Looking for a minimalistic ebook reader with a big screen

[parazitus]

Hey everyone!

I'm looking for an ebook reader with the follosing characteristics
- must have eink display
- display of at least 7" (the larger the better)
- I do care about rich reading experience features (correctly displaying graphics in ebooks, viewing images stand-alone, jumping to page number, changing font size, rotating the screen manually, organising content into folders)
- don't care about touch screens
- don't care about wifi / 3g, I'm comfortable with uploading ebooks from my pc
- don't care for non-ebook functionality (browsers / games / text to speech / stuff like that)

Basically I'm looking for an ebook reader that doesn't try to be a tablet pc. I don't want to pay for features that I won't use.

Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thanks!

para

[neilmarr]

Good to have your company, Para. Seems to me you won't have much trouble finding what you want. My own Sony 505 would be an ideal no-frills device, for instance, but it doesn't have a 7" screen. I've no doubt someone more widely experienced in a range of readers will soon suggest something spot on. Good luck and best wishes. Neil

[Thjan]

I'd say Sony PRS-950 (7"), Pocketbook 902 (9.7") or the Kindle DX graphite (9.7"). But the last two will ship with "unwanted" features. Downside of the Pocketbook: It has a G-Sensor and I do not know if you can disable it.
If you don't mind the relatively high price of the PRS-950 go for it. I own the PRS-650 and it is a really wonderful device that focuses on e-reading.

[fjtorres]

Yes, you can disable the motion sensor in pocketbook readers.
On the PB360, you can also install reader software that uses it to turn pages by twisting the reader instead of pressing buttons. And the wireless *can* be turned off, of course, so you can use the extra-large capacity battery solely for reading.

For large format eink readers that are actually available for purchase today, barebones or not, the options are very slim; basically Kindle DXG and Pocketbook 902/903.

Now, if battery life and LCD screen aren't a concern, there's dozens of Android Webpads and wannabe readers in the 7-11in range that cost *at most* what the KDXG costs, most less. Some even a *lot* less. The 7in Pocketbook IQ has been priced at US$130, for example.

(The 902 is priced at US$299, btw, so the WiFi and blutooth aren't adding much to the cost.)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Thjan

I'd say Sony PRS-950 (7"), Pocketbook 902 (9.7") or the Kindle DX graphite (9.7"). But the last two will ship with "unwanted" features. Downside of the Pocketbook: It has a G-Sensor and I do not know if you can disable it.

Neither the Sony nor the Kindle support folders, which was a requirement for the original poster. The Pocketbook does have folder support.

[eriksnoopy]

irex had some really great products, its a shame they went bankrupt irex 800 seemed really great and the 1000 was super, but had a high price

[mikelvdb]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Neither the Sony nor the Kindle support folders, which was a requirement for the original poster. The Pocketbook does have folder support.

Maybe there is no need for folder support. I have a Cybook Gen3 and an Opus. With 400 books on my readers I needed the folder support, but not with my new Sony PRS350.
On the PRS350 selection can be made by author, by date, by last read, by book name and by file name, with an index on the rigth margin.

The reader exploits the meta information in the epub file (in the opf file). You can edit this information if necessary (I made some tests with Sigil).
If the epub file is well formatted you don't have to do anything and you can move the epub file on the device with your favorite explorer (windows, linux, mac...).

In short: with epub files correctly formatted you can move the files to the reader and access the books very easily, without any software from Sony (you don't need Calibre either) and without collections.

And with the touch screen you can easily take notes, go to a specific page, highlight some text and with a double click do a dictionary lookup in English, German, French, Italian, Spanich and Dutch. And from the sleeping mode the reader start in a second. And the reader don't look cheap, and the screen is fabulous

[parazitus]

Hey everyone, thanks for your input, I wasn't expecting so many replies in so little time.

You've been loads of help. In the end I'm oscillating between sony prs 950 and PocketBook Pro 902, but largely in favour of the PB 902.

Thanks again!

[Thjan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Neither the Sony nor the Kindle support folders, which was a requirement for the original poster. The Pocketbook does have folder support.

Sony got something better than folder support. The ability to tag a book into multiple collections and a very well made overview / sorting functions for the collections.

But yeah, you are right. I managed to overlook that requirement in his post.