I posted on Wednesday with first impressions on my new iPad. I was up past midnight that night playing with my toy and downloading new apps. Which meant that Thursday, I was behind all day and a little bit brain-fogged from lack of sleep. I’m almost caught up today, but still haven’t had much time to play more.
However, I’ve had time to do some reading on it. We have a long-standing family tradition of reading aloud every night. Right now, I’m reading aloud from PRIDE & PREJUDICE to my wife and daughter, so the last couple of nights, I’ve been reading from the iPad version of P&P instead of from the paper book.
More first impressions:
1) I like being able to set the type size and font. My eyes aren’t young anymore, and big type is nice. It’s a bit easier to change the type size than on the Kindle.
2) I haven’t read long enough at one sitting yet to experience eye fatigue from the screen.
3) The experience of turning pages on the iPad is extremely quick and easy–more so than using a physical book.
4) The iPad is heavier than the average paperback, and holding it one-handed will not be for most people. Maybe a big guy like Sam the Plumber might do that, but the iPad weighs a pound and a half, which is comparable to many hardbacks. So reading is a two-handed operation, or else you can rest the base on your lap and hold it with one hand.
5) One issue I’ve always had with paperbacks is that you either have to hold them with two hands or you have to clench it in one hand and try to hold it just wide enough to read, without cracking the spine. There’s no such worry with the iPad, since it’s always flat.
6) The iPad appears to have the usual technology for blind readers, so there’s a way (if I’ve read the web site correctly) to get the iPad to read aloud to you. I haven’t tried this yet. On the Kindle, you just tell it to read aloud–there’s a menu entry available to get the (fairly good) text-to-speech rolling. I don’t see anything that simple on the iPad.
7) The text in an e-book on the iPad looks typeset. This is very nice. It really does give the sensation of reading a real book.
You really have to see the “Will It Blend?” movie on YouTube featuring an iPad getting ripped to shreds in a blender. It doesn’t fit without some serious prework, but once it’s in the blender, it’s all over for that pesky iPad.
I have heard that you can download a Kindle app on the iPad. Have you tried using the Kindle app; if so, is it any better or worse than the iBooks app?
Randy sez: Yes, there is a Kindle app for the iPad which is free. I have it and it works very well. It is in fact easier to navigate through your list of books or through a book on the Kindle app than it is to do the same on the Kindle. So far as I can see, you can’t make notes within the Kindle app, so if that’s important to you, complain about this missing feature to the powers that be.
“Will It Blend? is hillarious.
So is my spelling. Sorry!
I had no interest in getting a Kindle or Sony Reader because I never saw myself sitting and reading a book in that manner. But when my husband brought home his iPad April 5, I was convinced in a matter of minutes that this was a tool I could use. That said, I refuse to shell out the money to buy one. If I get it, it will be because someone gave it to me.
Randy sez: The iPad is definitely too expensive. I hope that, like the iPhone, the price will come down soon when Apple gets some economies of scale. I only bought mine because it was a business expense–I need it for testing an app I’m working on with a collaborator.
Hahaha, my husband showed me “Will it blend?” a couple weeks ago. I told him about your thoughts on the iPad and he said you should have made an “opening the box” video (he loves to watch those about cell phones).
Hi Randy,
I’m a new reader. I just had to share – last night I was fortunate to see Steve Martin (yes that one) and the Steep Canyon Raiders playing bluegrass music, and he was using an IPad for his set list, “Our set list is so expensive that we cannot fail tonight”.
He chatted about how much he loved it and it made me think of your post.
Cheers
Tammy
i am planning to buy an iPad since it looks lighter than a regular desknote and i don not use much of the features of a laptop.-~~