I have a Kindle, and it is more awesome than an iPad.
I’ve messed around with an iPad, and it is pretty neat. I’ve used a Kindle extensively for several months, and it is amazing. Below, I try to give reasons why I would buy a Kindle over an iPad based on stuff that I could tell without having used either one. I’m biased towards the Kindle, obviously, but with good reason: Ever single one of the points I make about the iPad is a reason I decided not to buy one. I could get an iPad and a Kindle, but I’m not going to. First, a bit on why I like the Kindle platform, which is available on both devices:
Is this thing on?
Amazon has a whole system of EBook managment that I can put my books on my Kindle, my computer, or my phone. If I spent half a grand or so, I can even run the Kindle software on an iPad! This means I could view my entire EBook library on either device.
People often ask “What if you lose your Kindle or iPad? Do you lose all your books? Can you back them up?” Because Kindle is a system, your books are stored on the internet. They are linked to your account, rather than your device, so if you, say, lose your Kindle, you can add the books back on to your new Kindle. You can put your books on a bunch of devices. You can also delete books, which transfers them to an archive so they don’t take up space on whatever device you’re using to read. Amazon keeps a list of archived items so that you can simply re-download them to your Kindle/Phone/iPad/Computer for free. Amazon really tried to make this as simple as possible.
Ok, for real now: Why a Kindle? Why not an iPad?
Cost is a big factor for me. I got my Kindle as a gift, but it’s exactly what I would’ve gotten anyhow. The price tag is important. OK, so the Kindle has fewer bells and whistles, but for (as of this writing) $189, I’m getting free 3g access in countries across the globe for as long as I own the device. This allows me to check Wikipedia or download a book pretty much whenever and wherever I want. To get the same privilege with the iPad, I would need the $15/month data plan for the iPad, and that only works in the US. To go to another country, I need to talk to AT&T or change SIM cards. By the way, that data plan at $15/month translates to $180/year. I bet a few of you just went “Holy fuck! For $10 more, I could’ve just bought a Kindle!”
Don’t forget: that’s just the lowest, 200MB data plan. You still need to spend over $600 just to get the 3g iPad itself. That’s right, you’re looking at over $800 in just in the first year of iPad ownership, all before purchasing a single book. I could buy one current-gen Kindle at the current price every year for four years and still not catch up to the cost of the 3g iPad in the first year. Of course, I could just buy 60 new releases from the Amazon store ($9.99 each) instead.
I’m sure Apple fans are ready to rip off my head and plant it on a pike. To be fair, the price of an iPad will likely drop a few hundred dollars in the next few years. The Kindle was nearly as expensive ($399?) when it came out, and is now hovering at about half its original price. Also important is the fact that the iPad is a lot more than an EBook reader. It can surf the web in full color, and run thousands of popular of apps. People are used to having their cell phone battery drain in about a day, and a laptop battery in just a few hours. Apple has capitalized on this, proudly touting the 10 hour battery life (9 hours on 3g) on the iPad and many of their new laptops.
I already have a netbook though. My $350 Dell Mini 1012 can actually run a full OS, has Flash, and it also has a 9 hour battery life. That $350 also covers 3g in the Netbook, had I decided to get it: The cost of the 3g card is covered by the carrier your choose. That’s right, you get to choose between AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. I’m still below the cost of an iPad after buying both a Netbook and a Kindle. As if that wasn’t awesome enough for the Kindle, it can last four days between charges with 3g wireless on (usually more for me) and two weeks with wireless off. In your face iPad.
I feel like I’m gonna break this damn thing.
Cost is important for another reason: Are you going to take an electronic device that cost half a grand or more to the beach? Are you going to toss it in your backpack for a quick hike? I can throw my kindle in its soft cover and then in a bag with no hesitation. What about two years from now? How pissed off are you going to be in when the battery in your $500+ device only lasts 1 to 4 hours instead of 10 hours? In theory, I’ll still be getting two to five days per charge on my Kindle. Even if I break my Kindle or the battery dies sooner, I can buy three more Kindles and still have saved money. For me, the choice is pretty obvious.
Ooh, SHINY! Can I play with it yet?
Ok, lets be honest: The iPad looks pretty awesome. It’s all glassy and aluminumy. It’s really trendy. The iPad definitely wins in the “pretty” catagory. Everyone wants to be hip, and Apple has marketed the hell out of this thing. Normally practical people are shouting “Fuck the cost! I want to be cool!” and handing over their credit card. Now, you can drop by your neighborhood Apple store and buy an iPad right now! Pretty handy. Of course, if you don’t live near an Apple store, you’re ordering online, you have to go through the whole ordering process (name, address, credit card info, etc.) Then you’re waiting 7 to 10 days for shipping. When that shiny Apple box shows up, get ready to… sit in front of a computer for a while. You still have to connect your iPad to your computer, connect it to your iTunes account, and sync it. Then you’re ready to go! Unless of course you have a 3g iPad. Then you have to set up your 3g account, enter your credit card details again, etc, this time all on the iPad. Phew! That doesn’t sound very simple or elegant.
