Perhaps you've heard of the latest Nokia Internet Tablet device that should come out any time soon. If not, check out the photos over here (http://www.ringnokia.com/2007/01/nokia_n800_inte.html).

My question to everyone who owns a dedicated e-reader device: would you consider switching back to a "multi-function" device such as the N800 to read your precious e-books? I am asking because I have so many devices to carry around that I would love to reduce the amount to what's really necessary.

If the price of US$399 mentioned on this page turns out to be accurate, I might. It depends on battery life and a few other factors. It's a Linux device, which is a big plus.

I love the device, and have considered it and the 770 before it. I admit to being rather spoiled now that I have my eBookwise, especially the book selection, so I would have trouble going back to something like that unless it had access to a reader with DRM support (eReader, Mobi, etc.). Still I wouldn't mind consolidating my phone and PDA now that I have a dedicated ebook reader, but again, the N800 only makes calls via WiFi.

Now, Apple's new phone... that might be a nice choice!

Jack

I use Nokia 770 exclusively as an ebook reader (with Fbreader) and I think the 800 version is tilted towards improving the Net experience so it does not tempt me.

I like my Ebk1150 but I really love my Nokia, I take it everywhere with me and the reading experience is really beautiful (as with all software e.g. Adobe, MsLit, uBook, that allows it, I use yellow text on black background).

Fbreader can read unencrypted mobi say from Fictionwise, opf (the output of conversion from MsLit), and txt/rtf/html, lots of character sets, also zipped or tar, though not rar, so using zipped files you increase considerably your storage (have rs-mmc 1Gb, not sure if 2Gb works).

The downsides are navigation which is ok but unpaginated just with an indicator bar, and fragility, so for rereads, short story colections, Eb1150 is better. At home I split my reading between the two, overall I estimate I use Nokia 65%, Ebk 35% for my ereading (hard to count but in 2006 I estimate more than 100 new novels or equivalent in short story colections/magazines and about similar rereads in eform)

In answer to your question - yes, if it had a large enough e-ink type screen ...

No, but an internet tablet complements an e-ink reader very well. E-ink for (long) books and the tablet for (short) news.

I use my Nokia 770 as my primary e-book reader, via the FBReader software. This is missing some features (e.g. bookmarks), but it supports many non-DRM formats and is very customizable. There is no way to read encripted books on the 770 or N800. The sreen size and resolution are what make them outstanding pocket-sized e-book readers. On the other hand battery life is not outstanding, I have not tested it but probably 4 hours without WiFi.

FBReader only runs under Linux, but if you have a Windows PC and want to try it out it is possible to run Linux/FBReader via VMWare (see a post on the FBReader Google Group).

If you want a N800 to replace several devices, make sure first you are OK with the Linux based software it uses. It is very good for web browsing and e-books, not necessarily full featured in other application areas.

I am testing the N800 and one test area was as an ebook reader. FBreader runs fine so far and the screen is very legible. Can also rotate screen as well. I make palm format books from text files and they ran fine on the fbreader. Lately I have become obsessed with reading movie scripts. They are free and fun to me.

I use my n800 mainly for reading books. The screen is wonderful and is backlit. Great for reading in bed. The battery life is unfortunately short, 4-6 hours. If you are reading indoors you can turn down the display to conserve battery life.

Getting books onto it was a pain at first, but I set up a webserver (abyss, very lightweight) on my main pc and can now browse and download files easily.

On thing lacking on the n800 that I liked better on the 770 is the case. The 770 had a great cover that also automatically activated the sleep mode. The n800 just has a cloth cover; I need to find something soon or the convenient portability factor goes out the window.

If you want a pure ebookreader, I'd probably go with something e-ink. If you want a reader and you like the idea of being able to fiddle with the gadget, you'll love the n800.

Fbreader can read unencrypted mobi say from Fictionwise, opf (the output of conversion from MsLit), and txt/rtf/html, lots of character sets, also zipped or tar, though not rar, so using zipped files you increase considerably your storage (have rs-mmc 1Gb, not sure if 2Gb works).

