iPad is great for reading. Remember to adjust the iBooks background and screen brightness. I prefer the Sepia setting and I guess I usually have the brightness at about 2/3rds.
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iPad iPad as E-Reader
- Thread starter luqtotheman
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Love using my air as a reader. I do have a kindle but actually prefer reading on the iPad now. The kindle app works great. The retina display is the bomb for reading....
I spent much time trying to read books and papers on my old iPad's. But they generated eye strain much more easier than a printed paper. IMHO, iPad has some critical drawbacks for reading a large number of texts in every page word by word:
1. glare
2. backlight
3. too heavy for holding for long time
The first two factors hurt my eye health, so I gave up. Kindle is definitely better for reading in these three properties (Kindle has other problems such as slow refresh and cpu is too slow for reading documents of various formats).
The iPad air and iPad mini retina improve the 3rd drawback and slightly decrease glare. Now I use iPad mini for reading documents/ebook of flexible typesetting and enlarge the fonts with making black background and white texts. The typesetting of PDF documents are fixed so I can only reverse the colors of background and texts as well as zoom in the texts until they are still inside the display.
1. glare
2. backlight
3. too heavy for holding for long time
The first two factors hurt my eye health, so I gave up. Kindle is definitely better for reading in these three properties (Kindle has other problems such as slow refresh and cpu is too slow for reading documents of various formats).
The iPad air and iPad mini retina improve the 3rd drawback and slightly decrease glare. Now I use iPad mini for reading documents/ebook of flexible typesetting and enlarge the fonts with making black background and white texts. The typesetting of PDF documents are fixed so I can only reverse the colors of background and texts as well as zoom in the texts until they are still inside the display.
Retina iPad is great as a reader for comics/manga, PDFs, picture books, textbooks and magazines.
It is serviceable but not ideal as a reader for novels and other mostly-text books, where the Kindle Paperwhite reigns supreme. You can carry one around for a week in your back pocket like a paperback book, backlighting when necessary but reading with perfect ease in bright sunlight.
If you never read outdoors or spend more than 12 hours away from a charging outlet, then you can easily use the iPad as your sole reading device.
For me, it was worth the expense of also having a Paperwhite to complement it.
It is serviceable but not ideal as a reader for novels and other mostly-text books, where the Kindle Paperwhite reigns supreme. You can carry one around for a week in your back pocket like a paperback book, backlighting when necessary but reading with perfect ease in bright sunlight.
If you never read outdoors or spend more than 12 hours away from a charging outlet, then you can easily use the iPad as your sole reading device.
For me, it was worth the expense of also having a Paperwhite to complement it.
In my opinion, the 4:3 aspect ratio of the Ipad contributes to its suitability as an E-reader. It's subjective of course, but to me a 16:10 screen seems tall and thing for reading in portrait mode, and way to wide and short in landscape mode. This is an even bigger deal if one reads a lot of pdfs, where the text cannot easily be re-formatted to suit an odd size screen. This was reason enough by itself for me to choose the mini over the Nexus 7.
I have a retina mini, and I do often end up resizing pdfs a little to hide the margins and make the text a little bigger. While the portability of the device is well worth it to me, I imagine that's an advantage an Ipad Air would have as an e-reader.
I have a retina mini, and I do often end up resizing pdfs a little to hide the margins and make the text a little bigger. While the portability of the device is well worth it to me, I imagine that's an advantage an Ipad Air would have as an e-reader.
For text-only ebooks, sure. PDF, comic books, magazines, illustrated books, I think the Air is better.
Air for textbooks, technical PDFs, Wall Street Journal, FT, and mags.
N7 (2013) with Kindle app for all else (like smaller 16:9 form factor).
The Air is the only pad that can handle the worst eReader known to man for my CFA books-- Vitalsource Bookshelf, an absolute abomination.
N7 (2013) with Kindle app for all else (like smaller 16:9 form factor).
The Air is the only pad that can handle the worst eReader known to man for my CFA books-- Vitalsource Bookshelf, an absolute abomination.
I've read the Paperwhite is best outdoors, but tablets like the Mini are washed out and have a lot of glare.
A lot of glare depending on where you are. Not everyone lives at a beach like Amazon wants you to think. Most people are fine reading indoors. Even if the Mini is "washed out", how much color vibrancy is really necessary for reading? Most of the time it's black and white...
It's not color vibrancy that is essential to reading, it's contrast.
Even outdoors in the shade on a normal partially-cloudy day, the iPad is low-contrast and difficult to read. And that is at maximum brightness, which will burn through the battery life quickly.
I love mine, but I know its limitations. Is it readable enough that I can review a few pages on it outdoors? Yes. Would I ever choose it to read a novel outdoors if a Kindle were available? No.
"Most people are fine reading indoors." Possibly so, but some of us are not "most people". Some of us love reading outdoors.
I use my iPad extensively for reading pdfs for work, and it's an excellent tool for that, especially combined with apps such as GoodReader or iAnnotate.
For recreational reading, I prefer my Kindle and Sony e-readers, but I also sometimes use the Kindle or Kobo apps on my iPad.
