http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10440943-260.html?tag=smallCarouselArea.0
…is apparently also an e-reader, as well as an I-pod, and will display in color. For those of you who are curious.
Apple I-pad
by CJ | Jan 27, 2010 | Journal | 25 comments
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it says it uses epub. sounds good … looks nice – but what is the screen like, is it good for one’s eyes?
It’s a backlit LCD screen…same as on any modern computer or cell phone.
Hopefully Amazon will update the Kindle with ePub support and that the books purchased through Apple can be used on it too. :crosses fingers:
It looks pretty much as rumored — and that’s good. The pricing is reasonable (not cheap), and the 3G connectivity is cheap (and doesn’t require a contract YAY !). For book reading, it will be interesting to see how well the iPad’s screen compares to the Kindle’s very different technology. I’ll probably order one as the shipping date gets nearer.
@CJ are your publishers part of the launch ?? The ones announced were Penguin, Macmillion, Simon & Shuster, Harpercollins, Hachette.
Penguin, Harper, and Hachette. But not all of them have e-book rights to my books, or to certain books. Depends on the age of the contract and what we crossed out.
$500 but does more than act as an e-reader. Would buy one before a Kindle, but see no reason that a good, simple pocket book sized e-reader should sell for more than $100-$129. If I’m going to buy a small laptop, however configured, that’s different. For me, this is more of a very portable laptop. Which I don’t, at the moment, need.
$129 is probably my top price point. There’s a lot of content out there that’s not under copyright; Gulliver’s Travels, Alice in Wonderland, etc., etc. And a lot of it isn’t in print. That, ultimately, would be my major need for a device; handheld reading of out of print books whether in or out of copyright or maybe impulse buys. I bet simple models will come out a year or two down the line.
eReaders aren’t cheap because the technology used in them isn’t cheap. It will be a long while before they’re in the 100 dollar range simply because ePaper is so expensive to manufacture right now.
I, for one, love my Kindle, and I bought it when it was 350. I use it more than I use any other device I’ve ever bought except for my TV and computer.
It is backlit which is a problem for me because I’m a heavy reader and that is the last thing I need considering I work on a computer 8+ hours a day already. I love my Kindle because it doesn’t strain my eyes at all. I know people who are already using a Kindle app on their iPhones but I also know they don’t read more than 10-15 minutes at a time like that. I usually read for 2-hour stretches.
The publishers they listed were in reference to textbooks I think. They were angling for the students with that segment. I’m sure they’ll have a lot more regular books available beyond ones from those publishers.
IMO, this is more of a Kindle DX killer/netbook killer than a Kindle killer. It looks like it would be great for textbooks, magazines, and newspapers, and perhaps books for people who either don’t care about their eyes or read for only short stretches. It is also a netbook, but be aware that it doesn’t run flash at all. So no hulu or many other flash things you might be used to using on your laptop or desktop. It pretty much is a giant iTouch with a better screen area for surfing and an on screen keyboard. I don’t do touch screens (finger smear phobic), but if you are used to them already it uses the same technology.
And it has a very unfortunate name. iPad. If you look at twitter right now you can see a few spoofs of that name trending. Very unfortunate name.
I read ebooks for hours on hours on my iPhone, using Stanza. Works amazingly well, because you can adjust light level, colour schemes and fonts etc to counter the back light problem – I too thought it would be a sure killer, I can’t read long texts on an ordinary laptop, but as I said; it worked very well. I’m sure the iPad will do too.
I read for hours on my iPhone as well, also using Stanza. I wouldn’t even consider using a separate ebook reader right now, since I literally carry my iPhone around in my pocket during the day.
Looks interesting, and is clearly one step closer to establishing epub as the dominant format. (Of course, I still own a Betamax VCR, so take my format predictions with a large grain of salt.) As far as using this as a reader, I hope a lot of people do. For the time being I will stick with my Kindle. Can’t wait to see, though, what the next year brings for the ebook market.
I’m with Elaine. I’m going to stick with my Kindle for at least another year or so. Plenty of stuff out there to read.
I don’t have a Betamax VCR but have 6 VHS ones only one of which works, sort of.
I really like the looks of the iPad…..but then I have a bias toward all things Apple…..however, I will probably wait at least six months before buying one…..simply because first generation is apt to be the buggiest of any new item. What turns me on the most is the idea of eventually being able to have my magazines in a portable mode…..being able to carry and reference past issues would be terrific! 😆
Heard on Talk of the Nation today referring to a battery with ten hours of use…days in sleep mode “That would be the iGrail!” 😆
Oh, I am so getting this!!! I usually subscribe to Smartcat’s wait, but I may just have to offer the first one for resale when I buy the 2G version. Oh, yeah!!!
Sigh,it would be great to have something that
small to read from. As things stand right now I
don’t have a comfortable way to read on my laptop because of the electrical outlet config- uration vs my electric lounger. I have plans…
I also will stick with my Kindle for now, but did read that the IPad will use apps like the ITouch/Phone. This means you can already use the Kindle reader that exists for the IPhone. The biggest issue I see with it as a portable reader, besides eyestrain from LCD, is power consumption. I love not having to charge my Kindle for over a week.
