[Skeevecr]

I'm the oddity that prefers a book book. A glass of wine, a good book, the feel of the paper, if it's an old book the smell of it. I don't even use my tablet because I prefer a good old fashioned book.

You aren't the only book fetishist out there, plenty of people still prefer paper books.

Personally, by far the most important part of a book for me was always the content itself rather than the container, the author's work rather than the mass-produced pages it was printing on so I was more than happy to move to an ereader which allowed me to always carry my next book around with me alongside the one I was reading.

[omniusovermind]

I thought there would still be plenty of people willing to buy ereaders for the readability of epaper.

There are. Tablets will also never come remotely close to the battery life of ereaders, ereaders are lighter and easier to read on too. I don't read a ton but I only charge my ereader maybe around once every few weeks

[Techno-Emigre]

As someone who has never used anything but my PB for e-reading, this has been an interesting read. Although I am still largely attached to "real" books ala paper, you just can't beat the e-reading experience for portability and not having a bright light on when reading in bed with a sleeping partner. You guys have totally changed my mind about a "simple" e-reader. I might have to try one.

[berklon]

People keep mentioning that with e-readers you can read outside in the sun while with tablets you can't. This is true, but I think that's too specific an example.

You don't even have to be outside to be annoyed with reading on a tablet. The sun shining through windows and even living room lights can distract when reading on a tablet. Tried it on my daily train commute but the glare and reflections from outside are annoying. Same with reading inside the house on a sunny day. As well as reading in the living room with the lights turned on in the evening.

Nothing beats an e-reader for reading books.

[kingb71]

I love my reader. I have an old Kobo wifi that is simple to use and great. However if it were to ever die I would likely replace it with a tablet of some sort.

[qwang]

I don't like reading on tablet at all, can't focus on the book ,always want to swipe and check my email,twitter,etc

[texazzpete]

As someone who has never used anything but my PB for e-reading, this has been an interesting read. Although I am still largely attached to "real" books ala paper, you just can't beat the e-reading experience for portability and not having a bright light on when reading in bed with a sleeping partner. You guys have totally changed my mind about a "simple" e-reader. I might have to try one.

I recommend you try the Kindle Paperwhite. Easily worth the hype and not too costly. Just try and get over the fact that it's not much cheaper than a new Playbook these days and you'll be fine

Contrast, resolution has been improved over the older generation and the screen lighting makes it awesome for reading at night. It'll make a great companion to your PB.

[belfastdispatcher]

I recommend you try the Kindle Paperwhite. Easily worth the hype and not too costly. Just try and get over the fact that it's not much cheaper than a new Playbook these days and you'll be fine

Contrast, resolution has been improved over the older generation and the screen lighting makes it awesome for reading at night. It'll make a great companion to your PB.

My two loves, I did buy a Paperwhite but I decided to give it to my wife for Christmas and stick to my trusty old one for a while longer.

[leticeberry]

I just bought a kindle paperwhite and received it yesterday. Absolutely love it! I originally bought my Playbook to read books. I thought why buy an e-reader when I could get a lot more with a Playbook. Well, I hated reading on my Playbook, so I broke down and bought an e-reader. An e-reader is a much better reading experience.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

strange how popular ereaders are, but RIM never bothered to create a default app. Or better yet work a deal with amazon for a native app.

[ubizmo]

strange how popular ereaders are, but RIM never bothered to create a default app. Or better yet work a deal with amazon for a native app.

We don't know what went on between RIM and Amazon. I wouldn't assume that RIM ignored the matter.

Here's a theory, worth exactly what you paid for it:

Before Amazon got into the tablet business, their main interest in Kindle was in selling content, so they built good apps for Android and iOS devices. The lawyers at Google and Apple were careful to craft agreements that would guarantee that these apps would be upgraded. The BBOS 6 Kindle app wasn't full-featured (no highlighting, searching, or annotation. That's probably due to the difficulties of implementing features in BBOS for a relatively small number of users. Then RIM and Amazon became direct competitors in hardware, with the PlayBook and Kindle Fire hitting the market within less than a year of each other. This creates a conflict for Amazon. On the one hand, they want to have as many people as possible buying Kindle content, but on the other hand they want them to buy Kindle Fire and other Kindle hardware, not PlayBooks. It was too late to do anything about Android and iOS devices, but they could still try to shut RIM out. So they did. We know that the Android Kindle app sideloads easily to the PlayBook and works fine. That shows that Amazon could have released a PlayBook version with very little difficulty. Since they didn't do so, we have to conclude that it was for reasons having nothing to do with development costs. The only other reason that makes sense to me is that they didn't want to make help the PlayBook to be more successful.

