I've been reading on Palm and Psion devices for about ten years now, but my latest device -- a Palm Tungsten|T3 -- seems to be on its last legs and I've been thinking about a possible replacement. I was hoping to get some ideas from the forum because the big name readers from Sony and Amazon don't seem to fit my use pattern.

I find that although I read lots of CBRs and web content on my laptop and desktop, I never read full length books on either them. I read novels on the Palm instead, usually to fill in little spaces of time.

The vast majority of books I read are text or HTML from Project Gutenberg, Black Mask, Baen etc. so being able to see the occasional illustration is nice, but I don't need or want full PDF-style page layout. As far as formats go, I have bought many books from Baen, but I have never paid for any content that is locked to a proprietary or DRM'ed format and likely never will.

The following is a list of the features I care about, roughly in descending order of importance:


Must have (deal breaker if missing):


loads my own content
pocketable --if I don't carry it with me, I won't have it to read from
one-handed operation -- I read lots while standing on the bus or while eating etc.
instant startup and shutdown -- no time to wait for boot and look for books if I want to read for a few secoonds while standing in line
remember where you left off each book -- I read a few books at a time depending on mood


Nice to have (things I need to make reading convenient and/or enjoyable):


useable with either hand
layout (see below)
easy search and navigation (eg jump to top/bottom/chapter/page)
understands native HTML and text -- even better if RTF, PDF, chm etc included) -- but I'll settle for easy conversion
can change orientation (assuming non-square screen)
speedy page flipping
editing -- to fix up typos in the sources
backlight and colour
wide enough to read CBRs without panning
converged device (eg PDA, phone, mp3, general computing etc)
web spidering


Regarding layout:

it would be best if I could load my own fonts (at least fixed vs proportional, nice if serif vs sans) and choose what size to view my books in
need fixed width font and no justification/line breaks (eg understand <pre> tag) for programming texts etc.
can render tables
being able to choose justification, line spacing, paragraph spacing, indentation and so on would be nice



Explicitly don't care:

- dictionary
- e-ink
- on-line stores
- wireless capability
- annotation, bookmarks or highlighting
- publishing meta-data


From what I can tell, the Sony isn't for me because you essentially "compile" a book into a PDF-like fixed format. I usually switch the font larger if I'm on the bus and switch it back when I can sit down.

The Kindle has multiple sizes of font, but you can't change the typeface. It also seems too big to me.

Right now, my Palm falls down on fonts and tables and the screen isn't quite wide enough. I'm willing to consider any device that does what I want; it doesn't need to be specifically an ebook reader.

Thanks in advance!

The eBookwise 1150 meets all of your requirements and most of your desires. Whether it fits in your pocket depend on the size of your pocket. It is the smallest of the dedicated readers I believe. PDA's are smaller and also meet your requirements but they are more difficult to read on.

Dale

Right now, my Palm falls down on fonts and tables and the screen isn't quite wide enough. What reader software do you use?

From what I can tell, the Sony isn't for me because you essentially "compile" a book into a PDF-like fixed format. I usually switch the font larger if I'm on the bus and switch it back when I can sit down.


No you dont compile the book into a fixed font size format. You compile the book into a reflowable format. SONY's reader software supports increasing the font size to two levels (+2.5 pts each). The Kindle to six levels.

why not a smart phone?

What reader software do you use?

Plucker and Mobipocket mostly. I might have some leftover DOC and PeanutPress/eReader files lying around.

why not a smart phone?

Because Palm keeps disappointing me with the phones they release. I'm waiting for a GSM version of the Palm Centro to make it to Canada... But that would have a slightly small screen for reading and it would still have issues with fonts.

Plucker with Alex Pruss' font generation is mostly a good solution, but I find that Plucker isn't focused enough on longer length texts.

I considered a RIM Blackberry Curve running Mobipocket, but the phone plan you have to get with one of those is pretty expensive.

Any smartphone in particular that you recommend?

No you dont compile the book into a fixed font size format. You compile the book into a reflowable format. SONY's reader software supports increasing the font size to two levels (+2.5 pts each). The Kindle to six levels.