You can’t just walk in to a store and grab a Kindle, which kind of sucks. If you bought it for someone else, or someone gave you a Kindle, setup is a little complicated. Anyone who didn’t actually order the Kindle actually has to go to Amazon.com, set up an account (if they haven’t already), and register the kindle. They have to enter the serial number on the back of the Kindle (Also available in a menu on the Kindle). Finally, they have to set up a payment option. Once that’s done, it’s linked to their account. That doesn’t sound very simple or elegant either! Fuck!
Here’s the big thing: Most Kindle users never have to do that. Amazon tried to make getting EBooks really easy, remember? The first thing they do is give you two day shipping for free. Want your Kindle faster? Pay a few extra bucks for overnight shipping. While you’re waiting, you can download the Kindle reader application and get started reading books on your computer or phone or whatever right away. Don’t have a computer? Ordered from an Internet Cafe? Doesn’t matter. When you ordered that Kindle from Amazon, it became registered to you automatically. When that little box shows up on your doorstep, you can rip that fucker open, fire it up, and start getting books. You just start using your Kindle. Awesome!
Conclusion:
I think the Kindle is awesome and the iPad is stupid. Apple is trying to cram the iPad into its own niche, pretending it isn’t an expensive EBook reader/netbook. Amazon built a whole platform around EBooks, and the Kindle is just one, awesome part that does its job very well, and at a surprisingly low price.
Yeah, Apple users really need to understand that having an Apple does not make them cool. It’s just a tool, and often so are they. Still, many Apple users just need to get their work done, and want something better than Windows, which is understandable. I am obviously not talking about these users here. If it helps you get your work done, great. Anyway, I will say this about the iPad, the battery is pretty impressive, and I expect it will last more than 2 years, with that said the Apple Care for it is only 2 years, and of course there is AGAIN no accidental warranty coverage offered for the iPad. From a warranty standpoint Apple is treating this like an iPod. So I guess they expect it to last about 2 years. I think the iPad may end up being like a Chevy with a 2.8 in it, where the motor keeps running but the rest of the car falls apart around it. Also, the 3g thing does not work very well even just from the States to Canada mostly because of a lack of understanding on the part of Apple Store and AT&T employees about what to do. Canadian customers are already finding out how much AT&T sucks when they cross the border and try to get another SIM card from poorly trained AT&T salesmen that couldn’t care less about their iPad customers; it’s a marginal market to them or at least that’s how they’ve been treating their iPad customers. Seriously, when is Apple going to dump AT&T?! Then they find out that they may need to restore their iPad to get it to work again, and that to put their content back on their iPad they have to get back to their computer. It’s a master/slave relationship. Kind of like the Apple to Customer, Customer to Apple product relationship. Apple has told users that they only keep their iTunes records for 18 months (I think this number changes depending on who you talk to at Apple), their is an official number but so many users have been told so many things that who knows, anyway if you lose your purchased data after that, up yours I guess. Sure there are tons of cool apps. for the iPad, but there are tons of laptops out there, for less money, that do way more than the iPad. Still, see my earlier post here for good things I have to say about the iPad. In the end E-Book readers are lame for anything but new books anyway. There are tons of used book shops out there, in good shape, that are about a dollar each, and need to be read. All of these used books have a huge advantage over expensive E-Readers when it comes to things like going to the beach. So what if it gets wet, you can usually just dry it out, or get another copy for another buck.
Hence my furor towards all things iPad, and it isn’t even half as absorbent as other pads I’ve purchased.
Man, if only the internet would listen to us! We could rule them all with common sense and decency, unlike some other tech blogs.
Also I’d like to point out Apple’s 2x cost multiplier for any device it sells. It lulls people into a sense of security, but BAM as soon as something breaks it’s back to the twice the cost again. Emily accidentally left her Macbook charger at the apartment when we left for Pennsylvania. Sucks and even though we had an extra standard PC one (works for Dell, HP, Gateway, etc.), Mac is purposefully non-standard. So we go to Bestbuy, not only do they not carry Macbook chargers (even though they sell Macbooks) but the Apple store wants eighty dollars for a charger; eighty dollars. I can get a PC one for twenty, but no Apple has to be non-standard. And does this 2 year old Macbook live free of problems? Not quite, Pinwheel of Death, random lock ups, and a battery life of 0 minutes.
