The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey is a masterpiece.
- Started reading it at 2 am (thought perhaps for 15 minutes) and ended up finishing all of it. It took 5 hrs because it was on the iPhone.
- Am super upset there’s no other book in the series. It’s a good thing that the book leaves the possibility of a series wide open (it’s about the first adventure of a young boy with a monster hunter and there’s mention of a whole lifetime spent hunting monsters).
If you haven’t read it and like anything with imagination and a bit of horror it’s perfect. It might not be good for young kids – they’ll probably be left sleepless for days.
Which brings us to the reason the Monstrumologist got read yesterday – to test out the iPhone as an eReader.
Reading on the iPhone – The Good
There are a lot of pluses for reading -
- There are loads of software options – Kindle, Stanza, B&N, and many more.
- You have Kindle for iPhone and can get all your Kindle books on the iPhone.
- Backlighting for reading at night. More on this below.
- Small Form Factor – its light, fits in your pocket and its very, very portable.
- A touch screen with intuitive controls.
- It’s a phone and its with you everywhere.
- Loads of options i.e. font, paper color, font size, auto-scroll, and lots more.
In terms of content you get –
- All the Amazon Kindle Store books.
- A million free books from google book search.
- A veritable cottage industry of public domain books and compilations.
- 10,000+ book related apps to wade through.
- Lots of apps for things like wine ratings, cooking, drinks, food and wine pairings, and more.
A general point is that the iPhone is an exceptionally well designed product. The only things I’ve seen that come close are Windows 7, the Flip, Google Maps (when it first came out), the Kindle (only for reading though, not in general), Tumblr and Twitter (in terms of website simplicity and elegant design), and sliced bread 
.
Reading on the iPhone – The Bad
There are some disadvantages -
- Very small screen.
- The backlight really hurts the eyes.
- Battery life sucks.
- Email updates mean you do get interrupted. Ditto phone calls and messages.
- Things are scattered i.e. every newspaper has its own app, a lot of books have their own apps. In some ways it’s an organizational nightmare.
There’s also the whole ‘reading is not the most compelling thing you can do on the iPhone’ factor i.e.
- It’s really hard to focus on a book as there are 70,000+ non-reading apps competing for your attention.
- There are some apps that are extremely well designed like Ocarina and they will distract you.
- It’s just not a device tailored at reading i.e. its a great smartphone with some good reading apps. It’s not an eReader.
Reading on the iPhone – The overall conclusion
Part 1: Great for Casual Readers
Reading on the iPhone is doable.
In fact for people who read a book a month, perhaps split between short commutes and 15 minute breaks, the iPhone is great.
Basically if your reading of books is -
10 different 15 minute stretches during the week.
Less than a book a month.
The iPhone is great for you. In fact, the iPhone might be close to the ideal device for casual readers.
The Kindle for iPhone app works great. Some of the other apps get great reviews too, especially Stanza.
It’s also good for reading in general as it lets publishers and authors target a lot of the people who would not read much otherwise. Its new markets.
Part 2: Not suitable for Regular Readers
For people who read, the iPhone doesn’t work.
At around the 15-20 minute mark the bright, tiny screen gets a bit tiring. Yeah, you can change the brightness – However, bright is necessary for me (and for a lot of people), and when it’s coming from the screen into your eyes it hurts.
By the time the Monstrumologist had wrapped up (5 hours of reading) my eyes were really hurting and still have a bit of a headache (12 hours later). So reading for longer than 20-30 minutes at a go is definitely not recommended and longer than an hour will probably cause your eyes to start hurting.
For people who read a lot that instantly rules out the iPhone.
This is also the part a lot of people aren’t ready to accept i.e. my smartphone which also happens to allow for reading is not a complete eReader solution.
Unnecessary Stuff to back up a simple Review
These are just details to back-up a simple review verdict i.e. (in my opinion) the iPhone can’t really be used to read for more than 15-20 minutes at a stretch thereby making it unsuitable as an eReader.
The Problem with back-lit screens
Most people don’t really realize how much they’re stressing their eyes with back-lit screens –
- They’re everywhere – PCs, phones, laptops, TVs, theater.
- People use them a lot – club together TV, Internet and Work computer use and you’re looking at a lot of eye strain.
- When it’s dark you need them more, and they hurt more.
The Kindle and Sony have eInk screens which are perfect – because you’re reading a screen that does not hurt your eyes.
Have never had reading on a Kindle cause problems. On the Sony it was only once in a dimly lit bar when my eyes got strained. eInk screens in general are great for reading.
With the iPhone reading for longer periods stresses the eyes – combine the strain LCD monitors cause with the strain of reading on a small sized device.