Whether this will affect BB10 remains to be seen. I believe a BB10 Kindle app is expected, but we don't know if it'll be full-featured, like the Android and iOS apps. We do know that the WP Kindle app is as limited as the old BBOS 6 app.

In any case, I had a chance to play with the Kindle Paperwhite, and if Santa doesn't deliver he's in deep reindeer droppings.

[RubberChicken76]

"RIP" is a typical 'extreme' position. Smartphones caused a decline in cameras, GPS devices, and media players, but you can still buy all of these things.

[RubberChicken76]

strange how popular ereaders are, but RIM never bothered to create a default app. Or better yet work a deal with amazon for a native app.

There's something weird about the Kindle app. First, there was one for BlackBerry (Amazon.com: Kindle for BlackBerry - Read Kindle eBooks on your BlackBerry), but amazon never put it in App World. Second, they announced one was coming when PlayBook was first announced, but it never materialized.

Suggests to me that Amazon and RIM didn't get a contract fully signed before making an announcement.

[Tommy-boy]

I love my paperwhite kindle. Vastly superior reading experience to my PB or iPad. I just hope Amazon keeps cranking out eReaders. I prefer my eReader to paper books too - dont have to deal with storage space and dictionary is built in.

[notfanboy]

I gave my Kindle because it didn't do anything that my tablet doesn't.

e-ink is not any easier on the eyes than LCD. That's a myth. I'm in front of a computer most of the working day and I still get my reading in at night. The Kindle's battery lasts forever but my tablet is charged everyday anyway. And the Kindle is lighter. Those are the only two advantages of the Kindle.

On the flip side:
- have you ever tried to read a PDF on a Kindle? It's terrible.
- how about a magazine, with color?
- how about a comic book?
- Can you make the Kindle read aloud the book to you? (useful when you're driving or at the gym)
- The tablet also supports more ebook formats. Calibre is a nice piece of software, but I don't need it anymore

[berklon]

e-ink is not any easier on the eyes than LCD. That's a myth. I'm in front of a computer most of the working day and I still get my reading in at night.

That may be the case for you, but not for me and a lot of other people. I can't read on an LCD for long periods of time - no matter how I adjust the brightness or change the e-reader app display.

The Kindle's battery lasts forever but my tablet is charged everyday anyway. And the Kindle is lighter. Those are the only two advantages of the Kindle.

How about the ability to read in any type of lighting condition? I can read outside in the sunlight, or inside with the sun shining through the windows or with the living room or office lighting turned up - no glare at all.

On the flip side:
- have you ever tried to read a PDF on a Kindle? It's terrible.
- how about a magazine, with color?
- how about a comic book?

This is true, but people buy e-readers to read actual books. Serious readers spend hours reading text, not looking at pictures. Tablets won't cut it.
The beauty is that e-readers are so cheap, small, light and inexpensive - you can own one to accompany your tablet if you are a serious reader. You don't have to settle for less with only a tablet.

[notfanboy]

That may be the case for you, but not for me and a lot of other people. I can't read on an LCD for long periods of time - no matter how I adjust the brightness or change the e-reader app display.



How about the ability to read in any type of lighting condition? I can read outside in the sunlight, or inside with the sun shining through the windows or with the living room or office lighting turned up - no glare at all.



This is true, but people buy e-readers to read actual books. Serious readers spend hours reading text, not looking at pictures. Tablets won't cut it.
The beauty is that e-readers are so cheap, small, light and inexpensive - you can own one to accompany your tablet if you are a serious reader. You don't have to settle for less with only a tablet.

About of my "actual books" are in pdf form. I consider myself a serious reader at approximately 50 books per year.

Yes the ereaders are indeed cheap enough as another device, but the frustrations of reading pdfs on it makes it a non starter for me.

[berklon]

About of my "actual books" are in pdf form. I consider myself a serious reader at approximately 50 books per year.

Yes the ereaders are indeed cheap enough as another device, but the frustrations of reading pdfs on it makes it a non starter for me.

