Quote:
Originally Posted by confusednow
Having both systems (K3 and PRS650), which would you recommend if my only main concern is reading? So not fussed about wifi, mp3, extended memory, etc., but your recommendation based on just pure reading experience.
I get most of my books in pdf, but am ok to convert them to either mobi or epub, so got to take into account what you wrote in regards to conversion issues, especially with figures and tables.
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Essentially, I need to answer this as two questions. Remember, this is only personal opinion.
If your main concern is reading, with lots of text and very little picture/illustration, unfortunately, my recommendation actually would go to Kindle 3. The reason being
-K3 seems to have better fonts which increases readability and contrast. I imaging if Reader does get rooted again, this could change
-contrary to darex2, I actually think the buttons on K3 works extremely well, for just reading and flipping pages. Reader's flip buttons are below screen and not ergonomic. on prs 600 the swipe doesn't register easily so you can't use one hand to hold and flip page. Now you can do that easier since it's not a "pressure" touch screen, but still, I think Kindle's buttons are way better for just reading and flipping pages. a simple test, take a book, lie down in bed and hold your book in the air, can you use one hand to hold it up and try to swipe or push the bottom of the book cover easily? Not really. can you do the same thing but this time push the edge of the middle of the book? It's definitely easier.
the second question, concerning PDF/mobi/epub.
-Calibre converts a few of my test epub into mobi very easily. This has to do with epub being a very structured format thus can be more easily converted. I actually have never converted PDF into mobi/epub as most of my collection is in EPUB. Maybe another person can give insight into this.
-if your PDF is a scanned book PDF, ie, contains all images of each page from a book, there is no doubt, from me, that any, ANY of the 6" device will not work very well. You are most likely have to zoom to have a better read and zooming on both device is inconvenient. Some may say one is better than another, but for me, any kind of zooming cut into reading experience very badly.
-as far as I know (please correct me), I can't find any kind of setting in conversion for Calibre while I was doing epub -> mobi. Graphic conversion usually need to be tweaked. conversion of a graph/table should have a different setting then a picture of a whale. and this make a difference to the result.
Essentially, after all that wordy points, my conclusion is this
-pure reading experience, with epub(converted)/text/mobi..etc, little illustration and pictures, Kindle 3
-Mostly a PDF collection, you are better off with a 10" device which I have no experience with. The conversion is more steps to do and may not produce the result you want. You might as well get a device that can view PDF as a PDF. From my experience, 6" devices WILL NOT WORK
WELL and you won't enjoy it very much(i've also owned a Nook for a week or so and that won't work for PDF either)
-versatility, sony Reader no doubt. I have to admit that being able to use EPUB is very important to me. EPUB means that I can set style and font and manage other minute aspects of a book myself. If things are broken in K3, you are pretty much screwed.
-usage, reader wins, because touch screen is just better to use. That directional pad on K3 is horrible. It's very hard to navigate without accidentally pushing the middle button. They should have made the directions wider and thicker and middle button smaller. i believe amazon went with form over function on that one. and like darex2 mentioned, the keyboard is rarely used.
i think in the end, the $140 K3 will probably still take majority of the e-reader because it's general appeal is good. Sony Reader will still capture the power users because they demand more versatility and build quality. I think Sony was right saying that they are "aiming at the premium product category" This new iteration definitely did that.