Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review, Books

A lot of factors came together to get me in position to test out reading on the iphone yesterday -

1. A few months since my mom said she wanted me to get her an iphone (that means getting to play with the iPhone until I can get it to her).  
2. 6 months of delaying getting a phone contract. 
3. A girl at the doctor’s office yesterday with a white iphone.  
4. Palm Pre isn’t available in Vancouver (or so it seems).

So took the plunge after figuring out the best contract (best in the most limited sense of the word – in Canada there’s a mandatory 3 year contract).

It’s a rather stressful situation to be in – it’s easy enough to say Apple’s products are all prettiness and whimsy when you don’t own any.

How do I reconcile owning an iPhone?

Even worse – it’s actually very, very impressive.

The First 3 Hours

Got the iPhone at the mall.

First, it was raining so couldn’t test out the iPhone on the walk back.

Next, the dinner place had no connection.

Sitting there with a shiny new iPhone with zero apps, it hit me just how valuable Apps are -

1. They’re basically time-fillers. Like the girl at the doctor’s office who was tapping away intently, probably on some addictive game.  
2. They transform the iPhone into something else entirely – a stop watch, a diet journal, a reading device, a cookbook, a to-do list, a taxi finder.  
3. They let a user convert the iPhone into his/her version of a Swiss army knife – with functionality that’s uniquely valuable to him/her.

No wonder 6.6 million apps are downloaded a day and there are 65,000+ apps in the App Store.

Apps are basically the killer feature and the differentiator of the iPhone.

A woman to the side kept casting covetous glances at the iPhone (or perhaps at the braised rib pizza).

The Next 6 Hours

The plan was to download all the eReader apps the App Store has to offer and see how the reading experience compares. To perhaps read a full book and be able to review the iPhone as an eReader.

This is what actually happened -

1. An hour to get the connection working.  
2. An hour or two to find and download 9 iPhone screens worth of apps. 
3. A lot of hours playing castle defence and virtual pool.
4. Some time trying out a bunch of apps.
5. 15 to 30 minutes trying out all sorts of ereading apps.

Even missed dinner – it’s happened often enough with reading and with games. However, never with a phone.

In the middle of writing this, the memory of yesterday compelled me to take a quick break and play some ping pong.

iPhone Apps are the most distracting invention ever. They make YouTube seem productive (which too is available on the iPhone).

The Morning After

The realization is – obviously, have to stay away from all the apps – pretty much everything except reading.

Created a little video to contrast the screen size of the Kindle with the iPhone -

Can’t return it so will just have to stay away from all the waste of time the iPhone is capable of.

Did want to write down the initial impressions, especially as it would be interesting to see how my opinion changes after having read a book or two on the iPhone.

The initial impression - Reading on the iPhone

Would never, ever choose the iPhone over a dedicated ebook reader.

Did more reading on the Kindle during the doctor’s visit (perhaps 45 minutes of waiting) than the 6 or so hours spent on the iPhone.

The intent in both cases was to read.

It’s just that the iPhone makes reading a bit tough (because of the small size of the screen and the screen brightness) and has so many tempting other things you can do.

The Kindle, on the other hand, makes everything except reading painful.

The iPhone literally has infinite distractions. We’re not just talking Internet and YouTube.

Here are a few somewhat productive things that were distractions -

1. Taking photos and loading them to Flickr.
2. A To Do list app. 
3. They have the social networks if you’re into that.
4. Searching for free WiFi. 
5. Looking at moon landing pictures.  

And a few unproductive ones -

1. Adding ‘magic effects’ to photos.  
2. Playing a castle defence game. 
3. A soccer game.  
4. Finding out what drinks you can make with vodka.
5. Changing the wallpaper.

Perfect if you don’t know what to do with your free time.

Kindle and its focus on reading are too precious

It took me just 6 hours with the iPhone to pick what device is better for reading, for readers, and for the future of reading -

1. At 1 pm was telling the medical nurse/staff how the Kindle had gotten me to reading 2-5 books a month.
2. At 1 am was wondering where the last 5 hours of my life went. Definitely not into reading.

Have no idea what the sales of books on the iPhone are. However, even at this early stage, I’d make a bet that eReaders sell a lot more books than iPhones do.

In number of books sold per owner, there’s probably no comparison – eReaders are the future of reading.

That’s the initial impression. If you want to read, get a Kindle.

I am sure there are people who can tune out the 65,000 distractions on the iPhone and focus just on reading. That they can handle the small screen size, and that the bright screen doesn’t hurt their eyes. They have my respect for being able to focus on reading in the face of all this adversity. 

I’m human and can’t handle the distractions – love the Kindle because it makes it easy to read and doesn’t distract me.  

1. Is the iPhone a threat to eReaders? Not at all.
2. Is the iReader/iTablet a threat to eReaders? Perhaps. Not because of reality i.e. people will read more on it or enjoy it more – but because of the perception that it’s a good ereader.

Overall, the Kindle, and even the Sony, are light years ahead of the iPhone if your intent is to read.

So what is it about the iPhone?

If we do a comparison we find something really interesting -

1. The iPhone doesn’t capture 12 megapixel photos like my Canon – However, it does decently with its camera.  
2. The iPhone doesn’t capture HD video like a Flip or a Kodak Zi6 (all the videos on this blog are shot using a Zi6) and yet it does a decent job.   
3. It can’t play really cutting edge games like a PC or Xbox, and yet it can play a lot of interesting, fun games.
4. It’s no Kindle or Sony and it still can function as a decent eReader.

The beauty of the iPhone is that it’s doing a ton of things decently well. The fact that it fits in your pocket and, by virtue of being a phone, goes everywhere with you transforms it into the best device you’ll have available for functionality X most of the time.  

The iPhone is a good reading option when a Kindle or a Sony or a physical book aren’t available.