Just can't find an E-Reader that pleases me... Any suggestions?

joker1231978 · 05-08-2011, 04:04 AM

My wife is a little upset, but my most recent E-Reader just isn't cutting. I already passed along the Kindle and the Nook (non-color), and this Novel has just pissed me off. Time to find something else....

I'm not worried about bells and whistles. I don't need to listen to music or browse the web. Thanks to Calibre, I'm not too worried about format. Most of my books have been converted for the other readers anyway. I don't even need Wi-Fi or 3G. I'm perfectly happy with a good old fashion USB connection.

Some of the key things I'm looking for:
- I want to see my covers. This was the thing I liked most about the Novel. It showed the covers of my books on my shelves. Just something about that really means a big deal to me. The Nook did in that little window if you purchased the book from B&N. Defeats the purpose when I already have a ton of books electronically. Not to mention, it only would show them in that little window.

- Battery life. This is what just pissed me off about the Novel. It died on me during a little trip this past week within 7 hours. I need something that will last at least a day or two. I would prefer charging via USB, but will sacrifice with a wall adapter.

- Expandable Storage. If the device has pretty good PDF support, then this becomes very important.

- Color. This probably limits what would work for me. I would prefer color, but if it's not going to happen then it's not going to happen.

- Good PDF support. Majority of my tech manuals for my job are in .pdf. This would just simply a few things I deal with on a daily basis. This item is at the bottom of my list as it's not near as important of the other items.

* Over the top bonus*
Possibly read comics. I have a friend who's trying to get me into them. I don't care if it does or doesn't have this as the above is considered first.

Is there hope for me? Am I doomed to just not be satisfied with any readers on the market? I have to laugh at myself a little when seeing the covers of my books tops the main thing I'm looking for lol.

Thanks!

Poppaea · 05-08-2011, 05:06 AM

Get a Sony.

- At least two weeks battery life
- PDF reflow and zoom in
- Takes SDcards up to 32GB
- Shows the covers

HarryT · 05-08-2011, 06:32 AM

Agreed. The Sony PRS-650 sounds as if it would be an excellent fit for your requirements.

Billi · 05-08-2011, 07:50 AM

joker1231978, what is more important for you, reading for fun (novels...) or reading for your work (tech manuals in pdf)?
If it's the latter I would advise you to investigate the 10" readers (eink or tablet). They have far, far better pdf-support than the 6" devices.
From experience, I can only speak for the Pocketbook 902. From your requirements it only fails with color, all other points it fulfills.
Other devices you might want to have a look at are KindleDX, Onyx M90 or the tablets (they are the only ones with color).

faithbw · 05-08-2011, 09:28 AM

IA with Poppaea and HarryT. I think the Sony 650 is probably your best bet. It won't give you everything you're looking for (no color) but it has good PDF support, wonderful battery life, collections that allow you to see the covers of your books and SD card slot.

odiakkoh · 05-08-2011, 10:36 AM

This is why ill probably end up with 2-3 ereaders lol. Its hard to get all you want into 1 reader so get different ones for different needs.

joker1231978 · 05-08-2011, 01:28 PM

Thanks for all the replies. I'm waiting for places to open to check out the Sony.

As far as work stuff goes, I'm issued a crappy & bulky laptop to travel with. It's pretty old, and is only meant to read manuals. Our manuals are mainly just text so zooming in should work. We'll load up a few and see how it works out.

Thanks again everyone!

joker1231978 · 05-08-2011, 01:43 PM

Running into some bad luck finding one locally. BB only carries the 350 and 950. Sometimes I hate Alaska lol.

faithbw · 05-08-2011, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joker1231978

Running into some bad luck finding one locally. BB only carries the 350 and 950. Sometimes I hate Alaska lol.

The 650 seems to be hard to find. BB doesn't carry it anymore. Try Sony's website.

delphin · 05-08-2011, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joker1231978

Thanks for all the replies. I'm waiting for places to open to check out the Sony.

As far as work stuff goes, I'm issued a crappy & bulky laptop to travel with. It's pretty old, and is only meant to read manuals. Our manuals are mainly just text so zooming in should work. We'll load up a few and see how it works out.

Thanks again everyone!

Another vote for the PRS-350/650/950 Sony readers.

