Reading on the Ipad – First Impressions 1 comment
I’ve spent several hours reading today on my new iPad using the Kindle for iPad app. I have not messed about with iBooks or other reading apps yet because I primarily wanted to see how comfortable doing more than casual reading on the iPad’s LCD screen is. Also I took the iPad outdoors to see how well it fared in sunlight.
First, about reading in the sunshine. Yes, it is doable, but not optimal as you will constantly be trying to find an angle to hold your tablet at that shows less glare. An antiglare film is going to be one of the first accessories I get for my iPad. As expected the LCD screen is quite dim and washed out when viewed under full sunshine, but it is readable. Reading outdoors in a shaded environment is much easier. Overall an e-ink screen gives you a much better reading experience when reading outdoors as compared to the iPad.
As for eyestrain, this is going to affect every set of eyeballs differently. If I spend a whole day and into the night on my computer working, Web browsing and playing games – usually a mix of all of these activities – I will feel some eyestrain at the end of the day about 30 % of the time.
When reading on the iPad I was somewhat surprised to feel some strain after only reading an hour or so. Switching to white text on a black background helped a lot and I found myself wishing I had done this from the beginning.
Again, just because my eyes felt the strain does not necessarily mean that yours will. Keep in mind though that when using a computer’s LCD screen we are usually reading shorter blocks of text broken up by graphics, etc. This is much different from reading long blocks of text such as when reading the typical ebook.
So far, after admittedly limited reading time on the iPad, I find that I have not been disabused of my original expectations:
- For casual reading the iPad is fine. For long form, immersive reading an e-ink screen is much better.
- Most dedicated ereaders will be much easier to use one-handed. The iPad is heavier (one and a half pounds) and is best used when held with both hands on one’s lap or perhaps propped in some sort of stand on a table.
- The iPad’s screen is quite shiny and you will find yourself moving it around to avoid glare when reading. Also, although the IPS LCD display that Apple chose for the iPad allows for wider viewing angles than regular LCD displays, at some angles the text on a page will appear to have slightly differing levels of brightness on different parts of the page, which can be a minor distraction.
- While I have been spending my time on the iPad so far just focusing on the ereading experience, it looks like it will be an excellent platform for magazine and newspaper reading, Web browsing, video streaming and probably gaming (I bought Mirror’s Edge but have not yet had a chance to try it).
- As with the iPhone, there are a myriad distractions with the iPad – hard to stay focused on reading.
So far, after one day of use, my impression is that dedicated ebook readers are still best for general book reading, while the iPad will be much better for reading magazines and newspapers and will also be excellent for consuming other forms of media. The iPad will also no doubt be best for textbooks with lots of graphic content, though that may change when we have ereaders with reflective color screens.
As to whether you should buy an iPad or a dedicated ereader, it still depends on how you plan to use it. My recommended path to Nirvana would be to buy both! 
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