Category Archives: buying advice

e-reader or tablet?

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So you like the feel of holding a real book and turning the pages; you can’t see the benefit of an e-reader and know that you would miss the physical feel and pleasure derived from simply holding and reading a book. If that’s the case then this post probably isn’t for you but I’d recommend reading through it because I know many people who thought like this initially and are now e-reader converts!

What is an e-reader?

Put simply, an e-reader is a device loaded with books of your choice that enables you to read them when you want, in any order, remembering your place in each without the need to carry around the physical book itself. The books on the e-reader are loaded from your computer or from one of many e-book stores on the internet.

What type of device do I actually want?

Before deciding on the e-reader to buy, there are a number of questions you should ask yourself:

  1. Do I want a colour or black and white screen?
  2. Do I want to read it in a darkened room?
  3. Do I want to download books to my device from anywhere in the world?
  4. Do I want to do other things in addition to just reading a book, for example, watch movies, run apps etc. (read my tablet post for more information)?

Screen Choice

There are two choices to make here, e-paper or LCD.

– e-paper

These screens are the closest you’ll get to an actual book-reading experience. The display looks like a printed page and can easily be read in direct sunlight because the technology actually reflects light just like conventional paper. These displays also offer the best battery life because once a page shown no energy is required to maintain it (you’ll often see figures quoted in weeks or months). By default, you can’t read these devices in a darkened room because the displays don’t emit their own light so you need some sort of external light. This can be in the form of a case with a built-in reading light or what we are now seeing in the newer models which is an actual glowing layer to the screen so that it is evenly lit all over. Very useful if you like to read in bed and your partner wants to sleep!

– LCD

A LCD screen is the same as in a traditional laptop screen so these displays can be difficult to read in direct sunlight but they do have the advantage of higher resolutions and colour. The major trade-off with this technology though is the battery life; the weeks and months quoted for e-paper reduces to mere hours for LCD. Obviously though you can use the device in a dark room so night reading or movie watching is easy.

Connectivity

It’s all very well having the device but it’s no use without content to read so how do the books actually get on to the device?

In the early days of e-readers you had to do this via a computer; you’d download the book you wanted and then transfer it to the device over a wire. Things have moved on considerably and most of the devices are now backed by online bookstores from which you download the books directly to your device. The majority of devices need to be connected through wi-fi to the internet (either through your home connection or a wi-fi hotspot when you’re out and about) and whilst this means you can download books on the go you are limited by needing to be in wi-fi range which may be impossible if you’re abroad.

Amazon have circumvented this problem by providing some of their Kindle models with 3G access. This basically means that the device connects to the internet through the mobile phone network at no additional cost to you (or rather the cost is built-in to the upfront device cost and book prices). Not only does this work in the UK but Amazon have negotiated with foreign providers so that this works globally. So if you finish your last book sitting on the beach in Thailand you can simply go into the bookstore on the device, find a new book, download it and start reading! I know someone who actually did this and reported that it worked seamlessly; in addition, the Kindle devices have an experimental internet browser built-in and she reported that she was able to use that without any problems. This was especially useful because she and her family were stranded by the weather and she was able to find alternate flights all without leaving the beach!

Flexibility

The last thing to consider is whether you want to do more than just read books and magazines on the device. The traditional e-paper based devices are really limited to just reading books and magazines due to the screen technology used. e-paper doesn’t refresh in the same way as a traditional screen and so isn’t suited to anything where the screen needs to update quickly. LCD based devices on the other hand are bright and colourful and are just tablet computers by another name so they are more than suited to running apps, watching movies etc.

Two of the largest manufacturers have tablet devices in addition to their traditional e-readers. Amazon has the Kindle (e-reader) and the Kindle Fire (tablet) whilst Barnes & Noble have the NOOK (e-reader) and the NOOK HD (tablet).

I hope I have provided you with some information to help you in deciding on what to buy but please post a reply with any questions you have and I’ll answer them.

Poppa G

Just keep taking the tablets

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I’m often asked about tablet computers and which one to buy. As with any buying decision the first things to think about are what you want the device for, what are the key features you need and what features are nice-to-haves but not essential. Before I outline my advice here’s a brief potted history of tablet computing.

