Best reader for "technical" pdfs? (Charts, graphs, images)

[ibex333]

I know the iPad is great for this stuff, but it is heavy on the eyes because of the LCD screen.


Kindle DX looks good. But can it pan across the screen if something doesn't fit? and I heard it cannot zoom?! Unacceptable.


None of the readers with screens below 10" will do for this task either... or will they? Any of you tried reading books about computer programming, or graphic design? On my Nook Classic, all the charts and images get torn apart or more commonly, pages simply wont fit within the screen.

[hughes]

Of the E Ink ereaders, Sony Readers have the best PDF support due to their use of the official Adobe Mobile PDF reader, but you're right that displays smaller than a Kindle's DX 9.7 inch screen are a liability for viewing PDF. Even Sonys ability to reflow isn't ideal.

PDF really is a page display language, and if the page doesn't fit on a display, the compromises are not going to be perfect.

[Dulin's Books]

Onyx and PocketBook have PDF support equal to Sony's. Sony was actually quite behind for awhile because they didnt offer persistent zoom- keeping the same zoom page after page and remembering the zoom level for later.

Does the 950 have selection zoom now? select an area and zoom it to full screen?

Kindle DX is the worst of the bunch with PDFs

[ibex333]

Unfortunately the Onyx is way too expensive right now.

[Dulin's Books]

its the same price as a DXG and it has digitizer pen input that the DXG does not.

[levil]

As for PDFs I actually like what I've seen so far on the Kobo Touch and this is why I am considering buying. I read a lot of technical PDFs that are often really shitty when it comes to embedding text. Three columns and the embedded test is the first line for each columns, then the second line for each column Figures and tables get lost. Font size changes in the embedding. Total crap documents. So I like how the Kobo Touch shows me the document as is, lets me go landscape, zoom into a column and lets me navigate with tap and drag.

[tvg]

Originally Posted by ibex333

I know the iPad is great for this stuff, but it is heavy on the eyes because of the LCD screen.

hi,

we could start a whole debate about photons reflecting from e-ink (or a real book) being different from potons coming from an lcd, but lets not do that

From my experience i have these remarks for your consideration:

-1-
most people have their lcd's intensity cranked up WAY to much compared to the light around them. typically: reduce it to 30% or less. that seems dim, but will be a great read without being heavy on the eyes. Keep on adjusting when the light around you changes (e.g. in the evening)

-2-
Reading in the sun will be impossible on an lcd

-3-
reflection on an ipad is sometimes bad.

-4-
part of reading, especially with technical publications is annotation and quickly flipping back and forth, zooming in on a graphic etc.. Even though e-readers have improved, for me they are still much to slow for this usecase.

Concluding: for me the only candidate for this type of reading is still a full fledged computer/laptop or the ipad/adroid lcd tablet.