I’m new to this forum and don’t yet own an e-book reader. I’ve wanted an e-book reader that doesn’t exist for several years. Until recently didn’t find one that appeared even close.
I’m from Texas and, predictably, have worked in the oil industry for the last 32 years. I currently work in Saudi Arabia, which brings with it its own set of challenges.
Most of the e-reading I would do would involve classic literature, most of which is available free in PDF format – some reflowable and some image based and therefore not; technical manuals and literature related to the oil industry – mostly image based PDF’s and not reflowable; and books, periodicals, catalogs and manuals in PDF format related to my hobbies – the shooting sports and motor cycles. I also would use an e-reader to read a number of work or personal documents which are now in Microsoft Word DOC format, but which could be converted to RTF or TXT. I really hate TXT though.
So I need a large format reader to handle non-reflowable, mostly 8-1/2x11, PDF’s and would place a high value on the ability to reflow reflowable PDFs.
Being able to play MP-3’s would be a minor “nice to have” but not that important.
My camera’s all take SD cards and it would be nice if the e-reader used the same instead of CF cards and I hate Sony memory cards. I can get SD cards in every country I’ve ever been in. The others can be a real problem, particularly the Sony.
I like the idea of a true USB port capability and not just a slave USB port like a camera has, so that I could load documents from USB memory sticks. Not a deal breaker, but definitely nice to have.
I need an automatic switching 100V-250V charger with adapters to every conceivable wall plug. Wall plug configuration is no guarantee of what voltage its running and the locals often have no clue what their own voltage is. The Philippines uses U.S. style wall outlets but 220 volts. Riyadh uses the big British 220 style outlets but runs them 110 – and both the outlet style and voltage vary from town to town in Saudi.
I’m not a techie and therefore don’t upgrade to the latest thing. I use a device until it falls apart. My PDA is an old Palm I think I bought in ’98. I still use the Texas Instruments SR-50 I bought in 1974. My cell phone is a phone – no bells and whistles. When the battery won’t take a charge any more I don’t want to start over learning the idiosyncrasies of a new device. So a user replaceable battery is a big plus for me. Lack of that feature is one reason I don’t own an IPOD.
I’m not sure I want WiFi because I don’t know what that means in relation to a e-reader. Does it mean and can check email and cruise the internet or only just tie to a site like Amazon to buy books? Can I turn the WiFi feature off so I can use the e-reader to read on a plane?
The iRex Iliad looks like it might do. Not everything I want but most of it. And apparently available now. The screen is a bit small and no PDF reflow. Is this as good as it gets for the foreseeable future or should I wait for the 9.7” Astak Mentor?
I’ve looked at the thread here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22658
The Iliad apparently has a real USB port. Robertb doesn’t seem to know this about the Mentor. He’s obviously a marketing type and even less a techie than me – if that’s even possible. He was asked if the Mentor would reflow PDF’s (the Iliad won’t) about ½ way through the thread, but he never answered that question.
So – should I get an Iliad, wait for the 9.7” Mentor, or is there something that would fill my needs better - either already available or soon to be available?