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Comment by damoncali | Hacker News Reader

It's tough to read pragmatic bookshelf books on a Kindle - the fonts are not quite right and the screen is small. The Kindle is a rough device. The UI is clunky, but it gets the job done.

The iPad versions of the books are better, but still have odd font issues that I don't much like. If they used a reasonable font for the code, it would be great. I'm still deciding which display I like better.

The iPad is more polished, but the Kindle is smaller, cheaper, lighter, and has a battery that lasts for weeks. I keep wanting to touch the Kindle screen, though.

In the end, I prefer reading technical books as PDFs on my laptop, where I can work and read at the same time. The layout is better, and it's nice to switch between code and book quickly.

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You said that the Kindle UI is clunky and that it is small to read on. The Kindle I'm thinking of buying is the new DX model with the 9.7" screen. I'm wondering if you think that one is still too small, or if that is suitable?

And regarding the clunky UI, what is the problem with it? The most important things to me, I think, would be easily flipping pages (back and fourth), and searching for text.

The bigger one would be better for technical books, but I'd prefer the small one for regular books. By clunky, I almost mean it literally. The little joystick thing is small and awkward to use - you move the cursor around the screen one step at a time, and there's a very slight, very annoying delay between input and action. It's begging for a touch screen and color. The keyboard is small, and probably slightly less usable than the ipad keyboard. Flipping pages is also strange, in that there are dedicated buttons, but I keep finding myself clicking the wrong one. That would probably go away over time, but it's annoying, and I did not have that problem with the iPad, which is very intuitive.

Given the price difference between the big Kindle and the cheapest iPad, I'd probably go with the iPad unless money is a huge factor. The keyboard is nicer, the touch screen is a huge benefit for things like using the dictionary, table of contents and bookmarks. Flipping pages is more intuitive. Install the Kindle app and iBook, and you're good to go. The only caveat to this would be if you really like the kindle display. It is different, and I can image some people putting up with the Kindle's lack of polish to have the screen. I wouldn't call it better, but it is different.

Flipping pages is fine, searching is passable. I find it a far superior reader compared to the ipad or a laptop, but they're really very different devices for different purposes. If reading is the most important thing for you, then it's better than anything currently available.

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