Okay okay, I know – but it has to be brought up: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/07/ipad-owner-are-selfish-elites-critics-are-independent-geeks-says-study/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))
Wow, what a poorly balance write-up on Wired’s part. Where was the survey sampling taken from? Sure 20k is a good number of people… Also, does this guy really think that anti-iPad people are mostly that way because they didn’t play with one?! What an idiot. We’re that way because of the way Apple conducts itself as a creepy company, iPad or not. Plus, it’s a dumb device that can’t really exist on it’s own and we have cheaper, more robust devices to use, you know those of us that have real work to do.Anyway, you have to hook it up to a “mother-ship,” proprietary computer, to manage it every once in a while no matter what. What else needs to be said.
Also, as said before, the thing doesn’t even do Flash. Fanboys will blow this off as Apple “paving the way of the future,” but really it’s based on Steve Jobs’ personal hate of Flash and/or some Apple corporate strategy against Adobe/Flash. Either way if your overpriced product doesn’t do something that tons of other products already do, and limits your access to content, it’s a lame step backwards, not the wave of the future. Up yours fanboys and crappy Wired authors.
Wired authors are basically Apple fanatics, practically every article is biased towards Apple which often includes anti-Android sentiments solely because of the competition factor.
The best part of that article however is the statistics provided by the independent third party, MyType. The second best part is how the Wired editorial reveals itself as one of those elitist, and basically pleads with the reader to view him as a “statistical anomaly” as both a free-thinking geek and iPad owner.
It’s awesome how Apple has a perfect media relationship and people in high places to push it for them, like the people at Wired. If someone hates Apple’s stuff, even for good technological reasons, they are simply dismissed as “Apple haters”, and they will of course “hate everything that Apple makes regardless of how awesome they must secretly realize that it is”. If someone sticks up for Apple, but has their head up their ass about how electronics work, they are insulated by other fanatics padding their idiotic responses by saying things like “that’s the whole point of Apple. You don’t have to know to use it. It’s so easy to use. They think for you, etc.” This is of course the same kind of dismissive mentality that gets people to not know how critical systems work in other aspects of their life. Like a person that doesn’t know to turn their car off and/or shift it into neutral if the accelerator sticks. Yes the manufacturer should build a better car, but you should know how to disengage the engine from the transmission especially if you’re going to carry kids in a car, etc. with you. This should be a basic requirement of owning a car. On the technological front Apple users are not going to know what to do when they are attacked by viruses and spyware, in fact they will just scream, call Apple and drive into the proverbial wall instead of learning a little about how their computer works. They’ll then demand that the manufacturer and the government make the computers safer. By the way Apple is sneaking spyware protection into updates. The truth is that all technology would be safer if people just learned a little bit about it and didn’t reward companies for helping them not think. No one is asking people to learn how to code assembly to use a computer, we’re just asking that you know not to respond to the e-mail from the Nigerian price offering to deposit a million dollars in your bank account no matter what computer you use. On the automotive side we ask that you learn how to change a tire, when to replace your breaks, when to shift into neutral, etc. Overall we’re asking that Apple fan-boys put more than their tremendous belief behind their claims of how awesome Apple products are when Apple makes something that sucks like the iPad. They should have some idea what they’re talking about before deciding that those of us that criticize Apple just don’t know, or don’t get it like they do, when they’re the users that will drive their cars into the wall instead of learning how to shift into neutral, turn the key off, etc. I think I just decided not to subscribe to Wired anymore. The total bias in every publication, in almost every medium, is really annoying. Anyway, I think Apple still builds a decent computer, but the iPad sucks, and the iPhone, and iPods are rip offs too. Linksys makes an awesome router and if you don’t have your head up your ass about how a router works you can spend half as much on one (compared to an Airport anything) and get the same or better performance. Pandering to idiocy is half of Apple’s business, and although I think they do some things well, that side of Apple makes me want to barf, the Steve Jobs thing is pretty gross too. Anyway, I’m going to stop ranting and go buy a Toyota, I hear I can save some big bank now since the idiots are saying stay away from this well built car over the fact that a few of them weren’t totally idiot proof…..
Noooo! Not Toyota!
Okay, so buying a Ford or a Mazda (most made in Detroit) might not be as a good deal as it use to be, but they’re still solid built and have some good performance. The Fusion and Mazda6 are practically the same car with the Fusion being heavier for ride-ability, and the Mazda6 being lighter for the nimbler response. 0% financing for 5 years, and the leasing deals are 1,500 cheaper than buying (if you decide to buy at the end of the 3 years).
Also, I like to support Michigan workers whenever I can.
And I love Mustangs; if I could I’d live every day driving one.