Apple iPad vs Amazon Kindle – It’s a Knockout!
If I wanted an ebook reader, would I buy an Apple iPad? I don’t think so. Would I accept one as a gift? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t.
The only ebook reader I know well is my 6″ Kindle 2 (foreigner’s edition). It cost me $256, and there are no ongoing costs. It’s a great reading device. I love the e-ink screen (especially because it means I can read in the garden) I love the physical size, weight, and ergonomics, the battery life (it goes for weeks!) the 3G wireless connection, and the dead easy Amazon shopping experience.
With the iPad, 3G is an ‘optional’ extra, so the base model starts at $629 (2.5 times the Kindle price!) plus, you have to pay a monthly fee for it, which (currently, in the US) starts at $15/mo – so another $180 per year (about 3/4 of a new Kindle each year!) That the Kindle bundles the price of a 3G ISP connection into the price of its books is, in my view, one of the best things about it. Say you buy 20 books a year from the Kindle Store or on the iPad’s new iBook store. The Kindle’s books will cost you just the cover price. The iPad books will cost you the cover rice plus a twentieth of $180 (i.e. $9 !!) each. For identical $10 books, that means you’re paying $10 on the Kindle and $19 on the iPad! Where is the sense in that?
The iPad is very pretty, it has colour and a touch screen and so on, but try taking it outside to read a book during your lunch break and you’ll soon see the benefits of e-ink, and the Kindle’s small size and light weight. What’s more, because the Kindle is designed for ebook reading, you can easily hold it in one hand and turn the page with the same hand – the buttons are just where they should be – so you can eat a sandwich with the other hand. Try doing that with an iPad.
You may argue that it’s not a fair comparison, the Kindle is a dedicated ebook reader, the iPad is, essentially, a PDA on which you can also read books. I say, so what? I don’t want a PDA. (And, if I did, I’d buy one with a proper, non-modal operating system, not a souped-up iPhone OS.) I’ve already got a smartphone that does useful things that the iPad doesn’t (like taking pictures and making phone calls) along with useful things that the iPad does, like displaying maps, managing a diary, and so on. If I had an iPad, I would still need a phone (with a camera). I would also still need a good ebook reader – because a bulky, LCD-screened, expensive, heavy iPad just doesn’t cut it.
I’ve got to say, Apple, I feel pretty disappointed.
I’m with you, Graham. Having recently acquired iPhone and loaded it with Stanza and Kindle, I’m equipped. The macbook pro completes the set, what more do I need?
Oh, and could they have FOUND a crappier name????
Wow! Some good stuff here. Janette, I think you are on a winner with the iphone and stanza – never tried a kindle app yet, may do so. Oh for a macbook pro …
Graham,to me the significance of one handed operation cannot be underestimated. Not only is it possible to use the other hand to wave at the passing parade it is also the merest trifle to put it down for a moment on some small surface. No need to check for vast landscapes free of piles of papers, coffee cups and mouldy sandwiches – all of which the ipad (ditto yuk to the name) may find difficult to navigate on my desktop. Sticking with the iphone for now.
terry
So, Terry, let me get this straight, you’re saying a major criterion for all mobile electronic devices, is whether you have a big enough space for them on your desk?
Fair enough.
Just remember the kindle is just an e-book reader, no email, web browsing , video, games etc. You get what you pay for, a $200 black & white screen, yuk!!
ipad is similar to ipod, thats why I think they picked it. Doesn’t bother me at all.
Steve, I absolutely agree. But you’ve got to remember I was only looking at the iPad as a potential “Kindle killer”, that is, an e-book reader. Of course a specially-designed device like the Kindle will be better than a general purpose device like a netbook (which is what the iPad is). I’ve read e-books on my own netbook (an Asus EeePC and, before I had that, on a HP Jornada PDA. These other devices are great for email, browsing, games and so on, but they are a poor second-best when it comes to reading a book. I had hoped the iPad was going to change all that but it looks like it won’t. I’m sure that as a netbook, the iPad will be a better e-book reader than the Asus EeePC
and I’m sure a lot of people will read ebooks on it (God knows, a lot of people already read ebooks on their iPod Touches and iPhones and are pretty happy with it) but it’s not a “Kindle killer”. Just as I wouldn’t buy a Kindle to browse the Web, I wouldn’t buy an iPad to read books.
As for that name, “iPad” doesn’t bother me much either, but I’m not a woman. Maybe if they’d called it the “iCondom” you and I would have a stronger reaction to it
Hi all,
I have no doubt a stupid question.
I saw a Sony E-Reader overseas 12 months ago, and decided that is the way I wanted to go. Given that we can’t buy it in Australia a friend said I should have another look at the Kindle. Ok, I like it, I just want an e-reader not neccesarily a Ipad, so I seriously contemplating the Kindle.
Now to my question, once a book is loaded onto your Kindle, lets say the Kindle dies, or you want to upgrade, can you get the book off the Kindle and onto another one? Or can you back it up? As I said probably a stupid question, sorry!!!
Rob
Not stupid at all, Rob. It’s one of the things I definitely wanted to know before buying!
It works like this. When you buy a book from the Kindle Store, it is downloaded to your reader but it is also kept in Amazon’s ‘archive’ for your account. If your Kindle died, or was upgraded, those books would still be there and could be downloaded to your new device (all for free.)
But you don’t need to get all your books from the Kindle store. I get Kindle-compatible books from all over the place (the Kindle reads .PDFs as well as .PRCs, of course, so you can get books from almost anywhere.) I put these into a folder on my PC that the Kindle looks at when it syncronises, and I back up this folder with my other backups. So all my other ebooks are safe too.
If you install Kindle For PC (which is a free download) you can use it to see and manage all your books and it keeps the archived ones separate from the ones in your PC folder, and syncs them with teh Kindle automatically when you plug it in. You can also use it as an ebook reader on your PC.
Hi Graham! Fancy bumping into you here! I bought an iPad 2 days ago and Love it! Unlike you, I wasn’t looking for an ebook reader – that’s just a bonus. I take your points, however.
I found your discussion while trying to decide between Stanza and Kindle on the Pad (or iBook).
Take care, all the best,
Paul Szilard
We should keep focus not on the reader cost but the books. The reader is a minor one time purchase. Overpriced ebooks is where the retailers make money. Why do ebooks cost so much more than the paperback version? Why can I share a paperback book but not an ebook? Until this situation is improved this avid reader is sticking to paper.
Dead right, Tom. eBook pricing is a major discussion we should all be having.
On the other hand, a lot of people still need to decide about an ereader. I’d hate it if people got the impression ebooks were hard to read or that ereaders were expensive and clunky just because they start off on the wrong hardware.
I took mt Kindle to WorldCon recently. I carried it with me all the time during the travelling and the week away. I read two novels and loads of short stories, and it was a great experience. I didn’t even need to take a charger with me – e-ink devices can easily cope with a week of intensive reading.