I am looking for a way to read my books from Fictionwise on my N800. (my old Rocket eBook is not too well..)
I have installed FBReader onto the N800 but don't know what format it can use from the available ones from Fictionwise.
What is the "unencrypted mobi" you talk about?

thanks in advance

Hmm, looks like the screen isn't much larger than the PSP screen. Is that correct (judging from the pics w/ the mini-SD card on the screen)? If that's the case, while being a bit wider than my PDA, not sure if I'd like to read too many books on the go on that small of a screen. Of course I could always use my PSP for this too. ;-P

I am looking for a way to read my books from Fictionwise on my N800. (my old Rocket eBook is not too well..)
I have installed FBReader onto the N800 but don't know what format it can use from the available ones from Fictionwise.
What is the "unencrypted mobi" you talk about?

thanks in advance

I tried many formats from Fictionwise and found that "Palm Doc (PDB)" can be read by FBReader. The formatting is not great but I can read the books :)

From the FBReader site (http://only.mawhrin.net/fbreader/):
Main features:

.....● Supported formats are

..........• fb2 e-book format (style attributes are not supported yet).
..........• HTML format (tables are not supported).
..........• CHM format (tables are not supported).
..........• plucker format (embedded images are supported, tables are not supported).
..........• Palmdoc (aportis doc).
..........• zTxt (Weasel format).
..........• TCR (psion text) format.
..........• RTF format (stylesheets and tables are not supported).
..........• OEB format (css and tables are not supported).
..........• Non-DRM'ed mobipocket format (tables are not supported).
..........• Plain text format.

.....● Direct reading from tar, zip, gzip and bzip2 archives. (Multiple books in one archive are supported.)
.....● Supported encodings: utf-8, us-ascii, windows-1251, windows-1252, koi8-r, ibm866, iso-8859-*, Big5, GBK. Automatic encoding detection is supported.
.....● Automatically generated contents table.
.....● Embedded images support.
.....● Footnotes/hyperlinks support.
.....● Position indicator.
.....● Keeps the last open book and the last read positions for all opened books between runs.
.....● List of last opened books.
.....● Automatic hyphenations. Liang's algorithm is used. The same algorithm is used in TeX, and TeX hyphenation patterns are used in FBReader. Patterns for Czech, English, Esperanto, French, German and Russian are included in the current version.
.....● Text search.
.....● Full-screen mode.
.....● Screen rotation by 90, 180 and 270 degrees.


Hope that helps. :nice:

I tried many formats from Fictionwise and found that "Palm Doc (PDB)" can be read by FBReader. The formatting is not great but I can read the books :)

For Fictionwise multiformat (unencrypted) books you have different choices of how to read them with Fbreader:

- directly: .pdb and .prc work though not always give you good formatting
- indirectly: convert .prc to rtf/html using BookDesigner, or convert .lit to opf/rtf using your favourite tool (Amber, BookDesigner, others...)

Personally I prefer zipped .opf for well designed packages and zipped rtf/html otherwise. I always zip my files or the folder containing them in the case of .opf since for Fbreader it makes no difference in access speed and it saves space on the card.

I am also thinking getting this one since its cheap compared to others (expect maybe sony ereader that I would need to order from USA). I still dont know if it would be right to get less screen space and get more than ebook reader or just go with sony :)

At least on Amazon in the US, the Nokia 770 is $100 cheaper than the N800. These are virtually identical for e-book reading, and the 770 even has some advantages (like the hard case and more accessible top keys). The N800 probably is worth the extra money if you expect to use its extra hardware or to make significant non-reading use of the device.

A used 770 might also be an option. These are very well made, and I would expect an average 2nd hand unit to look almost new.

I got my 770 for about $220 on ebay. Looks great, minor scratches on the hard cover, and a heck of a discount. I don't use it much for ebook reading, but with fbreader installed, it works quite well.

