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Anyone read a full eBook on it yet?

S

Streethawk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 25, 2010
384
0
Manchester, UK
I'm considering an iPad when they're eventually released in the UK.

I'd be interested to know how you found it for lengthy reading? Any app, just want to know if the backlit screen did hurt peoples eyes after several hours or not?

I've got a Sony Reader (original PRS-501) and while the E-ink is great in bright light i do wish it had a backlight for reading in bed, which is where i do most of my reading.

I was never sure if the whole 'E-ink doesnt tire your eyes like LCD' line was just a marketing ploy or not. I do find reader apps on my iPhone tiring, but that may well be down to the screen size as much as anything.

Opinions much appreciated. Oh, and i read a LOT.
 
I red for two hours before falling asleep last night. The experience was nothing short of amazing (no eye strain at all)
 
How is the screen for reflections whilst reading? How bright do you have your screen? Do you find yourself changing it the longer you read?
 
I have always had difficulty with eye-strain on the old CRT monitors. I've never had trouble with LCD monitors.

I think this whole eye-strain is just a marketing thing that Amazon has come up with for the Kindle. CRT vs LCD is a BIG difference, but LCD vs eInk is not a huge difference.
 
I also read last night for about 1 hour and change on it in the complete darkness. I had the brightness all the way down and I didn't have an issue at all.
 
I'm about 130 pages into a book and I don't have any problems with eye strain though I've never had a problem with eye strain with LCD displays. Now back when we had flickering CRT's that was a different story.
 
I haven't read any books on the IPad yet (get mine today) but I've read about 20 full length books and 90% of the Bible on my IPhone. I really enjoy it for it's ease of use, simplicity and just always being handy. I've never experienced eye strain from any of this reading

Really look forward to reading on the IPad.

Eric
 
Three hours in the middle of the day yesterday and it was fantastic! Crisp and bright and totally readable. Infinitely easier on the eyes than the kindle which is so dull and low contrast. Plus at night I always have to use an attached led on the kindle which creates tremendous eye fatigue. The iPad would be worth it to me just for the ebook function!
 
On my third book and a few magazines. Eyeballs still in my head lol. So far it's been a great experience.
 
I've read 4 books on it so far--William Gibson's Pattern Recognition and three others and it's great! It's a much better reading experience than my Nook and I like not having to depend on ambient/other lighting in order to be able to read. The screen doesn't seem to be any more fatiguing than e-ink and personally I prefer nice crisp black-on-white text to grayscale. Finally, not to be niggly, but I much prefer page turning on the iPad--for one, I have the whole screen to either tap or swipe and not just a tiny space at the bottom. Secondly, the Nook does this weird overlap of text from the page you're going from and the page you're turning to while you're "turning" the page--it's a kind of a distracting and annoying stutter.
 
I read a book on it yesterday. I had a Kindle 2 for a while before getting the iPad. The Kindle was a bit better in certain lighting conditions, harsh fluorescent for example. However, I certainly prefer the iPad page turning method.

However, sitting on the sofa at home reading on the iPad has been great.
 
I've been stuck on Jury duty for the last three days. I have read 3 books using kindle app...no problems at all
 
I haven't read in extremely bright light, but at home under a fluorescent bulb I barely see any reflections.
 
Three books down and almost finished the fourth.

Reading is no problem at all. Zero eyestrain.

It takes a moment to get the brightness how I want it and then it feels like reading a regular book.

I have come to hate reading in landscape mode. For the default text size, not enough fits on a page. :)
 
NinjaMonkey said:
I'm about 130 pages into a book and I don't have any problems with eye strain though I've never had a problem with eye strain with LCD displays. Now back when we had flickering CRT's that was a different story.
Click to expand...

Oh how is that book so far? I have been contemplating getting it.
 
You people either have bionic eyes or I'm some sort of mole-man.

Listen, the iPad is *fine* to read on. Browsing or reading books on it in natural light is very pleasant.

That said, this is no book. Reading on the iPad is, without question, not as comfortable as reading printed words on paper.
 
reflections aren't bad either... if you're reading somewhere dark, it's a non-issue. even in the light, it's usually easy to find a good angle that reduces reflections. Plus, when the screen is showing something "white", the reflections are less noticeable.

Agree with what others have said - no eye strain issues. Lots of people look at cruddy computer screens all day for their job, and they somehow think that reading for a couple hours on an iPad is going to cause eye strain? come on...

Being able to quickly adjust the brightness in iBooks is a big help too, when reading at night.
 
I read most of the new GQ mag (via the app) yesterday. It was actually really nice. It did not bother my eyes at all.
 
Nipz said:
How is the screen for reflections whilst reading? How bright do you have your screen? Do you find yourself changing it the longer you read?
Click to expand...

This is a big problem, depending on where you read. In a normal room with normal lighting, it's very easy to find an orientation so you don't have glare. When I took my iPad to class last night, I wasted a lot of time changing viewing angles to avoid glare from the harsh fluorescent lighting carpeting the entire ceiling in the classroom. I should mention that I keep my brightness at 25% to conserve battery. This makes the glare problem a lot more pronounced. If you turn up the brightness, as I did yesterday evening in class, the glare problem is reduced but it's not eliminated.

I started reading LOTR on the iPod Touch a couple of weeks ago. My iPod Touch died and I had to wait for a replacement. During that time, I continued reading on the dusty old paperbacks I had in the basement as well as on my PC and on my Mac. When the iPod Touch replacement arrived, I finished the book on there. Then I picked up the Hobbit and started reading it. Lastly, when my iPad arrived, I finished the Hobbit on it. On the PC and Mac, the viewing angle is severely limited and posture is strictly enforced. On the iPod Touch, the screen is so tiny it gets tiring but I always have it with me so I don't mind. The iPad provided the best reading experience of all. It was even better than the paperback because I didn't have to hunt for a light source to read. While glare is noticeable, the wide viewing angle made it relatively easy to avoid glare in difficult reading environments like riding in the car.

So yes glare is a problem. I wish there was a matte option for the iPad. But it's not an insurmountable problem and in 80% or more reading enviroments, the iPad is simply the best reading experience available. I use the Kindle app so I can read on my iPod Touch for those times when I don't have my iPad with me. Apple needs to make iBooks work on the iPod Touch and iPhone so people can keep up their reading on the tiny screen when they have unexpected time on their hands in places like doctor's waiting rooms. Until they do, I continue to use iBooks for free books and I use Kindle for all my purchased books.
 
greenlander said:
You people either have bionic eyes or I'm some sort of mole-man.

Listen, the iPad is *fine* to read on. Browsing or reading books on it in natural light is very pleasant.

That said, this is no book. Reading on the iPad is, without question, not as comfortable as reading printed words on paper.
Click to expand...

The question was about eye strain and not about a comparison to printed books.
 
r0k said:
So yes glare is a problem. I wish there was a matte option for the iPad.
Click to expand...

I'll be curious if people start going with Matte Screen Protector Films, as I noticed when I demoed on in store that when watching a video you see yourself in the screen, especially during dark scenes. Movies like LOTR, Batman, etc have a lot of those. But at the same time I wonder if a Matte SP Film would reduce the quality of a movie on the iPad in terms of vivid picture, etc. Is there a trade off there of quality vs. glare.

Off topic - curious that you read LOTR before the Hobbit and not the other way, unless you have read them before.
 
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