Best for Manga? Kindle 1 VS. PRS-505

[itsmattxp]

For the past few days I've been reading through numerous articles and threads about which ereader to get for manga. I plan on putting tons of manga on this device so the more storage the better, hence I am not considering the Kindle 2 since it has no SD expansion slot. This ereader would be something I put tons of the scans that I have on my computer onto something I can just hold and read anywhere.

If I were to get a Kindle 1 I would probably buy a 32 GB SD Card to put inside of it but I'm not sure if that would actually work... None of the threads that I have read showed anyone attempting this but someone did post a comment on an article that it did work. Just want some confirmation on this. The PRS-505 is about $70 more expensive than the old Kindle 1 and has upgradeable memory up to 16 GB through a memory stick duo so the memory would be cheaper, not the reader. I'm wondering if the 8 shades of grey vs 4 shades of grey make a huge difference? I'm leaning toward the PRS 505 but I have gotten an offer of a Kindle 1 for ~$80 so I'm not sure which one to choose. Any help would be appreciated thanks!

Edit: Maybe a BN Nook is better than both?

[ProfCrash]

I have saw a video of a DX Graphite being used to read Manga and it was awesome. I would think that the 16 grey scale screen with better contrast would work better for you then the K1.

I have the K1 and the DXG and there is no doubt that the screen on the DXG is better. It holds 3,500 books so you should be able to store a decent amount of manga on it.

[itsmattxp]

Well I've done some more research on the subject and which would be best suited for me.

Kindle 1: The other versions of the Kindle would be nice but because they do not have an SD card expansion slot, I will have to pass. There is 4 GB storage in the Kindle DX and 2 GB in the Kindle 2 and that will not be enough because one of my manga series alone is 2 gigs. The pros though are that I can get the Kindle 1 relatively cheaper than the rest ~$80, I like the keyboard idea over touch screen, and the program Mangle seems to convert Manga extremely well for the reader. It also has internet through 3G connection. The cons are I'm not sure if 4 shades of grey are enough, the Kindle 1 might be very outdated compared to the competition out there, and I'm not sure what the maximum size SD card the Kindle 1 will accept i.e 8 gb,16 gb, or 32 gb.

B&N Nook: I was looking into the Nook because it has an expansion slot for memory, up to 16 GB, has 16 shades of grey, whiter screen, and is roughly near the amount I'm willing to spend for a reader ~150 dollars. I don't really like the fact that it uses a touch screen and I've heard that the refresh rate between pages is very slow. I'm not sure if they addressed this issue with the firmware updates but if they did that's great. The 3G connection is only for the book store? Maybe I'm wrong but it also supports Wi-Fi which would be the one I'd probaby get. I've read that the Nook has some landscaping problems which could be bad because the main use if not the only use I would use the eReader is to read manga. I could also softroot it.

Sony PRS 505: This was the eReader I was going to get before I was offered a Kindle 1, and learned about the amount of shades of grey the Nook has. Many people have commented that the 505 is very well built and I have read that manga is read very efficiently on it. I like the buttons on it and that it accepts memory stick and sd cards to increase storage up to 10 Gbs. The only problem is that I would have to buy it from eBay and they range from $150 - 200 dollars used. 505s only have 8 shades of grey compared to the Nooks 16 shades of grey. It has no internet connection but that isn't really a problem because I already have the scans I would like on my computer. Manga is easily put on the reader through Calibre.

6 inch screen isn't really a problem for me because anything bigger might be out of my price range. Once again I'm using this about 90% for manga and 10% for other reading. Any other suggested readers would be nice, and any comments are welcomed. Thanks!

[ProfCrash]

The K3 has the new screen and 4 GB of memory. This is the DX Grpahite video I referenced in my earlier post. The K3 6 inch would be smaller but the screen is the same and the page turn rate is the same. You can pick one up for $189 with 3G and Wi Fi or a Wi Fi version for $139.

I read posts from people who used 32 GB cards on their K1s. Most of them ended up having problems with indexing taking forever and draining the battery. Kindle Boards has an SD card topic that goes back to the K1 and discussion on what type of cards people used and what problems they had.

It was rumored that Amazon dropped the SD card option because CS had to help a ton of folks through problems caused by indexing.

[Noah98]

If you are not averse to an LCD device rather than an eink one, I would suggest buying and hacking (very easy to do) the Pandigital Novel. It has an SD card slot, and a swappable internal micro SD card slot.

You can use the following:

Android Comic Viewer: Very nice for .cbr and .cbz files with lots of viewing options

Adobe Reader, Beamreader, or Documents to Go: Very nice for PDF comic files. Can zoom and pan with the touchscreen, reflow text.

Barnes and Noble, Kindle, Borders/Kobo, Aldiko, FBReader, Wordplayer, etc.: Great programs for reading ebooks, PDF's (reflow), or comics that have been converted to epubs or other formats.

The Pandigital Novel has pretty good battery life (about six hours), color, fast page turns, and serves as a decent tablet (web, email, casual games, etc.)

With the $20 rebate from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and a coupon found online (just sign up on their site to receive emails), after taxes, mine came to $124.

[itsmattxp]

Originally Posted by Noah98

If you are not averse to an LCD device rather than an eink one, I would suggest buying and hacking (very easy to do) the Pandigital Novel. It has an SD card slot, and a swappable internal micro SD card slot.

You can use the following:

Android Comic Viewer: Very nice for .cbr and .cbz files with lots of viewing options

Adobe Reader, Beamreader, or Documents to Go: Very nice for PDF comic files. Can zoom and pan with the touchscreen, reflow text.

Barnes and Noble, Kindle, Borders/Kobo, Aldiko, FBReader, Wordplayer, etc.: Great programs for reading ebooks, PDF's (reflow), or comics that have been converted to epubs or other formats.

The Pandigital Novel has pretty good battery life (about six hours), color, fast page turns, and serves as a decent tablet (web, email, casual games, etc.)

With the $20 rebate from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and a coupon found online (just sign up on their site to receive emails), after taxes, mine came to $124.

I'm not really against an LCD screen but I think LCD screens give you glare? I've just read up one it a bit and it seems that the firmware is a bit clunky still as well. Is there anyway you can provide pictures with it viewing manga? Thanks!