

The Next Hot e-Reader: The iPhone - afrombie
http://gigaom.com/2009/11/01/iphone-e-book-reader/

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kqr2
I own both an iphone and kindle. It's a lot easier to read for longer
durations on the kindle due to the e-ink display. Also, the battery lasts a
lot longer since the e-ink virtually consumes no static power.

For now, in my opinion, the ebook edge goes to the kindle.

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ajg1977
Agreed 100%.

I get the feeling that many of the people who tout the iPhone/Tablet as an
eBook reader have never tried a Kindle or something with e-ink. The experience
just doesn't compare, and you don't have to worry about an hour of reading
doing serious damage to your battery.

Also I lost all respect for Om's analysis abilities after hearing him talk on
This Week in Tech a month or two ago.

~~~
stcredzero
_I get the feeling that many of the people who tout the iPhone/Tablet as an
eBook reader have never tried a Kindle or something with e-ink._

For awhile, I had both a Sony Reader (e-ink) and an iPhone. While sitting
around and reading linearly for an extended period was much better on the
Reader, I found that the iPhone was _worlds_ better as an eReader for
reference material. This is not so much because the iPhone is so great as a
reader -- really, with its small screen size and backlit LCD screen, it leaves
a lot to be desired. However the iPhone is so much more _interactive_. And
when using reference materials, one is very much _interacting_. (Searching,
flipping, zooming)

I keep waiting for someone to produce a device for me to compile my own
content in the form of reference materials. It has to be large enough to read
comfortably, interactive enough to enable quick "flipping" and searching, yet
light enough to carry everywhere. It should also be an "instant-on" device. So
far, I've not found a device to satisfy me.

As for Om's analysis, I think the best way to judge a pundit is to hold some
specialized knowledge about an obscure but interesting corner of programming.
Then you can see if they have real insight, or if they're just selling a bill
of goods that the mainstream will buy.

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msisk6
I have to agree with this article. Since getting the Kindle app for my iPhone
I haven't used the Kindle itself once.

There's no doubt that the Kindle is better for reading than the iPhone. But I
always have the iPhone with me so it's easier when I have a few spare minutes
to get some reading done.

And I often read in bed and the iPhone screen can be read without supplemental
light whereas with the Kindle I need a light on.

The app has some useful features to reduce eye strain, too. You can change the
font size, lock the auto-rotation, and change to white-on-black for night
reading.

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rsaarelm
I've been reading novels from non-iPhone cell phones with screens around 55 mm
for the last 5 years. I've gone through around 80 books so far.

I read mostly in the bus to work. I'm always carrying my phone, a kindle or a
paperback book would be a big extra thing to carry along.

One win for the e-ink display would be that it'd be readable in bright
sunlight, unlike the active display of the phone.

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derefr
I can't believe Apple hasn't just built a standard "Books" app and added a
Book Store alongside the App and Music stores. I suppose it's a licensing
issue, but they already sell audiobooks, don't they?

~~~
lupin_sansei
A few years back the iTunes store used to sell pamphlets on things like how-
tos as PDFs, but they seem to have gone now.

[http://www.mcelhearn.com/2004/12/17/organize-pdf-files-in-
it...](http://www.mcelhearn.com/2004/12/17/organize-pdf-files-in-itunes-
updated/)

~~~
derefr
iTunes still has PDFs for download under iTunes U (mostly slides that come
with video lectures and that sort of thing.) I believe they're all free,
though.

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aklemm
I've been reading A LOT on my iPhone lately since starting to use instapaper.
It's been amazing except for only little thing; I get nauseated occasionally
staring at the screen (especially when moving). The screen is possibly to
small or too bright?

The form factor might not be quite right.

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semiquaver
Enjoy your eyes while they still work.

~~~
derefr
Although I can't find a (reliable) cite after five minutes of Googling, I'm
quite sure that there's no _causal_ link of any kind between the amount of
strain you put your eyes through on a day-to-day basis, and eventual vision
loss. The reason people think this is that people who don't _realize_ their
vision already needs correction (such as children) tend to strain their eyes
more, and do other things such as sitting close to the TV, to make up for
their existing impairment. Thus, there's a _correlation_ , but not a
causation.

(As a side note, "masturbation will make you go blind" is, although taken less
seriously, another sentiment with the same roots: people mistake the
correlation of teenagers' eyes altering in correction requirements, along with
an increase in masturbational frequency, as another causation.)

~~~
Grinnmarr
Well, yes and no. Many factors affect visual acuity including the shape of the
eyeball (affects focal point of lens on retina), cornea (defects cause
astigmatism), retinal damage like macular degeneration which leads to
functional blindness, and the function of the muscles which adjust our focus
within our visual range. Eye strain can take a significant toll on those
muscles and eventually lead to a sometimes significant loss of visual acuity
(myopia.) Fortunately the muscles can often be retrained. Search Amazon for
books on vision correction and you will find a ton of books that essentially
help you retrain your eye muscles to improve your visual acuity.

sample book on Amazon [http://www.amazon.com/Relearning-See-Improve-Eyesight-
Natura...](http://www.amazon.com/Relearning-See-Improve-Eyesight-
Naturally/dp/1556433417/)

~~~
derefr
Right. By "eventual vision loss," I meant the permanent kind. It's everyone's
responsibility to go stare at some mountains every once in a while :)

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WalkingDead
It's bad that you can't copy your PDFs into iPhone and read those later. Not
unless it's jail broken. iPhone can render PDF, but only when the file is sent
as mail attachment or downloaded from web.

This single thing is preventing me from purchasing the iPhone. I have a lots
of PDFs and need to read those over time.

~~~
derefr
Would having to use the (free) Dropbox iPhone app as an intermediate step
bother you?

1\. Sign up for Dropbox, if you haven't already; put PDFs you want to read
into your Dropbox, and, obviously, buy an iPhone.

2\. Install the Dropbox iPhone app.

3\. In the Dropbox iPhone app, mark the PDFs as "favorites," and they'll be
synced to the iPhone's drive, accessible whether or not the phone is online.

There are all the "network drive" applications as well, of course, but I think
this is the best of both worlds: if you're at home the LAN sync will negate
any extra bandwidth usage, while if you're out somewhere you can still pull
the file from the network (once) and then keep it stored locally from then on.
Then again, you can't do the "promiscuous sharing to anything around me that
can speak Bonjour" this way, but I'm guessing you probably don't want people
pirating books off your phone anyway :)

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cma
At 260+ DPI, the Droid will be my next e-Reader.

