iPad is a Better eReader than Kindle, Study Shows

Tests carried out by Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group across a small sample group seem to indicate that e-book reading remains slower than reading paper, while the iPad is faster, and more pleasant to read than an Amazon Kindle.

“Many companies are betting big that electronic book readers will be one of the main ways people read long-form text in the future,” Jakob Nielsen says. “However, such products will succeed only if the reading experience is much better than the misery of reading from PC monitors. […] To find out, we conducted a readability study of people reading fiction on the two highest-profile tablets: Apple's iPad (first-generation) and Amazon's Kindle 2.”

“The iPad measured at 6.2% lower reading speed than the printed book, whereas the Kindle measured at 10.7% slower than print,” Nielsen claims. “However, the difference between the two devices was not statistically significant because of the data's fairly high variability,” he says. “Thus, the only fair conclusion is that we can't say for sure which device offers the fastest reading speed. In any case, the difference would be so small that it wouldn't be a reason to buy one over the other.”

The researchers then asked users to rate their satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 7, 7 being the best score. “iPad, Kindle, and the printed book all scored fairly high at 5.8, 5.7, and 5.6, respectively. The PC, however, scored an abysmal 3.6,” were their findings. “Users felt that reading the printed book was more relaxing than using electronic devices,” Nielsen adds, in what he notes as “less predictable comments”. “And they felt uncomfortable with the PC because it reminded them of work,” he concludes.

Other findings favoring Apple’s tablet were crisp graphics, and the fact that the iBooks app indicated the amount of text left in a chapter. However, many complained about the iPad’s weight. Surprisingly, respondents did not mention iBook’s other features (built-in dictionary, search, font size options etc.) as strong points for reading books on Apple’s tablet device.