Grad Student... so lost...

[ccarleton]

I really like the idea of reading pdfs on a mobile device without backlight. I read so many pdfs throughout the week it's dizzying. It's rarely convenient to read them on laptop (of any size) and that doens't help the eye-strain issues. I'm having a lot of trouble trying to sort through the heaps of information on PDF formats and eBook readers. I'm using Ubuntu Hardy and want an eBook reader that I can read PDFs downloaded from online journal sources (JSTOR for example). Of course, the PDF will need to be resized somehow to allow for easy reading with a large font. It also has to be able to handle the occasional image or math equation (colour isn't an issue for me and this part doesn't have to be perfect). Are there any other academics out there who use one of these devices that can offer ideas? I's also like to see a post that shows images of the unit with a journal article displayed on the screen - both one that has been reformatted in some magical way and one that is just drag 'n dropped onto the unit as-is. Thanks in advance.

[basschick]

sounds like the closest you can come for now is the irex iliad.

[desertgrandma]

Welcome to MobileRead, ccarlton. If you can find answers to your question anywhere, you can find them here.

Do you do any reading for leisure, and if so, what do you like to read?

We have thousands of books here you can download to any format, even if you just want to read on your computer........Good luck.

[DesiLinguist]

I am in the exact same boat as you, ccarleton. I am a computer science graduate student and I want an e-book reader on which I can read not only books and novels but also conference and journal articles. While there is a lot of information available on these forums, it is a little intimidating for someone who is foraying into the e-reader world for the first time.

I also wholeheartedly second your screenshot request. I have found some screenshots on these forums in other posts but none in the manner that you suggest: academic articles displayed on the iliad (and other devices) with and without pre-processing. I think it would be very useful to see articles both in the single column (used for journals) and the two-column format (usually used for conferences and workshops). I can easily provide links to PDFs of both types to make it easier for any helpful soul to create the screenshots.

Single column pdf: here
Two column pdf: here

I hope that a fellow academic who has the same usage pattern as ours will help us out by posting the screenshots and provide some guidance.

[cbell]

I'm not a fellow academic with your usage patterns... but here's some iLiad screenshots of the 2 files. I used the iLiad's native PDF viewer and I didn't change the original files before loading them on my iLiad.

From wallcraft, with thanks: "To see the screenshots actual size, print to paper at 4.8" by 6.4" (160 ppi)."

[Gideon]

Something with a real big screen will certainly be best... but they are also very expensive.

I send my Kindle pdf's of journal articles all the time, and as long as they aren't too old (meaning the text is clear and OCR'd) the Kindle does a great job with them.

But not always.

Aside from a big screen, given the vagaries of JSTOR and such... there's not a lot of GOOD options. But some have good PDF options - I imagine they are about the same as the Kindle's, but I don't know.

The only other reason I'd suggest a Kindle is that it has, by far, the largest academic selection of books available. I read a lot of non-fiction and the other stores really drop the ball there.

Classics, of course, are available for all devices via the many online sources.

[DesiLinguist]

Wow, thank you so much for those screenshots, cbell! It looks like the iLiad doesn't have any problems with the pdfs and doesn't really require any pre-processing either. This is the default PDF viewer and not the third-party all-in-one iPDF software that I have seen others discuss on these forums? So, all of the functionality on the screen (annotation, page flipping etc.) is available? That's great! I am really leaning towards the iLiad now.

Gideon, the Kindle has tempted me strongly because of its easy availability in the US, the diverse selection available on the Amazon store and the Whispernet but I have just never seen how any images of how these PDFs would look on the Kindle. May be you could help out by providing such screenshots on your Kindle? BTW, I am eagerly awaiting the 9th February Amazon event in the hope that they will unveil a 2nd generation Kindle with better PDF support and a larger screen.

Thanks again, guys! This is really helpful.

[vivaldirules]

My firm recommendation to students (particularly those in technical fields) is that they stay away from portable ebook devices. The time you will spend dealing with them and with their limitations (particularly for PDFs) is far better spent studying. If you have to print the PDFs to see them well, be able to make notes and mark them up, see color graphics in high resolution, skip to different sections readily, etc. then expend the paper and ink on doing just that. It's far better than spending your precious time with a device which is simply a tool that is not yet up to the task.

