Update 6/10/2013: Scroll to bottom for view and specs of new ZTE 5-inch smartphone.
eReading is done on every kind of computing device, and smartphones are no exception. A person wishing to read can can do it on virtually any mobile device—smartphone, tablet or laptop. The table below summarizes which devices were used for eReading as of the end of June, 2012.
A few notes of explanation. First, the research was done by the marketing research firm, Bowker Market Research.
Secondly, the sales of Kindles and Nooks include their E-Ink readers and their branded LCD tablets. So the Fire, Fire HD and Barnes and Noble’s tablets are included in these figures.
Third, the “Other Devices” includes the lesser brands of electronic eReaders such as Kobo, and the many variations of Android tablets.
Two broad conclusions from these data stand out to me: Amazon has more than held its own since the introduction of the iPad-- it has actually increased it market share. Also, the iPad has done well, gaining 3 percent since 2010. The losers are all the smaller branded devices and Barnes and Noble. The Nook is not holding its own, and the other smaller players are not prospering.
But the main interest I have today is how much eReading is done on smartphone devices. If I combine the iPhone and Smartphone shares, it shows that smartphones have a respectable 6% of all eReading. This is equal to the share held last year by desktops and laptops, and beats all other methods of eReading after the three largest players are accounted for.
I would like to see a further breakdown of “Others” where tablets other than the iPad were shown, but that data is not available now. But it looks to me as if the eReading market is heading for a three or four-player field: Amazon (tablets and E-Ink eReaders), Apple (iPad and iPhone) and Android smartphones and tablets. Windows 8 devices will begin showing up someday, but they did not show up in the survey taken last June.
In the last article I did in this series I covered tablets as alternative eReading devices, and I barely mentioned smartphones. Click here for the article on Tablets
This article completes the last one by focusing exclusively on smartphones. How good is a smartphone for eReading, and what are the options? These are the questions I cover in the balance of this piece.
Thus far, smartphones have garnered a relatively small share of the eReading experience. Most likely the small share is because of the small screens available. The first generation smartphones had screen of three to four inches, and this is simply too small to make for a good reading experience. I can see using one if nothing else is available, say in the dentist office waiting for your turn to experience pain, or other times when you have nothing better to do.
However, if smartphones had larger screen they could improve their eReading penetration significantly, and that seems to be happening now. As you will see below, there is one smartphone with a screen size greater than five inches, and another that is close with a 4.7-inch screen. The smallest screen is on the iPhone 4.
First on the list of the large screen smartphones is the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 2
, shown on the right. The is the largest cell phone I know of now, and it is a smartphone, too. To gain perspective, recall that the E-Ink screen eReaders have a six inch screen and the most popular eReading tablets are seven inches. The iPad Mini has a screen of 7.5 inches.
This puts the Galaxy Note 2 close to normal eReading size. And with the excellent screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, eReading on this screen would be a pleasure, especially given that it uses Super HD AMOLED technology for screen brightness and color definition.
Current pricing on the Galaxy Note 2 is $199 with a two year contract from Best Buy or $799 free of contract. Keep in mind that the Note 2 also comes with a stylus that allows you to take notes and draw on the screen, so it can do many things besides eReading and phone calls.
Whether it will prove popular for eReading is not known. It will depend, to some degree, whether or not the 5.5 inch screen dimension is seen as too large for phone use.
Next on the list is the Samsung Galaxy S4, shown below left. This is the Sprint S4 and is also sold with a contract for voice and data services. The S4 has a five inch screen and features an ultrahigh, retina display density of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It features a quad-core processor, so it should be able to handle several chores at the same time.
The Best Buy price on the S4 is $199 with contract and $749 without. It also sports a Super AMOLED HD touch screen. It is available in 4G connect speed through LTE and is capable of serving as a WiFi hotspot.
The S4 runs under Android 4.2.2.
The iPhone 5 is next on the list of good eReading smartphones. Although the screen on the iPhone 5 is relatively small at 4 inches, it has a retina display of 1136 x 640. This means the text on an eBook would be clear and crisp.
There is a native eReader app for the iPhone, iBooks, that is free from the iTunes store. Kindle, Nook, Sony and Kobo eReader apps are also available free for the iPhones.
A screen shot of the iPhone 4 is shown below.
The resolution of the iPhone 4 is 960 x 640 while the ZTE is 800 x 640. But even with the lower resolution, I prefer the ZTE display for reading. It requires fewer page turns. Either screen, however is readable. The slight fading on the left side of the iPhone is not the iPhone's fault, however. It is attributable to the poor light distribution on my desk where the photo was taken.
There are two other smartphones shown below. On the left is the HTC Windows 8 device. And on the right and below are two photos of the HTC Android smartphone.
The HTC Android phone has an excellent 4.7 inch screen with a retina display of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It also features a quad-core processor and a screen brilliance as good as any I have seen. The horizontal picture below shows how brilliant a photo taken with its 13 megapixel camera looks. The vertical picture below the horizontal image is of the home screen.
All of the popular eReading apps are available for this phone, including Windows 8 apps for Kindle, Nook and Kobo, and Windows 7 apps for even more brands. They all work well on the HTC Android smartphone.
Windows phones are gradually increasing their presence in the smartphone market. But, they still have a long way to go to claim a significant share of the smartphone market.
Windows 8 HTC Adroid 4.1
The HTC Windows 8x phone is shown above right. The screen is 4.3 inches and the resolution is 1920 x 1080. This is quite good, and the reports on it are complimentary. Kindle, Nook and Kobo apps are available for it, and texts will look better than on the iPhone 4 shown above.
Pricing for the Windows 8X is $99 with AT&T contract and $449 regular price. Neither AT&T nor Verizon lists a no-contract price.
Down the road an eight inch smartphone from Samsung is coming. It has not been priced as of yet. It goes without saying that it would make a fabulous eReader, but at eight inches I am not so sure I would want one for a cell phone.
Regardless of your choice, there are many good options for reading electronic books on your smartphone.
UPdate: Sprint has added the new ZTE Vital to its lineup of smartphones, and with its enlarged
5-inch screen it would make an excellent eReader with apps available for Kindle, Nook and just about every other independent reader app available.
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