Tablet computers certainly aren’t new but all the early attempts relied on pen/stylus input rather than touchscreens and much of the technology just wasn’t up to the job; the devices were heavy, text input was complex and handwriting recognition was just too unreliable. It wasn’t until Apple released the iPad in 2010 that the market took off. Although Apple ties you in to their ecosystem completely (something that quite a few people dislike) it is the fluidity of the user interface and overall design that has moved this class of computer device into the mainstream.

I don’t propose to offer a detailed technical comparison of tablet computers because other people do it better than me and the information is changing all the time (also it’s incredibly dry!) but here’s some key pointers for you to consider when choosing your tablet.

Which Operating System?

The Apple iPad is the current market leader so iOS, the iPad and iPhone’s Operating System, is as well! This is one of its major selling points and many consider iOS to provide the most user-friendly interface on the market.

The majority of the iPad’s rival tablets run the Android Operating System although with the release of the new Microsoft Surface, Windows 8 is now entering the market.

A key feature of these Operating Systems is that they are also available on phones. iOS is only available on the iPhone but Android and Windows appear on phones from all the major manufacturers. In fact, where the iPhone used to be the undisputed smartphone king recent releases from Samsung and Nokia are delivering more features for less money and these phones are increasing popularity and market-share.

Is bigger always better?

The first iPad was released with a 9.7″ screen and, up until November 2012, that was it. The resolution increased in 2012 with the inclusion of the Retina Display on the 3rd and 4th generation iPads with more pixels per inch making images very clear and vibrant and text smooth and easy to read.

Android tablets were initially available with 10″ screens; however, manufacturers were quick to spot a gap in the market and tablets with 7″ screens started to appear. Apple initially dismissed this screen size stating that 9.7″ was the ideal size; however, this month they appeared to back-track on this and released a 7″ tablet with the same screen resolution as the non-Retina Display 9.7″ model.

Sometimes size does matter?

When deciding on the storage capacity of your tablet you must consider what you plan to do with it. Various sizes are available but generally you can buy them in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants.

Most of us use our tablets to watch movies, listen to music, view photos, read books, run Apps etc. so you need to consider what you will put on it and the quality settings of the source material (song, movie, photo etc.) The quality here isn’t a subjective assessment on your musical tastes but refers to the quality at which the source material was converted to make it suitable to play on your device. The key point to note is that the better the quality of the conversion the more of your storage it will use up. Taking a typical 90 minute movie as an example then when converted at low-quality settings it may be around 500MB in size whereas if it was converted at high-quality settings it may take as much as 3-4GB (if you use a rough conversion of 1GB = 1,000MB then you can work out how many movies you can fit on your tablet – two or three on a 16GB device). Songs are generally between 1MB and 4MB and photos can vary even more depending on the conversion used (but that’s a whole other topic!)

My advice here is go for the largest capacity you can afford.

What applications do I need?

Applications (or Apps as they are more widely known) is an area where the tablet really comes into its own. There are literally thousands of Apps out there covering every topic you can think of.

Apple has the largest App catalog available via the iTunes App Store. Apple controls this marketplace very tightly and the applications listed have to pass a number of tests conducted by Apple before they go on sale. This is a very restrictive approach and has been used by Apple to stifle competition (where a third-party App directly competes with an Apple-produced variant) in the past; however, the upside of this is that you can be assured that the Apps on sale reach a minimum standard and are likely to be free from any viruses or malware.

The Android Market (or Google Play as it’s now know) has fewer Apps available but you find that the key ones (such as Skype, Facebook, Angry Birds etc.) are available with developers delivering for both iOS and Android platforms concurrently now so this is becoming less of an issue.

Other things to consider

This is by no means an exhaustive list but may help in your decision by thinking through the other features the tablet has and whether you need them:

  • Do I need a front and rear facing camera (I find it strange to see people holding up their tablets to take a photograph but for something like Skype these really come into their own)?
  • Do I need a detachable keyboard (see My Favourite Gadget)?
  • What about the processor speed and graphics capability (useful if you play some of the more recent graphics-intensive games)?
  • Do I want to connect it to my TV to view photos and movies?

Summary

I hope that the above notes help you in your tablet-buying decision. At the end of the day the device you buy and the spec you choose should be solely driven by your requirements, how you plan to use it and perhaps most importantly, what you can afford.

Poppa G