I have had an iPad for a while now. It’s an iPad 2. That worked ok as an e-reader, but now I finally got my hands on an iPad mini.
The obvious difference between the bigger iPad and the mini version is the size and weight. The iPad 2 didn’t feel heavy at all until I started to play with this smaller one. There’s a really big difference. The reading experience is so much better and you can read for a longer time.
I can imagine that the smaller screen might be a problem for some people, but it’s easy enough to change the font size in your preferred app. I mostly read in iBooks (bought and free ebooks) and BlueFire (library books).
The variety of file formats is a great asset. You can read html, txt, pdf, mobi (with the kindle app), and of course epub, which is really important. I also have a Kindle which has e-ink and has a brilliant screen, but doesn’t use epub.
Battery time isn’t all that good compared to dedicated e-readers. I have to charge mine every day, but of course I use it for much more than just reading. And the fact that you can use it for other things like email, texting, chat, surfing, blogging etc makes it a very useful tool.
Summary:
+ size and weight
+ many formats especially epub
+ other functions except ebook reading
– battery time/+ excellent battery time for a backlit device though