd say the following.

() 50% favor reading books on the Kindle due to less eyestrain. 50% find the two devices equally readable and don't understand what the other 50% are talking about.

() 50% find the form factor of the Kindle preferable for reading books. 50% don't care much since reading is almost always done sitting at a desk or table or using a little Wedge-E to support either the iPad or the Kindle.

() 50% much prefer the Kindle when reading at the beach. 50% don't read at the beach.

() 50% don't care if she keeps her husband awake with an overhead lamp in bed. 50% wishes his wife would use that little book light be bought for her when she reads her Kindle.
 
I love reading on the iPad, mainly at night in bed. I can dim the screen and read without turning on a light, does not disturb my husband. I would not like reading in bright daylight because of the glare.

My father, 86, gets terrible eye strain while reading paper or Kindle. He can read for hours on the iPad without any eye strain at all. He has thick lenses in his glasses, partially blind in one eye and MD. Thought he would have to give up reading but can read 1-2 books a week with his iPad.
 
Ecoh said:
...My father, 86, gets terrible eye strain while reading paper or Kindle. He can read for hours on the iPad without any eye strain at all. He has thick lenses in his glasses, partially blind in one eye and MD. Thought he would have to give up reading but can read 1-2 books a week with his iPad.
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That's very interesting. I've never heard that variation before. Personally, I think it's a highly individual issue. I look at a monitor from 9-12 hours a day and reading the iPad doesn't bother me at all. But (as noted in a post above) my wife much prefers the Kindle because she finds long sessions reading the iPad to lead to eyestrain. (She's not shackled to a computer monitor for long hours, either.)

Don't know if anyone has done a controlled study or whether it's all purely anecdotal regarding eyestrain and preferences but obviously e-ink displays are a big selling point for many people. And from what I've read, display manufacturers are striving mightily to emulate its look on lcd screens.
 
This was a good one! Captured what goes on nicely. Reading around the net shows similar divides, especially the point that people "don't understand what the other 50% are talking about." :)

My sense of this, when I read people knocking the iPad or i-devices for ebook reading, is that they generally weren't using Stanza or eReader, where one can really customize the display. I find that blue or yellow text on black background, with the backlight turned way down is fantastic!

If one simply goes with the bright white background, with the brightness turned way up, and especially in a darker room, I can understand why it wouldn't be comfortable! And, I think that's a big part of the problem.

I also agree strongly with the person who wrote about the page turning display problems with the e-ink readers and Kindle. That flashing is headache producing, a distraction, and a nuisance--and something that's not mentioned or shown sufficiently.

jsh1120 said:
From a sample size of two (my wife and myself) I'd say the following.

() 50% favor reading books on the Kindle due to less eyestrain. 50% find the two devices equally readable and don't understand what the other 50% are talking about.

() 50% find the form factor of the Kindle preferable for reading books. 50% don't care much since reading is almost always done sitting at a desk or table or using a little Wedge-E to support either the iPad or the Kindle.

() 50% much prefer the Kindle when reading at the beach. 50% don't read at the beach.

() 50% don't care if she keeps her husband awake with an overhead lamp in bed. 50% wishes his wife would use that little book light be bought for her when she reads her Kindle.
Click to expand...
 
r-sky said:
Saturn007 said:
I had thought the "won't disturb the spouse" factor would be there, but that darn iPad is still much too bright! Even at its lowest brightness setting.QUOTE]


I read books on my iPad all the time (one hour each way on my daily subway commute) as well as often at night. No eye-strain issues at all and this is the first e-reader I've used. (Has my iPad for over a year now!)

As for the brightness at night, this spring my library started allowing us to "checkout" books on our iPad and I have gone through tons of them. The one thing I did not like at first, but really like now is their Overdrive reading app. That allows me to switch to "night mode" where the background is black and the words are white. It cuts down the brightness of the night and makes it very easy to read in a dark room. When I went back to read a book in Apple's iBook, I was dismayed because they didn't have that feature. :(
Click to expand...

a workaround:

go to your ipad's Settings>General>Accessibility and turn on White on Black
Click to expand...
 
College student here - I hated reading textbooks and novels for some of my classes and ever since I got the iPad 2, I've been reading the novels instead of using SparkNotes...

Much nicer to read novels on it vs textbooks.
 
I have the Kindle and Nook apps in addition to iBooks, and I rarely use them on my iPad 2. I've tried, but I just prefer my Kindle for reading. It is a lot easier on the eyes for me.
 
scorpio, have you tried the sepia mode in iBooks? Or, tried Stanza or eReader and played around with the paper and text colors?

It really makes a huge difference for many ereaders.

bocomo, right on target about changing the general display settings--although it requires iOS 4 or later, right? Plus, for many readers, the stark white on black is pretty harsh. That's why at night I really like the yellow or blue against the black.

During the day, white on black works fine.

Hmm... I wonder if the white on black setting would change colors in solitaire programs... That's an interesting place where the app developers should really add a nighttime mode, so spouses or partners' can play, but not light up the room in the middle of the night or their significant others' sleep! :)
 
This is a great thread! Thanks whoever accidentally posted in it nearly a year later :)

I've been strongly considering getting an e-reader for a long while. I recently decided that, as a grad student, it'd be nice to separate "work" and "personal" - having an iPad would let me keep my MBP dedicated to more work types of things, and use the iPad as a "computer" that does all the personal types of things I do, since most of it is either

1) a waste of time (forums, etc) and harder to do on the iPad than laptop
2) doable on an iPad (anything which is actually important to spend time with)

It'd let me then ONLY do work on the laptop, which would be a good plan (since it *is* what I use for work as a grad student) and also have a fun toy and e-reader.

I can empathize a lot with some of the earlier posters - I used to read a TON but since computers and college I've really not been reading much for fun as I used to. I probably read more each month for fun in elementary school as I've read in all of college...

Anyways, thanks for the grave-dig, it was perfectly the thread I needed :)
 
ender land said:
This is a great thread! Thanks whoever accidentally posted in it nearly a year later :)

I've been strongly considering getting an e-reader for a long while. I recently decided that, as a grad student, it'd be nice to separate "work" and "personal" - having an iPad would let me keep my MBP dedicated to more work types of things, and use the iPad as a "computer" that does all the personal types of things I do, since most of it is either

1) a waste of time (forums, etc) and harder to do on the iPad than laptop
2) doable on an iPad (anything which is actually important to spend time with)

It'd let me then ONLY do work on the laptop, which would be a good plan (since it *is* what I use for work as a grad student) and also have a fun toy and e-reader.

I can empathize a lot with some of the earlier posters - I used to read a TON but since computers and college I've really not been reading much for fun as I used to. I probably read more each month for fun in elementary school as I've read in all of college...

Anyways, thanks for the grave-dig, it was perfectly the thread I needed :)
Click to expand...

As a grad student myself, I originally bought the iPad to use as an e-reader, because my Kindle DX had too many limitations. It far exceeded my expectations. Moreover, thanks to lots of advice on the forums, I have found that the iPad also makes a great work device. The vast majority of my times is spent reading and/or writing with the iPad. Of course, your mileage will vary, depending on what your research involves, but it is at least worth thinking of the possibilities.
 
Didn't bother reading through the thread, but when I read, I always use white on black mode. It's so much easier on my eyes.
 
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