[geeks] iPad - NOT a 'Miss' for me I'm afraid

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Wed, Feb 03, 2010 at 07:54:16AM -0500, hike wrote:

>This makes NO difference!  The Nook is vastly inferior to the iPad.  (At
>this time neither device is available in our area so everything is based on
>B&N's and Apple's announcements and comments and, secondarily, on comments
>of other ebook reader and iPhone  owners.)  The Nook (and any black and
>white ebook reader) will offer a vastly inferior experience.  The iPad is
>superior to the Nook in every area (for the purpose I would use it for).

That's a personal decsision. Remember that the iPAd has an active screen,
which constantly refreshes, versions the nook/kindle which only changes once
per page "flip". 

>As the one who wrote of taking an iPad on a foreign trip and leaving it at
>the destination (with friends as a gift or for safe keeping)--the author of
>the "original comment", the $200 difference is more than offset by the
>bigger, color display, available apps, and versatility of the iPad.  That
>is, the $200 difference (minus the cost of SD cards) is unimportant for the
>intended purpose.  (You have missed the point of my comment!)

Indulge me. Send an email offering to bring an iPad with you or two nooks
on your next trip. See what they say. 


>
>On a more personal note, why would I, not wanting a Nook or a Kindle/2/DX
>for myself, buy one to give to a friend?  That makes no sense.  Plus, on the
>practical side, the Nook/Kindle cannot connect in the country that we go to.
> On other hand, the iPad will be able to connect to computers.  Then there
>is "customs"...but that is another story altogether.  (BTW, all the content
>that I leave is either in the public domain or licensed.  In case anyone
>wondered.)

Since you have never actually said where you are going, I can only infer
what is available from what you did. The nook (and the kindle BTW, have USB
ports), the iPad does not. Yes it has an add on which provides USB, but it is
an add on with extra cost and compexity.

Wireless connectivity is a problem, the Kindle(s) use a US only cellular phone
network, the nook uses WiFi, which is available in almost every country in 
the wold. NOT in every location, but it is there somewhere. 

My friend who is an early adopter of the Kindle (sent by her son in New York),
is happy as can be with it. She connects to Amazon over the internet with her
PC and buys books for it. She moves them over with the USB cable.

As for the licensing of the material, I think I can safely assume that no
matter where the people are, if they are not in the US then they live in
a country with far less restrictive copyright laws and if they have any internet
access at all, have far more availabilty to material than you ever will have.

Again, since you have not said where you are going, I can only speculate on
the receiption a device that can play video will have. There are parts of the
world (and this country in fact), where they would not be accepted.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation. 
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.