Oh, I didn't realize that. I read posts about people making versions of books that fit the Sony's screen size so I thought that meant it wasn't reflowable. It still sounds like you don't have much freedom to change around the fonts?

The Sony's hardware looks pretty sweet to me...

You can embed whatever unicode enabled fonts you like, set the base size to whatever size you want, etc. If you want to read primarily non DRM content, the SONY reader is the reader for you. It has the best, cross platform content conversion tools of any reader.

Oh, I didn't realize that. I read posts about people making versions of books that fit the Sony's screen size so I thought that meant it wasn't reflowable.

They were probably referring to making Sony friendly PDF's as opposed to LRF's, both of which the Sony can display.

The eBookwise 1150 meets all of your requirements and most of your desires. Whether it fits in your pocket depend on the size of your pocket. It is the smallest of the dedicated readers I believe. PDA's are smaller and also meet your requirements but they are more difficult to read on.

Dale

I look at the EB1150 every once in a while (I used to know some of the guys that worked on the hardware for it) and its nice to see that you can now load your own content onto it, but don't you need to buy their proprietary software to do it? I also find the screen resolution is a bit low. Its 320x240 on a 5" screen right? I have 320x480 on a 4" screen right now.

Because Palm keeps disappointing me with the phones they release. I'm waiting for a GSM version of the Palm Centro to make it to Canada... But that would have a slightly small screen for reading and it would still have issues with fonts.

Plucker with Alex Pruss' font generation is mostly a good solution, but I find that Plucker isn't focused enough on longer length texts.

I considered a RIM Blackberry Curve running Mobipocket, but the phone plan you have to get with one of those is pretty expensive.

Any smartphone in particular that you recommend?
theres microsoft based smart phones too. youre not locked into palm software. unfortunately im not up on the phones themselves, so i cant really make any kind of educated recommendation. id like to get one some time, but i dont yet NEED one ...

I look at the EB1150 every once in a while (I used to know some of the guys that worked on the hardware for it) and its nice to see that you can now load your own content onto it, but don't you need to buy their proprietary software to do it? I also find the screen resolution is a bit low. Its 320x240 on a 5" screen right? I have 320x480 on a 4" screen right now.

It is 320x480 which is ok with the fonts they supply. The software is a free download from the ETI site or you can convert using their online bookshelf for free. the screen size is 5.5"

Dale

I've had a bunch of ereaders. At present I have a Sony Reader and a Nokia n800. I got a Kindle, but hated it and sent it back (should have sold it on eBay). I am finding, rather unexpectedly, that the Nokia is easier to deal with than the Sony. Its positive points: 1. it's backlit, 2. its screen has very high resolution, 3. it's smaller (but not lighter) than the Sony -- which means the print is smaller and it's easier to hold in one hand, 4. it's very easy using Book Designer to create fb2 files for it, 5. it's easier to organize material than the Sony, as you can make your own folders from your PC, 6. it's a lot faster than the Sony at everything (especially turning pages), 7. it has color, which is nice for illustrations. It has Russian built in, but you can't add your own fonts as you can on the Sony. But it's smaller, easier to hold, and you can read it at night. On the other hand, the Sony has larger print for the same material on the screen and may be easier on the eyes. It's all pretty subjective, but I'd suggest you not confine yourself to epaper. A very high res backlit display like the Nokia seems to be as readable as epaper. Note that the successor to the N800 (I forget the model number) is smaller, though the screen is just about as big and is supposed to be readable in sunlight. The n800 does lots of other things -- has a browser, mail, etc. But compared to the iPhone, those features are pretty useless. I only use mine only to read ebooks. One other note: you can buy DRM'ed ebooks, decrypt them with ConvertLit GUI, and then make a FB file for the Nokia with Book Designer. You can also use Book Designer or Kovid's wonderful program libprs500 to make Sony Reader lrf files. This is perfectly legal, I believe, as long as you don't distribute the files.

