iPad review (as an EBook reader)

[carrie]

Hi,
I greet you all in the love and light of the infinite creator

Some time ago I wrote about the iRex Ebook reader and the company, unfortunately shut down. I also tried Kindle (my friend's one) and various ebook devices.

Today I will review iPad for reading EBooks.

I have to go through lots of reading material for my work and lots of learning to do. I need to sit down almost every day and read on a PC.

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I got a small app called GoodReader which can utilize PDF files on an iPad.

I give the GoodReader iPad application full marks:

a) Able to reproduce the Law of One book 1-5 along with strange fonts used in Book of Days, and other ebooks without loss of formatting or corruption. I can read Carla's books clearly and legibly

In other ebook readers, for some strange reason, I found out reading the Law of One Book1 would be missing pages 30-40, some other pages missing for no reason. In another situation, I'm not sure, the ebook reader would lock-up or just hang.

b) No need to convert from "PDF to Mobi" (loses lots of formatting) or "PDF to text" or "PDF to HTML" or "PDF to Kindle" format. It reads it directly.

c) There is a night-vision mode which turns the page black-over-white instead and ability to change the white to shades of gray. (i.e., a gray background over black text)

d) There is ability to substitute fonts in "text mode" (where you read the page as text instead).

e) There is ability to keep a repository of ebook to refer to. This is sorely absent in other ebook readers. (In other ebook readers, you get a list of ebooks but not clear which sort order and keeps reset to default sort order).

f) Bookmarks. This is the ability to bookmark where you are in the page in the PDF file so you can go back to it at any time.

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Why you should get an iPad as an ebook reader:

a) you can read this website over WiFi and without loss of formatting or fidelity.

b) you can get notified whenever someone posts (using RSS) to the forum. You need to keep track of 2 RSS feeds: the active topics and new threads.

c) you can listen to short music when reading.

d) the battery life is 10 hours (approx) per reading session. This makes it amazing when compared to 1 hour of serious reading on other ebook readers.

e) you can take down notes easily. for example, browse the lawofone.info site when cross-referencing articles and make notes from it

f) you can see David Willcox's Law of One notes on youtube with it.

g) you can listen to prayer & praise music with your iPad (available only on the most expensive ebook readers)

h) you can put the bible on it.

g) you can use it for social networking. e.g., use Facebook, MSN, yahoo, Skype too.

h) you can pen down your notes easily with various applications available. (no known application or comes with extra cost. This costs US$100 extra depending on Ebook reader)

i) The keyboard is very touch sensitive. You can type very softly, as light as a feather. (The ebook readers are tap-screen and requires force to move the display to next page)

[Questioner]

This is very helpful, carrie. Did you find the reading as comfortable on the eyes as with the e-ink based readers like Kindle?

[Deekun]

I'm still waiting to get a Nook... but then I went to try one out at the store and flipping the page or making menu options took too long. I don't know how the Ipad is when it comes to speed, but I normally like things to respond fairly quickly... like the Nintendo DS's quick response time. Unfortunately the Nook is not quite there yet.
Ipad I just do not want to own until there is a hack to take Apple's OS out of it. Just knowing that at any time they could just send a signal and delete a book I already own for whatever reason is a no no for me, same with Kindle.

[Questioner]

Deekun, get carrie's opinion. She did very thorough research on all of these options throughout the past months.

Any e-ink display has great contrast and battery life, but lousy response time - as you saw. Since the iPad has a conventional computer screen, its screen redraws are only limited by the speed of the software.

I believe Android tablets are coming soon. They will be more expandable and far more customizable than the iPad, with a lower price point. They will also require the user to put up with some rough edges and complications, compared to Apple's slick design and integration. It will be interesting to see if HP puts Palm's WebOS on a tablet, and if Microsoft has a reasonable tablet solution this time around.

[Deekun]

I believe Android tablets are coming soon. They will be more expandable and far more customizable than the iPad, with a lower price point.

You had me at hello.... hehehe

[carrie]

[question]
This is very helpful, carrie. Did you find the reading as comfortable on the eyes as with the e-ink based readers like Kindle?
[/question]

That question is very mixed.

Ebook readers:
a) Slow response time
b) EInk display is hard to read in sunlight
c) Supposedly long battery life, but I disagree. After 9 months the battery life goes downhill.
d) Easy to carry because of light weight
e) Converting from PDF to Kindle loses fidelity. Some ebook readers lose pages, lock-up or the PDF formatting is total disaster. I feel very bad buying something that doesn't live up to it's promises and the company who made it shut down.

