Which Readers Have Zoom?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Because the vast majority of my ebooks will be scanned PDFs (I'm scanning all my paperbooks), I need a reader that can zoom in on the page so the text will fill the screen, especially when in landscape, and scroll vertically within the image. Does anyone know of any e-ink readers that can do that?

[HarryT]

The answer is that most of them do. However, viewing a scanned image on a page that is smaller than the original image is never going to be a pleasant experience. This is an application for which something like the iPad will be way better than an eInk device.

[vxf]

You want the SONY PRS900.

Frankly, I don't have much experience with ebook readers, so I can't compare. But the PRS900 does have the features you describe/want.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The i-Pad is too expensive and heavy, battery life is too short, and the LCD will have a lower resolution than e-ink and be more tiring on the eyes. It's also made by Apple.

I haven't seen the PRS900 but the smaqller readers I have seen have a horrible time with glare and I've read the glare is as bad on the PRS900. Also, the smaller Sony's didn't have as good screen resolution and contrast as the 6" Astek I've tried. I've read the contrast and resolution is even poorer with the PRS900.

[flyash]

Not sure what size you're looking for, but of the 6" readers, I think the Sony 600 is best for pdf. It has zoom and you can pan around the page. I don't use the zoom much, as I find cropped PDFs in landscape mode work pretty well on the 600. If there's an occasional chart or table, I can use the zoom on that. For very technical PDFs with lots of charts/tables, you'll definitely want to go up in size, and you may want color, at which point you may be better served by an iPad.

As for the glare on the Sony touchscreens, it bothers some and doesn't bother others. It bothers me, but I've noticed a big difference depending on lighting conditions. Under good lighting, the differential between the Sony touchscreen and pure e-ink screens is greatly diminished, IMHO. Under poor lighting, I find pure e-ink to be easier to read. Of course, under really poor lighting, all e-ink screens suck, and you need a backlit screen.

[Dulin's Books]

PocketBook Readers and Onyx Boox have Persistent Zoom- meaning you set the zoom level per book and it sticks as you turn pages. When last I checked Sony readers did not, so you had to re-zoom on each page turn.

Both companies also offer multiple zoom levels up to 400% and to height, to width, full page etc.

PocketBook also offers multiple column zoom. you select how many columns the PDF has and then the device will scroll through each column when you "turn the page".

Boox 60s wacom screen gives you fantastic control over panning- you just drag the document around the display.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Because the vast majority of my ebooks will be scanned PDFs (I'm scanning all my paperbooks), I need a reader that can zoom in on the page so the text will fill the screen, especially when in landscape, and scroll vertically within the image. Does anyone know of any e-ink readers that can do that?

I'm going to have to agree with Harry, about scanned PDF not being too pleasant. It is a pain to zoom and the load times are much slower since it has to render the PDF page as a graphic and not text.

But I've been there done that, and being able to read an imaged based PDF is better than not having a imaged based PDF.

There are some tools that do make the PDF reading experience better. Tools like PDFLRF, PDFReader, and PaperCrop.

My two favorite tools are PaperCrop and soPDF (though BRISS is pretty darn good too).
All of the apps I've mentioned can be found here go to the PDF section for more info

I like PaperCrop(link) the best because it can reflow the image so the image can fit in your readers resolution and no panning/zooming is needed. Also you can chose how much you want to crop off on your PDF so you can exclude titles and page numbers to reduce the amount of useless text making the final PDF easier to read on your book.

Kindle DX 9" screen has zoom but bigger screen will require less zooming

Irex 8", but they are filling chapter 11.

Sony 600/900 has zooming. Scalable zoom, you pan by touching the edge of the screen you want to pan too.

Kindle Fixed zooms pan by moving joystick.


After the 2.5.2 FW release I think the Kindle DX and Kindle 2 are the best choices, with the Sony's as a second choice.

If you use the tools I mentioned above to remove the need to zoom, then the experience between the 600 vs K2 will be minimal.

Originally Posted by flyash

Not sure what size you're looking for, but of the 6" readers, I think the Sony 600 is best for pdf. It has zoom and you can pan around the page. I don't use the zoom much, as I find cropped PDFs in landscape mode work pretty well on the 600.

