Netbook Tablet as a Viable eBook Reader Option

[snuffed]

Do you find the T91MT's weight heavy or just manageable? Is it still comfortable after holding it up/in place for a few hours?
Also how long does the T91MT's battery last if you're just reading PDFs and documents etc.?

[nonanon]

I expect this will be a great year for reading devices from e-ink to tablets. I'm watching the Freescale Smartbook because I like a 7" screen for reading or watching video, any bigger and it's not portable enough. The Freescale is expected to run Linux and cost around $200. From what I've seen the Archos 5 media tablet looks like a great choice, too, even though it doesn't run all Android apps. A 5" screen is fine and it's even easier to keep in a pocket. I don't think either would be good as far as productivity goes but as media devices and readers they might suffice. In which case the iPad might be good as well except that it's a bit too big to carry easily without having a backpack.

I did give the T91MT a long look before buying a Witstech A81 MID. I think your choice makes a lot more sense than an iPad if you plan to do much typing on it or want to run non-Apple software. Even doing much online is a pain with an on-screen keyboard. It depends on what you plan to do with the device and in my case watching videos of nearly any format, listening to music, reading e-books and PDFs along with some web surfing and gaming make the A81 a cheaper device that meets those needs. If I need a real PC I can always take along my notebook, too.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by snuffed

Do you find the T91MT's weight heavy or just manageable? Is it still comfortable after holding it up/in place for a few hours?
Also how long does the T91MT's battery last if you're just reading PDFs and documents etc.?

The weight doesn't seem unmanageable to me. No, it isn't as light as a Kindle or my EZ Reader, but it feels more solid, which is actually better for me.

Just reading, I get at least six hours. Which is more than the battery is rated for. I normally don't read for that long at a stretch, though, so when I put the device down and go do something else, it goes into standby, which doesn't seem to use much battery at ALL. I've gotten it up to about 14 hours before needing to charge it, by putting it into standby and picking it up when I have a few minutes. It only takes a few seconds to come out of standby. If it has sat long enough to need to resume Windows, it takes a bit longer.

Originally Posted by phenomshel

The weight doesn't seem unmanageable to me. No, it isn't as light as a Kindle or my EZ Reader, but it feels more solid, which is actually better for me.

Just reading, I get at least six hours. Which is more than the battery is rated for. I normally don't read for that long at a stretch, though, so when I put the device down and go do something else, it goes into standby, which doesn't seem to use much battery at ALL. I've gotten it up to about 14 hours before needing to charge it, by putting it into standby and picking it up when I have a few minutes. It only takes a few seconds to come out of standby. If it has sat long enough to need to resume Windows, it takes a bit longer.

I agree with phenomshel. It weighs about 2.1 pounds and I too get a good six hours from the battery. Possibly more but I've never pushed it beyond six. I generally set the screen backlight to the second lowest setting. Even though the T91MT does not have a cooling fan, it does not get hot to the touch. A little warm in one location, but not bad, barely noticeable.

Originally Posted by snuffed

Do you find the T91MT's weight heavy or just manageable? Is it still comfortable after holding it up/in place for a few hours?
Also how long does the T91MT's battery last if you're just reading PDFs and documents etc.?

I generally read when in my recliner so I balance the T91MT on my belly! If I'm sitting at a desk, then I use it like a regular netbook. I typically read in landscape mode using the two-pages per screen split view. it is a litle easier to hold horizontally for me because holding it vertically it can get a bit to top-heavy, but it is quite manageable either way.

Since I got the T91MT I haven't even used my Sony PRS-300. I'm going to keep the sony for travel and for reading outside in bright light. It is of course much more portable.

Another post mentions the Archos 5IT. I bought one this week, kept it overnight and returned it the next morning. The Archos 5IT is a hybrid Android device with some bad Archos tweaking. It is very non-intuitive, and extremely difficult to get the file manager to work correctly, and does a terrible job with eBooks. Aldiko and FBReader were the only two I tried, but both had extremely limited function and were difficult to use with file manager so imorting your eBooks from your PC was a huge headache. Also the interface was clunky and I don't think it is multitasking. The menu system is extremely bad and difficult to find settings. Even the browser was horrible. For $300 on the low end, it is way over priced and I would avoid it.

BTW: I use FBReader on my T91MT and the Windows version has a lot of functionality that the Android version does not have. This seems to be true of most of the Android apps I used on the Archos 5IT--the equivalent Windows versions are much better!

[phenomshel]

Jack, I have a question for you - I'm currently using Calibre (ebook viewer) as my default and pretty much only ebook viewer. Would you suggest something different? The only fault I have found with Calibre's ebook viewer is that it's slow to start and there's page turn buttons only on one side. I know you can move the taskbar to either side or the bottom, but you can't "duplicate" it to go to both sides. Is there another viewer out there that handles most if not all of the formats if they are unDRM'd?

