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bogdaniosif · 11-02-2010, 04:42 PM

The 16 GB iPad costs 490 EUR in Bucharest and the Pocketbook 903 costs ~430 EUR (I included shipping because Pocketbook is not able to sell the 903 to their neighbors in the south, I have to order it from Germany and buy without touching. The iPad can be bought from a lot of local places though.).

So the lousy 60 EUR are the big savings gained by using a crappy CPU that is also present in my 3 year old Nokia N82? That will not fly. If we also add the price for a 16 GB SD card then it gets scary close.

Or maybe we should compare weight? 680g vs 584g. Again. Where are the big savings?

I perfectly agree that the 903 is very different from an iPad and that the eInk screen is incomparably better for reading. I'm judging these devices just by price, weight and capabilities as ereaders and I don't care much about any other features of the iPad. Also, the comparison was made to clarify that it is possible to have a custom, non-Adobe library based, PDF editor on an ARM device (In the Apple store there are at least two vendors selling apps with this capability, so it doesn't take a genius to write it.). I have seen both the iPad and some eInk screens and for all of the latter's virtues, it must be mentioned that there are some reading aspects where the eInk is crap. For example typing notes, searching and fast browsing through a book is much much better on the iPad, not to mention how cool the glossy color magazines look. Can you imagine the sadness of reading Top Gear on the 903?

Unfortunately for my eInk hungry eyes, I'm not religious about this technology and I will buy an iPad over the 903 if the latter doesn't have PDF annotation support because if the 903 can't be a better PDF reader than the 2$ GoodReader app for the iPad then all the other great features of the iPad outweigh eInk.

Annotating a book is a central part of the reading experience, especially for academic purposes. The 903 has, by design, hardware and software added precisely for annotation support. If one doesn't need this, one can get the 902. What I demand when I pull my wallet out is for that software to be able to annotate PDFs using the mechanism provided by the PDF specification. I do not care about economic or technical reasons why this would be difficult. Cry me a river but make it work.

There are many very good features in the 903 and I think it's close, if not the best, ereader ever made. I'm considering it very seriously over the iPad, which I've delayed for 2 months already just to get a handle on the 903. PDF annotation are, unfortunately, of critical importance to me and it's very frustrating to see this device come so close and yet failing to meet my minimum requirements.

11-02-2010, 04:42 PM	#17
bogdaniosif Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: PocketBook 90x OR iPad	The 16 GB iPad costs 490 EUR in Bucharest and the Pocketbook 903 costs ~430 EUR (I included shipping because Pocketbook is not able to sell the 903 to their neighbors in the south, I have to order it from Germany and buy without touching. The iPad can be bought from a lot of local places though.). So the lousy 60 EUR are the big savings gained by using a crappy CPU that is also present in my 3 year old Nokia N82? That will not fly. If we also add the price for a 16 GB SD card then it gets scary close. Or maybe we should compare weight? 680g vs 584g. Again. Where are the big savings? I perfectly agree that the 903 is very different from an iPad and that the eInk screen is incomparably better for reading. I'm judging these devices just by price, weight and capabilities as ereaders and I don't care much about any other features of the iPad. Also, the comparison was made to clarify that it is possible to have a custom, non-Adobe library based, PDF editor on an ARM device (In the Apple store there are at least two vendors selling apps with this capability, so it doesn't take a genius to write it.). I have seen both the iPad and some eInk screens and for all of the latter's virtues, it must be mentioned that there are some reading aspects where the eInk is crap. For example typing notes, searching and fast browsing through a book is much much better on the iPad, not to mention how cool the glossy color magazines look. Can you imagine the sadness of reading Top Gear on the 903? Unfortunately for my eInk hungry eyes, I'm not religious about this technology and I will buy an iPad over the 903 if the latter doesn't have PDF annotation support because if the 903 can't be a better PDF reader than the 2$ GoodReader app for the iPad then all the other great features of the iPad outweigh eInk. Annotating a book is a central part of the reading experience, especially for academic purposes. The 903 has, by design, hardware and software added precisely for annotation support. If one doesn't need this, one can get the 902. What I demand when I pull my wallet out is for that software to be able to annotate PDFs using the mechanism provided by the PDF specification. I do not care about economic or technical reasons why this would be difficult. Cry me a river but make it work. There are many very good features in the 903 and I think it's close, if not the best, ereader ever made. I'm considering it very seriously over the iPad, which I've delayed for 2 months already just to get a handle on the 903. PDF annotation are, unfortunately, of critical importance to me and it's very frustrating to see this device come so close and yet failing to meet my minimum requirements.