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Old 07-05-2013, 06:42 AM   #1
brunilda
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Best reader to read in many languages?

Hello all, apologies if the answer is elsewhere on this forum. I searched, but couldn't find exactly what I am after. I am also a newbie when it comes to eReaders so forgive my naiveté if I am asking the wrong things.
I am fortunate enough to be able to read in many languages (with different levels of expertise, of course). The question is: is there an eReader that is especially made for multilingual people? I read in (in order of competence/interest) Spanish, French, English, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Greek, Turkish, Arabic. So I would want (1) support for non-Roman characters, (2) monolingual (not translation) dictionaries. (Anything that can do the first five of the list is totally acceptable to me at this point).
Incidentally, I own a Sony PRS-600. I like the ability to tap on a word to access the (English) dictionary. I'd want that, of course, for all the other languages.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
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Old 07-07-2013, 01:21 AM   #2
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I have Onyx Ereader and in my opinion Onyx firmware is very advanced and it can handle all languages.
It has 3 different readers: Pdfreader, FBReader and Cool-Reader
Pdf reader doesn't need any fonts. For other two readers you can install custom fonts as needed.
1) Support for non-roman characters: non-roman characters are supported but there are some small problems associated (they might be solved by now). The problem is/was that dictionary cannot select the word properly if the word contains non roman characters.
You can ask about this issue in Onyx forum.

2)Monolingual dictionaries: Onyx supports star-dict dictionaries only. All the dictionaries are here:
http://abloz.com/huzheng/stardict-dic/

Also, Android based readers are going to be launched very soon . I am waiting for them myself. I believe we will have almost no firmware problem or shortcomings in android platform.
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Old 07-07-2013, 02:55 AM   #3
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Like Feher said, the Onyx, for instance the i62, is a good choice. Another possibility would be the Pocketbook Touch.
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Old 07-07-2013, 03:47 AM   #4
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Does the Oxyx support right-to-left languages such as Arabic? ADE-based devices, which most ePub readers are, doesn't support RTL.
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Old 07-07-2013, 06:03 AM   #5
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Does the Oxyx support right-to-left languages such as Arabic? ADE-based devices, which most ePub readers are, doesn't support RTL.
I have no personal experience but it seems from this video that onyx and pocketbook support RTL language epubs : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5z7oXH_LrA
I do not know how good the support is.

I would actually prefer pdf files as pdf files on onyx read as fast as epub. I once loaded an Idries Shah story book by mistake on my Onyx and the text was displayed in FBReader and CoolReader but not in PDFReader
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Old 07-07-2013, 09:00 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by brunilda View Post
Hello all, apologies if the answer is elsewhere on this forum. I searched, but couldn't find exactly what I am after. I am also a newbie when it comes to eReaders so forgive my naiveté if I am asking the wrong things.
I am fortunate enough to be able to read in many languages (with different levels of expertise, of course). The question is: is there an eReader that is especially made for multilingual people? I read in (in order of competence/interest) Spanish, French, English, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Greek, Turkish, Arabic. So I would want (1) support for non-Roman characters, (2) monolingual (not translation) dictionaries. (Anything that can do the first five of the list is totally acceptable to me at this point).
Incidentally, I own a Sony PRS-600. I like the ability to tap on a word to access the (English) dictionary. I'd want that, of course, for all the other languages.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Sony's you're best bet for built-in multilingual but it doesn't cover all your wants. Otherwise, like the others said, get an android e-reader. I'm not quite how sure it would work, but presumably its the best thing.
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Old 07-08-2013, 03:10 AM   #7
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Do we have any idea on when android e-readers might be launched? I would love one...
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Old 07-08-2013, 11:27 AM   #8
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Do we have any idea on when android e-readers might be launched? I would love one...
My guess is that Onyx R65 will launch very soon - a month or two at max.
A basic non touch version is already launched in Russia.

Also, You should check out Tolino Shine Ereader and read about its hack http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ndroid-tablet/
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Old 07-08-2013, 11:38 AM   #9
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My guess is that Onyx R65 will launch very soon - a month or two at max.
A basic non touch version is already launched in Russia.

Also, You should check out Tolino Shine Ereader and read about its hack http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ndroid-tablet/
Just a note that there have been Android-based eInk devices on the market for quite a while. Eg the Sony PRS-T2 is an Android device, as was the T1 before it.
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Old 07-08-2013, 11:50 AM   #10
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Just a note that there have been Android-based eInk devices on the market for quite a while. Eg the Sony PRS-T2 is an Android device, as was the T1 before it.

Yes, I am thinking about getting a Nook myself for its android capabilities
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Old 07-10-2013, 02:46 AM   #11
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Yes, they are android based, but do they allow for (easy) customization? Can you add your own apps? The one thing I would be willing to wait for is a *true* android (or even) linux device... That would be great. I think I remember seeing e-phones on a Chinese website. I doubt they are available yet (at least not outside China)...

The Cybook supports multiple languages and allows for custom dictionaries. No support for rtl languages though, so Arabic is out, but if you do not read to much in this language, maybe you can stick with computer/phone reading? Depending on your location, it might be hard to get one though...

NB: I wouldn't recommend the cybook for anything other than its language capabilities...
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Old 07-10-2013, 02:54 AM   #12
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NB: I wouldn't recommend the cybook for anything other than its language capabilities...
Nor me, having owned several. They constantly promise updates which NEVER appear, and they have absolutely attrocious customer service. It gives me no pleasure to say that; Bookeen were real innovators in the ebook reader market, and I was a supporter of theirs for many years, but I honestly couldn't recommend them to anyone these days. (Unless they've dramatically improved in the last few years.)
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Old 07-10-2013, 03:51 AM   #13
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I haven't had to try their consumer support (yet) since I only got the reader yesterday but, except for the language department, they are lacking on almost every aspect compared to other readers. If I were to compare it to the Kobo Glo (the Kobo Aura is way out of comparison), the sceen is of poorer quality (darker, "shadows" -> need to refresh at each page turn), the light is not as uniform, the leds are showing, it's quite slow, screen isn't as responsive (taps aren't always registered), freezes often, sd card support feels half-cooked at best...
BUT my Chinese ebooks worked out of the box and I was able to easily add dictionaries so...
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Old 07-10-2013, 05:28 AM   #14
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For me it was more the lack of basic functionality - no bookmarks, no annotation, no searching. Basic stuff you'd expect any reading device to have. And, of course, that the ePub firmware was EXTREMELY flaky - I could pretty much guarantee that my Opus would freeze up at least once in a half hour reading session, and resetting it involved taking the back off the machine (not easy to do) and inserting a paper clip into a reset hole. Compare that to the Kindle, which is absolutely rock solid. NEVER crashes.
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Old 07-10-2013, 05:52 AM   #15
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Hmpf, I guess those functionalities (mostly) got implemented on the newer models. No searching though... Coming from the PRS505, I would not miss thoses features too much (yet) though I can understand how being able to search for a word string through the entire device (or through books) can be useful if you are reading reference/technical books... I never used the bookmark feature on my old device (except to see if it worked ^^) and it wasn't possible to annotate a book...
I remember literature teachers and students used to annotate a lot. If I did, I think a stylus would be a prerequisite then...

But it still crashes way too much... mostly because of the micro sd card at the moment, not while reading an epub...

It also seems to work well with pdf so far. Not sure how this compare to the recent sony readers but it sure beats Kindles and Kobos there ^^
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