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iPad mini rMini vs Kindle Paperwhite

S

solaris7

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 17, 2008
196
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The biggest complaint that people had with the previous mini was the low resolution display. Now that the new mini has been updated with a retina display how good is it as an e-reader?
I am in the market for mainly an e-reader, anything extra such as e-mail, web browsing is a nice to have (already have a 4th gen iPad). Can someone who owns both speak to their strengths and weaknesses?
 
I own a 2nd gen PaperWhite and am (very impatiently) awaiting my online order of a 32gb Verizon iPad mini, which I most likely won't see until end of next week at the earliest.

I'm interested in this very thing, as well. I love my ereaders but the retina display on the mini could be a real contender in this area.
 
solaris7 said:
The biggest complaint that people had with the previous mini was the low resolution display. Now that the new mini has been updated with a retina display how good is it as an e-reader?
I am in the market for mainly an e-reader, anything extra such as e-mail, web browsing is a nice to have (already have a 4th gen iPad). Can someone who owns both speak to their strengths and weaknesses?
Click to expand...

I wrote a review for the Kindle PW on my blog, exploring some of these points.

http://andykumar.net/2013/02/28/81/

I personally wouldn't like to read on a tablet, no matter what the resolution, purely due to the screen being backlit. It is okay for short bursts, but any long reading sessions are on my Kindle, which doesn't give me a headache.
 
I don't own the retina mini but I do own the original non-retina iPad mini. I also own the Kindle Paperwhite. Do you enjoy reading books on your iPad 4? Can you read for long periods of time in comfort? If so, the lighter weight rMini might be perfect for you.

For me, it's not the crispness of the iPad's text but the LCD lighting that is at issue. I find reading for short bursts on my iPad is fine but if I want to read War and Peace, I'm going to do it on the Kindle. The Paperwhite's lighting is not as hard on my eyes and I can read in comfort for longer periods of time.

This is only my personal experience. Some people do not find reading on LCD screens a problem. This is why I asked if you enjoyed reading on your iPad.

The $119 I paid for the Kindle Paperwhite has been well worth the expense. I use it nearly everyday and recommend it highly to my friends.
 
You really can't compare an iPad (or any tablet) to an eReader. And eReader is designed just for reading therefore the screen is designed not to fatigue your eyes. I can read my paper white for 4+ hours non-stop and never experience eye strain or dryness. This is not the same for my iPad or MacBook Pro. If you want an eReader, buy a paper white - or both.
 
solaris7 said:
The biggest complaint that people had with the previous mini was the low resolution display. Now that the new mini has been updated with a retina display how good is it as an e-reader?
I am in the market for mainly an e-reader, anything extra such as e-mail, web browsing is a nice to have (already have a 4th gen iPad). Can someone who owns both speak to their strengths and weaknesses?
Click to expand...

A dedicated reader with an e-ink screen will always be better for reading than something with an LCD screen. Its screen is less fatiguing and its battery life is superior. The retina screen is nice, but I don't have a problem reading on my regular Mini nor did I on my old iPad 2. All that being said, if you want to carry around one device then the iPad is better than a Kindle no?
 
darngooddesign said:
A dedicated reader with an e-ink screen will always be better for reading than something with an LCD screen. Its screen is less fatiguing and its battery life is superior. The retina screen is nice, but I don't have a problem reading on my regular Mini nor did I on my old iPad 2. All that being said, if you want to carry around one device then the iPad is better than a Kindle no?
Click to expand...

Completely disagree. The rMini, by dint of having an LCD, will always have a higher contrast than e-ink devices, which largely just display dark gray on light gray. The Paperwhite is a fine device, but I actually prefer an iPad in any situation other than in extremely bright ambient lighting. I don't have an issue whatsoever with staring at an LCD for hours. Isn't that what most of us do for a living anyway?
 
I found that the reading on my non retina mini to be ok, noticeable but not bad. I think the e-ink does provide a better experience but the difference between the two narrows imo with the introduction of the retina display.

I think the kindle being a single tasking product will do it ebooks better, but the iPad mini is an overall superior tool
 
Infinitewisdom said:
Completely disagree. The rMini, by dint of having an LCD, will always have a higher contrast than e-ink devices, which largely just display dark gray on light gray. The Paperwhite is a fine device, but I actually prefer an iPad in any situation other than in extremely bright ambient lighting. I don't have an issue whatsoever with staring at an LCD for hours. Isn't that what most of us do for a living anyway?
Click to expand...

Nonsense, your ipad is almost completely useless the moment you step outside. Even more so by the beach!
Do you actually own a Kindle PW or is this just pure conjecture?
 
Fireball Dragon said:
I personally wouldn't like to read on a tablet, no matter what the resolution, purely due to the screen being backlit.
Click to expand...

Just curious - do you use a laptop or LCD monitor or LED/LCD television on a regular basis for long periods of time?

----------
prism said:
Nonsense, your ipad is almost completely useless the moment you step outside. Even more so by the beach!
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's difficult to compare the two on any general basis since they each shine in very different circumstances.

Reading outside on the deck, at a cafe, on the beach, at a pool, etc. an e-ink display will beat LCD handily.

On the other hand; annotating/highlighting PDFs, web surfing, email, games, etc. is a bit limited (to put it mildly) on a Kindle paperwhite.
 
I have been a dedicated Kindle owner since the first one. I also read 1-3 hours a day, much of that for my job.

