iPad Battery and Nook vs. Kindle

Does the new Apple iPad have a removable battery? I haven’t seen any mention of this issue in all the stories about it.

A: No. Like Apple’s (AAPL) other current portable devices, the iPad has a sealed-in battery that isn’t user-replaceable. The company claims the battery gets about 10 hours of running time between charges.

When I use the zoom control in the Firefox Web browser, the whole page zooms, but I can’t seem to get text to enlarge very much. Can you help?

A: I have found that zooming in Firefox increases text size considerably. But there’s a feature that might help you. In the View menu, under Zoom, you can check on “Zoom Text Only.” This focuses the zooming function solely on the text and, in my quick tests, seemed to make the text get larger more rapidly. I was able to make the text really huge, in both the Windows and Mac versions of the browser.

I upgraded to Windows 7 and discovered that the calendar is no longer in my Live Mail. Why did Microsoft (MSFT) eliminate the calendar?

A: There is indeed a calendar in the latest version of Windows Live Mail. It can be called up from the menu in the lower left corner–it’s the second item, just beneath “Mail.” If you aren’t seeing it, you may have an older version, and you may want to download a fresh copy of the latest edition. You can get it at: download.live.com/wlmail.

It’s almost my birthday and my husband says he wants to get me a Kindle or a Nook. I read your review of Nook but was wondering what your thoughts are now that Nook has been updated and some glitches repaired.

A: I haven’t tested the Nook with the latest fixes. But, when I tested it in December, I found it not only to be slower than the Kindle, but to have a clumsier user interface, and a catalog of e-books that was mostly made up of pre-1923 books that are out of copyright.

So, unless Barnes & Noble (BKS) managed to overhaul the whole thing in a couple of months, I would still recommend for the moment going with the Kindle.

The other option would be to wait for Apple’s iPad, which will work as an e-reader and have a better screen and elegant software. But that product hasn’t even been released, so I can’t yet say how it would measure up.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and all of my other columns, online, free of charge, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com.

william69

The iPad does not have an eInk screen and is not designed to be an eBook reader as its primary function. The eInk screen reduces eye strain immensely and is viewable in outdoor light. Also the Nook and Kindle have battery times measured in WEEKS not hours.
http://www.chiropracticmarketingsecret.com/ Chiropractic Marketing

We have to use many electronic device everyday most of them are battery powered but batteries become unusable very soon.Are there any battery remain usable forever?
WaltFrench

I spend my at least the majority of, and sometimes my entire working days — long ones, at that — staring at LCD screens both good and so-so, and then another couple of hours in the evening doing “recreation” like this.

I don't get eyestrain, even tho I need omnifocus glasses that give me a narrow band of good focus. Period. My wife likes the Kindle software on her iPhone and reads on that LCD screen most evenings for an hour, besides using a laptop as most corporate types do these days.

The references I see about “eyestrain” emphasize excessive effort to focus at an uncomfortable distance or other stress manifesting as eyestrain.

I don't have anything against the Kindle; it looks like it'd be OK although I'm a high-contrast guy. (Not high-brightness; my Mac dials down for dim rooms and I often pull it down further.) So maybe the eyestrain comes from hard-to-read text (I hate reading Windows' fonts for much at a time) or some other feature other than what you'll see on the iPad?

Or maybe somebody can describe the mechanism by which eyestrain is caused by crisp, clear, well-formed characters on a just-perfectly-bright screen.
jadegreen

The newest Nook update is incredible. The Nook runs faster, the color UI is sleeker. Obviously B&N has work to do to catch up but the Nook is not horrible.

I agree with the comments regarding the iPad and eInk. If I were to buy one, it would NEVER be for reading a book. I'm in my mid 30's and my eyes are shot due to LCD screens (and doing some specialty work for my career.) For those of us, we need eInk.
jadegreen

The latest nook update has made the nook a much better product. The color UI is different, the reader is just faster.

I agree, the iPad shouldn't be about reading. If we count on everyone to only read off of LCD screens for the rest of their lives, we will have a lot of people around with horrible vision. Your personal experience is actually unique because people don't do what they are supposed to, they do what feels most comfortable to them in the short term.
foles1

Walt…
I have heard that the Kindle is also like the iPad as the battery is not serviceable. When it dies, do you need to buy a new device again? What about your downloads?
foles1

Hi Walt…can you answer these questions? Thanks.
I understand the Kindle is similar to the iPad as both have non-serviceable batteries. Is this true? Do you buy a new device when the battery dies? What about downloaded books? Do you lose them?
Justin76

The nook is an amazing device and it does 1 thing really well. It lets you read books. Here is a good video review of the Nook/Kindle iPad eReader showdown.
jeffe98

Walt, I highly recommend that you revisit the nook and B&N's ebook selection. You're WAY off.
http://www.laptopbatteriesinc.com.au/laptop-battery/dell/dell-latitude-d820-battery DELL Latitude D820 Battery

Awesome post.this was a really good article.thanks for sharing.

iPad Battery and Nook vs. Kindle

comments so far. Add yours.

Walt Mossberg’s Product Guides

Desktop PC’s and Laptops

Digital Cameras

AllThingsD by Writer