Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Readers > Which one should I buy?

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 02-06-2010, 05:20 PM   #1
mapletony
Member
mapletony began at the beginning.
 
mapletony's Avatar
 
Posts: 12
Karma: 10
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Device: Kindle DX, iPad
Smile Best eReader for PDF books?

I own many math, physics and programming PDFs that I'd like to read on an eReader. Are there any eReaders which will do a better job at displaying complex PDFs than the Kindle DX? I'm considering Amazon's device, but I don't want to make an investment if there is something better than that for reading technical PDFs.

Last edited by mapletony; 02-06-2010 at 05:33 PM.
mapletony is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2010, 06:34 PM   #2
zetareticuli
Addict
zetareticuli doesn't litterzetareticuli doesn't litterzetareticuli doesn't litter
 
Posts: 367
Karma: 228
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: Aztak Mentor
I know of no such device (yet). All the devices I have tried have problems, including the Kindle DX which I was able to try recently. I have the same interests as you and my ebook collection in PDF is just like yours. I suggest you wait a few months until the large screen readers (such as the Kindle DX) from other vendors are released later this year.

Based on my experience with the Kindle DX, I can tell you that some technical PDFs display correctly while others don't. I tried 30 technical PDF e-books (Math, Physics, Computers, etc) and it was about a 55% success rate. While all the PDFs I tried do display, some of them are barely readable. I also saw problems with certain graphs and tables (Adobe Reader on my netbook displays them all perfectly). The Kindle DX is good enough for PDFs as far as physical dimensions are concerned, but it suffers from very poor software support for PDFs. My advice is to wait until readers with better PDF support come out...
zetareticuli is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 02-06-2010, 10:55 PM   #3
abq254
Member
abq254 began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 12
Karma: 10
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: none
Hi mapletony,

from what I read around these forums the iRex readers do the best job of displaying pdf in their natural format so not trouble at all with formulas etc. You may want to look into this thread
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49817
or google for academic eReader and it will lead you back to relevant threads on this forum.

There are three models: The iliad has an 8" screen, zoom and annotation capabilities, the DR1000s has a 10.1" screen and also zoom and annotation capabilities but less of a battery life, and overall both systems can be buggy. The most recent DR800 also has an 8" screen a newer design, longer battery life but so far no zoom and no annotation capabilities. Though these may be added in firmware updates later on. The emphasis is on "may".

Hope this helps.
abq254 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2010, 11:23 PM   #4
greenapple
Evangelist
greenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enough
 
Posts: 404
Karma: 664
Join Date: Dec 2009
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle DX, Kobo Aura HD
I'm not sure if iPad qualifies as an ereader, but I have high hope for this gadget to display PDFs correctly.
greenapple is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2010, 03:59 AM   #5
quartal
Junior Member
quartal began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 2
Karma: 10
Join Date: Feb 2010
Device: none
Hi guys, decided to register here finally. I've been doing some research on the e-ink devices for the last week and seem to have stumbled on the same PDF-problem as the threads starter. (since I'm a dev I'd really like to be able to read on some tech PDFs and quite possibly HTML-demo books too).

Currently there doesn't really seem to be much of a choices for a good device. Dunno about the Kindle, I wan't to try to stay away form getting too attached to a certain proprietary stuff. One choice could be the PRS-900 from Sony.

At the moment I wouldn't want to spend entirely too much for the device (iRex prices) and I'm currently hoping for some of the unreleased devices. Jinke/Hanlin A9 seems pretty promising. Or possibly the Onyx boox 60/BeBook Neo.

I really wouldn't want to get a touch version either, but it seems to come as default on the bigger devices.

A9 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhtzrhHNvnw

PS. On the iPad, it seems really ok device (if you don't take all the bad stuff into account which seem to be alot ). I really liked a eink device though, other ways I'd just buy a notebook.

Last edited by quartal; 02-07-2010 at 04:04 AM.
quartal is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 02-07-2010, 11:08 AM   #6
Ulli
(-:
Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.Ulli is no ebook tyro.
 
Ulli's Avatar
 
Posts: 667
Karma: 1310
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Frankonia
Device: PocketBook 360°,302
I do reading of physical and chemical expression in pdf on my PocketBook and its working very well. The only bug i found with that, is that when you have some special signs there is a problem with the reflow of the pdf. But thats no problem because the zoom works anyway.

If you have a example pdf file you like to know how its displayed on a PocketBook you can PN me that file (up it on a 1klickhoster e.g. megaupload.com)
Ulli is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2010, 11:57 AM   #7
quartal
Junior Member
quartal began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 2
Karma: 10
Join Date: Feb 2010
Device: none
I have access to pretty big eBook library through my work and we have atleast quite many Wrox books available. Most of these books are in PDF-format.

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archi...-tutorial.aspx

I'm not quite sure how that would correspond to our PDFs, but atleast the formatting should atleast somehow follow a normal dev-book.

How would say.. 68 of 186, page 128 of 186 or 134 of 186 look like on the PocketBook? As far as I know it would require pretty good zooming options or bigger screen. what comes to the reflow.. don't really like some of the stuff I've seen.
quartal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2010, 09:32 PM   #8
greenapple
Evangelist
greenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enoughgreenapple will become famous soon enough
 
Posts: 404
Karma: 664
Join Date: Dec 2009
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle DX, Kobo Aura HD
A few of the ebook readers I have come across just don't have the horse-power to open large and complex PDFs. Some are very, very slow to turn the pages, others have difficulty rendering.
greenapple is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2010, 12:48 PM   #9
abq254
Member
abq254 began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 12
Karma: 10
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: none
Quote:
Originally Posted by quartal View Post
At the moment I wouldn't want to spend entirely too much for the device (iRex prices) ...
You could also get a second hand one. A few people are selling iLiads on the forum. If it fits your needs and budget then a used one may be better than one that does not fit your needs. Just a thought.
abq254 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Best ereader for PDF books Paulo Which one should I buy? 19 10-16-2010 07:41 PM
Which is the best ereader to read PDF ? familyhandh Which one should I buy? 42 09-03-2010 05:01 PM
eReader for PDF and annotations Echofox Which one should I buy? 3 09-03-2010 08:11 AM
What's the best PDF Ereader at the moment? mrpotts Which one should I buy? 22 07-17-2010 07:41 AM
i need an ereader for University technical books in pdf ziobleed Which one should I buy? 5 09-07-2008 12:55 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:09 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.