• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Suggestions for e-book readers

I have been trying out LR's suggestion (using my Wing) for a day now. I actually find the display much easier on the eyes than I thought and the size not nearly as much of a hinderance as I initially feared.

Seeing as I was able to get esentially what I wanted (portable access to ebooks) with no additional investment (I already owned the PDA/phone) This seems like the best current solution until the advancement in the ebook readers brings far superior quality and/or much reduced price than right now.

Also the backlight is something of an advantage for me since I like to read at restaurants and while waiting for movies (both in often dim lighting). The main drawback is that the Wing is something of a power hog and I will need to charge it at least daily. If it looks like my increased use of it as an ebook reader increases its power needs and it can no longer last a full day, then I will need to reconsider investing in a dedicated reader.
 
Hellbound said:
Screw e-book readers. I went looking for one, and didn,'t much care for any of them.

Howeve,r what I did find (and I'm very happy with) is a Palm T/X. It runs about $280 from Wal-Mart. You can download the free Mobipocket software which handles several o fthe common e-book formats. The screen can rotate, so you can read vertically or horizontally, and it's small enough to carry in a pocket. It has 128MB of internal memory, but also takes standard SD cards up to 2GB. I have about 20 full novels on mine in the internal memory alone, and still have some space to play with.
Click to expand...

I've also been using a Palm TX for the last couple of years and I am also very happy with it. I use a free reader program called PalmFiction. The UI is very configurable, once you've worked out how to use it.

There's also a native PDF reader available.

BTW: The TX can take SD cards up to 4GB. (the biggest possible SD) You can also buy a driver for it for SDHC cards that are available up to IIRC 32 GB.
 
atarian said:
I've also been using a Palm TX for the last couple of years and I am also very happy with it. I use a free reader program called PalmFiction. The UI is very configurable, once you've worked out how to use it.
Click to expand...

I bought a TX when they first came on the market and have read hundreds of books on it since then. The display is bright and clear. I have poor eyesight (legally blind when uncorrected) and have less problem with eyestrain on the Palm than I do when spending long periods staring at a monitor or while reading a paperback.

But Palm just announced that production of the the TX has ceased and I am very sad.:(
 
atarian said:
I've also been using a Palm TX for the last couple of years and I am also very happy with it. I use a free reader program called PalmFiction. The UI is very configurable, once you've worked out how to use it.

There's also a native PDF reader available.

BTW: The TX can take SD cards up to 4GB. (the biggest possible SD) You can also buy a driver for it for SDHC cards that are available up to IIRC 32 GB.
Click to expand...

Nifty :)

I'm still relatively new to mine (only had it a couple months), so that's good to know. I'll have to look for that driver :)
 
I know that technology progress makes things obsolete pretty quick, but I think that regarding screens things will be moving a little faster. Folding OLED screens would revolutionize e-book readers (most probably will make them obsolete because every cellphone will have a great screen).
 
Blue Bubble said:
I'm really looking forward to the Plastic Logic Reader here.

And for Soapy Sam, it looks like it's pretty hardy enough to hurl at the wall :D
Click to expand...



According to their latest news release, they're partnering with Fictionwise, which is the parent company of EBookwise, where I got my eBook reader from. That probably means this one will read all the eBooks I already have! Depending on the price, I think I know which one I'll upgrade to, when I decide to do that!

Cool!
 
If anyone thinks they could get used reading books on their mobile phone, then I would recommend a java based program called ReadManiac. The experience is not as underwhelming as I thought it would be. You can change the font size which is good for those with poor vision or those concerned that reading a lot of small text will ruin their eyes. Works well on my Motorola maxx v6, though I created a "midlet" for each book, as I could not find the .txt files on my memory card using the standalone program.
 
El Greco said:
Folding OLED screens would revolutionize e-book readers (most probably will make them obsolete because every cellphone will have a great screen).
Click to expand...
Wow. You could have a whole lot of folding screens, kind of bound together so we could have lots of different data visible at once. We could put like a cardboard cover on to protect it from damage.
We could call it...
Wait a minute...
 
