To all who have contributed to this particular thread. All really good contributions.
Lately, I have been thinking more about "workflow" and not just reader features. What do I mean by workflow?
Well, when I need to research information in one of my many 8 1/2 x 11" formatted manuals,
all of the information I need to find is not necessarily in one manual or one chapter. I find many times that a section in one manual sends me over to another manual--or to a different page or chapter in the same manual--where I might also be referred again to yet a 3rd manual. Sounds cumbersome, yes, but it's real life for me. So at my desk, on occasion, I might have 2 or 3 manuals open at different pages, taking up the entire real estate of my desk!
My wife has a Kindle 3 and I played with it a little last night. As everyone knows, the pearl screen is phenomenal, but I did notice a little refresh flicker with every page turn. Page turns are plenty fast for sequential reading, such as would be the case reading a novel, but I could not visualize a scenario where I needed to quickly browse, back and forth between chapters, let alone opening closing different books.
I think having a touch screen with or without stylus would help some, since one would not have to sequentially press a D-Pad to move the cursor from link-to-link to make choices. But still, I'm coming to the conclusion that for technical reference kinds of work, fast document open and close times, and super fast page swipes would pretty much be a necessity. That probably means a device with a 1Ghz (or even dual core) processor such as iPad or one of the Android slates. And said device still would need to support hyperlinks, TOC, and all the other features we have been discussing here in this thread.
Yes, I would have to deal with the heavier weight. Many of the Android slates are coming out in 16:9 aspect ratio, which makes for less than desirable use as an e-reader. The 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad is really ideal, but I am still skeptical about its closed platform--no USB (except for camera usage), no tethering over USB or bluetooth, no extendible storage. As as the other tablets go, I believe that the HP Touchpad will also be in this format, and in the Android world, the Viewsonic G Pad and maybe the Xoom is close. The Archos 101 unfortunately is a very narrow 16:9 screen otherwise from weight and cost standpoint I would give it close consideration. I haven't seen the forthcoming 10" version of the Samsung Galaxy yet. Does anyone here have any specific Android experience especially with respect to the field of available PDF readers for that platform?
Thanks again for posting to this thread; please keep the ideas flowing!
Neil
