is iPhone a better eBook reader than Kindle?

I like the Sony Reader for ebooks. The iPhone does fine but the larger screen of the Reader is more comfortable for me.

trendfreak wrote:
Also going by 2007 eBook download data -its sure Kindle is not most popular book format -
http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/25808741

Of course the 2007 data would show this, it isn't rocket science! The Kindle was out less than 2 months in 2007, while other formats were out the entire year. For an ACCURATE comparison, you must wait and see how things stand for all of 2008. Needless to say the Kindle will probably show better than some formats, less than others simply because they have been out longer.

Oh, the iPhone is a poor e-book reader because the screen is too small.

trendfreak wrote:
We leave this for your discussion - was kindle a Hype? The meteorite growth & subsequent catastrophe of "Kindle" in blogoshphere - we have captured
here.
http://photos-128.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v190/19/33/525884128/n5258841286797729069.jpg

I interpret these data to mean that Kindle works so well no one has much to say about it.

romad-

I agree the screen is rather small for an ebook reader, however, I find it works great for me. I use TextOnPhone's free service. It has two excellent features. One, the font and background is customizable. Two, just tapping on the text flips to the next page. As a result, one doesn't really notice the screen size...it behaves as one super long scroll of text.

Before my iPhone, I used a PDA. I find the iPhone to be significantly better. I have not used or even considered any of the dedicated ebook readers such as Sony's or Kindle simply because they are too big. If I wanted to carry something that big, I'd care the actual book.

I use my iPhone by simply uploading PDFs to my web site and accessing them from the phone. I also previously used a Palm PDA as an ebook reader. While I see your point about a Sony or a Kindle being as big as the book, the advantage is that it is as big as one book, but can hold dozens. So if I am going to spend, say, 3 months in China I can take all of my books in the space needed by one book.

I have a Sony, and I really like the large screen and clear text if I am going to spend hours reading (such as on the flight to China). I find either the PDA or the iPhone a strain, and neither has the 15 or so hours of battery life I need to read for that long. The Sony battery goes weeks between charges because the device only uses power when turning pages. Displaying a page requires no power. OTOH, when spending 1/2 hour standing on a NY (or Beijing) subway the PDA or iPhone is much more convenient. So there is a place for both a dedicated reader and a handheld one.

That was an excellent summary 🙂. I agree that the Sony Reader is much easier on the eyes if you're going to do a lot of reading but can't beat the convenience of something palm sized when you're standing waiting for the train.

Lawrence-

I agree that having all one's books at hand is a HUGE advantage especially when one tends to read a book (300 to 400 pages) a day. (I typically never watch TV UNLESS it is NFL!) TextOnPhone allows unlimited space - thus unlimited books. 🙂

When I first got my iPhone, I was concerned with battery life, since my Dell Axim's x50v never lasted more than two maybe three hours on a good day. At first my iPhone battery needed to be recharged everyday with minimal use, now I can watch a 2 hour movie (at the gym) then read all evening (while getting sidetracked doing sms, email, surfing and talking on the phone) in one day.

I agree that eye strain can be an issue with the iPhone screen. I also must say I'm very pleased I do not ever have to travel those distances!

Yes, both types of readers have their place; and, since I have yet to test reading out by the pool with my iPhone (at least two more months before pool weather hits Maine), I may end up investing in a dedicated reader. Does the Sony come with a program to "convert" files?

I use libsr500 on my Macbook to convert books to Reader format.

Suzanne Boutot wrote:
Yes, both types of readers have their place; and, since I have yet to test reading out by the pool with my iPhone (at least two more months before pool weather hits Maine), I may end up investing in a dedicated reader. Does the Sony come with a program to "convert" files?

The Sony can read it's proprietary format, TXT and RTF files. It also claims to read PDFs, but it does such a poor job with them that I don't count it as a usable format. It supports bookmarks and has a slot for an SD card, so its capacity is essentially unlimited. It is the size of a trade paperback, but only 1/4" thick. It's high point is its display; it looks like paper. It is not backlit, which means the brighter the ambient light the easier it is to read.

It's disadvantages are that its online store has only 23,000 titles and they are overpriced; very few of those (except for "classics") are of interest to me. Classics are cheap (you get 100 that you can select from the library when you buy the reader), but they are also available free from Project Gutenberg and other online sources.

The Amazon Kindle uses the same display technology, but has an online store (like iTunes) that you can access wirelessly using the built-in Sprint cellular modem. You don't need a Sprint account to use it; the data usage is free. Prices are more reasonable and the library is currently at 93,000 titles. They have a conversion service if you want to put your own content on it. I think if I were buying today I would go with the Kindle.

I recently purchased a Kindle and it's a great reader. The only disadvantages I've seen: (1) accessing menu items & turning pages is a bit slower than on the Palm TX I was used to, (2) difficult to read in dim light so like a real book, (3) the cover is poorly designed in that it presses the scroll wheel when closed (but this should be easy to fix with some stick-on mods.

Overall, I've found it to be a great device and the charge lasts forever unless you're a very heavy reader and then it lasts for days. It's great for reading in normal to bright light conditions, which includes bright sunlight. The free wireless is a good feature too since you can browse the web for news, etc although all sites don't format well, and you can browse the amazon store for new books anytime you have access to a cellular signal. Daily auto update of newspaper subscriptions is a good feature, too. Turning off the wireless feature when not needed greatly increases battery life.

I haven't tried importing pdf's so don't know how well that will work.

As long as you're OK with the price, it's worth trying. And I don't mind giving Amazon some $$$ to help develop the future model (hopefully color).