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Greg Sandoval over at CNET has an interesting theory and by interesting I mean completely insane. His theory is that the second generation iPhone could end up killing off purpose-built e-book readers, namely the Kindle; a laughable suggestion.
First, let me categorically state that I do read and I do not own a Kindle. I want an e-book reader, but the Kindle is US-centric with its wireless technology and that would make it a stupid purchase on my part. Alas I digress; I am supposed to be informing you of why the 3G iPhone makes a lousy e-book reader.
First of all there is the screen size. Sandoval states that 3.5-inches diagonal is big enough, evidenced by the fact that he has read 20 books on a Palm Pilot TX with a slightly larger 3.8-inch screen. When I get into some serious reading, I am doing a book a day, combined with newspapers and blogs. There is no way that 3.5-inches is ever going to be a comfortable size. The Kindle offers a 6-inch screen; I would probably be comfortable with 8-inches.
Then there is the screen. Sandoval concedes that E-ink is easier on the eyes than a backlit LCD. Of course it is, while I can get tired from reading for an extended period of time, I can generally stare at a book for a lot longer than I can stare at a screen. If something is comfortable to use, you are likely to use it more.
The price argument is where Sandoval does enter the realms of possibility. At $365 it will take the purchase of 61 books before the Kindle pays for itself. If someone is already purchasing an iPhone and the functionality is already there, it could become difficult to justify the expense. Until you consider all of the great public domain stuff that is out there that you can load into your Kindle for free.
You can any of the Classics online albeit usually in HTML, but it takes only a few minutes to convert that to a PDF, a little longer if you want to format it nicely. I have to say that I like the idea of being able to reduce the physical size of my library. I own hundreds of books and every time I get more I have to consider the lack of space that I have to store them.
Then there is the battery life. Can you read on an iPhone for six hours straight without the battery kicking out? I don’t think so. I don’t want to be plugged in when I am reading, I want to be sprawled out in a comfortable chair with a glass of single malt at my side and my phone switched off. A cell phone is no substitute for an e-book reader, it doesn’t even come close. It might suffice for someone who occasionally opens a book, but if you enjoy your reading, doing it on a phone screen is probably a very bad idea. [CNET]
Tags: 3G iphone, e-book-reader, iphone, Kindle, Op-Ed
5 responses
Jun 25, 2008 at 1:24 am
Maybe you should give the cell phone a try - http://www.booksinmyphone.com has a load of books all packed up ready to run. I’ve been reading for a while on an old LG model with a tiny screen - it’s very comfortable. The portability is the killer advantage. As far as battery goes I had a 14 hour layover, read the whole time, maybe took one ding on the battery bar.
Jun 26, 2008 at 2:40 am
I am a Kindle owner and absolutely agree.
The Kindle is for reading. It is very good at that. The iPhone’s LCD screen doesn’t even come close. I own an iPod Touch and love it, but wouldn’t use it for reading.
I actually think that we are beyond the idea that we have to have one devce that kind of does everything.
I have a cell phone that makes calls, takes basic photos, can play music in a in pinch, gets email and can browse the web. It does only one of those things well. The rest are good enough for use when I am out and about. If I want to take good pictures, I get my camera. If I want to really do email, I get my computer… same for browse the web.
The combo device has its place. It is convenient because it is always with you, but it is not as good as a dedicated device. For reading, I’ll take my Kindle.
Saving money is a minor bonus not really the major point. The convenience of having a large number of different books in a convenient package (that are not filling my home) is well worth the money. So is being able to buy the second book in a series when you finish the first one while waiting for your next flight.
Jul 1, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’m of two minds about this.
1) provided a person is already getting an iPhone, and provided a good e-book app existed for it, an iPhone would probably be a fine e-book reader for people who didn’t mind the small screen size, the screen brightness, and the comparatively short battery life. Depending on the e-book app that was created for it, a lot of the other Kindle attributes that I like (search, highlighting, annotation, “my notes and marks” file for each e-book, free instant download of books) might be available.
2) But I really like the larger sized screen, the lack of backlighting, and the long battery life. Before I got a Kindle I read books on my PDA, and more than once ran out of power in the middle of the good part. I finished _Pride and Prejudice_ wrapped in my bathrobe and crouched shivering over the PDA on the floor because it absolutely refused to go any farther without being plugged into the wall and there wasn’t a plug-in near my bed. So I’ve tried reading e-books on a small bright screen with limited battery life, and I find those to be a significant disadvantage. On the other hand, I can read for hours, and I don’t mind bringing a Kindle-sized gadget places with me. For someone who reads a few minutes at a time, and who has limited pocket space, and who is getting an iPhone anyway (and ransoming it from the phone company on a monthly basis) reading on the iPhone might be a better deal.
Jul 2, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I disagree with much of your reasoning here. For the last 2.5 years, I’ve been using a Verizon XV6600 PDA/cell phone as my exclusive book reader. Note I didn’t say ebook reader - it’s the only way I’ve been reading books for years now. Based on just my purchase history with Baen (and they’re not the only ones I buy from), I’ve read a bit over 300 books with this little gadget. So, I feel like I’ve had a bit of experience at this. Let me take the points I disagree with you on one by one:
Screen size/3.5 inches is too small: Not at all. You’re making the assumption here, I think, that this will somehow be hard on your eyes, but it’s not. All the software I’ve used to read ebooks allow you to adjust the font size - I just crank it up to about the size on a regular printed page and go with that. This fits about one third of a physical page on the screen at a time, which is fine - even someone like myself who wears bifocals (and close to going tri-focal) doesn’t have a problem.
E-Ink vs LCD: My wife owns a Sony 505 reader, so I’ve played with E-Ink a bit. Is it easier to read than my PDAs LCD? No. Is it easier in extended sessions? No. I’m comfortable with either over many hours. And at night, it’s especially handy as I don’t have to turn on the light and wake the wife just to read. Over all though, both are perfectly good for reading books on.
Content: As far as I can tell, content for my PDA and the Kindle are pretty much indentical since both use Mobi format (the reader is free for PDAs and they’re promising an iPhone version), so that’s not an issue at all.
Battery Life: The Sony we own is good, according to the manual, for “7,500 page turns”. I know that my PDA can’t match that - that’s several weeks of books for me. However, I don’t really care. Very few people have the type of life that lets them sit and read continuiously for “six hours straight”. If I can get in a couple of hours a day, I’ve done well. Do I sometimes read longer? Yup. So I have this nifty extension cord and I plug in for 30 minutes while the device recharges and I continue to read. This in no way limits my enjoyment of the book.
Finally, there’s one aspect that you didn’t mention that I’d like to point out - the PDA is a smaller, always with you device. This ubiquity in my life means I never have to do anything extra to have my books with me - it’s always there, it’s small, it’s easy to tote around. Stop at the grocery while the wife goes in, pull it out and read a chapter. Waiting in line some place and the line’s not moving, no problem, just pull out the phone and read for awhile. Given that it’s a small, easy to carry device, it makes it even more likely that I’ll find little bits of otherwise wasted time to read, which means more books, which means a better life (at least, as far as I’m concerned). The PDA is an absolutely wonderful book reader - give it a try sometime!
Jul 29, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I’ve used Palm devices to read ebooks and used many windows mobile devices to read books and the iPhone too! and I dont see the need for another device.
The font can be enlarged the backlight is great, I read in bed in total darkness so I have to lower the backlight to minimum so its confortable.
Why spend money on a device that can only do one thing when you probable have a device around that can display books??!?! Be green and re-use some older PDA/Phone….
Hell I used my laptop jsut turnit sideways and it fits a whole page perfectly…. a big huge but nice.
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