Notebooks:
a) Fast response time
b) Hard to read glaring LCD display
c) Short battery life
d) Hard to carry / awkward to carry to read because of weight

IPad:
a) Fast response time/ reasonable response time.
b) There is black on white (you see the page in negative color) or "yellow upon brown"
c) There is ability to vary the black upon white (e.g., white over shade of gray)
d) There is fidelity - the thing does not give serious errors like corrupted pages, missing pages, lock-ups or PDF formatting strangeness
e) Easy to carry around and rotates orientation.
f) Tablet-sized and light to carry
g) intelligent software.
h) Note taking capability, Playback
i) Able to surf this site and other complex sites (like NYtimes, WashingtonPost).

For about reading. I think beyond anything else, is the fidelity issue.

The task is simple:
- Take huge complex documents from the SEC (www.sec.gov) website. Preferably 10 or 20 of those PDFs and try to read it on an Ebook.

- Take an accountancy ebook (e.g., Advanced Accountancy) and scroll to page 200/500 and try reading it in an Ebook.

- Take a corporate brochure (e.g., a 2-page PDF flyer going to be published in next few days on a magazine and needs review) and try to get it quickly on an Ebook.

For fidelity:
Give you an example. Suppose you have to read a corporate article. (Let's say a financial report in PDF which contains pictures, spreadsheets in PDF, long winding corporate disclosure over 200 pages). you don't want to spend ages formatting to kindle or mobi (or whatever) and then spend another hour checking if the formatting looks correct on your ebook reader. Then you don't want to spend another hour proof reading that all pages are there.

For readability,
- there is ability to "reflow" the page to different dimensions (like 2 pages, 1 pages) and replace font, like the Helvetica to another font. This is important if the font is not legible in smaller font sizes.

- there is bookmarking capability. this actually works. In an ebook reader, once the battery drains off the bookmarks are lost, or it is very hard to scroll to page 50/200 in an ebook reader. This put me off reading long books.

For example, tap, wait 2 secs, tap, wait 2 secs, how many taps do you have to do to get to page 50/200 ?

comes to speed

The iPad is very fast. You can even play Sega games on it (like Sonic the HedgeHog ipad edition)

HP Webtablet

This is Palm OS webtablet. I think you would very disappointed in it. The software alone is just utterly poor quality and nothing make sense in it. The people who designed it never think about battery life (max. 2 hours on serious usage) or usability (keeps crashing) or interface (many limitations, such as sound issues, display issues, navigation issues).

There are ethical issues. The PDF rendering failed a couple of times or just hangs the whole system. The thing does not sync correctly over USB. The software is much more expensive than iTunes software (US$199 vs US$0.99) for similar software. Returning the tablet, the carrier charges you money (US$399 or more) for terminating the 3G contract. (You could change it to iPad 3G instead).

Last:
- Anyone wants to buy / or donate an iPad to Carla

[Questioner]

It sounds like the iPad is the champion of ebook readers for now. Thank you again for the detailed comparison. I have only seen the iPad inside a dark room. Is the screen readable in bright sunlight without glare?

Seems that you have some of the most demanding usage for pdf readers. And it seems that right now, nothing else comes close to the usefulness of iPad.

The big unknown is whether there will be comparable quality in Android or Windows based tablets in the future.

[carrie]

Is the screen readable in bright sunlight without glare?

It is. There is an option. Yellow upon black/ Green on black which is very legible on broad daylight

most demanding usage

What seemed like a simple buying issue became a costly and almost unbelievable mess.

I cannot believe it that these ebook readers would under-perform nor have display issues.

I am not the only person who says such things, before the IREX and other vendors websites' went off-line, their forums were filled with complaints and bad remarks

comparable quality in Android or Windows based tablets in the future.

I just hope that whatever solution you do find, it does not become an unfortunate waste of money

Please do post if you find something better.

For now, this is what I found useful.

[Questioner]

Thanks again carrie. This only adds to my interest in the iPad. It's on my shopping list now, only waiting for the funds.

[Walthour]

It sounds like the iPad is theipad 2 cases champion of ebook readers for now. Thank you again for the detailed comparison. ipad 2 leather cases I have only seen the iPad inside a dark room. Is the screen readable in bright sunlight without glare?

Seems that you have some of iPad2 casethe most demanding usage for pdf readers. And it seems that right now, nothing else comes close to the usefulness of iPad.

The big unknown is whether there will be comparable quality in Android or Windows based tablets in the future.

I am not the only person who says such things, before the IREX and other vendors websites' went off-line, their forums were filled with complaints and bad remarks

[Namaste]

I've also gone through a lot of readers for the iPad. My favourite, by a considerable margin, is iAnnotate.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iannotate...d363998953

Ignore all the noise in those pictures, it can be used minimally. Perfect for the Ra Material. You can highlight the most resonant content and then email yourself those highlights, which acts as personal synopsis of favourites. Wonderful :¬)

It also has bookmarks and whatnot, nice page transitions, lockable page zooms etc.

A quick shot for you...

[Donald1addison]

Namaste does iAnnotate good than GoodReader? I am in search of software in which navigation panel in available and full screen mode without going back to tab mode. Isn’t any trial version is available of this software.
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