However, your're left trusting that Apple will continue to welcome new vendors and updated apps as things move forward. That leaves the iPad as a much more flexible solution-Kindle owners, for instance, can get immediate access to all of the books they've already purchased. The Kindle hardware only accesses Amazon's store, while the Nook only works with B&N. Of course, that raises the other interesting point: on the iPad, you can actually choose from a wide variety of e-book vendors: Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, just to name a few. Stanza, an excellent source for free books, also works-but like the Kindle app, it's not yet optimized for the bigger screen. With that, you'll also get touch control, much as you did on the iPhone, but without the cool animations. The iPhone version of the Kindle app works as well, blown up to fit the larger iPad screen (and an iPad-optimized version is no doubt forthcoming). Still, it beats the full-screen page flash that happens when you turn a page on a Kindle. There's a cool page-turning animation as well, but that may get old rather quickly. Software-iBooks versus Kindle Reader: We were able to load up the Apple iBook reader on our iPad and we were impressed with many of the iBook features, including its browsable collection of book covers, the ability to see two pages at once in landscape mode, and the easy-to-use timeline at the bottom, which shows you the page count as you fast-forward through the book. Meanwhile, if color is a necessity, the iPad wins hands-down. (The iPhone may have the same issue, but it seems less problematic on its smaller screen.) Like many things, this is going to be a personal preference-but we'd give the Kindle (and other E-ink readers) the nod for brightly lit environments, while the iPad wins for darker ones. The question is: will that remain comfortable over long periods? During our short time with the device, we found the iPad's highly reflective glass screen to be problematic-we were always shifting angles to avoid seeing the reflection of overhead lights. And it's backlit, so you can read in complete darkness. By contrast, the bright, colorful display on the iPad really pops at first glance. It also makes the device readable in brightly lit environments, including direct sunlight. The screen: The Kindle's e-paper display has plenty of fans, with many agreeing with Amazon's sales pitch that the flat matte screen is easier on the eyes than backlit displays. Some first impressions when comparing the reading experience on both devices: In addition to its color screen, it's got a laundry list of functions above and beyond its e-book reader capabilities: a robust (albeit Flash-less) Web browser built-in iTunes audio and video playback photo viewing and access to the entire library of tens of thousands of iPhone apps (let alone new, iPad-optimized ones that are just coming online). But from a features standpoint, the iPad blows away the Kindle. The current Kindle DX has a display size similar to the iPad's, at 9.7-inches. If one were to build from scratch a device for reading books and periodicals onscreen, there's a good chance it would include a touch screen for navigating and flipping pages a color display for illustrations, photos, and book covers and-infrequently mentioned but still important-the ability to download and read e-books from several different sources. At first glance, the new Apple iPad includes most of the features we've been complaining are missing from the current generation of specialized e-book readers, namely the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook.
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