I have the PRS-650, and it does just about as good a job as possible, given the limitations of the small screen size.

As far as your crappy and bulky laptop goes - i recently broke down and replaced my aging laptop with a compact Gateway 10 inch Netbook.

The Netbook packs literally 4 times the performance and battery life of my old laptop into a package one fourth the overall volume. I picked it up on sale for only about $220, which coincidentally is also only about one fourth the cost of my older machine.

Much as I love my Sony PRS-650, I'm glad I was able to budget both.

I would hate to have to choose between the two, because each is so well suited for it's specific purpose.

The Netbook is, obviously, not quite as portable, and doesn't have weeks of battery life, but it offers a lot more power and flexibility.

An iPad, or higher end Android tablet would also fill this role well, but either way, the key thing to remember is that there are going to be things that a 6 inch monochrome eInk screen device just can't do as well as a device with a larger, higher resolution, full color screen.

joker1231978 · 05-08-2011, 05:22 PM

Well... the 950 is charging lol. I had to dip into my rainy day fund to hide the true cost from the Mrs lol. Don't laugh... I know she does it too. The 350 was too small, and with another little trip around the corner I didn't want to order the 650 online.

Thanks for all the inputs!

Side note - My work laptop is issued each time I go on a trip. It's not my personal machine. It's the only piece of equipment I'm allowed to have on me when I work until recently. Personal e-readers can now be carried into the work area

. There's a lot of sitting around in my line of work. I might as well do a little reading lol.

Latinandgreek · 05-08-2011, 05:23 PM

I have a PRS-350 and an iPad. I find that the Sony does works very well with PDFs if they are reflowable. I couldn't be happier with it. I use the iPad for comics, and for scanned PDFs.

Latinandgreek · 05-08-2011, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joker1231978

Well... the 950 is charging lol. I had to dip into my rainy day fund to hide the true cost from the Mrs lol. Don't laugh... I know she does it too. The 350 was too small, and with another little trip around the corner I didn't want to order the 650 online.

Thanks for all the inputs!

Side note - My work laptop is issued each time I go on a trip. It's not my personal machine. It's the only piece of equipment I'm allowed to have on me when I work until recently. Personal e-readers can now be carried into the work area

. There's a lot of sitting around in my line of work. I might as well do a little reading lol.

The 950 is an excellent choice, you can read your PDFs in landscape mode if they are scanned and don't reflow well. I hope you enjoy it!

Poppaea · 05-08-2011, 05:57 PM

This is great news! You will love it dearly, I am sure. It's the gadget equivalent of Christian Louboutin shoes

joker1231978 · 05-08-2011, 11:15 PM

Final Update...

I can't think you all enough. This thing made all my Collections for me! I realized early on that if I put the author's name in the tag, it created a collection for each author.

With a couple of mouse clicks in Calibre, all my books are organized like I like them: Author Collections & Series Collections. None of that having to create them on the devise itself.

05-08-2011, 04:04 AM	#1
joker1231978 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Multiple	Just can't find an E-Reader that pleases me... Any suggestions? My wife is a little upset, but my most recent E-Reader just isn't cutting. I already passed along the Kindle and the Nook (non-color), and this Novel has just pissed me off. Time to find something else.... I'm not worried about bells and whistles. I don't need to listen to music or browse the web. Thanks to Calibre, I'm not too worried about format. Most of my books have been converted for the other readers anyway. I don't even need Wi-Fi or 3G. I'm perfectly happy with a good old fashion USB connection. Some of the key things I'm looking for: - I want to see my covers. This was the thing I liked most about the Novel. It showed the covers of my books on my shelves. Just something about that really means a big deal to me. The Nook did in that little window if you purchased the book from B&N. Defeats the purpose when I already have a ton of books electronically. Not to mention, it only would show them in that little window. - Battery life. This is what just pissed me off about the Novel. It died on me during a little trip this past week within 7 hours. I need something that will last at least a day or two. I would prefer charging via USB, but will sacrifice with a wall adapter. - Expandable Storage. If the device has pretty good PDF support, then this becomes very important. - Color. This probably limits what would work for me. I would prefer color, but if it's not going to happen then it's not going to happen. - Good PDF support. Majority of my tech manuals for my job are in .pdf. This would just simply a few things I deal with on a daily basis. This item is at the bottom of my list as it's not near as important of the other items. * Over the top bonus* Possibly read comics. I have a friend who's trying to get me into them. I don't care if it does or doesn't have this as the above is considered first. Is there hope for me? Am I doomed to just not be satisfied with any readers on the market? I have to laugh at myself a little when seeing the covers of my books tops the main thing I'm looking for lol. Thanks!

