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jbenny · 08-01-2007, 10:15 PM

I currently own an eBookwise 1150, a Nokia N800 and a Fujitsu 5031 Tablet PC. As others have stated, the tablet is the most flexible and obviously has the largest screen.

On the tablet, I have FBreader, CoolReader and MS Reader for reading most ebooks. CoolReader gives a more book-like experience, but FBreader reads some ebook formats that CoolReader doesn't. MS Reader only reads LIT files, but there is a Tablet PC specific version that is very nice. For reading a PDF, I use either Acrobat Reader or PDF Annotator, if I want to markup the text. The main drawbacks to the tablet are portability, weight and battery life (3-4 hours w/o WiFi).

On the Nokia, I use FBreader, because that is the only ebook reader available that I know of. FBreader has improved greatly in recent versions. The Nokia version seems to lag behind on features compared to other platforms (you can get a version for the PC and several other computers). After I changed a few settings (font size, paragraph spacing, etc.) in FBreader, I find the Nokia is just fine for reading ebooks. Although the screen is small, it is very readable, especially with a larger font for my aging eyes. The battery life is very good. I get 6 hours of reading with the WiFi turned off. One drawback is the paging key position (top edge, left). I'm going to try remapping some keys in FBreader. For reading a PDF, the small screen size is an issue. You have to zoom and scroll, but for occasional PDF reading, it isn't too bad (much better than on the PDA phone I used to have). You can either use the built-in PDF reader, or install Evince, which seems to do a better job.

As for the eBookwise 1150, it is still a very nice ebook reader for the money, which is much less than most other solutions. However, with the Nokia and the Tablet PC, I don't use it anymore. In fact, I still have it for sale if anyone wants one.

One additonal comment that applies to all of these reading devices and software: the markup capability varies from nonexistant to useable. FBreader is planning on adding bookmarks soon. CoolReader does annotation, bookmarks and highlighting, but the interface is kludgey. MS Reader (tablet version) does rather well with all of these. Acrobat Reader supposedly has limited annotation capability, but I couldn't get it to work with any PDF at all (unprotected ones included). That is why I bought PDF Annotator (not perfect, but useable).

08-01-2007, 10:15 PM	#15
jbenny Addict Posts: 323 Karma: 358 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800	My experience I currently own an eBookwise 1150, a Nokia N800 and a Fujitsu 5031 Tablet PC. As others have stated, the tablet is the most flexible and obviously has the largest screen. On the tablet, I have FBreader, CoolReader and MS Reader for reading most ebooks. CoolReader gives a more book-like experience, but FBreader reads some ebook formats that CoolReader doesn't. MS Reader only reads LIT files, but there is a Tablet PC specific version that is very nice. For reading a PDF, I use either Acrobat Reader or PDF Annotator, if I want to markup the text. The main drawbacks to the tablet are portability, weight and battery life (3-4 hours w/o WiFi). On the Nokia, I use FBreader, because that is the only ebook reader available that I know of. FBreader has improved greatly in recent versions. The Nokia version seems to lag behind on features compared to other platforms (you can get a version for the PC and several other computers). After I changed a few settings (font size, paragraph spacing, etc.) in FBreader, I find the Nokia is just fine for reading ebooks. Although the screen is small, it is very readable, especially with a larger font for my aging eyes. The battery life is very good. I get 6 hours of reading with the WiFi turned off. One drawback is the paging key position (top edge, left). I'm going to try remapping some keys in FBreader. For reading a PDF, the small screen size is an issue. You have to zoom and scroll, but for occasional PDF reading, it isn't too bad (much better than on the PDA phone I used to have). You can either use the built-in PDF reader, or install Evince, which seems to do a better job. As for the eBookwise 1150, it is still a very nice ebook reader for the money, which is much less than most other solutions. However, with the Nokia and the Tablet PC, I don't use it anymore. In fact, I still have it for sale if anyone wants one. One additonal comment that applies to all of these reading devices and software: the markup capability varies from nonexistant to useable. FBreader is planning on adding bookmarks soon. CoolReader does annotation, bookmarks and highlighting, but the interface is kludgey. MS Reader (tablet version) does rather well with all of these. Acrobat Reader supposedly has limited annotation capability, but I couldn't get it to work with any PDF at all (unprotected ones included). That is why I bought PDF Annotator (not perfect, but useable).