Thread: Should I buy an eBook reader? If so, according to my needs, which one?
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Old 12-09-2007, 04:52 PM   #8
DaleDe
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Posts: 11,470
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Grass Valley, CA
Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by calvarez View Post
Thanks, Dale. I am not very familiar with the details of PDF files.

If I understand correctly, most e-INK devices will require a reorganization of the contents of the PDF file (is that what you mean by reflowing?), since the resolution and size of the screen makes it impossible to display the PDF file otherwise, right? Now, you're saying the iLiad can also zoom PDF files, so it is the only e-INK device that doesn't need reflowing for PDF. Am I correct?

I guess my initial expectation was that with any e-INK device I could just open the PDF file and it would look just like it does in my laptop screen but scaled down appropriately to fit the screen. I guess only the iLiad can do that, and also zoom in accordingly to show the text if it's too small to see it when showing the entire page.

Please let me know if I understood correctly.
Almost. e-INK devices often do support PDF directly so it can be checkmark for anyone evaluating which one to buy based on the specs. However, supporting and being able to read are two different things. PDF is a page format that works best when it is on the size page it was designed for. The 6" readers currently shrink the page to either the width of the screen in portrait more with 1 PDF page equal to 1 e-INK page or the width in landscape mode where 1 PDF page is spread over 2 e-INK pages. In portrait mode you see a image like trying to read the PDF on your computer from 20 feet away. In landscape mode it is a little better but now you are only 10 feet away. Being able to zoom in is important to make the text big enough to see. I may be that you need to zoom so far as to need to pan around on the page to read all of the text. This is not particularly a good experience in reading a book and most e-INK devices can't pan a PDF anyway.

Reflowing reformats the text to use fonts that are full size like the ones in the original. But, of course, this means rearranging everything to fit the screen. None of the e-INK devices support this without converting the PDF to a different format.
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