[DesiLinguist]

vivaldirules, I understand your concern but for me, the benefits of having a single portable device in which I can carry my technical articles and my leisure reading far outweigh any minor inconveniences I would have in dealing with the device.

I have further questions for iLiad owners:

(a) I understand that the wi-fi in iLiad v2 is only of very limited use and can't really be used to browse the internet, for example. Can it be turned off to save battery life, though?

(b) Given that the iLiad book edition does not have wi-fi, does it have a larger battery life than iLiad v2? I see numbers like 15 hours ... are they realistic?

(c) Are there any external battery packs that one could use in case I wanted to make heavy use of the iLiad on, say, a 14 hour flight?

(d) Does the iLiad come with everything out of the box? Stylus, USB charging cable etc. I also see other styli for sale on some websites. Is the included stylus limited in some way?
Thanks again!

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by DesiLinguist

(a) I understand that the wi-fi in iLiad v2 is only of very limited use and can't really be used to browse the internet, for example. Can it be turned off to save battery life, though?

(b) Given that the iLiad book edition does not have wi-fi, does it have a larger battery life than iLiad v2? I see numbers like 15 hours ... are they realistic?

(c) Are there any external battery packs that one could use in case I wanted to make heavy use of the iLiad on, say, a 14 hour flight?

(d) Does the iLiad come with everything out of the box? Stylus, USB charging cable etc. I also see other styli for sale on some websites. Is the included stylus limited in some way?

The WiFi is off by default.

The battery life is always quoted with WiFi off. Somewhere in the 12-15 hour range is probably right, except that making notes with the stylus drains the battery faster.

The issue with external battery packs is that the travel hub is the charger. I don't know if there are work arounds to allow external power.

Everything you need is included.

[Gideon]

I'm getting some setup now. Should have a few types to show (just waiting for the files to show up on my Kindle)

[cbell]

You're welcome, DesiLinguist. Yes, I used the default iLiad PDF viewer and you have all available options: annotation, page flips, zoom, pan.

I wrote the comment on the 3rd screenshot with the default stylus. You can change the shade and thickness of the lines drawn by the stylus. You can erase annotations with the stylus, too.

I loaded up the browser on my iLiad (Midori) and took a look at the website you linked to above, http://aclweb.org. I could navigate around the site, but not browse the pages you linked to. Web browsing isn't great with the iLiad, it can be slow and buggy, but some sites are OK. e.g. Its easy to do a google search and I can send/receive emails via Fastmail (webmail) on my iLiad.

[DesiLinguist]

Originally Posted by Gideon

I'm getting some setup now. Should have a few types to show (just waiting for the files to show up on my Kindle)

Thank you so much, Gideon! I eagerly await these screenshots.

Originally Posted by cbell

You're welcome, DesiLinguist. Yes, I used the default iLiad PDF viewer and you have all available options: annotation, page flips, zoom, pan.

I wrote the comment on the 3rd screenshot with the default stylus. You can change the shade and thickness of the lines drawn by the stylus. You can erase annotations with the stylus, too.

I loaded up the browser on my iLiad (Midori) and took a look at the website you linked to above, http://aclweb.org. I could navigate around the site, but not browse the pages you linked to. Web browsing isn't great with the iLiad, it can be slow and buggy, but some sites are OK. e.g. Its easy to do a google search and I can send/receive emails via Fastmail (webmail) on my iLiad.

Thank you for going the extra mile, cbell, I really appreciate it! I wasn't even aware that you could do some form of web browsing on the iLiad.

BTW, I am sure this has been said on the forum before but this is a fantastic community and I am really glad I found it

[cbell]

There's some info and screenshots of my iLiad's browsers in this thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28846

For Google searches and browsing Mobileread's mobi version, the iLiad's great.

Note that you have to hack the iLiad to browse the internet and you lose your software warranty with iRex. See this thread for a warning: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37174

I'm glad you found us too!

[vanessen]

I am a graduate student in CS and I bought the iRex DR1000s with similar intent. So far it has been wonderful for reading PDFs downloaded from online journals. Most articles are perfectly readable without modification and the DR1000s will auto-crop of the whitespace in the margins, and there is a zoom to bounding box feature for those that that are a bit too small to read otherwise. At the moment, there is minimal support for power management, but that is supposed to be rectified with a new firmware update in the next few days. However, until that firmware is shown to solve the currently known issues, it is best to really understand the current limitations of the device.