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by jozicka

I would also add a Haali reader (win version) to the list.

It supports lots of types of files (pdb, txt..) it is very fast, through regedit you can setup the default directory for ebook files.

I also use a hot keyboard utility to remap keys (I set majority of keys on keyboard for next page, so I can use left/right hand for turning pages without need to check the right key)

Sorry for my bad english.

Welcome to MobileRead, jozicka.

Do not worry about your English, you are perfectly understandable.

Enjoy the forums, and keep posting.

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Jack, I have a question for you - I'm currently using Calibre (ebook viewer) as my default and pretty much only ebook viewer. Would you suggest something different? The only fault I have found with Calibre's ebook viewer is that it's slow to start and there's page turn buttons only on one side. I know you can move the taskbar to either side or the bottom, but you can't "duplicate" it to go to both sides. Is there another viewer out there that handles most if not all of the formats if they are unDRM'd?

I don't know of any readers for the PC that allow you to read as many different formats as Calibre.

MobiPocket is limited to *.mobi, *.prc, and *.pdb (I think).
eReader is limited to *.prc and *.pdb.
Kindle for PC is limited to *.mobi and *.prc.
FBReader is limited to ePub, *.mobi and *.prc (I think).

I didn't list standard formats like *.txt, *.rtf, etc.

As far as calibre reader goes, I haven't installed it on my T91MT yet. I do have Calibre on my desktop though. I played around with it this afternoon and found that you can open the reader separately from the rest of Calibre. I have a Windows 7 64bit PC. On my PC I found the reader here:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Calibre2\ebook-viewer.exe

If you have a 32bit PC, try here:

c:\Program Files\Calibre2\ebook-viewer.exe

Make a desktop shortcut for ebook-viewer.exe and you can easily open it by itself. I'm going to try just copying ebook-viewer.exe to my T91MT and seeing if it will open. I'll post back.

Here's my followup to using the Calibre reader:

You have to install the whole Calibre app on your PC. However, you can definitely open just the reader without opening the main app by creating a shortcut to ebook-viewer.exe.

The reader is okay, but just. It is slower to open than the other readers I've used, and it tends to become temporarily non-responsive a little too often. Probably bloated code.

I don't like the lack of a margins setting to adjust how the book appears on screen. This results in partial lines being displayed at the bottom of the screen. Setting a margin at the bottom would perhaps alleviate that.

You cannot set the text color or background color.

In tablet mode, switching the LCD from portrait to landscape or vice versa causes a temporary not responding message.

In landscape mode, there is no two-pages view. On a 9" tablet in landscape, you really need this two-page view.

Overall I found it usable but not enjoyable. It seems bloated and slow on a netbook, lacks some basic features, becmes unresponsive often (though it always seems to recover without a crash). It definitely looks and feels as an afterthought app rather than a dedicated reader app. I've now uninstalled it from my T91MT but will definitely keep it on my main desktop to use for converting and adjusting eBooks.

[alogston]

I was fascinated to find this thread as I just bought a T91MT to use as an ereader as well. I'm a little surprised you've ignored one of the (IMO) best ereader programs -- Stanza desktop. It's free and reads almost every format there is, has excellent organization and is super easy to use. I also own an iPhone and can have the Stanza app there too.

I have only two gripes about the T91MT. First, page scrolling/turning capability is not so good in touch screen mode, particularly if you want to use a finger instead of the stylus. Second, apart from sleeves, I'm finding it next to impossible to find any accessories for it. I really want a car charger and I'd like a spare charging cable as well, but even Asus doesn't offer anything of the sort on their own site. I'm really surprised and dismayed at this gap.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I don't know of any readers for the PC that allow you to read as many different formats as Calibre.

MobiPocket is limited to *.mobi, *.prc, and *.pdb (I think).
eReader is limited to *.prc and *.pdb.
Kindle for PC is limited to *.mobi and *.prc.
FBReader is limited to ePub, *.mobi and *.prc (I think).

I didn't list standard formats like *.txt, *.rtf, etc.

As far as calibre reader goes, I haven't installed it on my T91MT yet. I do have Calibre on my desktop though. I played around with it this afternoon and found that you can open the reader separately from the rest of Calibre. I have a Windows 7 64bit PC. On my PC I found the reader here:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Calibre2\ebook-viewer.exe

If you have a 32bit PC, try here:

c:\Program Files\Calibre2\ebook-viewer.exe

Make a desktop shortcut for ebook-viewer.exe and you can easily open it by itself. I'm going to try just copying ebook-viewer.exe to my T91MT and seeing if it will open. I'll post back.

