iPad Mini vs the competition for eReading?

[Cypher.Mini]

I honestly can't see why anyone would buy a dedicated ereader if they already own a Mini. When I had my original Ipad I picked up an ereader as I didn't like reading on the original one because of it's size for a long period of time.

 

[KevinJS]

I found reading on the iPad (not the mini) made my eyes tired in very short order. It was better when the white on black theme was introduced, but I would think that e-ink would be better yet.

Haven't owned a reader but the ones I've seen would seem to bear that out.

Sent from my iPhone using iPF

 

[ardchoille]

A huge advantage of a dedicate e-ink ereader is battery life. I owned a Kindle and the battery life was something along the lines of a month with wifi turned off - and that was with reading several hours per day. E-ink doesn't use any power to continuously display a page, it only uses battery power when changing a page or page content. When Amazon learned how to add a light to the screen, in the Kindle Paperwhite, they ended up with a great product. Tablet computers do a mind-boggling amount of work behind the scenes, dedicated ereaders don't have to do so much work, this is the reason for the huge difference in battery life.

 

[AQ_OC]

I honestly can't see why anyone would buy a dedicated ereader if they already own a Mini. When I had my original Ipad I picked up an ereader as I didn't like reading on the original one because of it's size for a long period of time.

If you are seriously into reading, you'd see why in very short order. Looking at a screen that radiates light is very different than looking at a screen which reflects light. That difference manifests itself as eye stain after long periods. If you just keep it short, you'll be fine on a tablet.

 

[Cypher.Mini]

I had both at one time, only difference I noticed was the weight. Everyone is different though.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I bought a Kindle e-ink years before iPad, and I still keep it even though I rarely use it now. I figure it's great for battery life in case of electricity outages or limits. Other things I really liked about my old-school Kindle: The page-turn buttons meant no accidental page turns, and the keyboard on mine gives a good place to hold it comfortably. I didn't like paging thru among my library or using a clip-on light, though. The old-school ones also had sucky contrast.

My eyes don't bother me for extended reading on backlit devices, but I'm careful with the backlighting staying in balance with ambient light, get annual eye exams and have lucked out so far with good eyesight. I also am careful to limit full sun exposure to protect my eyeballs from cataract risks and such, so I don't ever read in full sunlight.