For recreational reading, I prefer my Kindle and Sony e-readers, but I also sometimes use the Kindle or Kobo apps on my iPad.
I think this is probably the biggest reason I jumped to an rMini from my iPad 3. I wanted a better e-reader, but I didn't want to carry around a Kindle and a full-sized iPad.
There are certainly compromises with an rMini, like reading easily outdoors vs. a Kindle Paperwhite, or with less eyestrain all around. But the fact I can still use all my other apps with it, I don't have to deal with another OS platform, and it consolidates two potential devices into one comfortable form factor, I feel it doesn't have to be the perfect e-reader, too.
But most importantly, I am reading more now because of the switch, which is what I hoped would happen. For me, it is the sweet spot for all my tablet uses.
There are certainly compromises with an rMini, like reading easily outdoors vs. a Kindle Paperwhite, or with less eyestrain all around. But the fact I can still use all my other apps with it, I don't have to deal with another OS platform, and it consolidates two potential devices into one comfortable form factor, I feel it doesn't have to be the perfect e-reader, too.
But most importantly, I am reading more now because of the switch, which is what I hoped would happen. For me, it is the sweet spot for all my tablet uses.
This. Reading on the Mini is so effortless. Nothing wrong with the Air but I am just not inclined to read a book on it at all. I also don't like having more devices than I need. I went with a Mini over a Nexus due to the OS. The Nexus 7 is better in my opinion for the money but the Mini deserves the premium due to the OS and integration with iPhone.
Comics and magazines on Air.
Regular books - Kindle HDX
Yeah it's 2 devices, but back in the day I use to have stacks of reading material all over place. This is a major improvement.
I went for the HDX for it's compact size and weight and IMO- it is a better size for books. I also like having the book covers in full color and also if the book has photos.
That said I have always been curious to try an e-ink reader.
It really makes a noticeable positive difference vs tablets?
BTW- I read outside quite often with both Air and HDX. While it's not ideal, It's never a major issue. Just find some shade and crank up the brightness.
Regular books - Kindle HDX
Yeah it's 2 devices, but back in the day I use to have stacks of reading material all over place. This is a major improvement.
I went for the HDX for it's compact size and weight and IMO- it is a better size for books. I also like having the book covers in full color and also if the book has photos.
That said I have always been curious to try an e-ink reader.
It really makes a noticeable positive difference vs tablets?
BTW- I read outside quite often with both Air and HDX. While it's not ideal, It's never a major issue. Just find some shade and crank up the brightness.
The only advantages of a Kindle are lighter weight, daylight use, and battery life. I'm quite willing to give up on those for all the extra features the iPad offers. I rarely read outdoors and battery life is not an issue for me. I currently have about 200 books and PDFs on my iPad.
Yup, exactly. Find a shade, sit so that the glare isn't directly on the tablet. And in any case, it probably isn't a good idea to sit out in direct sunlight long enough to read a book. You'd get dehydrated and possibly sunburned.
Even still, if you plan to do any amount of extensive reading outdoors, the iPad is not an ideal device.
About 70% of my reading is on my iPhone (waiting in line, in bed, etc.), and 20% is on my iPad (the bigger screen is fantastic for reading while running on the treadmill!). But for that last 10%, usually on vacation, the Kindle can't be beat (which is why I have it, though it's not used as frequently).
If you don't anticipate doing a lot of reading in places where glare is an issue, I don't really see the need for a Kindle though, and the iPad will be just fine.
About 70% of my reading is on my iPhone (waiting in line, in bed, etc.), and 20% is on my iPad (the bigger screen is fantastic for reading while running on the treadmill!). But for that last 10%, usually on vacation, the Kindle can't be beat (which is why I have it, though it's not used as frequently).
If you don't anticipate doing a lot of reading in places where glare is an issue, I don't really see the need for a Kindle though, and the iPad will be just fine.
Dont you find the iphone screen too small for reading in bed? I couldnt stand it.
ipads are useless outdoors on a sunny day but it can easily be fixed with a matte screen. Why Apple still puts out glossy screens is beyond me.
E-reading is one of the main reasons I got an iPad (e-reader, photo album, planner/organizer). My books were in boxes from moving when a flood got the best of them. So instead of replacing them, I bought the electronic versions.
I read mostly at night, in the dark and have no issues. Occasionally I read in the car in daylight and I don't have issues there either. So glad I went this route.
I read mostly at night, in the dark and have no issues. Occasionally I read in the car in daylight and I don't have issues there either. So glad I went this route.
I totally agree with this. I will use my rMini on the go for reading, but at home always the Kindle.
Based on comments made in the past on this topic, it seems the majority do find eink to cause less eye strain. But there are a significant minority of people like myself, who find that the lower contrast of eink screens (they are dark grey on light grey rather than black on white) gives them eye strain.
So, to anyone following this thread, don't assume that just because the majority says they prefer eink, it'll work for you. Try it out with an open mind that you might just be in the minority that prefer LCD.
Thanks for the reference to Marvin! Nice app! Evaluating the free version now and will probably pick up the paid version in due course.