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Ask HN: Kindle v/s ipod touch

For someone who likes to read books from Gutenberg the free books site and one who spends 24 hrs a week in a train journey (long distance) which one is preferable to buy? Touch is good option given that I can occasionally play games and watch a movie on the go.

walkon 17y ago
If reading is what you want do the most of, I'd go with the Kindle because its display is going to be much easier on your eyes because of the e-ink and size.
- digamber_kamat 17y ago
  Does Kindle show colors?
  - andymism 17y ago
    No, the Kindle is just black and white. I owned a Kindle for about 4 months before I bought an iPhone, and I rarely pick up my Kindle anymore. I like my Kindle when I'm at home on the couch, but my iPhone is my main reading device, winning out because the form factor makes it so convenient to carry around. Web access is a bonus too.
    - walkon 17y ago
      The Kindle displays 16 shades of gray. When you read on your iPhone, are you able to read novels for extended, contiguous periods of time (more than an hour)? Just wondering how comfortable that would be on such a small screen for a long period of time.
      - andymism 17y ago
        I read just fine for long periods on my iPhone, especially in apps like Instapaper, Stanza, or the Kindle app. It's hit or miss with web content, however, but is overall a good experience.
alnayyir 17y ago
I can't speak for the Kindle, but I've been doing okay reading on the Touch with Goodreader. I might try an ereader soon, but the pocket-portability of the touch has been nice.
rsaarelm 17y ago
The Kindle is almost the size of a small netbook, pretty big to carry around when all you can do with it is read books. I tried a Kindle, and am going to stick with using a smartphone as it's easy to carry everywhere without additional hassle. A dedicated reader would be useful for pdf documents which you can't read easily on mobile devices, but the screen of the standard Kindle is too small for reading many types of pdf comfortably. Pluses for the Kindle are massive battery life and good readability in bright sunshine.
pw 17y ago
After getting one for Christmas, I've started doing almost all of my reading on an iPod Touch. I think the form factor is perfect--you can read in any position (I've always struggled to read books while lying in bed on my side), and the short lines of text make for easy reading (notice that the screen is almost exactly as wide as a newspaper column). I'm sure e-ink is nice, but reading from an LCD all day has never bothered me and still doesn't (probably because I still have young eyes). Along with Kindle books, I read online materials using the ReaditLater app after saving links to ReaditLater when I find them (often on a desktop). The app will both format pages nicely for the Touch as well as download them for offline reading.
digamber_kamat 17y ago
I finally got Lenovo Idea Pad a netbook that has 7 hours battery backup. i am happy.

walkon 17y ago

If reading is what you want do the most of, I'd go with the Kindle because its display is going to be much easier on your eyes because of the e-ink and size.

digamber_kamat 17y ago
Does Kindle show colors?
- andymism 17y ago
  No, the Kindle is just black and white. I owned a Kindle for about 4 months before I bought an iPhone, and I rarely pick up my Kindle anymore. I like my Kindle when I'm at home on the couch, but my iPhone is my main reading device, winning out because the form factor makes it so convenient to carry around. Web access is a bonus too.
  - walkon 17y ago
    The Kindle displays 16 shades of gray. When you read on your iPhone, are you able to read novels for extended, contiguous periods of time (more than an hour)? Just wondering how comfortable that would be on such a small screen for a long period of time.
    - andymism 17y ago
      I read just fine for long periods on my iPhone, especially in apps like Instapaper, Stanza, or the Kindle app. It's hit or miss with web content, however, but is overall a good experience.

alnayyir 17y ago

I can't speak for the Kindle, but I've been doing okay reading on the Touch with Goodreader. I might try an ereader soon, but the pocket-portability of the touch has been nice.

rsaarelm 17y ago

The Kindle is almost the size of a small netbook, pretty big to carry around when all you can do with it is read books. I tried a Kindle, and am going to stick with using a smartphone as it's easy to carry everywhere without additional hassle. A dedicated reader would be useful for pdf documents which you can't read easily on mobile devices, but the screen of the standard Kindle is too small for reading many types of pdf comfortably. Pluses for the Kindle are massive battery life and good readability in bright sunshine.

pw 17y ago

After getting one for Christmas, I've started doing almost all of my reading on an iPod Touch. I think the form factor is perfect--you can read in any position (I've always struggled to read books while lying in bed on my side), and the short lines of text make for easy reading (notice that the screen is almost exactly as wide as a newspaper column). I'm sure e-ink is nice, but reading from an LCD all day has never bothered me and still doesn't (probably because I still have young eyes). Along with Kindle books, I read online materials using the ReaditLater app after saving links to ReaditLater when I find them (often on a desktop). The app will both format pages nicely for the Touch as well as download them for offline reading.

digamber_kamat 17y ago

I finally got Lenovo Idea Pad a netbook that has 7 hours battery backup. i am happy.