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Old 01-04-2011, 06:03 AM
Floondor Floondor is offline
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Default Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab vs. the iPad: Compare For Yourself

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyKoh View Post
Hi Amanda!

Yup, I've been using a Kindle for almost a year. In fact, I have 2 Kindles at home, and have been trying to convince Charlene to get one too haha..

To me, iPad and Kindle address two different segments of the market. iPad to me is more for fun and media consumption, while Kindle is for serious book readers. You can never use iPad for any serious reading due to its glaring screen and relatively heavy weight, but it's awesome for reading coloured magazines, and most of all, video, gaming and various applications.

I was originally quite skeptical about a Kindle too, but decided to purchase it nevertheless, and have never regretted owning it. In fact, I haven't bought a real book this year, but have read way, way more than what I did last time.

Here are some PROs, most of the points apply to e-readers in general:

1) First of all, it's price is REALLY affordable - Amazon is selling it for $139 only for its 6" Wifi version, which translates to something like RM450. MPH imitation brands sell more expensive (some were sold at RM1200 but reduced recently).

2) The screen is very crisp, in fact I find the font even smoother than many real books' print. It uses pearl e-ink technology that doesn't have a backlit screen, and so doesn't tire your eyes with glare. It only requires battery power to refresh the screen to a new page, and otherwise the ink stays as-is, so battery consumption is really low and a full charge can easily last 2 - 3 weeks.

3) It has a built-in Oxford dictionary - I find it very convenient to look up definitions as I read, and in fact this is indispensable for me now and I feel inconvenient now when I hold up a real book where I would never get the motivation to pull out a dictionary haha.

4) The weight is very light, about 8 ounces (imitation brands are bulkier), so you would not tire of holding even with one hand, and page turns are intuitively placed at both sides of the screen so you can do it either with your left or right hand.

5) There is a limitless resource of e-books online that you can download and transfer over to your e-book reader, and for Kindle you can also purchase directly from the Amazon store integrated into your Kindle. I actually ended up reading much more as I now have access to cd duplication short runs, instead of having to fork out money to buy every single book, and force myself to finish it even if it's not good since I spend the money on it haha. For Kindle, you can also subscribe to dozens of magazines and newspapers that are delivered to you via Wifi / 3G daily.

6) You can store thousands of books - that makes it really convenient when you move around - you no longer have to limit yourself to one or two bulky books when you travel or commute.

7) Kindle also has text-to-speech, so you can close your eyes and hear out the text if you are tired.


Here are some CONs though:
1) The experience will feel a bit electronic at first, although that seems to have dissapeared after I used it a month and it feels as natural as reading a real book to me now.

2) You don't get to randomly flip a book, the feel of a solid heavy book, or enjoy a nice visual book cover and packaging. Or even the SMELL of a real book and paper. Some old-school readers are pretty much attached to these subtleties.

3) The 6" screen size might be a little small if you are used to reading some hard cover books, although you could potentially adjust the font size and type a little.

4) Kindle is not good at formatting PDF documents especially those with many images, you would likely need to convert it to a Kindle-friendly format to better read it. Not sure about other e-readers though.


I suggest that you go to MPH and try out some of their readers to get a feel of it. Or better still, borrow one from your friend and try reading a book to better assess the experience.

If you do intend to buy one, I'd still suggest Kindle - it's by far the best and most intuitive one I've seen, but the drawback is the slight hassle in getting it over from US. It's also the top selling item and most wished for item on Amazon.

Let me know if you need any further details, I'd be glad to share more with you
Exactly right - the IPAD is just to hard to stare at for long periods of time. I got one and ended up returning it and got the kindle. The kindle is perfect.
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