Do you remember the tests in elementary where you had to choose the one thing that didn’t fit into the category?
Well, in a category of eReaders, the iPad would be the one you’d circle:
Although the iPad has been labeled an eReader device, it’s actually a mini computer, or to be more accurate, a huge Ipod. I was surprised that there was no iBook or 3D Bookshelf on the main log at the bottom of the screen. That would make reading books part of the main focus of the device. But instead, I had to search through the countless apps all happily floating on screen to screen….but wait is that a flashlight app? And Scrabble? And bubbles?
To say the least, evaluating the iPad as just an eReader was difficult, because it has so much to offer. Instead of reading, if found myself checking my email, listening to music, looking through my photo albums, checking out the game apps, and restaurant apps, and flight apps, and checking movie reviews on apps, and game scores on apps, and oh yea…..I was trying to find the Great Gatsby book on the numerous Bookshelf apps. But then I found an art studio app, and a history maps app, and a currency converter app (how many Rubles does it take to equal one US dollar anyways?), and Skype, Shazam, Groceries, Twitter, the BBC, and Facebook!
….What was I doing again?
Oh right, the Great Gatsby.
Well, we all know the end right? Gatsby is assumed the driver and is shot, while Daisy and Tom move away with no forwarding address, and young Nick decides city folk are crazy and moves back to the Midwest where things are simpler. This is how I feel about the iPad, although it is a wonderful machine that can do so much more than any of the others, and a useful way to get everything and nothing done in an hour, I’d prefer one of the more simple eReaders. The innovation that makes the iPad such a cool device/computer/Ipod is the same thing that makes it hard to just sit down and read a simple book. But don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have one!
written by, M.E. Franchini
Please comment and share your thoughts or experiences on any of the eReaders.
Ya-but, we gotta somehow eventually, like, you know, get to those thingies Star Fleet uses as their techies and officers do their daily chores on the Star Ship E. ……. and this iPad doo-hickee is the closest thing to it so far (so far as the public knows anyway)……
Good article by the way, a fun read!