The N800/N810 is a good choice. Note that it runs FBReader, which also reads Plucker and DRM-free MobiPocket e-books. So most of your existing files will work as is.

You can try out FBReader on any Desktop computer. There is also a two part screenshot tutorial made on a Nokia 770 (essentially identical to N800 for e-books): Part I (http://www.fbreader.org/maemo/screenshots/screenshots.php) and Part II (http://www.fbreader.org/maemo/screenshots/screenshots2.php). Click on any of the images to get a full sized version (which will be bigger on your screen than on the Nokia). FBReader is highly customizable, but this has the downside that you will probably have to customize it because the defaults are often not what you want.

From your list, FBReader does not handle tables and you can't edit e-books within FBReader. The Nokia's come with about 10 fonts. I have never added any new ones, but apparently all you need to do (as usual with Linux) is copy a .ttf font file to ~/.fonts.

You can embed whatever unicode enabled fonts you like, set the base size to whatever size you want, etc. If you want to read primarily non DRM content, the SONY reader is the reader for you. It has the best, cross platform content conversion tools of any reader.

But embedding fonts HORRIBLY slows down page turning.

The only eInk reader which allows you to load whatever fonts you wish is the CyBook Gen3.

But embedding fonts HORRIBLY slows down page turning.

The only eInk reader which allows you to load whatever fonts you wish is the CyBook Gen3.

That's too bad about the slow page turns :( I've had a look at the libprs500 tools and am impressed... from a quick scan it looks like nice clean code!

I like the Cybook too since its the same size and even a bit lighter, but the page turn button is on the wrong side for me since I hold books with my left hand. I guess maybe I could read in landscape mode, but I'm skeptical about the weight distribution.

Looks like I'll limp along with my Palm until the next generation of Sony reader comes out (hopefully with a faster CPU too; I'd trade speed over battery life any day since slow graphics/resizing/rendering causes enough frustration to make reading unpleasant)

I'm left-handed, radius, but read right-handed with my Cybook, holding it one-handed. It's very comfortable to use that way.

Looks like I'll limp along with my Palm until the next generation of Sony reader comes out (hopefully with a faster CPU too; I'd trade speed over battery life any day since slow graphics/resizing/rendering causes enough frustration to make reading unpleasant)I read ebooks on a Palm OS device, and don't consider it limping.

In my case, it's a Tapwave Zodiac 2, which is an OS 5.27 device with 320x480 screen and two SD slots.

My primary viewer is Plucker, and I have about 3,200 Plucker volumes occupying 1.5GB on a 2GB card. I also have a fair bit in MobiPocket (Thanks for the wonderful Omnibus editions, HarryT!), plus scattered content in eReader, PDF, Palm DOC, zTXT, ACII text, RTF, and Word format. It does require maintianing five viewer applications, but I can read pretty much anything on the device.

I use the Zodiac because I want to do other things besides read ebooks on it. The Zodiac is also my PDA, MP3 player, Video viewer, games device, and pocket reference to everything.

I don't see myself moving to an eInk device. I need color, which eInk does not currently support, and available eInk devices that do other things besides read ebooks like the iRex Iliad are at price points I can't justify.

Next stop for me is likely to be a Nokia N800 if I move at all.
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Dennis

With my 505, I've found I can read one handed using my right or left hand. But, if I was on a bus, I would not read with my left hand as it's not as stable. With my right hand, I hold the cover and the reader and have my thumb over the page turn buttons on the right side of the 505. It's quite easy to hold. And the fast that the cover sticks out to the right actually is a benefit to holding it.

I know it is an OLD device but by total luck found a deal on a Sony Clie nx73v.

1. The display is HiRes+ (320x480) and about 4".
2. It has a jog dial on the left side (holding it in portrait orientation) so one handed operation is GREAT. I especially like the one handed page turns when reading in bed at night or while eating lunch, dinner, enjoying some coffee.
3. You can add Wifi with a hack'd driver and a Prism 2.5 based CF NIC. When in Wifi range I use this now to access sites like http://FeedBooks.mobi (all free stuff and well done too!) where I can d/l books directly to the PDA. Same goes for other ebook stores that have mobile friendly access.

