Hi Andrew,
I'm not a T3 owner, but I did use an HP iPaq Pocket PC for reading on for many years, using a number of different reading programs, so I'm very familiar with the general comparison between reading on a PDA and using the Reader.
As far as the physical machine goes, the Reader absolutely wipes the floor with a PDA. The 6", 800x600 eInk screen is just stunningly sharp and clear compared with any PDA. It's not backlit (eInk screen are opaque, so can't be backlit) and hence you need a level of light to read pretty much the same as you'd need for a paper book. A good reading lamp is an essential Reader "accessory"!
The other main advantage of the Reader is its battery life, which is phenomenal (although there does seem to be a wide variation between Readers, but even the worst of them is damned good). Personally, I read for at least an hour a day, and recharge my Reader perhaps once every 3 weeks. eInk, as I'm sure you know, uses no power to display a static image, so battery life is measured by "page turns" rather than hours of usage.
For reading a novel from cover to cover, the Reader can't be beaten by any PDA. Where it does fall down a little is on the "extra stuff". There's no "search" facility, and the file structure is "flat", which means that it gets unwieldy to store more than 100 or so books on it (you can easily store 100 books in the Reader's internal memory).
I've had my Reader now for about 4 months, and absolutely love it. I've read more books in the last 4 months than I did in the previous year, purely because reading on the Reader is such a good experience. It's about as close as you can come to reading a paper book.
Hope that's of some help to you. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions.
|