April 2010 Archives

One of things I thought about recently was the cost differential between a Kindle and an iPad; a Kindle costs half as much as an iPad currently, but the iPad does so much more. It seems the battle for e-readers is Amazon's to lose. But then I started thinking; in the days before Apple's announcement of the iPad, Amazon sent out an offer to select Amazon Prime customers asking them to take the Kindle for a test drive; if they didn't like it, they could keep it.

Apple's return policy on the iPad is 14 days for a full refund, minus a 10% restocking fee; if Amazon did want to really compete with Apple, they could offer to pay iPad customers Apple's restocking fee to return the iPad. With so many iPads already out on the market, and the majority of them being purchased on April 3rd, Amazon only has a few days left before the 14-day deadline, but there's no way Amazon would ever do something so bold, after the lackluster response from their Kindle test-drive.

The iPad and the Kindle DX have a $10 difference between the two; while Amazon has the price advantage, you get a lot less for the money. The iPad is heavier than the Kindle (and the Kindle DX), but the iPad is a far superior device because it does more than just e-books, and it does many other things well.

Yes, Flash is missing, but Flash is missing on the Kindle too, and don't get me started on the web capabilities of the Kindle (abyssmal). Amazon has also released a Kindle App for the iPad, which is every bit as good as the Kindle app for the iPhone. Apple appears to be supporting many formats for the e-books, and there are plenty of e-book reader apps featuring other types of DRM.

The iPad has Bluetooth, making it possible to use Apple's Wireless Keyboard instead of the virtual keyboard for typing. However, the procedure on how to connect the Apple Wireless Keyboard is not well documented.

The key here is that the wireless keyboard should be in "discoverable" mode. To put it into discoverable mode, hold down on the power button of the keyboard until the light blinks off.

• Go to Settings > General and Select Bluetooth.
• Switch Bluetooth to On
• Select "Apple Wireless Keyboard" under Devices
• Look at the iPad screen, and Type in the multi-digit number on your keyboard in order to pair the keyboard with iPad.

After pairing the keyboard, it should work as a substitute for the virtual keyboard.