4. You can use Memory Stick cards up to 2gb in size.
5. It has all the PDA features I might need and now cannot live w/o.
6. Supports pretty much all the current reader software written for up to Palm OS 5.0
7. It does have built-in voice recording so if that is handy for you it's a nice bonus.
8. Built-in video/still camera though it's just VGA.
9. Instant start-up.
10. Opens last app used when powered on. If it is your reader software then as long as your reader remembers where you left off, it will open the book there. I run Plucker, eReader & Mobipocket and tend to like Mobipocket the best but really have not given eReader a chance.
11. It has a nice fast ARM 200mhz processor. Plenty of speed for movies or reading eBooks. Page turns are instantaneous, even from books on the memory stick.

Drawbacks:

1. It's abandonware...the Clie line is no longer made/supported by Sony.
2. It has some significant compatibility issues in the multi-media area but I can play DIVX movies using TCPMP from a memory stick just fine.
3. It can still be kinda spendy @ $100-$150+ used on eBay.
4. For the most part unless the application supports screen rotation a 3rd party util is needed. And it is annoyingly expensive at about $20.
5. battery changes are a chore but not that bad.
6. Impossible to get a JAVA runtime for it so Opera Mini is out and Netfront Browser is, eh, not so much...holding out hope for Universe web browser which even the buggy beta is amazingly like a desktop browser.

You can also look into the nx80v which has wifi built in and a better built-in camera (both of which are really not too important really.) And I believe the battery is more user replaceable friendly. But it typically still goes for over $200 on eBay...I know, kinda weird.

I can say I have come to really LIKE the wireless ability. And now use it for far more then just book reading. I use it as a remote control of sorts. It has a simple built-in for TV, Stereo & other devices. But I also use PalmVNC to connect to my home media center PC I built. I now can spend 10-minutes (not really but some days...????!!!!!) to setup a new video that if I was not to lazy to walk across the room would take 10-sec...but it's the FUN of it all. :) But seriously I was looking for a first ebook device and almost ready to pop for the Kindle when it came out then I found this baby at a steal. I am completely thrilled with it as a reader foremost and then all the other things I use it for as there are some GREAT freeware apps out there for it.

I am reluctant to pull the trigger on a dedicated reader even though, much to my surprise, I am in an EVDO RevA area and actually now have the service for my laptop through Millenicom w/o a long term contract. Things that stop me though are numerous. But, mostly I find the cost of most readers unacceptable for such a limited device. I like the Cybook Gen3 and the Kindle the most. But, lust for an Iliad with a usb port so I can connect my EVDO modem to it and have access.

Sorry for sorta rambling but that has been my process and thoughts since I began with the antique Clie from 2004(3??).

If I was in the market I would look at the Nokia N800/N810 though their OS2008 seems to still be evolving. And also like the potential of the new HP iPaq 110/220 series PDA's. I really like the Nokia though...and the N800 can be had for under $200, new if you find the right auction or online source. But I have no clue about the one handed operation of any of those three series of devices.

I read ebooks on a Palm OS device, and don't consider it limping.

My opinion is basically like yours. I have reading on my Palms (a Pilot5000, Pro, V, Sony Clie, Tungsten T3) since the original release of DOC and then migrated to TealDoc, eReader, iSilo, Mobi and Plucker. Regardless of whether I pick up an ebook reader I will still need/keep a PDA of some sort. Its just that a) Palm font handling is not great, and b) my physical hardware is falling apart so I need a new device of some sort. If it weren't for Alex Pruss, I would have given up long ago.

I've been considering an HP iPaq 210 (nice 624MHz CPU, four inch VGA screen) but I still find it hard to accept Windows Mobile as a PDA OS.

If I was in the market I would look at the Nokia N800/N810 though their OS2008 seems to still be evolving. And also like the potential of the new HP iPaq 110/220 series PDA's. I really like the Nokia though...and the N800 can be had for under $200, new if you find the right auction or online source. But I have no clue about the one handed operation of any of those three series of devices.