Prior to the Kindle 2.5.2 release I would have agreed with you. The Sony Zoom/Reflow was the best PDF support.

But the Kindle 2.5.2 PDF zoom feature is quite nice. The things that make the Zoom better on the Kindle is the Zoom sticks so you don't lose the zoom level when you change the page. Also the way you pan on the kindle is by using a joystick which is conveniently placed, next to the page next button so one does not have to move their hand. It's also much easier to pan with a joystick than having to tap the edges of the screen screen ever time you want to pan.

[Roger Parkinson]

When you say 'scanning the paperbacks' do mean (I guess this is obvious) running them through a scanner and saving each page as an image? Lots of scanners have an OCR facility so that you end up with a text file instead of an image. This is probably fiddly to get right but you'd be able to end up with something you could turn into whatever format you wanted (pdf, mobi etc). You could expect some 'typos' because OCR isn't perfect but that might be better than images.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I downloaded Briss the other day, unzipped it and just stared at it. I couldn't figure out how to use the damned thing.

By scanned PDFs I mean cutting off the spines and running them through an ADF scanner. I have over 1100 books to do and OCR just takes too long, not to mention the errors that would be annoying at best if I didn't edit the books. I just don't have that kind of time. The scans I get now look just fine (nice sharp characters with high contrast; even yellowed pages come out nice and white); I just need something that can read them other than a computer.

[dorino]

The 900 and 600 model Sonys have the best zoom support that I know of. Pan and zoom via the touch screens. Very handy.

[flyash]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

I downloaded Briss the other day, unzipped it and just stared at it. I couldn't figure out how to use the damned thing.

Very quick mini-BRISS tutorial (based on my limited understanding of what the program is doing, so those more knowledgeable please correct me):
1. BRISS groups different pages together, which is why it will sort all the odd text pages together, all the even text pages together, and the front and back cover separately (unless the covers fit within the margins of the text pages).
2. On the 'text' pages, sometimes you'll see darker text, and some lighter text at the left and right margins of the block of text. Basically, BRISS is overlaying all the pages of the same 'type', and while all the pages have text in the main area of the block, only some pages will text at the far right or far left of the block, so BRISS shows the text there as lighter.
3. For each page 'type' or grouping, you select the area that you want to remain viewable (so create a box around the text you want to keep).
4. Crop and save new file.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by flyash

Very quick mini-BRISS tutorial (based on my limited understanding of what the program is doing, so those more knowledgeable please correct me):
1. BRISS groups different pages together, which is why it will sort all the odd text pages together, all the even text pages together, and the front and back cover separately (unless the covers fit within the margins of the text pages).
2. On the 'text' pages, sometimes you'll see darker text, and some lighter text at the left and right margins of the block of text. Basically, BRISS is overlaying all the pages of the same 'type', and while all the pages have text in the main area of the block, only some pages will text at the far right or far left of the block, so BRISS shows the text there as lighter.
3. For each page 'type' or grouping, you select the area that you want to remain viewable (so create a box around the text you want to keep).
4. Crop and save new file.

All that is nice but how the hell do you start and use the damned thing! I am not a geek. If doesn't say PRESS HERE, DO THIS, I'm screwed!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by dorino

The 900 and 600 model Sonys have the best zoom support that I know of. Pan and zoom via the touch screens. Very handy.

Read my earlier post about the Sonys.

[dorino]

briss-0.0.8.jar

double click that to run it after you've extracted it. You need Java installed.

And technically, the resolution on the 600 is the same as the 6" Astek, I believe. Worse contrast, though.

[vxf]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Read my earlier post about the Sonys.

You mean the post on which you say that you haven't tried a PRS-900? No offense, but that isn't very useful feedback.

Ok, ok, I am just kidding. But the PRS900 is a pretty handy device, and probably the one that best fits OP's needs.

But oh well, everyone has their opinion and, without a doubt, there is some glare on the PRS900. But it's not too bad, in my opinion - and certainly less than on previous readers by SONY.