# THC's first serious session of reading on the iPad



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I did my first serious reading on the iPad last night.  I'd opened the apps and played with them briefly before, but this was the first time I'd sat down and read a book on the iPad.  I was more pleased with it than expected as a reader.  My initial reaction after playing with it had been that the iPad had two big problems as an eReader: first that it was too heavy, and that my arms would tire quickly when I had to support it, and second that brushing my hand across the screen to turn a page would quickly get annoying.  I was using the Kindle app for this--I have no plans to buy any iBooks, at this point I see no advantage to a book that can't be read on my Kindle or any non-Apple device.  I['m at home and easily could have read the book on the Kindle, but I decided I wanted to try the iPad.

I had bought a Peeramid after someone mentioned it here, and that was a major help in neutralizing the weight concern--My arms just had to steady the iPad at the right angle for me, not support the entire weight.  I found a comfy position leaned back on my recliner with the Peeramid on my chest, iPad resting on the ledge of the Peeramid, and one hand on each side of the iPad.  This does work for reading, I read for an hour or so in this way.  It still isn't as nice as the Kindle--The lightness of the Kindle means that I can support it with one hand all night and have no discomfort or worries, reading in this way restricts me into reading in one position with little opportunity to change around.  But it was definitely workable.  I was reading in portrait mode, landscape mode didn't feel right when I tried it.

My worry about sweeping across the page to change pages didn't pan out either.  I rested one thumb on each side of the screen, and I found (I may have read it here, but the import of it hadn't sunk in) that by flexing my right thumb, I turned a page to the right, while flexing my left thumb turned a page back to the left.  This works!  I wasn't as smooth at it as I am with my Kindle; occasionally I'd "do it wrong," or accidentally turn the page when I didn't intend to, but I'm sure that will improve over time as I practice.

Overall, this worked!  I didn't like being more restricted in one position.  But one positive thing I hadn't expected was the effect of the larger screen on the iPad.  Somehow when I started, my font was at a larger size setting than I use on my Kindle, and I didn't bother to change that.  But with the large screen, I still had plenty of text on a page.  This kept the number of thumb twitches reasonable, and the larger font may have been easier on my eyes, though I've never felt using the second-smallest font size was a problem on my Kindle.  While reading the iPad last night, I felt no urge to reduce the font size.  Obviously my primary reader is not a Kindle DX, so the effects of the screen size change were unexpected for me.  I'm going to have to experiment with this some more.  I didn't notice any problems from the backlit screen, though I only read for perhaps ninety minutes, so this wasn't a marathon reading session.

Overall, this works, and I can see choosing the iPad over the Kindle if I did get a book with lots of important illustrations, especially color ones (the book I was reading last night was a novel with no illustrations, but my experiments had shown that even b&w illustrations look MUCH better on the iPad than the Kindle.  In about a week, I'm going to be traveling with the iPad and no Kindle, and this will be a bigger test.  I'll be reading in the hotel with no Peeramid.  I'll let y'all know how that goes.


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## angelad (Jun 19, 2009)

Very thorough, very cool.  Thanks.


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## Eeyore (Jul 16, 2009)

When I was at the Apple store the tech said if you want to skip the page turning animation, just do a quick tap of the right edge of the book and you get page turn w/o animations. With both hands holding the iPad, I tapped the edge with my right thumb and got a quick page change. If you are left handed, might be a bit harder.

You also might want to check to see if the hotel you are staying at has free Wifi. Otherwise, you may have to get an Airport Express to tap into the hotel's internet for Wifi access.
---Correction: Just got off the phone with Apple technical support. The Wifi version of the iPad can NOT connect to the Airport Express by itself. Even though the Airport Express is set up as a Wifi router, you need an available laptop computer at the hotel to first make the connection. I had the Apple tech repeat this twice so I could make sure whether it would work or not. Bummer!

Best Wishes!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I was reading on the kindle app, not the iBook app, so no page turning animations.  Incidentally the transition between pages is quicker and nicer on the iPad than on my K2.


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## Emily King (Jun 9, 2009)

By the way, you can turn on the page turn animations on the kindle app if you want them...


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## Lee (Nov 7, 2008)

You can still do a screen-tap to turn the page in the Kindle app even with the page turn animation on.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Oh, uh, my evil overlord is succumbing to the temptations of the Great and Wonderful Apple...


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