Why the Kindle is the superior reading device
by Volker Weber
Out in the sun. The iPad screen is on with brightness set to max.
Comments
Good luck reading a PDF manual on that device though.
Well, that's the problem with a hammer. You have to use nails. Screws don't work that well.
To elaborate a bit: PDFs are formatted documents that do not reflow. Ebooks are XML documents that reflow with your choice of typeface, size, line and word spacing.
This is a Fritz!Box 7270 manual displayed on a Kindle. The page numbers use my settings, the document retains its own. And of course you can't read a thing on the iPad in the same environment.
That *is* a nice display. I know the one time I tried to use my iPad in direct sunlight was a lesson in futility.
@Duffbert: that was the on the only sunny day in the Pacific Northwest? Or in Florida? [laughs]
If you really want to read PDFs on the Kindle, get the DX. That is what I have and stuff like redbooks are rendered in full size. That way the pre-rendered flow matches the device.
Actually it *was* here in Portland... during the summer... for one day. :) I was watching Cam race in the State cycling championships, and forgot to bring a cap. I was quite scorched by the end of the day.
@Simon
You could use a PDF to MOBI converter to control the font/text.
I've just brought a Kindle and am sussing out which converter too use.
Currently, I'm using Calibre e-book management. It does a reasonable job of converting PDF to MOBI. Page-numbering may not match the PDF's content/index page numbering, but I'm not bothered by that minor hiccup.
@Richard. Cheers, will check into that.
Although where I live I don't have to worry about sunshine, and if it is sunny I need to be in the shade. :)
I'm going to buy immediately a kindle if I could choose from a big variety of german ebooks in the kindle store.
Karl, I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon.
I don't feel it's appropriate to pay the same price for an ebook and the hardcover version.
I love Buchpreisbindung and other artefacts from the last century.
Ja, das ist alles noch etwas schwierig. Die Buchbranche muss noch lernen, dem zahlenden Kunden ein besseres Produkt zu bieten als dem Downloader.
I love my Kindle, except I can't read it in bed with the lights off. Was thinking off getting an iPad2 for that role. Anyone had any experience with the Kindle covers with a pull out light (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_159010027_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000425123&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0RZ1BG1KNC8090QJCQKW&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=233128827&pf_rd_i=468294) for reading in the dark?
I never succeeded in reading a book on the iPad. Too heavy (and too bright in bed). The cover fits the Kindle 3 only, and I have heard good things about it. We have a night light for the Kindle 2, but that does not work well with the Kindle 3.
I think a generic LED light with a narrow beam would work well.
The only way to make the current ebook situation worse in Germany is to have some kind of crappy, but "approved" way to get German books in the Kindle store, but then to restrict us from buying books in the American Kindle store to make the German store attractive.
Insane? No, that's how TV series work on iTunes. When shopping in the US store you get the American TV series the day after they aired, in the German store you get them months/years after they aired with mandatory dubbing for the most part and of course at a higher price, because crippling a product is considered added value.
Man, how long do I have to wait until these content mafia clowns die out and people take over who care for customers and have heard of Al Gore's internet of tubes?
OK. I'll buy one of the new Kindle 3 covers (it's what I've got), and let you know how I get on.
@Nick I've got one of those covers with the pull out light and I think it's great for reading in the dark, even if pitch dark. And yeah, there is no problem at all with reading when out in the sun with this device.
@Mariano Interestingly, globalization usually only works, when it is favors the global players, not when it favors the customers.
BTW: Buchpreisbindung has nothing to do with selling an ebook for the same price as the hardcover. It means, that you pay the same price for the hardcover in every store that sells the book (same for ebooks and paperbacks). It doesn't mean that hardcover and paperback and ebook need to have the same price.
Are glasses an alternative to the display?
Frag mal auf Deutsch. Vielleicht macht die Frage dann einen Sinn. ;-)
*lach*
Es gab doch mal eine Brille, die man an den ipod anschließen konnte. Taugt die was?
I've just sent my second faulty Kindle back. 1st permanent vertical lines on the screen. 2nd just died whilst in use. The display is good but the build quality not as good.
Really I need a thing to read wider format books on so I spoke to Amazon on the phone and asked why I couldn't buy a DX. The support guy said it was against company policy to talk about it and couldn't get me off the phone quick enough after that. Not sure why they would be so touchy.
So I'm probably in the market for an iPad or an imported DX now.
Jason, you won't be happy reading "wider format" books since you really need to look for unformatted ebooks. It's a completely different game.
I have an iPad, but I never finished even a single book on it. Since I received my own Kindle a month ago, I read eight books on it.
