VIDEO: 4 Ereaders, 1 week, 1 Battle to the Death – the iPad
Posted on 15. Jul, 2010 by JD in AU, Devices, News, Reviews, Video, comics, iPad, magazines, newspapers
The next reader off the rank in the four-reader death match, is the touchscreen tablet big-daddy: the iPad.
After my initial excited unboxing of the Apple tablet, and then a few sync dramas (I imported the US version) that maaaay have been my own dopey fault, I’ve now had a couple of months of use to form an opinion about reading on the device.
Verdict: I’m still almost as excited by the device as I was initially. The Wi-Fi is still janky, though.
Let’s go to the video(tape!):
So, further to my first app review here, here’s an updated version:
Kindle for iPad: Amazon is leading the way in cross-platform app coverage for their ebooks, and the iPad is no exception. It’s slick, as usual. [Update]: I acually use this app more than the device (my wife has that most often).
Ebooks by Kobo HD: ePub books from the Kobo store look fantastic on this clean app (although HD may be stretching it). [Update:] Recently they have recognised that my credit card is Aussie, so ebook choice has been severely curtailed. So I won’t be using it much now.
Wattpad: self-published stories and ebooks live here, 100,000 of them, they say. [Update]: I don’t buy self-published stuff much, but Wattpad says this year’s winner of the “Watty” Awards got 6 million reads and has received 35,000 comments? Hefty!
Barnes & Noble: [Update] Last time I checked I could still use my Oz credit card with my B&N account, so I’ve bought a few books from here. God I hope the credit card issue hasn’t been resolved!
Borders AU: [Update] This is the Kobo app, rebranded for Borders in Australia. This is pretty much the home of Aussie books on the iPad. Dont, however believe the “Cheaper than Amazon.com” price guarantee on the Borders front page. It doesn’t extend to ebooks.
What’s missing: Stanza and Calibre iPad apps would be sooo nice to have in the arsenal!
Magazines and Comics
If the iPad has a sweet spot, it’s magazines – glorious colours, embedded video, and big, big pics. With the Zinio Mag Newsstand app, you have your pick of mags mainly from the US, and even in the App Store itself there seems to be a few US and Japanese mags. [Update]: Most mags are either on iPad now or soon will be. Check out GQ, Maxim, Men’s Health and Time Magazine. Some, like Time, have cut-down free versions of their app, and then the paid version (in this case $5.99). Vanity Fair is a cracker of a product ($US3.99, see video), and tech mag Wired from the US has been an early leader in mag app interactivity ($US4.99), as you would expect. Sports Illustrated yesterday showed how much extra flexibility mags have on the iPad by changing it’s cover at the 11th hour.
The Sydney Morning Herald and Australian heralded (ha!) the first interactive Aussie iPad magazine a month ago, and Sport&Style, is now available on the iPad. No real way to judge the sales.
The Marvel Comics app will get graphic novel lovers drooling – this is a class-leading app a as will the tons of “free sample” comics and high-quality underground comics. Then there’s the electronic reams of Japanese cartoons and Manga. [Update]: I downloaded free comics app Comics just to check out the genre, and colour me mighty impressed. I think comics on the iPad will be huge – when the interactivity improves, they are going to be a sensational experience for the reader.
News
The iPad is great for reading news, and most of the newspaper apps give readers a traditional large-format newspaper layout. The best part is that you can read newspapers from around the globe without shlepping out to the airport to buy ‘em.
I still read the free New York Times “Editor’s Choice” app occassionally. I’ve found the news is very far from comprehensive though. You only get a couple of newish stories refreshed daily among the older content. You want more? You have to pay for that, as we know. There is also BBC News (my pick for best news app), The Wall Street Journal, and an app called Australian News, which looks like news stitched together from Australian newspaper websites.
The Australian rolled out its app to much fanfare just after iPad launch – here’s a video. I’ve had a quick look – I haven’t bought it, I must say – and was alarmed that the date on some pages didn’t gel with the cover date. Not a good sign. It’s a little frustrating to use … you pretty much flick through the pages as PDFs and not much else. It’s serviceable, but it comes across as a bit of a rush job. The Age is already available on the iPad and other big papers will be out in the coming months.
The device itself
As I said in my “first look” review here:
Things I liked
- Very solid feel
- Incredible build quality
- Fast start-up
- Ultrafast web browsing (WiFi version). More on the WiFi below.
- App variety just getting better.
- Touchscreen is silky and sensitive.
Things I didn’t like
- The unit is slightly heavy, but it’s no dealbreaker.
- [Update]: The WiFi is a still janky – it’s like it loses “lock” on the signal. This happens rarely now, since I rigged up a home-made WiFi booster out of cardboard and foil (instructions here). There’s been a big improvement, but it still drops out occasionally. (Despite reports that Apple was rushing a fix out for this nothing has happened yet).
Verdict
So there you are, folks. I love the iPad – it rules the top end of the eReader market for most consumers, and will only get better with more apps and content. Tell me about your experiences in the comments! …