What about screen size? Sony eReader is 6" 800x600 while Nokia 770/800 are 4.13" 800x480 (N800 atleast does have LED backlight not sure about N770).

I found also HTC Advantage/odondo 1000u/t-mobile amilo PDA+phone hybrid that has 5" 640x480 screen (price: 1000e).

All other over 5" (minipcs) so far expect sony ereader seem to be 6.5" or 7" and dimensions or weight are too big.

Are these correct screen dimensions:
sony ereader 6" 121*90mm
htc advantage 5" 100*75mm
N770/N800 4.13" 90*54mm

Note that the 770/N800 are usually shown in "landscape" mode, i.e. 800 wide by 480 high (90 by 54 mm). I use FBReader that way too, although it can be rotated into any of the four possible orientations. The screen is identical on the two Nokias.

The Sony Reader is usually shown in portrait mode, 600 wide by 800 high (90 by 121 mm). It can be used in either landscape or portrait mode.

So the Nokia's have more pixels per inch, and are as wide as but are about half as high as the Sony. The Sony screen aspect ratio is certainly more book-like than the others.

For web browsing, 800 pixels wide is often enough (and 640 is often not enough). So the Nokia's are probably better than the HTC. However, both screens are so small that you may have to zoom and then the 800 pixel advantage is largely lost. I find the 7 inch PepperPad 3 screen is much better for web browsing than the Nokia 770's 4 inchs.

Note that the 770/N800 are usually shown in "landscape" mode, i.e. 800 wide by 480 high (90 by 54 mm). I use FBReader that way too, although it can be rotated into any of the four possible orientations. The screen is identical on the two Nokias.
How is the quality of the screen when you rotate it? I have seen it many times that when you change the viewing angle of an LCD screen by rotating it the image quality deteriorates (colors look wrong, font becomes harder to read, etc.).

How is the quality of the screen when you rotate it? I have seen it many times that when you change the viewing angle of an LCD screen by rotating it the image quality deteriorates (colors look wrong, font becomes harder to read, etc.).
I use the n800 (and before, the 770) as an ereader. I always rotate to use it in portrait mode. It works very well this way. I haven't noticed any color distortion from this rotation, but then I have FBReader set to display text as light gray on black.

I am almost ready to get N800 expect readability in direct sunlight. How good is N800 screen in sunlight?

I am almost ready to get N800 expect readability in direct sunlight. How good is N800 screen in sunlight?
In my experience, I find the screen still washed out in direct sunlight. In pretty much _every_ other respect the screen is excellent, but direct sunlight is just killer for backlit LCDs. I find myself reading in low light situations far more often than in sunlight so the tradeoff is just fine for me.

In my experience, I find the screen still washed out in direct sunlight. In pretty much _every_ other respect the screen is excellent, but direct sunlight is just killer for backlit LCDs. I find myself reading in low light situations far more often than in sunlight so the tradeoff is just fine for me.

Sunlight I am talking about is usual sunny day outdoors and sitting in bus.. There is lot of sunlight but its not exactly going directly onscreen. I wonder if it washes out then (probably)?

I have ordered sony reader but might also get N800 if its good enough in sunny day.

hi there

can someone post a picture of how it looks like when you read a pdf on the 770 or 800?
would really appreciate that.

cheers,
klark

hi there

can someone post a picture of how it looks like when you read a pdf on the 770 or 800?
would really appreciate that.

cheers,
klark


It really depends on the PDF. I have a nokia 770 with the OS2007 (same OS and screen size as the 800). If you post an example PDF, I can take a screenshot.

thanks adam.
here comes the pdf. its a free cakephp tutorial from ibm.com

cheers,
klark

It's not bad... small, but readable.

The screenshot on the left is full screen mode. The one on the right is the standard view.

first of all, thanks for the screens.

but i have to crop them a little i think.
because the display is smaller than the screenshots even if the resolution stays the same.

after all it seems to be pretty small.

It does have some zooming functions built in (look at the second screenshot), but it isn't all that great.