Surprisingly, my Kindle PW sits mainly unused and I do almost all my reading on my non-retina iPad mini. I do not experience the eye strain some apparently do. That said, I have a retina version on order to sharpen up the text and further enhance my reading experience. Once I have that I will probably get rid of my Kindle PW - or maybe keep it for those rare times (at the beach?) when I need to read outside in full sunlight.
 
This is a very interesting question. When I owned the iPad 2, I could not read on it for more than a half hour before I felt it get heavy in my hand or started to strain my eyes. Currently, I read via my Kindle, and it's obviously lighter, but also much easier on my eyes. When my Mini gets here, I will no doubt still use the Kindle for reading.
 
A number of my older friends and co-workers have commented to me that on the iPad they are able to read without their glasses that they require for normal paper reading because the contrast is so much better.

In other words, YMMV. We have a paperwhite that virtually never leaves its drawer.
 
I have two Kindles including the 1st gen PaperWhite. Those damn shadows on the bottom of the PaperWhite screen really annoy me. So I'm actually hoping to use the rMini to read again, especially at night, once I buy it. Lately I've been using my phone instead and the Kindle has just been sitting in its case. Very curious to see how the Kindle app will be on the rMini.
 
prism said:
Nonsense, your ipad is almost completely useless the moment you step outside. Even more so by the beach!
Do you actually own a Kindle PW or is this just pure conjecture?
Click to expand...

How often do you go to a beach, though?

If I had a backyard or something, or lived in a tropical island, it might be different, but I just almost never find occasion to want to read things while in direct sunlight.

I don't own a Kindle, but I've played with them. Most recently my boss bought a paperwhite, and I got to play with it for a few minutes before he took it home. As another poster said, eink has less contrast than LCD, and the page turn speed is slow. Sure, it's gotten faster than the early models, but it's still VERY slow compared to LCD screens. I think it'll drive me nuts waiting for the pages to turn if I had to read on an eink device for a few hours.

So for me, I definitely prefer reading on my iPad than on an eink device, and coincidentally, that lets me carry one device instead of two. :)
 
I have both the Kindle PW and several iPads. I prefer reading on the PW for all the reasons cited above. But I have found using a black background and white lettering on my kindle app on my iPad works almost as well. I seem to only use my PW now when going to the beach etc where I don't mind risking my device to sand, water, kids running, theft, etc. So both do still have a place in my life.

That being said, the new iPad Air certainly is nicer with the weight lessened. I don't have a mini simply because I don't want to zoom in on every web page. I like the form factor but the new iPad fits my use cases better.
 
If your main goal is book reading then get an e-ink book reader. There simply is no substitute in regards to eye comfort & ability to see text in most lighting conditions, esp. outdoors. I have two iPads & a e-ink Nook. Nook is what goes with me to beach & pool.
 
I am too deciding between getting a iPad Mini and a Kindle Paperwhite. I have a non-lit Kindle and it always bother me that I need good light to read it, like a book you know ;)

I don't read at the beach, and I suspect most people don't. It's going to the movies to take a nap.

The LCD screen doesn't bother me. However, the light weight of my original Kindle is nice. But perhaps the iPad Mini is light enough. In the good old days before any of us was born, people used to read heavy physical books. Now we are a world of wimps :)
 
meistervu said:
I am too deciding between getting a iPad Mini and a Kindle Paperwhite. I have a non-lit Kindle and it always bother me that I need good light to read it, like a book you know ;)

I don't read at the beach, and I suspect most people don't. It's going to the movies to take a nap.

The LCD screen doesn't bother me. However, the light weight of my original Kindle is nice. But perhaps the iPad Mini is light enough. In the good old days before any of us was born, people used to read heavy physical books. Now we are a world of wimps :)
Click to expand...

Lol at 'heavy physical books'. I used to lug at least 3 with me on vacation. And even paperbacks get heavy after a while. I was so thrilled when I got my first Kindle!

Wimpy or not I love e-readers. I love books too but now confine my 'real' books to those hardbacks I want to keep forever for my grandkids, like classics. Day-to-day reading, e-readers are the way to go. An added benefit - a lot more room in my house because I sold/donated my thousands of books I had collected over the last 50 years. My husband was really happy.
 
prism said:
Nonsense, your ipad is almost completely useless the moment you step outside. Even more so by the beach!
Do you actually own a Kindle PW or is this just pure conjecture?
Click to expand...

I clearly mentioned an exception for "extremely bright ambient lighting" (ie, outdoors) did I not?
 
One of the things dedicated readers have going for them is the outstanding battery life. There are obviously other pros, too, such as the screen in direct sunlight. But I didn't see battery life mentioned in this thread (yet.)

Edit: darngooddesign did actually mention it, my apologies!
 
Fireball Dragon said:
I wrote a review for the Kindle PW on my blog, exploring some of these points.

http://andykumar.net/2013/02/28/81/

I personally wouldn't like to read on a tablet, no matter what the resolution, purely due to the screen being backlit. It is okay for short bursts, but any long reading sessions are on my Kindle, which doesn't give me a headache.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree with this. I also own the paper white and the iPad mini. Although my mini is non retina, I'd pick any of my ereaders over a tablet for reading in long stretches.
 
Though I can see the pixilation, for me the Ipad mini makes a great ereader. I expect the retina version of it to be even better.

I originally bought a kindle (not a paper white, but the model that came before that, also using e-ink. While it was great for reading books that were formatted for an e-reader, I read a lot of pdfs and it wasn't very good for those.
 
I use Marvin on my iPad Mini and a Kindle Paperwhite 2.

You can customize the reading experience more with the right app on iOS. You also have more space to work with.

But it's nicer overall to read on the Paperwhite for me. The text is thicker.
 
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