In the last few weeks I have been asked several times which is better, the Kindle or the iPad.  My response is that it depends on what you want to use it for as well as where you are planning on using it (inside or outside).  The Kindle and iPad have different screens, the Kindle looks like paper, the iPad is glossy as you can see here:

The Kindle is a great book reading tablet, it works best in well lit environments since it has no back light of any kind.  I tell people that you read a Kindle under the same conditions that you would read a regular paper book.  You need light to read a Kindle but when well lit it is very easy on the eyes as you can see here:

The battery life is great, lasting two or more weeks before needing a charge.  Using it for any more than reading is not worth it, I would not want to use it for surfing the web or sending/reading email since the keyboard is not very usable.  The long battery life and easy on the eyes reading surface makes it great for books.

I place the iPad in the category of a “content consumption” device.  It works great for watching videos, Neflix and Twit are two favorites of mine.  Surfing the web and reading emails is comfortable, responding to emails isn’t too difficult as long as your response doesn’t need to be too long.  There are a lot of apps available on iTunes that let you do just about anything with your iPad.  I use Flipboard to keep up to date in all of the things I am interested in.  The battery life is about ten hours unless you are watching a video then you can expect about two and a half hours or so.  I use my iPad to deliver news and streaming video for about two hours a day and find I need to charge it once a week.  The iPad does have some limitations though.  The screen on the iPad is glossy and doesn’t display very well outdoors as you can see here:

I also find myself reaching for the Kindle for almost all of my reading.  The back lit glossy screen seems to stress my eyes after a while where the Kindle is very easy on my eyes as long as I have good light to read in.  The glossy screen makes it hard to read outside.

There are some screen covers that are supposed to help cut down the glare but I find they don’t help very much.

Choosing between the iPad and the Kindle requires making a decision on what you want to use it for as well as where you are planning on using it.  I have both a first generation Kindle and a first generation iPad.  I use them both almost every day to do different things.  The Kindle for reading books and the iPad for movies and web content.  Make sure you know what and where you want to use them and should be able to make a good choice.