Wednesday, December 11, 2013

New Devices for Christmas

 
I just watched a webinar produced by the State Library about the new devices that are out for Christmas. They had some great insight that might help you make a decision about your purchases for gifts or for yourself.

To start, some interesting statistics.  More people currently own an Amazon Kindle but the numbers are declining. Next most popular in ownership are the Apple Ipad Tablet and the Amazon Kindle Fire and their numbers are still growing. Numbers for the Microsoft Surface are also gaining.  Coming in at last place are the Nook e-reader and Nook  tablet and their numbers are still declining. 

If you are still confused about the differences between tablets, smart phones, and e-book readers, here are a few things to note:

Tablets:  These are the most expensive of the devices and also the most robust being able to do e-mail, word, e-books, and audio.  They can be a replacement for an actual computer.

Smart Phones:  These can do e-books and audio with equal ease. They can also access the Internet. Their compact size makes it easy to carry them anywhere and have available all the time but their screens are also smaller and harder to read.  They can also be plugged into your car so you can listen to audio while driving.

E-book readers: These are used primarily to read books and are the least expensive. You can load audio on some of them, but they do not come with instructions to do so and you have to figure it out on your own.  Audio downloads have to be done to the computer and then transferred to the device.

When deciding which to purchase you have to decide "which one is right for me?"
What will I use it for?  e-books, audio, Internet?  Videos? What type of keyboard do I prefer using? What is the price? What is easier for me to use?  Also good to note are the screen size, storage capacity, and blue tooth connectivity.

Next installment we'll look into operating systems and what they can do and then we'll take a look at some of the new devices such as the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo Arc, the Ipad mini, and the Nook Glowlight.

Susan

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