MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How to read e-books on (almost) any phone

mogui · 09-27-2007, 10:59 PM

Yesterday I went window shopping for a PDA phone. A year ago they were hard to find. Palm seems to have no market here. Now they are everywhere in abundance. There are dozens of choices. For the most part, the manufacturers are Chinese.

It is easy to find a quarter VGA (320x240) color touch screen that is sharp and readable. These machines offer an ebook reader. Typically there are two SIM slots with a micro SD slot as well. SD capacities go up to 1G; quite sufficient for a phone. They are GSM phones. I didn't see any quad band phones, but I would guess they are out there. The PDA phones in the larger more reputable shops have an unidentifiable operating system. It seems they all use the same one. It could be Linux or Symbian or even something else.

These phones feature a file manager that lets you browse the file system and tap on files to cause them to play/display. Many have speakers on the back to allow you to play your MP3s as though the machine were an old-style transistor radio.

What surprised me was the price. A full-featured brand name phone at a good store was under 2000 RMB (US$266). But there are many little shops with roll-up garage doors and someone sitting at a glass display counter. These shops are about 3 meters wide, or less. The PDA phones offered there were cheaper and different.

The low cost PDA phones were typically around 1000 RMB (US$133). They looked good and worked well. Some of them had absolutely no branding whatsoever. They used a very familiar operating system with Mobile in the name. Legitimately licensed? Maybe not at this price. But one never knows, with deals being made all the time.

Snow went with me as my translator and purchasing agent. Chinese women are very good at dickering for price. She was of the opinion that the cheaper phones were of low quality. I came close to buying one for 1000 RMB. It had everything I wanted including an ebook reader. Snow said, "Don't buy it." So I didn't.

I may buy one of the better ones in the coming weeks. Before I do I will find a way to put a few English books on an SD card to test how well they display. maybe I will carry a laptop and card reader to the store.

09-27-2007, 10:59 PM	#9
mogui eNigma Posts: 503 Karma: 1335 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Philippines Device: HTC G1 Android FBReader	Yesterday I went window shopping for a PDA phone. A year ago they were hard to find. Palm seems to have no market here. Now they are everywhere in abundance. There are dozens of choices. For the most part, the manufacturers are Chinese. It is easy to find a quarter VGA (320x240) color touch screen that is sharp and readable. These machines offer an ebook reader. Typically there are two SIM slots with a micro SD slot as well. SD capacities go up to 1G; quite sufficient for a phone. They are GSM phones. I didn't see any quad band phones, but I would guess they are out there. The PDA phones in the larger more reputable shops have an unidentifiable operating system. It seems they all use the same one. It could be Linux or Symbian or even something else. These phones feature a file manager that lets you browse the file system and tap on files to cause them to play/display. Many have speakers on the back to allow you to play your MP3s as though the machine were an old-style transistor radio. What surprised me was the price. A full-featured brand name phone at a good store was under 2000 RMB (US$266). But there are many little shops with roll-up garage doors and someone sitting at a glass display counter. These shops are about 3 meters wide, or less. The PDA phones offered there were cheaper and different. The low cost PDA phones were typically around 1000 RMB (US$133). They looked good and worked well. Some of them had absolutely no branding whatsoever. They used a very familiar operating system with Mobile in the name. Legitimately licensed? Maybe not at this price. But one never knows, with deals being made all the time. Snow went with me as my translator and purchasing agent. Chinese women are very good at dickering for price. She was of the opinion that the cheaper phones were of low quality. I came close to buying one for 1000 RMB. It had everything I wanted including an ebook reader. Snow said, "Don't buy it." So I didn't. I may buy one of the better ones in the coming weeks. Before I do I will find a way to put a few English books on an SD card to test how well they display. maybe I will carry a laptop and card reader to the store.