Portable E-Readers Vs Tablet PCs

[dave_c]

so iv been wanting to get myself a kindle for a while now but after looking at items such as the Fly tough 3 im struggling to see why anyone buys kindles or infact any other e reader. The only advantage i can see is an extended battery life.

just wondering if i am missing something, anyone got any advice?

[Ph4ZeD]

Advantage of Kindle:

1/3 to 1/4 of the price of an iPad
eInk screen means easy reading in direct sunlight
Exceptional battery life

Disadvantage of Kindle:

eInk screen is black and white
eInk screen has extremely low refresh rate
No real versatility

To summarise: The Kindle is fantastic at what it does, which is being an ereader. An iPad is great at lots of things, and a lot more money.

[dave_c]

Originally Posted by Ph4ZeD

Advantage of Kindle:

1/3 to 1/4 of the price of an iPad
eInk screen means easy reading in direct sunlight
Exceptional battery life

Disadvantage of Kindle:

eInk screen is black and white
eInk screen has extremely low refresh rate
No real versatility

To summarise: The Kindle is fantastic at what it does, which is being an ereader. An iPad is great at lots of things, and a lot more money.

the ipad is VERY far from being the only tablet PC, if you look at the one i have quoted it is actually available for less that the kindle. (cheapest i found was £107)

[meandmymouth]

Are you only wanting it for books or do you want to do more with it?

[dave_c]

i was originally looking for an ereader that allowed a small amount of word processing (im a writer), they are available but i have been wondering if it would be simpler to just get a tab PC. that's where the thought process came from anyway.

[Ph4ZeD]

Originally Posted by dave_c

the ipad is VERY far from being the only tablet PC, if you look at the one i have quoted it is actually available for less that the kindle. (cheapest i found was £107)

You get what you pay for. That tablet is severely underpowered and my phone is considerably more powerful. In the tablet market, the iPad is virtually the only tablet worth considering. By tablet I mean NOT a crappy resistance screen like the one you quoted.

[dave_c]

i agree that you get what you pay for however are you saying that no tablet PC is worth looking at unless its an Ipad, even if a kindle doesn't support everything i need it to? seems like a fan boy comment to me.

[Ph4ZeD]

A kindle is £111, and yes, no tablet at £111 is worth looking at. Thats obviously the kind of price you are interested in, and tablets at that price are terribad.

[anotherusername]

I have a kindle, and it's great at what it's designed for - reading books. But it's no good at anything else (e.g. web browsing, music, reading magazines etc.) The battery life is amazing, the screen really works at what it claims to do (reading in various conditions, no eye-strain), but due to the low refresh rate, B+W etc it just can't cope with anything other than books that are primarily text with the occasional illustration or diagram.

[scott_chegg]

Motorola XOOM at £329 or ASUS Transformer at £349. I went for the XOOM myself due to the 32GB storage over the 16GB in the Transformer. both Android and both utterly brilliant in my opinion. I'm using it to type this.

There is no doubt that the Ipad is a brilliantly designed machine and works very well but I don't like the restrictive nature of ipad/iphone. You kind of have to allow apple to dictate how you interact with your device. Android is far more open and configurable.

So unless you are absolutely sure that you are only going to use your device to read books on the beach in the blazing sun then go for a decent tablet.

[deadsea]

If book reading outdoors is going to feature greatly in your todo list. E-reader is the only way to go. As previously mentioned. E-readers are brilliant at what they are designed for. Not so much at everything else.

So if you need any feature other than book reading, a tablet might be a better idea. Just be prepared to squint a lot outdoors. Unless of course you are willing to swap out the screen for a pixel-qi one. But at that cost, you could buy a e-reader and a tablet.

[Bindibadgi]

Wholly depends what you read, how you procure it (iTunes, ePub, PDF, Amazon, Zinio etcetc).

I read Zinio mags and ePub stuff on a tablet. Full colour cheesecake is required for mags.

