The Kindle has very few points over the iPad, apart from weight and battery life. But I have found one more: it's much easier to get it to read aloud.
The iPad has the technology built in, it can read for vision-impaired people. So why isn't there a standard command which will let it read any document on the screen aloud?
Apple wrote prior to release that iBooks would read aloud, but I can't even figure out how that works.
I have found two apps which will read aloud. One called Read Aloud, an iPhone app which crashes every time it begins to read more than a couple of lines. One is called Speak It, and is more advanced. But it still demands that you copy the text and paste it into the app. And I find it very, very difficult to do exact selections on the iPad if it covers more than a screen. Also this app will start at the beginning of the text every time you start it up. It won't even start at the cursor, which would have been a natural choice.
Like writing apps, this is a clear area for improvement on the pad, hopefully soon.
I must confess that, as much as I love my new iPad, I still prefee to read long texts on the kindle. Even lowering the contrast and brightness on the iPad until it looks like a kindle page, my eyes tire more easily on it.
ReplyDeleteat least for me, reading on the kindle is a much nicer experience. You are not fighting off glare and you can read in natural light.
Of course I am talking of novels or long text only books, as soon as images or color enter the fray, the ipad is just better... I think the perfect machine should have both technologies.
OK. Good report, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had the problem, because I am so ADD that I rarely do anything more than half an hour at a time.