I know what you mean; though in my case I would probably go for a TX over a Sony since its more recent and has better support. I'd trade the camera for faster CPU since that means its easier to watch videos without transcoding.

I haven't seen the new Nokias yet, but I've played with the 770 before, and I didn't like it all that much. I find that coming from Palm, they feel a bit sluggish in the UI and like you have to do more steps to get the same result. Also, they lack any PIM (contacts/datebook etc) out of the box.

For form factor and size is pretty good, but I didn't find reading on their screens any better than on a Palm. I think for me, the Palms' resolution is high enough (with anti-aliased fonts).

One thing I did like is the web browser on the Nokias seems far better than on Palms from what I've seen.

I haven't seen Fbreader on one though, and might change my mind if its really that great.

With my 505, I've found I can read one handed using my right or left hand. But, if I was on a bus, I would not read with my left hand as it's not as stable. With my right hand, I hold the cover and the reader and have my thumb over the page turn buttons on the right side of the 505. It's quite easy to hold. And the fast that the cover sticks out to the right actually is a benefit to holding it.

I tried carrying a DVD case with me to simulate reading (since its around the same size [got some strange stares on the bus though]) and I think using the buttons on the right side might be OK if the cover doesn't flop around, but reading with the left hand probably depends too much on the weight balance for me to know without actually holding one.

I have to say, the Sony is the device I would most like people to *see* me reading with. It looks soooo nice.

I know what you mean; though in my case I would probably go for a TX over a Sony since its more recent and has better support. I'd trade the camera for faster CPU since that means its easier to watch videos without transcoding.I got the Zodiac when my Tungsten E bit the dust. My specs for a new device were 320x480 screen, more RAM, and faster CPU. Anything else was gravy. The TX wasn't out yet. Correspondence on a Palm oriented site with another Zodiac owner convinced me it might be an applicable solution, so I bought one on eBay. I subsequently bought two more, when Tapwave's former authorized service center had a sale to clear out their warehouse: a unit originally prepped as in in-store demo unit, reflashed with a production ROM, and a unit that had been returned on an RMA as a spare parts device.

The Zodiac 2 has the large screen, a 200mhz processor, and 128MB of RAM. The big win from my perspective is two SD card slots. I have a 2GB card in each, but with a FAT32 driver transplanted from a LifeDrive, I can handle 4GB non-SDHC cards when I need more capacity. One slot is SDIO, and I have an SD Wifi card I can go online with, though I seldom do.

I haven't seen the new Nokias yet, but I've played with the 770 before, and I didn't like it all that much. I find that coming from Palm, they feel a bit sluggish in the UI and like you have to do more steps to get the same result. Also, they lack any PIM (contacts/datebook etc) out of the box.Lack of a good PIM solution was what kept me from going for the 770. If it couldn't replace my PDA, I couldn't justify it.

For form factor and size is pretty good, but I didn't find reading on their screens any better than on a Palm. I think for me, the Palms' resolution is high enough (with anti-aliased fonts).The Nokia does 800x600. On the Zodiac, I use FonthackV to remap fonts to custom versions to fairly good effect.

One thing I did like is the web browser on the Nokias seems far better than on Palms from what I've seen.Palm web browsers leave a lot to be desired. On the Zodiac, I have Tapwave Web (based on Palmsource V2), Novarra nWeb (which has an actual Zodiac version), Mobirus Xiino, Opera Mini, and a version of Access Netfront 3.1 ripped from a Clie. NetFront is about the best of the lot, but it requires a couple of third-party utilities to run properly. Novarra apparently no longers offers nWeb as a retail product: they were basically a B2B company licensing software to device manufactures anyway. Mobirus seems to have gone belly up: their domain is now in the hands of a clink harvester. The software is still in various repositories but can't be registered. Opera Mini is a Java applet, and requires IBM's JVM for Palm devices. The most recent JVM for PalmOS won't run on the Zodiac, so Opera Mini works, but not as well as on the TX or other currrent Palm device.

