My wife goes through about a hundred books a year, and much prefers the Kindle over iPad. She will only reluctantly use the Kindle app on the iPad Mini, to the extent that she will carry around both the Kindle and the iPad Mini. She is not much interested in trying to explain why, when asked.
One Kindle holds many, many books, though. Your place is always marked. When you finish one book, you don’t have to put it away and get another one. You can read several books at the same time (not something that I do, but I know people who do), all in the same lightweight device.
Being able to change the font, font size, line spacing, sometimes the justification, can be very big deals for some people. With a paper book, you’re stuck with whatever is printed, no leeway at all.
I definitely put the Apple Smart Folio on mine. It’s light enough to never notice it. The front cover folds back completely to one strip that gives a nice grip in portrait.
Good thoughts... and echo much of my experiences and successes with the role technology plays in my life. "I think the sweet spot in technological usage for me is what it was like when I grew up in the 90's." sums it up... but for me, that point in time is somewhere between the 60's and 70's.
I'm a "digital immigrant" (as opposed to a digital native)... I was born before technology fully enveloped life. In 1976 I had my first experience with personal computers and began my journey as a software developer. Since then, computers (and tech in general) have played a significant role in my life... but never a central one.
It wasn't until 2001 that I bought my first cellphone. To this day, I treat my smartphones basically no differently than how I used the old wall-mounted phone in the kitchen. When I'm at home, my phone sits on my desk in my office. When it rings, I make my way over to it. If I pick it up in time, great... if not, there's caller ID and there's voicemail... neither of which were available with that wall-mounted kitchen phone.
Tech companies (it's not just Apple) today want customers to have their products be the central hub of their lives. I have made a conscious effort to not fall into that trap. But they do make a convincing case for convenience and connecting the various elements of life.
For digital natives who want to break the cycle of hyper-connectedness and put technology in a more healthy perspective, I would encourage them to transition away from all-in-1, general-purpose devices and toward more specialized devices.
For example, rather than have a flagship smartphone that can replace 20 devices, get a more basic but capable phone and dedicated devices for the other tasks. I primarily use my smartphone for phone calls, texts, and navigation. That's it. Sure, I'll check out the news if I'm standing in a checkout line, but I don't live on my phone.
By diversifying devices, the person themselves becomes the hub of their lives and must make the conscious decision to do "A" or try out "B"... rather than respond to "suggestions" and "recommendations" made by social media apps.
I have a lot more to say on the topic, but I'll leave it at this for now.
I have been investigating this line of ereaders for the past few weeks, as I have been considering updating my iPad—which, honestly, I really use 90% for reading books, and websites (newspapers, magazine sites, forums like this one, etc; and to a small degree, email). I really prefer my iMac for email and any kind of actual work with writing or documents. I only use my MacBook Pro when traveling, as I just find my 27” iMac screen (and a keyboard) so much better for everything when I need to work on multiple things (or applications). As you can imagine, I haven’t traveled in nearly 2 years now!
You can shrink the size of the text by pinching, or clicking the A and finding the font size option
Great post!
Photos do not look good on a Kindle. Only 16-level grayscale, and seem washed out. You can tell what is in the photo, but that's about it.
I bought nice leather and wood folio/cases for my iPads on Etsy. They’ve been great and lasted a few years now. They have magnets and wake/sleep the iPads when open/closed. initially did use Apple Smart Covers, but ultimately, I really don’t like the way they support the iPad for reading Or watching video. I can’t really describe it, but the angle created by the folded cover is too low for long term comfortable reading for me. I prefer a sort of ‘flip-and-”A” position with the long leaf positionEd under the standing iPad. It is like having an easel. This also deals with any weight issues of holding an iPad for hours on end when reading! And I can still flip it around to create a low angle for typing when I want to. Though, often, I’ll type with the screen in the upright ‘easel’ position, like I’m doing right now (iPad 11”).
LOL! All great points! Well, in my case, I know what I’ve done to hasten the demise of the USB-C port, which is that I (more often than not) yank the usb connector out of the iPad. I have grown so complacent with my tablets, that where I used to baby them, I treat them more like notebooks. And, truly, my iPads have been nearly indestructible in the past! I think it is true that the Lightning connector IS sturdier and more durable than USB-C. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer USB-C - everything, as it just simplifies my life! But, I have never had a Lightning port start to loosen the way that this USB port has. And I still have an ancient 2014 (maybe 2013?) iPad Air—the first iteration. That thing still is fully functional AND the Lightning port is in perfect condition. The battery is shot…and maybe gets 5 hours runtime when reading now ?. That was my main iPad until 2017-18 when I got the 12.9 and the 11.
Great post. Thanks. I am so trying to prefer the mini 6 to my Oasis but not so far...Maybe I'm struggling with the settings?