[BLC]

If you're looking at typing/word processing, I personally don't think that a tablet is the way to go. Pick up a second-hand ultra-portable laptop for that, preferably something with one of the Intel ULV/CULV processors (as it'll give good battery life). You can get a keyboard for a tablet but by the time you've bought the tablet, keyboard and stand/case, you're using it as a light laptop and you've spent twice what it'll cost you to pick up a cheap laptop.

Case in point: I recently sold my Advent Vega tablet, am currently selling my netbook and I've just ordered a ThinkPad X61s ultra-portable laptop. I do a lot more typing on the move now (or away from a desk) and I simply couldn't type on my netbook's teeny keyboard - I've used an X61 in work (exactly the same form factor as the X61s), and they're brilliant for typing on. It's not the highest spec, but it is fast enough to run Win7, rugged, has good battery life and cheap as hell - I paid £170 and got a docking station thrown in.

If you're looking for a device solely for reading books, then a dedicated e-reader is definitely the way to go. E-ink screens far surpass LCD screens for reading. My preference is a Kindle, but that's just because I have one and was so impressed with it. It's not just the quality of the screen though, I have been truly stunned by the battery life. I bought it in March, use it often (an average of an hour or two a day, maybe) and I've charged it maybe 4 times - 4 times in 6 months!. E-readers don't always handle PDFs too well and they're not going to work for reading things like magazines, where you need full colour.

Of course you could get a decent tablet, a keyboard and dock/stand and it may do everything you need and more. But the chances are that you'll spend an awful lot of money, even if you don't get an iPad and go with something like the Xoom (which has just had a price cut). Edit: If you're dead set on a tablet, and will still do some typing on it, then the Transformer is probably the way to go as it already has a keyboard dock. You're still looking at around £400 though (without keyboard dock it's around £350).

Different horses for different courses. Think long and hard before dropping £300-£500 on a tablet - there may be better options that suit your needs more.

[mucgoo]

The kindle is excellent at reading books but defiantly not designed for typing. The keyboard is small and fiddly with horrible ergonomics and designed for note taking at best.

Agreed with the battery life and screen quality. I believe it can do around 7000 page "turns" on a single charge.

[Pookeyhead]

Originally Posted by dave_c

so iv been wanting to get myself a kindle for a while now but after looking at items such as the Fly tough 3 im struggling to see why anyone buys kindles or infact any other e reader. The only advantage i can see is an extended battery life.

just wondering if i am missing something, anyone got any advice?

I bought an e-reader, or more specifically, a Kindle... for one reason. To read books. For this purpose, it is unbeatable. The e-ink screen looks and behaves like paper, which is still the best medium to read printed text from.

If you want a tablet PC to do more than read books on, then yes, look elsewhere, but the Kindle is an e-reader and makes no pretence at trying to be anything else. It is designed to read books on.. the end. For this purpose it is unbeatable.

[pingu666]

I might of seen a kindle for 78 quid somewhere :-O

[mucgoo]

Originally Posted by pingu666

I might of seen a kindle for 78 quid somewhere :-O

Sure that wasn't a kindle 1/2?
I know in the US they offer an advertisement enabled version (easily disabled) for about $120 partly due to the lack of VAT.

[wuyanxu]

don't forget the weight.

for reading books, no tablet is suitable. they are all way too heavy, including ipad 2 and galaxy tab, two of the lightest tablets on the market.

[xinaes]

The genius of the kindle is that, unlike rival tablet devices I could mention, it doesn't have an internet browser, which means you can enjoy a good book free from the nagging distraction of hardcore online pornography.

(that quote around 3:40 in).

Seriously don't underestimate how much of a difference being able to comfortably read in different light conditions is. I know at least one person with an iPad who's thinking of getting an eReader as well.

[Pookeyhead]

Exactly. I was trying to use my iPad in sunlight today, and just gave up - it was useless.