iPad is not an e-reader

Apple's iPad will go on sale in early April, very soon. The comments about iPad is mixed. One thing I definitely think about iPad is that iPad is NOT an e-reader as Amazon's Kindle, Sony ereader, or Barnes Noble's Nook. It may be an e-reader in the future, but not right now. I would consider iPad as a mixture of TabletPC and Netbook (for iPad with wifi functionality).

The reason I think iPad is not e-reader is mainly iPad does not use e-ink or other alternative technology to make reading experience much like reading physical books.

iPad uses LCD technology. I agree that LCD is better than e-ink in that 1) it is colored, not just black and white, so we can view nice pictures, play games, etc. 2) it has multi-touch screen. I hear that in the near future e-ink could not support neither color nor touch screen.

But an e-reader should have two basic features as a reading gadget. One is to make eye more comfortable and reading experience is like that of reading a physical book. iPad uses LCD, much better than CRT. But as an avid reader, I still feel my eye is tired after reading pdf on LCD for an hour. I have no such feeling after reading a physical book for an hour.

The other is that readers can use ereader to read it outdoors, such as during a picnic in a park, or when relaxing at a sunny beach. Do you have the similar experience with your smart phone that, in the sunshine, it is very hard to find who is calling you, what is written in a friend's email, or take a look at the picture you just shot? E-reader should let you read anywhere and anytime.