Have iPad 2, should I get Kindle Fire 10 or iPad Air 2?

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clemsontigerblah

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Jul 24, 2015
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I currently own an iPad 2 which I mainly use as a reader (medical/surgical textbooks mainly) with occasional internet usage and music.

However, I have gotten a little annoyed over the years on how slowly it loads my books, changes pages, etc. Originally, I was mainly impressed with how I could have all of my big text books in more portable, lap friendly version, but with as fast as tech is now, I want it to be more crisp. I have turned off a lot of the features to try and speed it up, but it is just too slow for me.

I have looked at getting either the Kindle Fire 10 or iPad Air 2 (since I use text books, I need large screen for images, etc). I know the Air 2 is leaps and bounds faster than my current iPad 2, but I am leaning towards the Fire since it is like 50% cheaper plus can add storage as I see fit with the microSD slot. However, I haven't found anything that compares the performance of the Fire Mediatek cpu the the Apple A5 cpu in my iPad 2 and would hate to spend over $200 on something that I don't know if it will meet my real desire, which is much better performance.

I know the Air 2 has the Retina display, but I don't really need an eye-popping display since I don't really watch movies on my ipad (however, that might change if I had more storage with new device...I have 16 GB version of iPad 2 and iOS takes up a large amount of that)

Anyway, was just wondering if anyone has any recs or experience with these devices and can give me their opinion. Also, if anyone has alternative device in mind, let me know that too.

Thanks.
 
Solution
Solandri
Be aware the iPads use a 4:3 aspect ratio, vs 16:10 on the Kindle Fire 10. 4:3 is a stupid ratio for textbooks IMHO (only makes sense if you waste precious screen space displaying empty margins). 3:2 or 16:10 comes much closer to the aspect ratio of the text and pictures in real textbooks. But due to the iPad's popularity, a lot of electronic textbooks are made for the 4:3 aspect ratio.

On the Kindle Fire, these textbooks may appear with unreasonably large black bars above and below. Compounded with the lower resolution of the device (1280x800), the text may be illegible. I would really suggest you find some way to try out a Kindle Fire 10 before going down that route.

If you can find a used Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, that would...
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gillhooley

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How many Apple only books and Apps to you have to lose? Do you have Amazon Prime. If you have Prime the books with Prime is great. Kindles are a great devices for the money. I have a Kindle and Ipad 3. I read much more on the kindle
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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Be aware the iPads use a 4:3 aspect ratio, vs 16:10 on the Kindle Fire 10. 4:3 is a stupid ratio for textbooks IMHO (only makes sense if you waste precious screen space displaying empty margins). 3:2 or 16:10 comes much closer to the aspect ratio of the text and pictures in real textbooks. But due to the iPad's popularity, a lot of electronic textbooks are made for the 4:3 aspect ratio.

On the Kindle Fire, these textbooks may appear with unreasonably large black bars above and below. Compounded with the lower resolution of the device (1280x800), the text may be illegible. I would really suggest you find some way to try out a Kindle Fire 10 before going down that route.

If you can find a used Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, that would probably be the best choice. 16:10 aspect ratio, 2560x1600 resolution for razor sharp text beating the retina iPad's 2048x1536 - even a 4:3 subsection would be 2133x1600, AMOLED screen for bright colors. But otherwise, one of the retina iPads is probably your best bet.
 
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KevinFreud

Feb 26, 2019
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If you want to read textbooks, please choose iPad. Some textbooks are still available in pdf format. If the pdf file is not reflowable, it means that the page of the book is like a fixed image. You cannot make the text larger by changing the size in the settings. All you can do is zoom in on a fragment of the page. iPad is more convenient.

All iPad models' 10-inch display has a larger page than the 6-inch Kindle, so it's possible to read the text without zooming in.

You can easily control the iPad. the Kindle has a touch screen, but since it is electronic ink, its working time is significantly delayed.
 
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