If you’re a reader, you might be thinking about picking an e-reader up. It’s a great purchase – it comes with more benefits than reading from a book. However, a regular tablet is a choice as well. You might be wondering what the difference between the two is, and which of them is the best pick. Well, we’ve run through this below.
How Good Are You At Focusing?
Reading is fun. Unfortunately, many of us have trouble focusing on the task. It’s nothing you should be ashamed of, but there’s a lot of distractions that make reading hard. When you use an e-reader, you’ll barely have any distractions. Most of them were exclusively made to read books – this prevents you from accessing a plethora of apps like you would on a regular tab.
Even if you don’t use the many apps on your regular tab, you’ll still be able to focus more on an e-reader – it’s a device you purchased exclusively to read books, so your mind would double-down more.
Do You Want A Functional Device?
As mentioned, e-readers don’t come with many apps. Only some of the best have access to the internet. You’ll find a range of features in the most basic regular tabs – they were made to consume media and browse the net after all. No surprise, tablets host more powerful processors – many of them are on par with flagship phones and laptops – you can use them for the most extensive tasks. A good example of this is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 – it hosts the Snapdragon 865+ chip. It’s so functional that you can attach a keyboard and use it as a laptop. The cherry on top is the fact that you get a stylus.
Is Portability A Concern?
Tablets are huge. They differentiate from phablets as they’re over 7 inches. The majority of them come with screens that are 10 + inches. This is a great size to watch movies on. However, it’s not needed to read books – around 7 inches is enough. This makes a variety of tablets available hard to carry around.
Not only do they come with larger displays, but their bodies are bulkier too. Some of them have batteries that are over 10,000 mAh. This is as they have larger screens with Super AMOLED or Fluid AMOLED panels. Not only are e-readers lighter but their batteries can last weeks – the Amazon Kindle Oasis is a beast that can last well over 6 weeks.
That being said, having an AMOLED screen to read your texts would be great.
How Is Your Eyesight?
The thing about tablets is that they won’t be easy to read when it’s bright out. This is especially true for the ones that rock IPS LCD displays – which is the majority of them. E-readers want you to be able to read your favourite books no matter the setting, so their screens can handle glare, reflection, and all kinds of obstructions. If you want to achieve the same effect, you’d have to invest in an expensive regular tablet.
Some of the most notable ones for reading have blue-light filters – blue-light makes it harder for you to fall asleep. Many people like reading before bed, so this is a very handy feature.
A Black & White Display
Many e-readers can’t display colours; they’re used to read black-and-white text primarily. If you’re reading books, this shouldn’t be an issue. However, you may be someone who’s into magazines and digests. They’re going to have pictures – you won’t be able to register the colour in them. Most magazines put a lot of work into their illustrations, helping bring their words to life – you’ll, unfortunately, be missing out on the experience.
How Much Are You Willing To Spend?
With e-readers, you won’t be spending a lot of money. The majority of them just do one thing as you know- read texts. That’s why manufacturers don’t charge a lot for them. You’ll find the premier Amazon Kindle Paperwhite for around USD 120. Meanwhile, the Apple iPad mini begins at $399 and sky-rockets in price.
This doesn’t mean that tablets are much more expensive, though – you’ll find the Amazon Fire HD Tablet for around $80 – what’s great is that it can read e-books while hosting a range of other features.
If you know where to look, you could snag an e-reader for seriously cheap – retailers on Amazon and eBay sell second-hand ones for super competitive prices. They’re also good Christmas gifts for kids which is why they commonly go on sale during the holidays.
How Durable Is Your Tablet?
The majority of e-readers around come with waterproof bodies. People love reading outdoors – a good book and some nice shade underneath a tree is a dream to readers. No surprise, they’d want to do this with their e-readers too. Unfortunately, they can easily get scuffed – normally at least. The devices come with waterproof bodies, so not only will water be repelled but mud, dirt, and other muck would be too. Some regular tablets come with waterproofing too, even the cheaper ones, but it isn’t a feature you’d widely see. Both expensive e-reader and regular tablets come with IP68 ratings – water won’t ever get inside.
Final Thoughts
Now that we reach the end of our article, what do you think about the two? Tablets are more suited for everyday use. The best ones come with super high-quality Super AMOLED/OLED screens that allow for great viewing experiences. The devices also are larger, making the consumption of media better. Most e-readers focus primarily on reading books. They tend to have black-and-white displays, so they aren’t fit for reading magazines. That being said, you won’t be distracted as access to outside apps would not be provided. They’re also great for reading outdoors – even the cheapest ones come with waterproofing. You’ll also see blue-light filters in many of them – they make it easier for you to fall asleep.
Well, which of the two do you think is worth your time?