Originally Posted by jswinden

Here's my followup to using the Calibre reader:

You have to install the whole Calibre app on your PC. However, you can definitely open just the reader without opening the main app by creating a shortcut to ebook-viewer.exe.

The reader is okay, but just. It is slower to open than the other readers I've used, and it tends to become temporarily non-responsive a little too often. Probably bloated code.

I don't like the lack of a margins setting to adjust how the book appears on screen. This results in partial lines being displayed at the bottom of the screen. Setting a margin at the bottom would perhaps alleviate that.

You cannot set the text color or background color.

In tablet mode, switching the LCD from portrait to landscape or vice versa causes a temporary not responding message.

In landscape mode, there is no two-pages view. On a 9" tablet in landscape, you really need this two-page view.

Overall I found it usable but not enjoyable. It seems bloated and slow on a netbook, lacks some basic features, becmes unresponsive often (though it always seems to recover without a crash). It definitely looks and feels as an afterthought app rather than a dedicated reader app. I've now uninstalled it from my T91MT but will definitely keep it on my main desktop to use for converting and adjusting eBooks.

Thanks, Jack. That's what I figured, that there wasn't anotber application out there that reads as many formats. I haven't had as many glitches with as you seem to have had, so I'll probably stick with it for now.

Originally Posted by alogston

I was fascinated to find this thread as I just bought a T91MT to use as an ereader as well. I'm a little surprised you've ignored one of the (IMO) best ereader programs -- Stanza desktop. It's free and reads almost every format there is, has excellent organization and is super easy to use. I also own an iPhone and can have the Stanza app there too.

Thanks, I forgot all about stanza, even though I've got it on my ipod touch! I'll give it a try.

I must say the touch screen response is much better than on the Sony PRS600 and PRS900. But it could definitely use a few buttons on the LCD for when you are in tablet mode. For example, an ESC button and perhaps 2 or 3 programmable buttons as well.

Also, don't forget that the actual subject of this thread is not using the T91MT specifically, but using a netbook style tablet in general. So some tablets are going to be better than others. The T91MT is definitely a first generation design. I look forward to many 2nd or 3rd generation designs (from various companies) in a year or two that will be much better adapted to tablet uses in general and eBook reading in particular. I'm convinced that the dedicated ereader device is not my best option. I think a tablet style netbook sized PC is a better overall option and look forward to eventually finding that ultimate, affordable device.

Originally Posted by jswinden

Thanks, I forgot all about stanza, even though I've got it on my ipod touch! I'll give it a try.

I added the following about stanza to the initial page of this thread:

Stanza. FREE. This is the worst of the readers. It requires the Java Runtime Environment, which slows down a netbook to a crawl. The interface is elementary and not conducive to tablet mode. And rather than using pages it scrolls through a section like an HTML page in a browser. I do not recommend it.

[leebase]

I appreciate your perspective. I love my iphone and we have 3 ipod-touches in the family. And yes, we have a couple laptops and desktops too I am going with the iPad. It's not that I disagree with your analysis, but the I put different values on the variables.

I think the iPad is thinner, lighter, and has a longer battery life -- important things for an ereader and coach web surfer.

But mostly -- it's the apps. I love the iPhone Os apps and have every confidence that a lot of wonderful software is going to be written specifically for the iPad in addition to the 150,000 existing iPhone Os apps. The reason I keep with windows over linux is the same thing -- Windows has the apps and the industry support. I do use linux, but not as my main OS.

I don't judge the iPad by what Apple keeps off it, but by what comes on it (or can be loaded). I don't think any other platform is going to come close.

When I want to run Windows -- I still have my laptop.

Lee

[Spirity]

I've got to thank you jswinden and phenomshel big time. I have spent all night reading and researching. I had originally planned on buying a dedicated e-reader (Que or Asus dr-950) and a Toshiba netbook for travelling. I wasn't aware of the T91MT until your threads.

This looks like the perfect combo! I am really excited about this option- and your very good & detailed info has made a believer out of me

Originally Posted by alogston

I was fascinated to find this thread as I just bought a T91MT to use as an ereader as well. .... Second, apart from sleeves, I'm finding it next to impossible to find any accessories for it. I really want a car charger and I'd like a spare charging cable as well, but even Asus doesn't offer anything of the sort on their own site. I'm really surprised and dismayed at this gap.

As I was looking through related links to the T91MT on Amazon, I stumbled across a sleeve, but it also included a car charger....I also saw a spare charging cable available there as well !

Oh, there was also one leather case that was like a book cover and had a stand attached.

Pretty nifty!

I think this is the way I'm going to go, especially since I want to read alot of pdf's - so thanks guys.

ps- thanks desertgrandma for the nice welcome on one of the other threads, made me feel at home