I wouldn't call any of them good, and Blazer offered on Palm devices is apparently no better.

The browser on the 770 is a version of Opera. The 800 and 810 have one based on Mozilla code. Both are considerable improvements over Palm offerings.

I haven't seen Fbreader on one though, and might change my mind if its really that great.I haven't either, but if it's any good on the Nokia tablet, it's a powerful incentive.
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Dennis

I have been reading on Symbian devices for a long time, initially with the SonyEricsson P900, now with the SE P1i, and I love it.

It's a solid phone, and a solid PDA in a form that is just a little bigger than your average candybar phone.

Install Mobipocket and you're set.

The p1i lets you dim the screen, so when you read at night, you won't strain your eyeballs.

Lack of a good PIM solution was what kept me from going for the 770. If it couldn't replace my PDA, I couldn't justify it.

I just ordered an N810 and it will probably replace my Palm T5 and will be used as laptop replacement on trips. So it will be interesting to see how much of the PIM functionality I can get. Now on my T5 I really just use the address book and the calender but not so much.

It takes at least an 8G card so it will be the same amount of memory or more compared to your Zodiac. Also the resolution is 800x480.

I have been reading on Symbian devices for a long time, initially with the SonyEricsson P900, now with the SE P1i, and I love it.

It's a solid phone, and a solid PDA in a form that is just a little bigger than your average candybar phone.

Install Mobipocket and you're set.

The p1i lets you dim the screen, so when you read at night, you won't strain your eyeballs.How large is the screen?

I have Mobi installed on a Palm OS 5 device with a 320x480 screen. I normally read in landscape mode, using a converted 10pt Cambria TrueType font. I get 15 lines per screen (or 17 if I collapse the Toolbar) at 10 - 12 words per line using standard single-line spacing.

That's a comfortable reading size for me.
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Dennis

How large is the screen?

I have Mobi installed on a Palm OS 5 device with a 320x480 screen. I normally read in landscape mode, using a converted 10pt Cambria TrueType font. I get 15 lines per screen (or 17 if I collapse the Toolbar) at 10 - 12 words per line using standard single-line spacing.

That's a comfortable reading size for me.
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Dennis 240x320, the physical 6,7cm diagonal sounds rather small, but I can comfortably read with 13-14 lines at about 6-8 words per line.
Then again, it's good that I scroll ahead a page about every 20 Seconds, because Mobipocket doesn't take over the Keylock and Screendimmer that activates after 30 Seconds :)

It's a small screen, definately nothing like the true Readers out there. But it'll keep up with any Palm, and since you're interested in converged devices, I suggest you take a look at a p1i in a store. I took a picture, and with the flash it really looks smudged, heh heh :)

240x320, the physical 6,7cm diagonal sounds rather small, but I can comfortably read with 13-14 lines at about 6-8 words per line.
Then again, it's good that I scroll ahead a page about every 20 Seconds, because Mobipocket doesn't take over the Keylock and Screendimmer that activates after 30 Seconds :)

It's a small screen, definitely nothing like the true Readers out there. But it'll keep up with any Palm, and since you're interested in converged devices, I suggest you take a look at a p1i in a store. I took a picture, and with the flash it really looks smudged, heh heh :)That's not bad, considering.

I'm not interested in a converged device. I don't care for the fundamental compromise in form factor. I simply want a larger screen than a cell phone will have, because a large enough screen makes the phone too large. I have no problem carrying a phone and a PDA. All I need the phone to do is place and receive calls, and be able to share the address book with the PDA.

I'm not interested in a dedicated reader because I don't want to carry phone, PDA, and reader. I want my ebook viewer to do other things as well, and my PDA is a good compromise.

Any example of Mobi on my device is this, part of the contents of the Complete Works of Plato created for Mobi by HarryT:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2256/2239342690_a8aca918bd_o.jpg
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Dennis

I just ordered an N810 and it will probably replace my Palm T5 and will be used as laptop replacement on trips. So it will be interesting to see how much of the PIM functionality I can get. Now on my T5 I really just use the address book and the calender but not so much.

