iPad weight it’s a different kind of weight.
There’s a common trend to differ the iPad’s weight issue by calling out heavy books as an example. “You act like you havent ever held a 800 page hardback.” And it’s true, some books are really heavy you wouldn’t open them without clearing the entire desk first.
And that’s my point exactly.
When you look at a two pound book, which is huge in size, you know what you’re getting yourself into. You know it’s either going to be set down on a table, or your lap. You don’t for a second expect to hold it in one hand. And that’s fine, because all you’re doing, is reading. Every five minutes or so, there’s a momentary page turn, but otherwise the weight is not really an issue.
The iPad on the other hand is deceptively heavy. You expect you’d be able to hold a tablet in one hand while interacting with the other. You see it in the ads, and even your mind makes assumptions based on its size. That’s the first thing that goes through your mind when you hold one “huh, it’s heavier than I thought”.
The difference lies in how you hold an iPad. You can never hold it using the palm of your hand, because of how thin it is. It’s always ‘resting’ between your fingertips, putting pressure on your wrist and forearms, not your shoulder. You also hold the iPad on one side, which means the opposite force is much stronger than if you’d have held it in the middle — as you would with a book. This is why it’s possible to hold an iPad for longer if you put your entire palm flat against its back, though even then it’s not a comfortable curve as when you hold a book. There are other qualities of a book that make it lighter. A book is much softer, and bends along your hands, offers more grip, unlike the brick with an Apple logo.
Again, I don’t mean to say a book is better than an iPad. You can’t read a book in lowlight, nor can you carry along your entire collection on a trip, or change its font-size, or run a dictionary search at the touch of a finger. The iPad wins on all counts, and if you’re a heavy book reader who hasn’t discovered the iPad, you need to. All I’m saying is that the iPad’s weight is an issue, and you can’t just compare it to heavy books.