I will not buy an ebook reader if i cannot manipulate the text in some way.

I cannot edit with acrobat reader and I need to use Acrobat Pro to manipulate the text in pdf files.

When I read pdf file I like to highlight in yellow the paragraph that I find important. Does any of these ebook reader permit to highlight or bold the text you are reading and save the new version ?

nimzo
 
I like my kindle, and the fact that I can also read the Kindle books on my iPhone is a bonus. But it isn't for everyone. If you aren't already a fan of Amazon, you might want to look elsewhere.
 
cwalner said:
I have been trying out LR's suggestion (using my Wing) for a day now. I actually find the display much easier on the eyes than I thought and the size not nearly as much of a hinderance as I initially feared.

Seeing as I was able to get esentially what I wanted (portable access to ebooks) with no additional investment (I already owned the PDA/phone) This seems like the best current solution until the advancement in the ebook readers brings far superior quality and/or much reduced price than right now.

Also the backlight is something of an advantage for me since I like to read at restaurants and while waiting for movies (both in often dim lighting). The main drawback is that the Wing is something of a power hog and I will need to charge it at least daily. If it looks like my increased use of it as an ebook reader increases its power needs and it can no longer last a full day, then I will need to reconsider investing in a dedicated reader.
Click to expand...
You might want to adjust the background color to other than white. Or try white text/black background. I have to recharge dayly but since I spend most of the day in front of a computer, I have the phone connected and charging with the USB cable.
 
nimzov said:
I will not buy an ebook reader if i cannot manipulate the text in some way.

I cannot edit with acrobat reader and I need to use Acrobat Pro to manipulate the text in pdf files.

When I read pdf file I like to highlight in yellow the paragraph that I find important. Does any of these ebook reader permit to highlight or bold the text you are reading and save the new version ?

nimzo
Click to expand...

Mobipocket, for the Palm T|X, supports highlighting and annotations in your ebooks.
 
I read ebooks on my psp.

If you don't want to go that route, I would go for an HP TC1100. It's pretty dated, so you could most likely pick one up for under the price of a Kindle. It isn't epaper, which may or may not be a drawback for you, but it is a fully functional tablet PC.
 
I've just bought a Hanlin eReader V3 from Pixelar (it's available from many companies under different names). I'm delighted.

The screen is small but really sharp: 167 ppi. It's very pleasant to read. Since the battery is only used when a page is turned, I just leave the eReader turned on all the time. I can pick it up and go on reading where I left off, without waiting for a system to boot and then opening a document. I've had it a week and the battery still shows full charge (it's meant to do about 8000 page turns on one battery charge).

For the moment I'm filling it with stuff from Gutenberg.org: there's enough there to keep me going for a while!
 
The text-to-voice feature on the Kindle is turning out to be a very useful feature for me. I've even had a number of scientific papers read to me and it seems to handle technical terms mostly without any difficulty.

Linda
 
macdoc said:
Nice shape - how is font control?
Click to expand...

You can add any font you like to the eReader by putting the .ttf file in the Fonts folder. For viewing, there are three zoom levels: that's two more than a normal book! In practice, the three zoom levels have been fine for all the formats where text can flow (I've tried txt, html, mobi and epub).

The only problems I've had with font size have been with PDFs. A full page PDF (A4 or Letter size) is reduced to show at the size of the six-inch screen for the first zoom level. The second zoom level still shows all the text on the page, but without the margins. At the third level the page is turned on its side, so that the width of the text takes up the height of the screen. If the PDF is made with a small font size (which may well be the case with a PDF made for printing), even the third zoom setting is hard to read.

I can't see any better way to display a PDF on this screen, though: if you could zoom in so that the whole width of the text is not visible at once, you'd need to be constantly changing views in order to read through a paragraph, which would be very annoying and time-consuming, since the machine always needs a couple of seconds to change from one view to another. For viewing PDFs comfortably, you'd need a larger screen: the iLiad or maybe the Plastic Logic when it becomes available.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom