If you want to read and have long battery life, you can't beat a Kindle (not the Fire, but the eInk readers like the Touch). Battery will last a week or two or more, there is no backlighting to strain your eyes, it is like reading paper. It will hold lots and lots of books and you can get more on you're travels, many for free. You can get a wifi only version or a 3G version (no charge for connection). There is minimal Web access, too slow to be very useful, it is black and white and not good for images. You can get them starting about $80 I think.
iPad is great for surfing the Web and email and games as well a photos and graphics. I don't like to read for long periods of time on it, battery lasts about a day, and prices start at $499 I think. You can get wifi only our as 3G, you pay for your data connection with 3G. Personally I need both.
Julie
A Kindle would suffice if you just want to have a bunch of books with you. I don't know the Kindle Fire.
An iPad would offer many other options from playing Solaitaire or scrabble to reading email and surfing the web. You'd need a data plan for that. Kindle battery life is good.
Sent from my iPadHD
On Jun 1, 2012, at 6:11 PM, Chris Laarman <v.c.laarman@gmail.com> wrote:
> Carol Botteron <botteron@alum.mit.edu> on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:39:47
> -0400:
>
> I don't have "the ultimate" answers, but:
>
>
>> I'll be taking a train ride (3 days each way) and want to be able to read
>> without lugging lots of books. Not sure whether the train will have wifi
>> but if I'm somewhere that does, I'd like to be able to check my email.
>>
>> (1) Should I consider any device other than an iPad?
>> Someone suggested a Kindle Fire.
>
> I have a cheap Android 4.0 tablet. Apart from the openness of the
> operating system, it has nothing in favor of it. Especially its power
> consumption when idle (switched to stand-by, not entirely off) is
> hopeless.
>
>
>> (2) Which models of iPad can do what I need? I probably don't need the
>> fanciest. Can they run for 3 days without needing a new charge?
>
> I have an iPad 2, and I might prefer it over a New iPad.
> I have not yet seen a New iPad, but the higher screen resolution seems
> a gimmick to me. (I don't need better-than-Full-HD at that size, and
> it does need more computing power (therefore power) than mine.
> The increased RAM may be a boon, but I haven't yet run into the limits
> of mine.
> You'll need to consider the amount of internal storage space, as it
> can't be extended.
> Text-only books won't take much space, but graphics will.
> If you want to take pictures or even videos, reserve that space (and
> maybe offload to Dropbox or whatever when you can be on-line.
>
> Battery life depends on your use. Stand-by and communication are
> remarkably economical, but graphic activity visibly drains the
> battery.
> You may be interested in the products of <http://www.hypershop.com/>,
> notably its HyperJuice external batteries.
>
>
>> (3) Will I need to purchase a monthly "data service" to read email etc.
>> away from home?
>
> I'll leave that question to others. I have purchased mine with a
> two-year data subscription from my 3G provider, at a notable discount.
>
>
>> (4) What retailers do you recommend (or recommend against)?
>
> I'm in Europe...
>
>
>> (5) At home I have a MacBook Pro (my 5th Mac since 1987) attached to
>> my DSL modem by a cable. What would I need to use an iPad at home?
>
> You could connect the iPad to your Mac using a cable (to USB, both for
> synchronization and charging). You could also go wireless at home.
>
> --
> Chris Laarman
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
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