If you search “Kindle vs iPad” in Google and you will probably find over 6 millions results, in other words this topic has been discussed to death. And of course, Amazon thinks there are many good reasons why Kindle is a better ebook reader and I also blogged before that with certain settings, one can use iPad to read ebooks.
But still, to really find out which device is the better ebook reader, I decided to do an experiment – read the first half of an ebook (“I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works: Why Your World, Work, and Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted“) with Kindle 2, and then the second half of the same ebook with iPad 2. And here are my findings:
iPad
- I like the fact that you can check mail, news, tweets, Facebook walls etc. easily while you’re reading your ebook
- I hate the fact that you can check mail, news, tweets, Facebook walls etc. easily while you’re reading your ebook
- It’s the faster device of the two
- The battery lasts only 10 hours, and I don’t like the battery indicator (in percentage) in the upper right corner … it makes me worry about the battery all the time
- Without a keyboard, the touch gesture can turn the page, highlight a word / sentence, toggle the menu system etc. etc. – in one word, “confusing”
- I like all the colorful book covers in the home screen. It’s pretty much like the album library in iPod is great, but I still like to see all the CD covers.
Kindle
- I like the fact that you cannot check mail, news, tweets, Facebook walls etc. easily while you’re reading your ebook
- I hate the fact that you cannot check mail, news, tweets, Facebook walls etc. easily while you’re reading your ebook
- The e-ink screen is much much better than iPad (for any serious long form reading), your eyes will never get tired, strained and drained;
- Battery life of two weeks is good, you can easily finish a book without a recharge;
- With the keyboard and buttons to go to next / previous page, it is a lot easier to use.
- You can buy ebook easily with the Kindle shop.
Summary
Without a doubt, Kindle is a much better ebook reader if you like focused long form reading. However, if you can only take one device with you and reading is not your primary purpose, get an iPad. You won’t regret it.
M.Y. Lessons Learnt 
Since I like to bookmark favorite passages and occasionally need to look up a word or two, I find the iPad’s touch screen interface much more intuitive to use than the Kindle’s. Plus I don’t need any sort of clip-on light to read the iPad in bed at night. I only use my Kindle now for reading outdoors in sunlight.
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That’s pretty true, using iPad in bed, on plane or at night is a very good option.
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I had iPad(1+2) and Kindle DX. I have given up reading PDF-based e-books on iPad, especially if you are going to spend hours on them.
iPad has many e-magazines which are excellent, on the other hand. The Economist is one of them. These are iPad-optimized version so it delivers better experience and it is quite different from flipping through the printed version of the same news-magazine.
When I was on a long haul flight last month, I spent most of the time on my Kindle DX and the in-flight entertainment system. I did not even brought my iPad with me.
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Not sure about others, I was always tempted to “flip a page” on my kindle and hope that it is a touch screen device
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Thanks for stopping by.
Think about it … “Flip a page” is a two-hand gesture – one hand to hold the device, the other hand to flip a page. However, press a button to turn a page, is a one-hand gesture – as you can hold the device and press a button at the same time.
So to me, the current design is great. But of course, the next Kindle Tablet will support “flip a page”. So, all you need is to wait.
Hope it helps.
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