The most-wished-for, most-gifted, and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon: Kindle!  Thinner, lighter, easier-to-read, and CHEAPER.  New wi-fi only Kindle is only $139 new!

You don’t need to purchase a Kindle device to utilize Amazon to purchase eBooks.  You can download (for free) Kindle applications for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, and Android.  Then you can access thousands of FREE books or purchase any of the books for sale and use the free Kindle applications as reading devices.  Using the Kindle is far superior as a READING device than any of these devices – especially the phones.

Outside of the price, the best improvement over the current 2nd gen Kindle or the iPad (or any other e-reader):  Battery life of up to 1 month!  That is AWESOME!  I assume that’s in standby most of the time to get a full month between charges, but that is still incredible.  My 2 year old iPhone now lasts about 6 hours between charges. My laptop only lasts about 2 hours on a charge.

They are hyping some things that I personally don’t care about.  New web browser.  Don’t care – it’s an eReader – not an iPad or netbook.  Something else I don’t care about is the 20% faster page turns.  Maybe if I were a speed reader this would help, but I’m not.  I never noticed the page turning being slow before, but I’ll pay attention.

• All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen – 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
• Read in Bright Sunlight – No glare
• New and Improved Fonts – New crisper, darker fonts
• New Sleek Design – 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6″ size reading area
• 17% Lighter – Only 8.5 ounces, weighs less than a paperback
• Battery Life of Up to One Month – A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
• Double the Storage – Up to 3,500 Books
• Built-In Wi-Fi – Shop and download books in less than 60 seconds
• 20% Faster Page Turns – Seamless reading
• Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
• New WebKit-Based Browser – Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)

I finally broke down and purchased an iPad.  I know, I know.  How did I possibly hold out for an entire month before I purchased one.  Well, it was very difficult.  I love gadgets.  I have 4 laptops, 2 desktops, 1 netbook, a Kindle, an iPad, and an iPhone in the house right now.  To be fair, 2 of the laptops are for my wife and kids to share.  I really don’t like sharing any of the other toys.

I ran out and purchased the iPad based upon the AT&T Wireless plan changes that were eliminating the unlimited data plan.  The only thing that makes the iPad a Kindle killer is the unlimited data plan.  If I need to use wifi, then a combination of my laptop, my netbook, my phone, and my Kindle are sufficient.

For a strict text reading device, the Kindle is better.  It’s lighter.  It’s easier to hold.  It’s easier on the eyes for extended reading.  It will handle open book formats, Amazon proprietary books, and PDF files natively.  Deep concentration reading is really about turning the page.  Read.  Turn the page.  Read.  Turn the page.  The Kindle does that extremely well.  I read a lot, and for text only books, docs, and papers – my Kindle is my go to device – or at least it was.

The iPad surpasses the Kindle for reading books with images.  I’m a photographer.  I’m a reader.  I read a lot about photography.  All photography books include images, and every one of these books are better on the iPad.  I can see the images in color and not grayscale pixel art.  I can read all of the same books, PDF files, docs, and papers that I could before on the Kindle.  I can also read my email, my RSS feeds, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the 20,000 other scattered information sources that I consume on a daily basis.  Very convenient.

Possibly most convenient?  This blog post was written and posted using the WordPress iPad app.  Very convenient indeed.  I’ve not had the iPad very long so far, but I’m logging about 2 hours per day on it right now.  Two very convenient and easy hours…