Archive for the 'reading' Category

The iPad as an ereader

Published on 28 July 2010 in ereaders, reading and technology. 2 Comments

iPad ereader

After my Kobo had to go back to the shop to be replaced (I’m still waiting for a new one!), I turned to my iPad as a replacement ereader.
So far, the iPad has been a pretty good ereader.

Positives

  1. Content from various ebook providers can be accessed and read, thanks to the various iPad apps – I’m using Borders, Kobo, Stanza, and Amazon. In effect I have a Kobo and Kindle in one. I don’t need a Kindle to get access to Amazon ebooks – all content (at least content that is accessible to Australian readers) is available. (NB: I also have iBooks which is the iPad-specific app but content via iBooks currently provides public domain material only. The pictures show iBook.)
  2. Wireless connectivity means that in many cases I can download and start reading a book almost immediately.
  3. Ability to carry many books on one device. This was brilliant when I went to Melbourne recently – no more dilemmas over what book to bring with me.
  4. Ability to read PDFs. The Kobo, with its small (6”) screen, did not display PDFs particularly well. This is not a problem on the iPad, which does a great job. In fact, I no longer have any need to print off PDFs – I just open such documents on the iPad. Others are also finding the iPad very good for reading PDFs.
  5. Backlit screen means I can read without having to switch any lights on. This means I don’t disturb M if I wake early and feel like reading in bed.
  6. Navigation is simple and quick. On the Kobo the need to click, click and then click again to get to relevant menus can be annoying at times.
  7. Page turns on the iPad are very easy and intuitive – a light touch on the right of the screen for the next page, or the left for the previous page. This is contrasted with the Kobo button, which requires a bit of pressure to activate. The clicking noise the Kobo button makes can also be mildly irritating for others in the room.
  8. Ability to set bookmarks in the iPad ebook apps. While the Kobo remembers which page you got up to, that’s the extent of its bookmarking capacity. If you let someone have a look at your Kobo and they flick through the particular book, you lose your page. Because I was showing the Kobo to friends, family and colleagues, this got a bit wearing after a while. (also related to points 6 and 7 above.)
  9. Battery life - ~10 hours – is quite adequate for a day’s reading. It’s easy enough to charge the iPad up overnight.
  10. I am finding that I just want to read, and read, and keep reading… Mind you this is not iPad specific, I had the same impulse with the Kobo. I am assuming this is due to the novelty factor, and will fade eventually.

Negatives
iPad ereader

  1. Distractions. Being able to connect to the Internet means that I can veer off to look things up (definitions, more information about a place, person, event, concept). Playing games with others and receiving an alert that the other person has made their move and it’s now my turn – right when I am in the middle of a juicy bit. (I suppose I could turn the alerts off.)
  2. Backlit screen means that I find it very unpleasant to read in sunlight. Even bright lighting indoors can be a problem – if you hold the screen just so, the light can reflect off it, and can be distracting.
  3. Battery life is definitely not as good as the Kobo, which can go up to 2 weeks without needing a charge.
  4. Content, lack of. I seem to be reading a lot more “classic” titles, as the availability of titles continues to be an issue for us in Australia. Project Gutenberg titles, which were not attractive to me on a desktop-bound computer screen, are suddenly very good and valid reading choices. The most frustrating thing is when something is available on Amazon but not available to Australians.
  5. Weight. It’s not a big deal, but the iPad can be quite heavy. I don’t find it comfortable to hold in one hand while reading. The Kobo on the other hand is very light and pleasant to hold – and won’t cause injury if you fall asleep while reading in bed and drop it on your face. The iPad could give you a black eye!

Having said all that, I am still looking forward to receiving my replacement Kobo. Its lightness, the lack of distractions (all you can do with it is read), and the fact that eInk is very comfortable on the eyes are all huge positives for me. I expect I will still be using the iPad, for Amazon material and PDFs. Talk about spoilt for choice!

A new age in travel reading

Published on 14 July 2010 in reading and travel. 3 Comments

On Sunday I’ll be going to Melbourne. I consider reading material to be an essential part of my travel inventory, and normally, by this time I would be seriously pondering what book to bring with me for the trip. It’s a lot more difficult than you would think. The book has to be interesting enough that I will be happy to pick it up at the end of a long day. Ideally, it has to be of the perfect length to last me the entire trip. If I am currently reading something, I either have to finish it before I go so I can take something fresh with me, or it has to be long enough to last the entire trip. It can’t be bulky or heavy.

This time however I will have lots to read while away:

  1. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope (currently reading, may be finished by Sunday)
  2. Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope (next book in the Barchester series after Dr Thorne)
  3. Can you forgive her? by Anthony Trollope (first in the Palliser series)
  4. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
  5. Unknown by Mari Jungstedt
  6. Four Kate Wilhelm detective novels. FOUR!
  7. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (Royall Tyler translation)
  8. Assorted journal articles

Such variety! And the best part, all of this on the one device, the iPad. (I do still wish I had my Kobo, but what’s that pithy saying for these sorts of situations? “First World Problems”!)

You might look at the list and wonder if I am just going to Melbourne to READ. The reality is that I will probably only have time to read on the plane. The rest of the time I will be attending a two-day seminar, and catching up with some of my Melbourne PLN. I’m looking forward to it!

Odious Obadiah

Published on 3 July 2010 in reading. 4 Comments

I may have mentioned that I am discovering the “classic” novels, thanks to being able to download these public domain works for free and read them on my black Kobo.

My find of the year may be the works of Anthony Trollope. I have finished his The Warden, and have just started Barchester Towers.

I love his description of the Reverend Obadiah Slope:

Mr. Slope is tall, and not ill-made. His feet and hands are large, as has ever been the case with all his family, but he has a broad chest and wide shoulders to carry off these excrescences, and on the whole his figure is good. His countenance, however, is not specially prepossessing. His hair is lank and of a dull pale reddish hue. It is always formed into three straight, lumpy masses, each brushed with admirable precision and cemented with much  grease; two of them adhere closely to the sides of his face, and the other lies at right angles above them. He  wears no whiskers, and is always punctiliously shaven. His face is nearly of the same colour as his hair, though perhaps a little redder: it is not unlike beef–beef, however, one would say, of a bad quality. His forehead is  capacious and high, but square and heavy and unpleasantly shining. His mouth is large, though his lips are thin  and bloodless; and his big, prominent, pale-brown eyes inspire anything but confidence. His nose, however, is  his redeeming feature: it is pronounced, straight and well-formed; though I myself should have liked it better  did it not possess a somewhat spongy, porous appearance, as though it had been cleverly formed out of a red-coloured cork.

Funny how I lacked any interest in Project Gutenberg, until I could download their titles onto a portable device.