I guess it depends where you get your books from.

All my books are in epub format which is supported by almost all online book stores, and the one that doesn't support it (Amazon) can be easily/simply converted to .epub. Libraries also offer books in epub format. Format is a non-issue for me - I can get any book I want in the format I require.

[reeneebob]

I had a chance to jump on a Kobo mini with free coloured backplate for $29.99 today thanks to a $20 off coupon I had. So I picked one up for me. Guess we'll see how I like e readers vs tablets lol

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[kazakoshi]

I gave away my ereader when I got PB back in February. My ereader had color display, so I didn't notice much difference on stress for my eyes. Weight & battery life, almost same as well. So I don't miss my old ereader at all. If I had Kobo or Kindle, probably a different story though. I use Kobo app, Over Drive & Book Reader app to enjoy more books than before.

[filmgirl]

There's something weird about the Kindle app. First, there was one for BlackBerry (Amazon.com: Kindle for BlackBerry - Read Kindle eBooks on your BlackBerry), but amazon never put it in App World. Second, they announced one was coming when PlayBook was first announced, but it never materialized.

Suggests to me that Amazon and RIM didn't get a contract fully signed before making an announcement.

It's actually a lot more simple than that: RIM signed an agreement with Kobo. I'm not sure what the financials were in the deal (ie., who paid who), but there was definitely at least a period of exclusivity involved.

By happenstance, I happened to have a meeting with Kobo the same day the PlayBook was announced (like 3 hours before or something) and they let it slip they were the exclusive ereader.

While I'm sure that exclusivity agreement was time-limited, my hunch is that after it expired, sales were poor enough for Amazon to not want to bother. Same with BBOS 7. You have to realize Amazon's catalog is not widely available internationally. That's one reason, I assume, Kobo got the contract. They have a puny catalog in the U.S. but are quite large for international pubs. Where is RIM selling most of its phones now? It's not the U.S.

Also as an aside, as a longtime tablet owner who hasn't owned an eink device since one of original Sony ereaders, I got a Kindle Paperwhite the day it was available. I love it. 8 week battery life and l can read in the dark

[kraski]

I think tablets will continue to eat away at the overall ereader sales numbers. If the overall battery life is increased and they become as light as the iPad mini then tablets will eventually eliminate the need for them.

You may be right. But I guess that depends on how well you love your eyes. Ask a good eye doctor which is better for your eyes for reading.

[CrackedBarry]

Nah, their market share might drop a bit, but E-readers are here to stay.

They have some advantages over their competition that tablets, as great as they are at being all-round devices, just can't beat.

People don't mind carrying an extra device, as long as they get an advantage out of it over the alternative, and it isn't too heavy/unportable,
The marketplace proves it... People are still buying MP3 players and digital cameras, no?

[belfastdispatcher]

Can you make the Kindle read aloud the book to you? (useful when you're driving or at the gym)

Yes, the kindle has a pretty good text to speech (sounds like Siri voice), not all of them have it, the old kindle keyboard and the kindle touch do, the paperwhite doesn't as far as I know but I expect new versions of the paperwhite will do.

Also, colour eink screens are coming soon and they will be ideal for comic books.


Check this out:

[Skeevecr]

It's actually a lot more simple than that: RIM signed an agreement with Kobo. I'm not sure what the financials were in the deal (ie., who paid who), but there was definitely at least a period of exclusivity involved.

By happenstance, I happened to have a meeting with Kobo the same day the PlayBook was announced (like 3 hours before or something) and they let it slip they were the exclusive ereader.

While I'm sure that exclusivity agreement was time-limited, my hunch is that after it expired, sales were poor enough for Amazon to not want to bother. Same with BBOS 7. You have to realize Amazon's catalog is not widely available internationally. That's one reason, I assume, Kobo got the contract. They have a puny catalog in the U.S. but are quite large for international pubs. Where is RIM selling most of its phones now? It's not the U.S.

I'm not sure where you get your info on Amazon's catalogue, but it is an extremely outdated view on the reality when it comes to ebooks and as far as Kobo being strong in international markets that is relative to how poor they are in the states since they are nothing special anywhere else either.

As far as the exclusivity deal, if that is true then I would hope that whoever made that deal was one of the ones that lost their job in the redundancies as that was a moronic move.