MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - In defence of PPC/PDA/Nokia tablet: ebook readers

flumbo · 03-09-2008, 03:32 AM

I have a Sony Reader but come from years of reading on PDA devices. I used the Sony Reader a lot the first year but found myself moving back towards pocket sized devices. The "next page" buttons also started to act up and don't function reliably anymore. Now I haven't powered up my Reader in months and don't miss it. I've decided that for me the priorities are:

1. Pocketability-- I don't want to carry a big device
2. Backlight-- For some reason my place just isn't set up for convenient light for an eink device and the Sony Reader screen doesn't work for long in direct sunlight.
3. Battery Life-- Need at least 6+ hours of battery for long plane flights
4. Screen Resolution/Size-- I don't need a lot of text on the screen as I don't mind clicking next repeatedly. It is important to me to be able to increase the size of the text until it is very big to reduce eye strain.

Of the devices I still have:

My Tmobile Dash has a screen that has good resolution but the screen size is a little too small and it isn't very readable outdoors. The battery also drains fast with the screen on.

My old Palm T3 screen was just about right and it is the most comfortable to hold but the battery life was poor and it wasn't very visible outdoors.

My Sony Reader has great battery life but is too big to carry with me and I find lighting the screen difficult. I also find the font size even on the biggest setting to often be too small. I still pack this when traveling as a backup.

My HP TC1100 tablet pc is too heavy to hold comfortably and has poor battery life.

My iPod Touch has a great screen, excellent outdoor readability and good battery life but the software is still missing many features and getting recent books can be difficult. It also isn't the most comfortable device to hold-- very slippery, too thin, with sharp corners on the front.

Right now my device of choice is a jailbreaked iPod Touch mostly for the convergence of features. I'm hoping Mobipocket or eReader will produce software for the SDK in June. If so I'll probably move on to the next version of the iPhone as my reading platform.

03-09-2008, 03:32 AM	#23
flumbo I got nothin... Posts: 127 Karma: 302 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Hawaii	I have a Sony Reader but come from years of reading on PDA devices. I used the Sony Reader a lot the first year but found myself moving back towards pocket sized devices. The "next page" buttons also started to act up and don't function reliably anymore. Now I haven't powered up my Reader in months and don't miss it. I've decided that for me the priorities are: 1. Pocketability-- I don't want to carry a big device 2. Backlight-- For some reason my place just isn't set up for convenient light for an eink device and the Sony Reader screen doesn't work for long in direct sunlight. 3. Battery Life-- Need at least 6+ hours of battery for long plane flights 4. Screen Resolution/Size-- I don't need a lot of text on the screen as I don't mind clicking next repeatedly. It is important to me to be able to increase the size of the text until it is very big to reduce eye strain. Of the devices I still have: My Tmobile Dash has a screen that has good resolution but the screen size is a little too small and it isn't very readable outdoors. The battery also drains fast with the screen on. My old Palm T3 screen was just about right and it is the most comfortable to hold but the battery life was poor and it wasn't very visible outdoors. My Sony Reader has great battery life but is too big to carry with me and I find lighting the screen difficult. I also find the font size even on the biggest setting to often be too small. I still pack this when traveling as a backup. My HP TC1100 tablet pc is too heavy to hold comfortably and has poor battery life. My iPod Touch has a great screen, excellent outdoor readability and good battery life but the software is still missing many features and getting recent books can be difficult. It also isn't the most comfortable device to hold-- very slippery, too thin, with sharp corners on the front. Right now my device of choice is a jailbreaked iPod Touch mostly for the convergence of features. I'm hoping Mobipocket or eReader will produce software for the SDK in June. If so I'll probably move on to the next version of the iPhone as my reading platform.