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IPad vs. Kindle | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| aokoye Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5476 days ago 235 posts - 453 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese | Message 17 of 67 06 December 2010 at 8:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hrhenry:
I realize that, but slymie also said "People still in denial of how helpful the ipad/itouch/iphone is in Language learning?" implying that people keep thinking that i-products are inferior to any other ebook reader/tablet, not just the Kindle. That said, I agree with you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5197 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 18 of 67 07 December 2010 at 3:20am | IP Logged | ||
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I have the Kindle 3G. I have books in Spanish and Portuguese along with a uni-language Spanish dictionary and a uni-language Portuguese dictionary. I love it. All I have to do is move the cursor over a word and up pops the definition in the language. Yeah, the dictionaries aren't built-in, it is no problem to download one and add it to the device. I did it. Yeah, it's not as "cool" as the iPad. Yeah, it only cost me $189 vs five hundred something for the iPad. The e-ink technology works great in bright sunlight, perfect for reading here on the beach. The battery charge lasts a very long time- days and weeks if I don't turn the wireless on, which is free all over the world by the way.
For ebooks, I use the open source ebook management program "calibre". Calibre can be set up to download blogs and newspapers in a lot of languages besides English including Spanish and Portuguese. The Kindle 3G works for me. I don't want or need another computer. I can upload mp3 files to it and listen to an audio book whilst I read. For me, in my opinion, it works quite well at what it does and I am VERY happy with it and I think it is good value for money. If you want a small device that does what a computer does then, by all means, get a "pocket" computer like the iPad. If you want an e-reader that has some pretty good features and, is a third of the price of an iPad, then try a Kindle. Some people think that if you buy a Kindle you will become a slave to Amazon.com. Well, I have 35 books in Spanish, 11 in Portuguese and 20 in English and I've only bought one of them from the Kindle store. Edited by iguanamon on 07 December 2010 at 3:30am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5456 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 19 of 67 07 December 2010 at 9:11am | IP Logged | ||
That sounds brilliant, but if most of your books are in PDF, the Kindle isn't very useful, right? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5197 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 20 of 67 07 December 2010 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello Gusutafu,
Calibre will convert pdfs to mobi (kindle) format with varying degrees of success depending on how complicated the formatting is on the pdf and it will import pdfs directly to the kindle which are best read in landscape mode. I have several pdfs on my kindle in pdf format and about 75% of my books are former pdfs converted to the kindle mobi format by calibre. You can read pdfs in pdf format on the knidle but there is less functionality (search, dictionary) with pdfs on the kindle. As I've said, I am not a fan of having multiple computers- for me, some people are. I just want to read and have a little bit of functionality. When I travel, I can check email and surf the web to some extent for free which is a good thing. The battery life is long and the reading experience with e-ink technology is far better for me in bright sunlight than an LCD screen. I can't even see my phone's LCD screen well enough to dial half the time when I'm out. It is important here in the Caribbean to be able to read outside- the alternative is to be stuck inside and that is not what life here is about! Edited by iguanamon on 07 December 2010 at 2:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| slymie Tetraglot Groupie China Joined 5163 days ago 81 posts - 154 votes Speaks: English, Macedonian Studies: French, Mandarin, Greek Studies: Shanghainese, Uyghur, Russian | Message 21 of 67 07 December 2010 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm starting to get it now...
The kindle is better for reading, as its easy on the eyes... but the ipad has the ability to install software such as anki and dictionaries. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5065 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 22 of 67 07 December 2010 at 3:28pm | IP Logged | ||
I've not tried to convert to mobi format, only from it (with good results). But my experience with converting from PDF with Calibre hasn't been all that positive. Especially if the document has many tables, illustrations, etc. - something quite common in language learning books. Otherwise, I love Calibre for all the other things it can do. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MiaDoderer Newbie Joined 4937 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes | Message 23 of 67 16 March 2011 at 4:12am | IP Logged | ||
The two are not really comparable Edited by MiaDoderer on 16 March 2011 at 4:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jondesousa Tetraglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/Zgg3nRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6199 days ago 227 posts - 297 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Mandarin, Spanish | Message 24 of 67 16 March 2011 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Everyone,
I read this thread with interest and after reading a very interesting article this morning thought that I should chime in my 2 yen worth. First off, I have both an iPad and a Nook (original version). I find that the Nook is great for reading texts that are in phonetic alphabet script. Converting of pdf's that contain non-latin script works maybe 30% of the time with good success (using Calibre). The documents convert okay, but when they are accessed via the Nook, the layout is not too useful for reading. The iPad is my daily staple. I have traveled all over the world with it successfully. I only have a WiFi version (no 3G) and it works spectacularly. I have Anki, several dictionaries, the Nook app (for reading books purchased on my Nook while traveling) and tons of videos and books in my target languages. I have found it to be indispensable in my language learning as I no longer have to carry several non-latin books with me along with the nook. The only real negative for me on the iPad is the ability to read while outside in the sun can be difficult sometimes. The article that I read this morning, which I think would be of interest to those following the thread was written by a fellow who took a Nook Color and added some legal software to it to make it usable as a small tablet. It runs on android, so it is a nice system with lots of capability. The article, with instructions on how to convert the Nook to a general use android tablet can be found here: http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/559/mov e-over-apple-my-tablet-cost-200/ Look forward to seeing peoples thoughts on this. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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