It takes at least an 8G card so it will be the same amount of memory or more compared to your Zodiac. Also the resolution is 800x480.Yes, you're right about the resolution.

I'm looking at the N800. I don't need the keyboard. I do need the dual SD slots.

For PIMs, you may be interested in this: http://www.access-company.com/products/gvm/

Access bought Palmsource, the former OS division of Palm, Inc. They planned to make an OS for smartphones based on an embedded Linux kernel, using Palm OS Cobalt (the unreleased next generation of Palm OS) as the UI layer. What they wound up actually doing was implementing PalmOS Garnet as a Virtual Machine running on top of Linux.

They recently made a beta of the GVM that runs on the Nokia tablets available as a free download. Posts elsewhere indicates it works, with a few quirks. It includes "old style" PIM functionality included with Garnet, and can run a large number of extant Palm applications. The big issues thus far are screen size, uncertainty about hotsync, inability to run apps thatuse external libraries, and inability for apps running in the GVM to see expansion cards.

But if you just want PIM functions, it might be an appropriate solution.
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Dennis

Yes, you're right about the resolution.

I'm looking at the N800. I don't need the keyboard. I do need the dual SD slots.

For PIMs, you may be interested in this: http://www.access-company.com/products/gvm/


I think I will like the keyboard but what was more important was that the N810 was smaller than the N800 and also I like to have a GPS built in.

I will try the Garnet VM. If i can continue to use DateBK5 then this is definitely a plus.

I have a friend that uses his iphone for reading HTML. Not into phone reading myself so I don't know how good it is.

I use a Palm TX for "pocketabality" & a Sony PRS-500 otherwise. My ideal device would be all the advantages of the Palm (external size, color, other uses, instant on, back light), Sony (eInk, page size) & Cybook Gen3 (same as Sony but with better font selection & dictionary support).

I have a friend that uses his iphone for reading HTML. Not into phone reading myself so I don't know how good it is.

I use a Palm TX for "pocketabality" & a Sony PRS-500 otherwise. My ideal device would be all the advantages of the Palm (external size, color, other uses, instant on, back light), Sony (eInk, page size) & Cybook Gen3 (same as Sony but with better font selection & dictionary support).

If you find this machine, please let me know what it is!

:p

I have been reading on Symbian devices for a long time, initially with the SonyEricsson P900, now with the SE P1i, and I love it.

It's a solid phone, and a solid PDA in a form that is just a little bigger than your average candybar phone.

Install Mobipocket and you're set.

The p1i lets you dim the screen, so when you read at night, you won't strain your eyeballs.

I considered a Sony Ericsson M600i a while back and was quite impressed -- touchscreen, jog dial, alphanumeric keyboard, Mobipocket, editor for MS Word files built in to ROM -- but the weird icons and menu system drove me nuts :rolleyes: and it felt kind of slow. Its really too bad because the price was very attractive after the P1 came out and all it misses is the camera...

I will try the Garnet VM. If i can continue to use DateBK5 then this is definitely a plus.There are some fairly extensive discussions of it on Brighthand.com, with some hands-on experience from posters who have the tablet with the GVM installed.

Start here: http://forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?p=1604565
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Dennis

I considered a Sony Ericsson M600i a while back and was quite impressed -- touchscreen, jog dial, alphanumeric keyboard, Mobipocket, editor for MS Word files built in to ROM -- but the weird icons and menu system drove me nuts :rolleyes: and it felt kind of slow. Its really too bad because the price was very attractive after the P1 came out and all it misses is the camera... It takes a while to get used to, agreed. But any OS can be learned pretty quickly. So if the rest appealed to you, you shouldn't have let yourself be deterred because it does not feel like a regular cellphone menu system. 2 hours after purchase you would be charging it while syncing with your computer, and downloading all kinds of apps onto it.
Then you'd spend another day or two scratching your head and screwing everythign up, then you hard reset and you start over again, properly :)

For your need: pocketpc, or pocketpc phone edition.