I know you were looking at the iLiad as well. "Out of the box", it doesn't look that bad. After you zoom to remove the margins and page numbers, it looks great. Very readable.

Sorry about the crappy camera phone quality shot... But I thought an actual picture would help better for a size reference.

thanks for the photo. that is amazing, helps a lot.

it would be absolutely great if someone could post a "real" picture of the sony reader displaying my pdf. i would really appreciate that, because it helps me lot for finding out which reader i should buy.

cheers,
klark

DEAR LIVIU_5:

I have recently got a N800, & I am using it for the time being more as a combination of Mobile IPhone/SkypeOut and in order to read the news or my emails on Gmail. I'd rather use it as a E-Book reader too, as you seem to do, but I have problems to understand how the FBreader actually works.

I have downloaded & installed the FBREADER from maemo.org, but it does not automatically find the .txt file, which I downloded on a separate card of 8Giga.
I understand that the txt file should be somehow placed (?) on a string of the books saved, but how does it work?
Any suggestions could help.

I would appreciate your reply at:

alan.rodan@gmail.com

regards,

Alan Rodan
PS: I was born in Romania, and your first name Liviu makes me think/hope you speak Romanian. If so, I would be delighted to get your reply in Romanian...

I use Nokia 770 exclusively as an ebook reader (with Fbreader) and I think the 800 version is tilted towards improving the Net experience so it does not tempt me.

I like my Ebk1150 but I really love my Nokia, I take it everywhere with me and the reading experience is really beautiful (as with all software e.g. Adobe, MsLit, uBook, that allows it, I use yellow text on black background).

Fbreader can read unencrypted mobi say from Fictionwise, opf (the output of conversion from MsLit), and txt/rtf/html, lots of character sets, also zipped or tar, though not rar, so using zipped files you increase considerably your storage (have rs-mmc 1Gb, not sure if 2Gb works).

The downsides are navigation which is ok but unpaginated just with an indicator bar, and fragility, so for rereads, short story colections, Eb1150 is better. At home I split my reading between the two, overall I estimate I use Nokia 65%, Ebk 35% for my ereading (hard to count but in 2006 I estimate more than 100 new novels or equivalent in short story colections/magazines and about similar rereads in eform)

I have downloaded & installed the FBREADER from maemo.org, but it does not automatically find the .txt file, which I downloded on a separate card of 8Giga. FBReader will automatically add e-books to your library if a) they are in an e-book format with enough metadata (e.g. author, title, etcetera) and b) they are in a directory listed in your book path. A plain text file obviously has no metadata, so you have to add such books manually. Select the 3rd panel icon (BOOK+), navigate through directories (under Linux, ".." does down towards the filesystem root) until you locate your e-book (it might be in /media/mmc1/Books or /media/mmc2/Books for example), select it and fill in the form. I have an example near the bottom of Visual Tour of FBReader on a Pepper Pad 3 (http://www.fbreader.org/alan/).

DEAR LIVIU_5:

I have recently got a N800, & I am using it for the time being more as a combination of Mobile IPhone/SkypeOut and in order to read the news or my emails on Gmail. I'd rather use it as a E-Book reader too, as you seem to do, but I have problems to understand how the FBreader actually works.

I have downloaded & installed the FBREADER from maemo.org, but it does not automatically find the .txt file, which I downloded on a separate card of 8Giga.
I understand that the txt file should be somehow placed (?) on a string of the books saved, but how does it work?
Any suggestions could help.



Sent a reply at the email address too. The books are on /media/mmc1, or possible mmc2. Go to the root directory clicking up, up from the original add path of Fbreader and then find /media and you will see your card and then the book. Once you open the book you gotta set your language (for English usually West European/windows 1252 is best, for Romanian East European/Romanian will do)

There are many customizations possible for Fbreader, experiment with fonts, colors, keys assignments to find your favorite and you will enjoy it a lot.

