E-book reader for A4 PDF's?

[DrZoidberg]

I have a very practical question on A4 e-book readers. My wife reads a lot of technical engineering material and the stuff she gets is most often PDF's formatted in A4 and if she opens them on my Sony Reader all the pictures and diagrams get messed up. She doesn't like reading on her laptop, and she reads too much for it to be practical to print everything on paper. So she wants an e-book reader to suit her needs more closely. Even though she'd prefer e-ink it's not the most critical factor.

The most important thing is the formats it can take. Which seems to be rule out Kindle DX. She won't be buying any books from their service. The Sony reader with a large screen isn't A4. It's still a bit small. Samsung Galaxy looks good. But we haven't tried it. Does anybody here know if it'll work? Ipad is another option, but Apple gives me the Big Brother shivers. But it seems to do what she wants. Does anybody know?

[zenith_cal]

Doesn't Kindle DX read PDFs?

[SkyDream]

Kindle DXG, Pocketbook, M-Reader, Asus DR-900 for eInk.
Ipad etc. for LCD.

PDF Rule : Bigger is better.

[athlonkmf]

I'll put my vote on the ipad. at this moment, there is just no better option than the ipad for reading PDFs smoothly.

[DrZoidberg]

Originally Posted by zenith_cal

Doesn't Kindle DX read PDFs?

As far as I can tell you need to convert them somehow. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Kindle's draconic DRM system will somehow cause problems. The Kindles are after all built to sell books for Amazon.

[DrZoidberg]

Originally Posted by athlonkmf

I'll put my vote on the ipad. at this moment, there is just no better option than the ipad for reading PDFs smoothly.

Don't you need to convert them too? I recall that you need to use iTunes. That might not be a major hastle though. Have you tried it?

[zenith_cal]

Originally Posted by DrZoidberg

As far as I can tell you need to convert them somehow. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Kindle's draconic DRM system will somehow cause problems. The Kindles are after all built to sell books for Amazon.

According to Amazon, Kindle DXG has a build-in PDF reader

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by DrZoidberg

As far as I can tell you need to convert them somehow. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Kindle's draconic DRM system will somehow cause problems. The Kindles are after all built to sell books for Amazon.

As the owner of a 1st Generation Kindle DX I will tell you that you are wrong on both accounts. Mine is loaded with pdfs purchased from other retailers, none of which required any conversion.

[celticgirl]

Supposedly the DX handles PDF's; however, the GOOFS when designing it allowed for NO annotating or even highlighting text! That is so crucial! Now that is a perfect idiot. I looking forward to seeing the Sony A4. Still keeping my eye on onyx boox M92 through Booxtor though. I have to decide once for all this summer!

[celticgirl]

I know I know people love the iPad; there are plusses, but for PDF's eink is key.

[Geralt]

Any android 10" tablet, if you want more than ipad.
Samsung Galaxy 10" inch tab is good start. Also Google Nexus, Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2, Microsoft surface...etc...etc
There are many options on android market and now on microsoft windows 8 market as well. Do your research.

There really aren't any good eink readers for technical pdf.
Look at it this way, eink readers = fun and play (great for fiction)
Ipad, android tablets = work (great for pdf....providing they are 10")

Bottom line, when it comes to pdf size matters.
Also if annotations is a big thing for you, make sure the tablet you buy has a really good stylus, not just one of those pens ipad has but a real deal.

[markom]

Originally Posted by celticgirl

Supposedly the DX handles PDF's; however, the GOOFS when designing it allowed for NO annotating or even highlighting text! That is so crucial! Now that is a perfect idiot. I looking forward to seeing the Sony A4. Still keeping my eye on onyx boox M92 through Booxtor though. I have to decide once for all this summer!

If you install kindlepdfviewer on Kindle Dx then you will be able to highlight(underline) pdf's (if ocr-ed).

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=157047

In Kindlepdfviewer we can also zoom by 10,20,30... %, fit-to-screen, fit-to-width or hight, fit-to-document content, fit-to-content width or hight, by two points (suitable for scans without ocr), in landscape mode etc.

There is gamma correction, night mode, reflow (even for non-ocred pdf images) etc.

There is no annotation and dictionary though, so we should use some e-ink or tablet simultaneously for handwriting, dictionary etc.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by DrZoidberg

Don't you need to convert them too? I recall that you need to use iTunes. That might not be a major hastle though. Have you tried it?

You don't need to use iTunes. I store my academic PDFs on the cloud and read them on my iPad through any one of a number of PDF reader apps.

[owly]

Sony's coming out with a new 13.3 inch e-ink tablet that might be useful. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...h-on-steroids/

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by DrZoidberg

Don't you need to convert them too? I recall that you need to use iTunes. That might not be a major hastle though. Have you tried it?

I bought my iPad primarily to read scientific PDF's. it does the job perfectly.

Originally Posted by celticgirl

I know I know people love the iPad; there are plusses, but for PDF's eink is key.

Except you can't look at color pictures. In my field (Molecular biology), it is required.