A outstanding good screen and a bit bigger machine is the The HTC Advantage X7501, 5” who can read every format you want or need, and does a lot more things and being a eBook reader (it’s even a phone).
But… it’s not cheap.

For your need: pocketpc, or pocketpc phone edition.

A outstanding good screen and a bit bigger machine is the The HTC Advantage X7501, 5” who can read every format you want or need, and does a lot more things and being a eBook reader (it’s even a phone).
But… it’s not cheap.

Hi Delos, have you been to the moon yet? ;)

Well, as you might have guessed, the reason I am still using a Palm device is because Windows Mobile and Symbian don't appeal to me yet. I'm planning to pick up a GSM version of the Palm Centro when they become available in my country for use as a PDA and phone.

The hardware of some Windows Mobile machines is very nice, but I don't feel comfortable with the look and feel of the OS. The thing I do like about it is that its a fairly modern platform and easy to program for.

So between having an iPod Nano for music and some video, a Tungsten|T3 (and soon Centro) for PDA/PIM functions and video, and a MacBook for comics and the web, I might have room for a dedicated ebook reader, but a Windows Mobile device would seem to overlap too much with what I already have (ie: paying for what I don't need)

But embedding fonts HORRIBLY slows down page turning.

The only eInk reader which allows you to load whatever fonts you wish is the CyBook Gen3.

I've been thinking about this some more, and it seems to me that if I burn new font to replace the existing, factory fonts instead of embedding them into the document, I can get close to what I want except that resizing is still rather limited. Its a shame that Sony decided to limit their on-device formatting so much.

I guess for me personally, instead of deciding how I want things to look up front at document conversion time, I'd like to defer until reading time as much formatting as possible (eg: paragraph first line indentation, size of margins, justification, hyphenation, kerning, font face, font size, line spacing, paragraph spacing, widow/orphan control etc.) so that I can find something comfortable to match the text and my surroundings, and the hell with what publishers want a book to look like :p

I guess for me personally, instead of deciding how I want things to look up front at document conversion time, I'd like to defer until reading time as much formatting as possible (eg: paragraph first line indentation, size of margins, justification, hyphenation, kerning, font face, font size, line spacing, paragraph spacing, widow/orphan control etc.) so that I can find something comfortable to match the text and my surroundings, and the hell with what publishers want a book to look like :p

That's exactly the approach that MobiPocket Reader uses. Have relatively little "layout" information in the book and let the reader decide such things as font, justification, margin size, paragraph spacing, etc. Different versions of the Mobi Reader allow you different degrees of control; the Pocket PC and desktop versions are currently the most flexible; the iLiad the least flexible. The CyBook Gen3 is somewhere in the middle - it will currently allow you to set font face and size and justification, but not margin size or paragraph spacing. I'm sure it'll get better with future software updates.

That's exactly the approach that MobiPocket Reader uses. Have relatively little "layout" information in the book and let the reader decide such things as font, justification, margin size, paragraph spacing, etc. Different versions of the Mobi Reader allow you different degrees of control; the Pocket PC and desktop versions are currently the most flexible; the iLiad the least flexible. The CyBook Gen3 is somewhere in the middle - it will currently allow you to set font face and size and justification, but not margin size or paragraph spacing. I'm sure it'll get better with future software updates.You're referring to the Cybook firmware, and not the Mobi reader, I assume.

You're kind of at the mercy of the platform for some things. Palm OS, for example, has eight font slots: Standard, Bold, Large, Symbol, Symbol11, Symbol7, LED, and Large Bold. These are mapped to fonts in ROM, but third party utilities like Fonthack will let you map other fonts into those slots on an application by application basis. You don't have the sort of flexibility in font choices Windows offers. I'm currently using FonthackV to map a converted version of the Cambria True Type font in Mobi as the standard text font, and it works fairly well, but it would be nice if I didn't have to resort to that sort of work-around.
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Dennis