I wanted a Kindle DX but bought an iPad instead. This is my story...

With my return to school just around the corner I started to dread the thought of lugging around multiple thick, heavy textbooks. “I need a kindle”, I thought to myself, “e-Books will soon take over”.  With the proliferation of e-readers and the pending demise of print media it seemed to me that indeed, we finally were at a turning point, and why not? Print books had changed little since their modernization with the invention of the printing press nearly 600 years ago. 

So, I set out to do my research, something I always do before buying whatever new gadget or gizmo has my eye.  Since I was nearly positive that I wanted a Kindle DX I didn’t anticipate spending much time looking at the competition.  Yet, for some reason I felt obligated to at least consider the shiny new iPad, which by the way was on my “I want but don’t need” list.

My first observation was that while I wanted a Kindle DX, I was having a hard time finding Amazon promotional and demo material on it.  Sure, I could visit YouTube for a review and demo, but why wouldn’t Amazon have this sort of documentation on their own site? Common sense would dictate that if you are selling an expensive product which is only available online, you ought to have plenty of videos showing everything the product is capable of doing.  Apple on the other hand has dozens of demonstration videos, walk-throughs and even B&M stores where you can experience the product firsthand and chat with an expert.

A major selling point for Kindle over iBooks is that you can take your books, notes and highlights with you from one device to another while syncing all of your data in the Amazon cloud.  Additionally, Amazon has Kindle applications for PC, Mac, Android, BlackBerry and even iPhone and iPad, but more on that in just a moment…

With iBooks on iPad your books, notes and highlights are essentially stuck on an Apple product.  That is, unless you are willing to download messy third party converters, and potentially find yourself on the wrong end of the DMCA, your books and your work are trapped in iBooks.  As a student having the ability to quickly access, edit and copy my notes and highlights from my desktop, notebook or even the web is crucial when studying or writing papers. 

As I plunged deeper in my Kindle DX vs. iPad research I realized that I had a hard decision on my hands, one which would warrant notes to keep track of the positives and negatives of each candidate. Below is a crude chart I made to help guide my decision.  Bolded items were of particular importance to me.

 

Positives

Negatives

Kindle DX

$379
  • Insane battery life (weeks)
  • Less eyestrain?
  • Easy to read anywhere
  • Reader, not much more
  • Expensive for what you get
  • Grayscale
  • Cumbersome keyboard
  •  No touch, counterintuitive controls
  • Not sold at any B&M: Can’t “play” with one unless you borrow from a friend
  • Amazon Kindle promotional information is weak
  • Documentation on the kindle is sparse, hard to navigate
  • Doesn’t play nice with books purchased on iBooks
  • No ePub support

Shared
  • Notes, highlights
  • Huge market place
  • PDF support
  • Support for thousands of books
  • Access to thousands of out-of-copyright publications

N/A

iPad/ iBooks

 

>/= $499
  • It’s much more than “just a reader”
  • Actual numbered pages vs. Kindle’s “locations”
  • Color display
  • Kindle app
  • Touch screen
  • Supports ePub format (DRM free only)
  • No iBooks PC application: Purchases are trapped on Apple products.
  • No web access to notes, highlights

Conclusion:

I chose both.  Apple’s iPad paired with the Kindle App truly is the best of both worlds. The iPad has an intuitive interface that just feels natural. Amazon did an excellent job of incorporating iPad’s touch capabilities in the Kindle app while managing to preserve all the positives of the Kindle experience.  The iPad battery life of around a day cannot begin to compete with Kindle’s battery life which is measured in weeks.  But still, the iPad battery will outlast even the most dedicated studier.

Not only did I get the best possible e-reader through combining two great technologies but I now have a “magic” product to play with when not preoccupied with academics.  The only negative here is I now have to practice self-restraint and moderation when playing with the myriad time-sink apps.

Link: List of free Amazon kindle reading apps.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.