Nokia N800 now selling for $243 at Buy.com

http://www.buy.com/prod/nokia-n800-internet-tablet/q/loc/101/204055141.html

For those of you using a Nokia Internet Tablet with FBReader, there's loads of books available in epub format on Feedbooks that you can use with the new FBReader support for epub files: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover

My N800 mucks up .pdf's and is way to slow too load big ones. I'm sure you could jump through all the hoops to get a file formatted specifically for the device, but I'd love to just find a .pdf on the web and read it directly without all the rigamarole.

I also tried a tc1000 tablet, but with battery in, it weighs way too much and gets very hot.

As long as I'm listing them....

I tried a Librie, but can't really read .pdf's on a single page. I didn't get a Sony 500 because it didn't improve much.

I actually tried using a Westinghouse 800x600 digital photo frame, which weighs next to nothing and has slots for every flash card imaginable, but the page-to-page image transitions limit the usability. A firmware rewrite to make it less photo centric might help. (It wants to do a clever dissolve for every image change, and deliberately stretches it out several seconds.)

I've also tried and failed with a Viewsonic 1100 tablet, a DT375 pad (mangles .pdf's and the WinCE reader will not be updated beyond the built-in version.) I'm staring at one that locked-up just reading a .pdf right now.

Problem is that PDFs are mostly formatted to be printed on a standard piece of paper at 8.5"x11". And a lot of these portable devices have screen that are too small to really properly display them. So while you are going through hoops trying to find a device to display them, you aren't taking into account that they are all wrong for your portable device.

The iLiad really does a nice job with PDFs. You have several different zoom and pan options, with more on the way from the community developers. Plus you can use the stylus to make notes on them. It's the primary reason I bought one (I'm a grad student and I have a lot of PDFs to read.)

Dear Liviu_5: please help me. I have Sony 500, but miss direct connection to the Web. I live in the USA for 35 yrs but am originally fr Russia and still am interested in the news and politics there. If I buy N770 or N800 and go to russian site like www.fictionbook.ru will I be able to read russian text? Can you please check this for me? Many thanks in advance. You can answer me either here or thru email: gashek2@hotmail.com

Old soldier Schweik.

Dear Liviu_5: please help me. I have Sony 500, but miss direct connection to the Web. I live in the USA for 35 yrs but am originally fr Russia and still am interested in the news and politics there. If I buy N770 or N800 and go to russian site like www.fictionbook.ru will I be able to read russian text? Can you please check this for me? Many thanks in advance. You can answer me either here or thru email: gashek2@hotmail.com

Old soldier Schweik.

Definitely you can read Russian; the Fbreader creator is Russian after all :)
When you open the book in Fbreader, you choose the appropriate encoding (East European - then there are 4 Cyrilic options - see which works for you - may differ depending on the book, but one or more will definitely work - you even have Russian line breaking so it will hyphenate for you too)

From the FBReader site (http://only.mawhrin.net/fbreader/):


Hope that helps. :nice:

I've installed FBRead, but it doesn't seem to recognize the zip format. How can I get it to use these files? Also, I've got a tremendous collection of ebooks on my computer. How can I connect to it with the N800, so as to be able to access those books?

Laz

I've installed FBRead, but it doesn't seem to recognize the zip format. How can I get it to use these files? Also, I've got a tremendous collection of ebooks on my computer. How can I connect to it with the N800, so as to be able to access those books?

Laz

Fbreader reads from inside zip files, so what it matters is what kind of file is zipped. It reads from tar and gz archives too, though NOT from rar archives (there was a lengthy discussion on the Fbreader Google group about that)

To get books from the Pc, just use the USB cable though with all applications on the Nokia closed (especially Fbreader); or (less recommended) take out the storage card and plug it in directly; of course if you have the ebooks in a place that can be accessed wirelessly, you can download directly.

FBReader's file manager will only show files in formats that it supports. So if your e-books don't show up in the file manager (add e-book icon) the chances are that they are in a unsupported format (FBReader does not care that they are zip files, only the format of the contents of the zip matters). What is in your zip files?