iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

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Ben
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iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by Ben »

Hi
For those of you who own an iPad, I would like to know what you think of it.
Also like to know of your experience of other tablets.
Would you recommend it or not, and why?
Thanks

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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James the Giant
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by James the Giant »

Kindle's no good for anything except reading books. The web browser on it is very limited, and the keys are teeny tiny and too small for typing.
The Ipad's a proper computer, the kindle's a book.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
David2
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by David2 »

James the Giant wrote:Kindle's no good for anything except reading books.
Yeah, but the kindle also is much cheaper than the ipad.
Kindle 3: $ 139
Ipad 2: $ 499

So the ipad is 3.6 times as expensive as the kindle.
Last edited by David2 on Sun Apr 24, 2011 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
plwk
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by plwk »

is there an iNibbana for sale? :tongue:
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James the Giant
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by James the Giant »

plwk wrote:is there an iNibbana for sale? :tongue:
Yeah, there's an app for that. :meditate:

If I were to buy a tablet again, I wouldn't buy an iPad. I'd buy a generic tablet that runs Android. Cheaper than the ipad, and Android is the 2nd most popular platform for tablets, so it has thousands of apps.
No ipad cachet though.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
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Ben
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by Ben »

Thanks James and Rahula

What I heard is that the resolution and screen qualities of the kindle is nearly as good as reading from a printed page.
If one was to use a tablet just for reading books - and just reading files in the amazon proprietary file format - kindle's the way to go.
iPad, and I believe some of the clone tablets coming out, have far more functionality and flexibility. I was in a department store this morning with my family and was watching my son play a guitar app on the new iPad-2. On the same machine one could connect to the internet, store one's music (and I presume video) library and connect to the internet with its 3G/WIFI capability.
plwk - groan!
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
nobody12345
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by nobody12345 »

I own Kindle and like it a lot.
I carry all the Nikayas and many Dhamma books on Kindle wherever I go.
(I was at bank yesterday while waiting in line, I read The complete collection of Ajahn Chah's teaching from my Kindle)
The best part for me is its real ink and paper like display. It's better than Ipad. Kindle is like reading the real paper but even better since you can adjust font size.
Supposed down side of Kindle is lack of internet surfing and no color display but it doesn't bother me since I use my Droid phone when I have to check e-mails or access internet.
I can read my kindle books from my Droid phone as well but the resolution that Kindle offers is unbeatable at this point, in my opinion.
Metta.
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mikenz66
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by mikenz66 »

imaginos wrote: (I was at bank yesterday while waiting in line, I read The complete collection of Ajahn Chah's teaching from my Kindle)
The whole book? Service at your bank sounds a little slow... :tongue:

:anjali:
Mike
nobody12345
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by nobody12345 »

mikenz66 wrote:
imaginos wrote: (I was at bank yesterday while waiting in line, I read The complete collection of Ajahn Chah's teaching from my Kindle)
The whole book? Service at your bank sounds a little slow... :tongue:

:anjali:
Mike
The service was slow but not that slow.
:tongue:
I read just a couple of pages.
Metta.
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Monkey Mind
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by Monkey Mind »

I recently got an iPad2, and I am very happy with it. As a consultant, I work out of three different offices, and need to bring my files with me. Lugging my laptop around was becoming a burden, my hope was the iPad would free me up a lot. It has simplified my work in many ways. My only complaint: it does not convert files from Windows/Word into Mac/Pages as well as my laptop (Mac Book), so I still need to check-in with that machine from time to time...
"As I am, so are others;
as others are, so am I."
Having thus identified self and others,
harm no one nor have them harmed.

Sutta Nipāta 3.710
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bodom
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by bodom »

I like my Nook Color:

"The Best Dedicated eReader"–The Associated Press

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookcolor ... 00311eecb6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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kongmu
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by kongmu »

I have both an iPad 2 and a Kindle (as well as an iPod Touch.) Besides emailing/web browsing, I primarily use them for studying Chinese and studying the Dharma. They are indispensable in these regards (meaning, I have made them seem indispensable...! I'm sure I'd be fine without them....I hope....! )

The iPad, as others have said, is much more versatile than the Kindle. However, the Kindle is a real joy to read on. I am using both together these days: the Kindle to read, the iPad to take notes (there are a couple of very impressive note-taking apps for it.) As someone has said already, you can get the Digha, Samyutta, and Majjhima Nikayas on your Kindle (and iPad for that matter), which is very helpful and convenient. Also, the Access to Insight app for the iPad/iPhone is just outstanding. There are more and more Dhamma books being published electronically; some of them even worth reading....!

Also, the iPad has a few very good pdf reader apps (like GoodReader) that make storing, reading, and accessing Dhamma files very enjoyable. I got the iPad largely for this pdf reader functionality, as well as for the Chinese dictionaries I rely upon. You can read pdfs on the Kindle as well (and even convert them to Amazon's proprietary format to utilize Kindle functions such as Text-to-Speech and changing the font size), but the iPad is far better to read pdfs with, I believe.

(For any here who also study the Chinese Tripitaka, CBETA has an app for the iPhone/iPad that allows access to the entire Chinese canon; you do need internet connectivity, though.)

If you can afford the iPad, I would recommend it over a Kindle (I have no experience with other tablets); you can always get a Kindle later, if you end up read many electronic books. It is solid, fast, versatile, and a real pleasure to use. It is expensive, but you are basically buying a computer (especially if you also get a bluetooth keyboard). If you want to read books electronically, the Kindle is superior to the iPad in many ways, as has been pointed out. But, as I've said, the two work well together.

Good luck...
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andre9999
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Re: iPad, kindle or iPad-clone, anyone?

Post by andre9999 »

Battery life is obviously much better on a Kindle (Nook, etc.) than an iPad, and depending on where you plan to use the device that could be a major factor.

When it comes to Apple vs. Android, it's mostly just a matter of preference. Try them out and see what you prefer personally.

For me, a Kindle or Nook just doesn't work for how I learn. If I'm reading an eBook, particularly a Buddhist one, I will frequently jump onto the internet to research a particular point further. Or I will head to the Access to Insight page... or I will jump around pages in a particular book. The Kindle can sorta do some of that. But because of the lack of touchscreen and slowness of screen updates, it just takes too long for me.
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