I'm over paper. At one time I thought I'd miss the texture, the smell, and the sensation enough to never be able to live with an e-reader or digital books. I was wrong - I only miss paper a little bit. I miss the smell and the feel but not nearly as much as I love the convenience of digital books. It is still the content of a book that is key and with an e-reader that content is everywhere I am.
So, what's the best way to replace it? I'm putting up two categories:
Representing the high-res tablet market is the iPad Air. Light. Thin. Retina. App Store. Magical. Apple. A lot of people in the world don't say "tablet," they say "iPad." Marketing? Hell yes. Undeserved? Hell no. Reviews for the Air are in and it is everything you could love about the iPad line with a better design.
iPad Air Reviews | iMore
And not only will that Retina screen produce some gorgeous text - it will give you the ability to manipulate content. You can zoom in for the details on that comic book or school text. Get in to the nitty gritty on that bar graph. Your world is immersive.
Immersion comes with costs though. Looking at a big, back-lit screen can be a little rough on the eyes even with brightness turned down. Oh, and don't forget to charge that battery. By the way, how's your attention span? Can you handle notifications going off as you read your book or latest edition of The Magazine? Don't. Swipe. Down.
For the dedicated e-reader category the only device left standing is the Kindle - specifically the Kindle Paperwhite. High res e-ink display that you can read anywhere. Side illumination. Battery for months. A build quality that can faintly remind you of holding a physical book. It is no longer an e-reader market: it is a Kindle market.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Review (2013) | The Verge
The Paperwhite is for a single purpose: reading. This is not a jack-of-all trades device. If you pull it out you want to sit down and enjoy a good story with no distraction or interruption. You want to take it to the park and not be bothered, lay in bed and forget about the government, politics, fanboy battles, and your job. Nothing can touch you if you focus on what you're reading on a screen that holds 1,000 books but is as clear as a printed page.
But, oh? You don't have room for another device in the bag. You need to streamline things. Reading is secondary and you'd really like to have some Twitter popping up so you can switch from one task to another. Maybe you actually like your job and want to see some email in your downtime. Sorry - Kindle won't get that job done. Multitaskers be warned: this is not your singular device.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Comparing iOS and Android
Someone asked me to give some insight in to switching to iOS from Android on a forum I participate in. These were my thoughts.
I've done stints with both iOS and Android and genuinely like both of them in different ways. I do always end up back on my iPhone though. Rather than tell you what's great about being on the iPhone I'll tell you what I miss about Android. If these things matter to you it could be more of a pain to switch than it is worth.
1. No file manager/everything in a silo
I'm still annoyed that if I want to email a document I can't do that easily without going to the app the document lives in and emailing it from there. With Android it is far easier to get files you need in the apps you want when you want them. On the flip side it is pretty annoying to have to go through a dozen or more different items on a phone or tablet just to get where you want to be.
2. Apps are powerful, but not free (and I don't mean $)
The app situation on iOS is better than Android. Rene Richie summed it up well in this article: The difference between iOS and Android developers and why it's not just a numbers game | iMore. The quality and inventiveness of the iOS app developer is currently better. That can always change but for now it's an iOS advantage. BUT, your apps will not roam free on your device. Because everything is kept in it's own sandbox the ability of apps to take root and become pervasive (think Google Now) is basically non-existent. Even something like auto-upload from Dropbox won't work well because it isn't allowed to keep going after a certain time. This could very well be changing in iOS 7 with it's new multitasking rules, but we'll need to see what happens.
3. Notifications
Android notifications - sweet, sweet Android notifications. You know what really kills me? Having a notification take up part of my screen when I'm watching a video or playing a game. Android just got this RIGHT. Not only is how the notification is presented better, but so is the management of multiple alerts. Android's notification center is incredibly powerful and is a wonderful task management system in and of itself. Yes, it can get overwhelming at times, but it is just so easy to get rid of individual items. You can pop over to the iOS 7 forums and see Apple's new take on the pull down and notifications in general, but it is just a slight improvement. (Warning: Android feels better in this regard, but sometimes iOS actually feels more efficient for me because I'm so annoyed by the system that it compels me to answer alerts quicker. Take that for what you will.)
Now, with all of that said, I still prefer iOS. This is just a different way of looking at it.
I've done stints with both iOS and Android and genuinely like both of them in different ways. I do always end up back on my iPhone though. Rather than tell you what's great about being on the iPhone I'll tell you what I miss about Android. If these things matter to you it could be more of a pain to switch than it is worth.
1. No file manager/everything in a silo
I'm still annoyed that if I want to email a document I can't do that easily without going to the app the document lives in and emailing it from there. With Android it is far easier to get files you need in the apps you want when you want them. On the flip side it is pretty annoying to have to go through a dozen or more different items on a phone or tablet just to get where you want to be.
2. Apps are powerful, but not free (and I don't mean $)
The app situation on iOS is better than Android. Rene Richie summed it up well in this article: The difference between iOS and Android developers and why it's not just a numbers game | iMore. The quality and inventiveness of the iOS app developer is currently better. That can always change but for now it's an iOS advantage. BUT, your apps will not roam free on your device. Because everything is kept in it's own sandbox the ability of apps to take root and become pervasive (think Google Now) is basically non-existent. Even something like auto-upload from Dropbox won't work well because it isn't allowed to keep going after a certain time. This could very well be changing in iOS 7 with it's new multitasking rules, but we'll need to see what happens.
3. Notifications
Android notifications - sweet, sweet Android notifications. You know what really kills me? Having a notification take up part of my screen when I'm watching a video or playing a game. Android just got this RIGHT. Not only is how the notification is presented better, but so is the management of multiple alerts. Android's notification center is incredibly powerful and is a wonderful task management system in and of itself. Yes, it can get overwhelming at times, but it is just so easy to get rid of individual items. You can pop over to the iOS 7 forums and see Apple's new take on the pull down and notifications in general, but it is just a slight improvement. (Warning: Android feels better in this regard, but sometimes iOS actually feels more efficient for me because I'm so annoyed by the system that it compels me to answer alerts quicker. Take that for what you will.)
Now, with all of that said, I still prefer iOS. This is just a different way of looking at it.
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