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05-08-2011, 05:06 AM	#2
Poppaea Lucifer's Bat Posts: 2,577 Karma: 20638583 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Earth/Berlin Device: Kobo Libra Colour	Get a Sony. - At least two weeks battery life - PDF reflow and zoom in - Takes SDcards up to 32GB - Shows the covers

05-08-2011, 06:32 AM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Agreed. The Sony PRS-650 sounds as if it would be an excellent fit for your requirements.

05-08-2011, 07:50 AM	#4
Billi Wizard Posts: 3,388 Karma: 14190103 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Berlin Device: Cybook, iRex, PB, Onyx	joker1231978, what is more important for you, reading for fun (novels...) or reading for your work (tech manuals in pdf)? If it's the latter I would advise you to investigate the 10" readers (eink or tablet). They have far, far better pdf-support than the 6" devices. From experience, I can only speak for the Pocketbook 902. From your requirements it only fails with color, all other points it fulfills. Other devices you might want to have a look at are KindleDX, Onyx M90 or the tablets (they are the only ones with color).

05-08-2011, 09:28 AM	#5
faithbw Guru Posts: 618 Karma: 1526148 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: A place where the sun always shines Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Mini 2	IA with Poppaea and HarryT. I think the Sony 650 is probably your best bet. It won't give you everything you're looking for (no color) but it has good PDF support, wonderful battery life, collections that allow you to see the covers of your books and SD card slot.

05-08-2011, 10:36 AM	#6
odiakkoh Guru Posts: 823 Karma: 1818344 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: iPhone 5s	This is why ill probably end up with 2-3 ereaders lol. Its hard to get all you want into 1 reader so get different ones for different needs.

05-08-2011, 01:28 PM	#7
joker1231978 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Multiple	Thanks for all the replies. I'm waiting for places to open to check out the Sony. As far as work stuff goes, I'm issued a crappy & bulky laptop to travel with. It's pretty old, and is only meant to read manuals. Our manuals are mainly just text so zooming in should work. We'll load up a few and see how it works out. Thanks again everyone!

05-08-2011, 01:43 PM	#8
joker1231978 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Multiple	Running into some bad luck finding one locally. BB only carries the 350 and 950. Sometimes I hate Alaska lol.

05-08-2011, 05:22 PM	#11
joker1231978 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Multiple	Well... the 950 is charging lol. I had to dip into my rainy day fund to hide the true cost from the Mrs lol. Don't laugh... I know she does it too. The 350 was too small, and with another little trip around the corner I didn't want to order the 650 online. Thanks for all the inputs! Side note - My work laptop is issued each time I go on a trip. It's not my personal machine. It's the only piece of equipment I'm allowed to have on me when I work until recently. Personal e-readers can now be carried into the work area . There's a lot of sitting around in my line of work. I might as well do a little reading lol.

05-08-2011, 05:23 PM	#12
Latinandgreek Warrior Princess Posts: 5,038 Karma: 9724231 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-505; PRS-350, PRS-T1, iPad, Aura HD	I have a PRS-350 and an iPad. I find that the Sony does works very well with PDFs if they are reflowable. I couldn't be happier with it. I use the iPad for comics, and for scanned PDFs.

05-08-2011, 05:57 PM	#14
Poppaea Lucifer's Bat Posts: 2,577 Karma: 20638583 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Earth/Berlin Device: Kobo Libra Colour	This is great news! You will love it dearly, I am sure. It's the gadget equivalent of Christian Louboutin shoes

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05-08-2011, 11:15 PM	#15
joker1231978 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Multiple	Final Update... I can't think you all enough. This thing made all my Collections for me! I realized early on that if I put the author's name in the tag, it created a collection for each author. With a couple of mouse clicks in Calibre, all my books are organized like I like them: Author Collections & Series Collections. None of that having to create them on the devise itself.