The iPhone is a Smartphone that happens to have reading apps
No one is arguing that the iPhone is a great mulit-purpose device. It makes a lot of things good on the iPhone and it also means the iPhone can’t be absolutely tailored to any one of them.
There are just so many intelligent, creative people creating great applications that you have to admire the genius of the App Store/Platform. These apps include reading related apps and there are some very innovative ones.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that the iPhone is not an eReader. It is not optimized for reading.
There will always be room for eInk screen eReaders that focus on reading
People who don’t read a lot don’t really get the value of -
- A device dedicated to reading.
- A screen that doesn’t hurt your eyes.
- Something that lets us focus on reading and tune out everything else.
There’s a simple rule of thumb -
If reading books is one of your top 2 pastimes OR you read a lot at work and would like something easier on your eyes, then get a Kindle.
In every other case, please get an iPhone.
It’s pretty likely that if you are torn between the iPhone (or the iTablet) and the Kindle and Sony then you are not focused on ‘reading’ as a top activity. Might as well get an iPhone – it’ll be great for your reading habits.
You need great eyes to be able to read a lot on the iPhone
My 20/20 eyesight can’t handle reading on the iPhone for stretches longer than 15-20 minutes.
- Most of the people who talk about how much they love reading on the iPhone don’t really talk about 2 or 3 hour stretches of reading.
- Perhaps they only read in 10-20 minute stretches.
- Perhaps they don’t really use LCD screens much other than on the iPhone.
- Perhaps they just have the sort of eyes that are not going to get damaged by endless hours peering at LCDs.
It’s just that if the choice is between yet another LCD screen and something like eInk that is easy on the eyes it’s a no-brainer to me.
If your reading is 4 hours a month the iPhone is perfect for you. If it’s 3 to 4 hours a week (or more) then get a Kindle.
Filed under: apple ibook reader, review Tagged: | iphone reading
I’ll add my two bits worth…
I am a long time “ereader” — I actually converted some early Gutenberg Project books so I could read them on my original Palm Pilot.
My ereading took a leap forward when I bought a Garmin iQue — a Palm device with a GPS and a fairly large screen. I used that for 4 years, daily, until the iPhone App store was released and reading apps were available (personally, I used BookShelf — great interface to Baen)
I never had any problem with eyestrain on the backlit screen, but I a software person so I am staring at screens all day long.
I also purchased the Sony reader when it came out and used it quite a bit for 6 months or so, but the lack of Mac support (at the time) the cost of books lead to it being shelved. I don’t think I ever bought a book from the Sony store once I used up the $100 credit that came with the reader. I mostly bought books from Baen (webscriptions.net). It was just too much of a hassle compared to the iQue.
All this changed with the Kindle 2. I have used my Kindle 2 and Kindle DX for all my ereading since receiving them, with a few minor exceptions. The major exception is the Kindle app on the iPhone.
Sometimes, like when I am taking public transport or riding my bike, another piece of equipment is just too much. I have to have my phone (iPhone) so being able to call the book I was reading on the Kindle and have it sync to where it left off in, in my mind, a killer feature.
The other time I use the iPhone Kindle app is when I accidentally leave wireless turned on and my Kindle battery runs down. When I gotta read, I gotta read so the iPhone works great until the Kindle is charged.
I’m also a long-time ebook reader and kindle owner. For the longest time I used my Clie T415, as it was a nice crisp monochrome screen with a green electroluminescent backlight that didn’t strain the eyes. I’ve had a number of other gadgets since getting my first Palm devices, but their backlights always caused eyestrain in nighttime reading.
I definitely feel that the iPhone is great for on-the-go *daytime* reading, when the backlight won’t cause you eyestrain – because it’s “always with you”. I’d prefer to have my Kindle for any reading session, but it’s just not pocketable (and even if it were, too single purpose to stick in a pants pocket).
The synchronization means that when I’m tearing through a good book on my Kindle at night, I can read parts of it during the day e.g. during lunch and not have to fumble with sorting out locations. That’s a huge benefit, and without it I couldn’t see reading the same book on two devices.
All that said, I still can’t say I’ve found a better solution for reading in bed with someone who’s sleeping than an electroluminescent backlight. You’ve either got a light on to read on the Kindle, or you’ve got a light on so your eyes don’t fatigue from the backlight of a color device. I’ve not tested any OLED screens, but I assume they would still cause eyestrain, as it’s still a bright light projected into the eyes. Unfortunately, current electronic ink is incompatible with any kind of backlighting, but we can dream.
I cannot read long form books on a computer because it kills my eyes. The iphone? I read for hours at a time and don’t feel any eye strain.
My wife and daughters have ipod-touch’s and do not have eye strain.
I don’t know if it’s the size that helps or something about the particular lcd technology — but I wouldn’t take this reviewer’s opinion as gospel. Try it for yourself.