And now I am even more confused about what to get! I’d actually handled the Sony reader, Nook, and Kindle, to see what one I liked better. I prefer the Nook for general aesthetics, but have to admit that the Kindle’s refresh rate seems to be much better. Some of the page flips in the Nook were really slow! And now there’s this iPad, which costs a lot more, but does more, but which uses an LCD screen instead of the e-Ink, which was one of the selling points on the eReaders. And then there’s the question of how much I would use the other features, given that I have a cell phone that does nothing but make phone calls. On the other hand, it would be handy at work if I could take my email with me. *sigh* So many variables to consider! But I am going to wait to the second generation, and hope they drop the price like they did on the iPhone.
Again. A small dedicated e-reader, backlit screen OK, for $100-$130. Nothing fancy, nothing extra, no fancy e-paper. Don’t even need color for me. Pocket book sized–literally fit at least into a coat pocket. Shouldn’t be impossible. Yesterday’s technology, but I bet the refresh rate, page turning would be fine.
Oh well; no huge profits and media glare in a commodity product, I guess.
Sounds like you want a late 1990s PDA. You could probably find them on ebay still (just checked…you can get them from $15-25) and as long as you are fine with converting and reading txt or Word docs you’d be good as far as the requirements you have.
If I was made of money, I’d be all over it. Oh, and the Trekkers are happy because the iPad, along with flip phones, gets us closer to Trek tech (remember padds?). http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/PADD
Uh,sweetbo,
What is a PDA and how do you convert what(?). Can
I use it to read ebooks? If so it would really be a big help to me.
PDAs — The hand held device of the future…er…past. They were all the rage in the 1990s. Personal Digital Assistant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant
There are zillions of brands. Dell, Hewlett-Pa​ckard, Palm Pilot, Pocket PC…most of them used a stylus to navigate. Most had operating systems that looked like stripped down Windows where you could organize your calender, write memos, read text files, and later models check email, listen to music, and open PDFs. You would have to check PDA by PDA for what their capabilities are, but most of them read Word docs and .txt files at the very least. I’m sure if you think back a few years you’ll remember them being prevalent in the business world and students. I bought one at a company auction a few years ago from the pile of outdated tech they try to purge from time to time. I thought I’d use it to check email while on the road, but I had too much trouble getting the wifi to work and got rid of it.
Here is an example of one:
http://catalog.ebay.com/Hewlett-Packard-Rz1710-/30896455?_fifpts=1&_pcatid=12&_refkw=pda&_trksid=p3286.c0.m271
Obviously you’ll have to read old reviews to see which old model you might like the best. You wouldn’t be the first to reappropriate a PDA to be an ebook reader. Do a quick search and you’ll find advice on the subject. If I were going down that road I’d be most concerned with screen quality, battery life, and storage. You might not be able to store as many books on there as you would on a Kindle, but you could always keep them on a computer and rotate the selections as needed.
http://www.gooli.org/blog/digital-reading/
http://www.laptopmag.com/advice/tips/how-to-resurrect-an-old-pda.aspx
sweetbo,
Thank you so much,this info could well be the
answer I’ve been looking for!
Sweetbo:
Yes and no. PDA’s are the grandfathers of the IPad. I don’t need calendars, calculator’s, contact lists, etc. Just an idiot-proof e-reader. I’ve never needed a PDA, and if I did I would probably get an I-Phone and would still want a stand-alone e-reader. I want what I described, and I’ve seen one advertised, with an LCD screen, but buying that one for $100 locks you into some sort of contract to buy so many e-books from a certain source. Frankly, if I bought an I-Pad it would be to take on vacation instead of a laptop, not use it as an e-reader
Actually I think every manufacturer is sniffing up the high markup items, a true e-reader is considered too much a niche product, limited volume. And if for ten dollars they can add a lot of capabilities and charge $100 more for the product, they’re going to do it, and hopefully get a lot more potential users.
But frankly I can’t curl up in bed with my 20″ computer screen, nor really with a laptop. Nor can I pull a computer out of my pocket while waiting in line at the bank, riding on the subway, or whatever. Some of this other stuff will come down in price before too long. But if I spent $300-500 on a reader right now, I wouldn’t have much money for books.
But I also have no comfortable way to read many books on the computer. I bought Jane’s 2nd and 3rd books and loved them. But with as much time as I sit in front of the computer writing and editing and doing “chores,” I just can’t sit–physical discomfort–for long periods of time reading books onscreen, also. And I also find it hard to start and stop reading using the computer, whereas I don’t give it a thought about picking a book up, reading thirty pages, put it down and take care of something and then…. You get the idea. Don’t know why that is.
But all this will be resolved
But frankly, even the Kindle, much less the I-Pad, isn’t really as portable as the mass market paperback that I want an e-reader to replace.
I suppose I’ve ranted enough about this. Sorry folks.
I wouldn’t recommend a PDA to most people, but Azureblu wanted something inexpensive and pocket sized and wasn’t concerned about e-ink or flash and dazzle. A used PDA could cost $20-25, fit in your pocket, and let you read Word docs and txt files and in some cases PDFs. Sure, it has a few more features, but you don’t have to use them. It is just a re-appropriation of an old technology. Like planing flowers in an old tire. You are not obligated to click on anything on there but the text reader.
I am not sure why people don’t think Kindles are portable. I have mine in my purse all the time. Just a few days ago I was reading my Kindle while on the dentist chair because he was taking forever to come back while dealing with a shrieking kid in the next room. Kindles are super portable if you already carry a purse. Guys might have less luck. Too bad for them. 🙂
AzureBlu I’m still using an old color back-lit Palm TX pda mostly to read ebooks; many ebook readers and file formats are supported (not kindle) but mobi, and ereader etc.