Suggestions for a cheapish e-reader, for a gadget junkie living in Brazil

Vlad M. Paler · 10-25-2011, 09:31 PM

Hello, all!

I was pointed this way by some helpful people at another online community, who suggested this forum would be a great place for advice. Seems to be so far!

I’ve been getting curious about e-readers and tablets lately, and am thinking of getting one. I have a laptop and smartphone. The laptop is great for all my computing needs, but is too bulky to carry everywhere. The smartphone (a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini) is a wonderful device, but tiny; I use it daily for reading email, GPS, music, and other features, but the screen is too small to be practical for reading books or the news. My eyesight is good, but the screen is literally smaller than a credit card.

So, I’m thinking of getting an e-reader. I’d like it to support a wide variety of file formats. Ideally I’d like it to be able to access RSS feeds (for news – I follow a bunch of international online newspapers to keep fluent in other languages) and email – but I suppose that’s more of a tablet feature. I’d like to not need to worry about battery life, which I suppose excludes tablet PCs, unless there’s a good case to be made for getting a tablet anyway.

Some restrictions: I live in Brazil, and I’m cheap

Living in Brazil means that shipping from the US will likely be very expensive, but I can arrange cheap shipping from Scandinavia, so European sellers would be preferable. Living in Brazil also means that I’d like to avoid any regional ties/limitations in devices (e.g. from what I understand, a Kindle is of limited utility for people without a US address and who aren’t likely to do all their shopping from Amazon USA, so a Kindle doesn’t seem like an option for me). Public WiFi is rare and usually poor. As for price, I’d like to keep it under $200 if possible – but there’s some leeway if some extra cost would buy some great features. No monthly charges (don't know if that's an issue; no idea how 3G works in e-readers).

I’ve been looking a bit at the PocketBook 602/603, and the Sony PRS-T1, but I really have no idea what’s good and what’s appropriate for my needs. That’s where you guys come in!

Oh, one more thing – my wife has a job with lots of downtime that she’d like to use for her studies. She used to get a lot of mileage out of her netbook (typing reports and reading papers by email), but it got nicked. If there’s a cheap e-reader/tablet that could serve her needs too, that would be excellent – otherwise I’ll just replace the netbook.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

GA Russell · 10-25-2011, 10:45 PM

Welcome Vlad!

Last year's PocketBook 360 has last year's eInk screen. It was very popular here before the later eInk pearl screen came out. You can probably get it cheap from a European vendor.

Here in the US, Newegg has an extraordinary price till the end of the month on the regular jetBook - only $49.99. I have the jetBook Lite and like it very much. See this thread for the discount code and the Newegg link: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=154719

Vlad M. Paler · 10-27-2011, 06:31 PM

Hello GA Russell, thanks for the welcome and for the suggestions!

It looks like the JetBook has an LCD screen; surely that severely limits the battery time? If so, without all the features of a tablet, I guess it's not really what I'm looking for. Thanks for the heads up though!

If it must be an LCD tablet, anyone have opinions on the PocketBook 701?

The 360 looks interesting, but it looks like only the 360 Plus has Wi-Fi - apparently it then has a browser and RSS reader, which would be excellent. At first I excluded it because it seems very small, but on closer examination, it appears the screen itself is almost the same size as the other readers I was looking at. Anyone with a 360+ want to offer opinions? And can it handle PDFs?

Any other suggestions?

GA Russell · 10-27-2011, 07:57 PM

Vlad, before you dismiss the jetBook, let me make clear that its screen is a TFT screen, not a backlit LCD screen like a tablet's. It's like looking at a wristwatch. In my opinion, the text is blacker than any eInk screen's.

I believe the battery lasts for 23 hours of reading per charge.

10-25-2011, 09:31 PM	#1
Vlad M. Paler Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Device: none	Suggestions for a cheapish e-reader, for a gadget junkie living in Brazil Hello, all! I was pointed this way by some helpful people at another online community, who suggested this forum would be a great place for advice. Seems to be so far! I’ve been getting curious about e-readers and tablets lately, and am thinking of getting one. I have a laptop and smartphone. The laptop is great for all my computing needs, but is too bulky to carry everywhere. The smartphone (a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini) is a wonderful device, but tiny; I use it daily for reading email, GPS, music, and other features, but the screen is too small to be practical for reading books or the news. My eyesight is good, but the screen is literally smaller than a credit card. So, I’m thinking of getting an e-reader. I’d like it to support a wide variety of file formats. Ideally I’d like it to be able to access RSS feeds (for news – I follow a bunch of international online newspapers to keep fluent in other languages) and email – but I suppose that’s more of a tablet feature. I’d like to not need to worry about battery life, which I suppose excludes tablet PCs, unless there’s a good case to be made for getting a tablet anyway. Some restrictions: I live in Brazil, and I’m cheap Living in Brazil means that shipping from the US will likely be very expensive, but I can arrange cheap shipping from Scandinavia, so European sellers would be preferable. Living in Brazil also means that I’d like to avoid any regional ties/limitations in devices (e.g. from what I understand, a Kindle is of limited utility for people without a US address and who aren’t likely to do all their shopping from Amazon USA, so a Kindle doesn’t seem like an option for me). Public WiFi is rare and usually poor. As for price, I’d like to keep it under $200 if possible – but there’s some leeway if some extra cost would buy some great features. No monthly charges (don't know if that's an issue; no idea how 3G works in e-readers). I’ve been looking a bit at the PocketBook 602/603, and the Sony PRS-T1, but I really have no idea what’s good and what’s appropriate for my needs. That’s where you guys come in! Oh, one more thing – my wife has a job with lots of downtime that she’d like to use for her studies. She used to get a lot of mileage out of her netbook (typing reports and reading papers by email), but it got nicked. If there’s a cheap e-reader/tablet that could serve her needs too, that would be excellent – otherwise I’ll just replace the netbook. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

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10-25-2011, 10:45 PM	#2
GA Russell New season! Posts: 7,682 Karma: 31487351 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	Welcome Vlad! Last year's PocketBook 360 has last year's eInk screen. It was very popular here before the later eInk pearl screen came out. You can probably get it cheap from a European vendor. Here in the US, Newegg has an extraordinary price till the end of the month on the regular jetBook - only $49.99. I have the jetBook Lite and like it very much. See this thread for the discount code and the Newegg link: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=154719

10-27-2011, 06:31 PM	#3
Vlad M. Paler Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Device: none	Hello GA Russell, thanks for the welcome and for the suggestions! It looks like the JetBook has an LCD screen; surely that severely limits the battery time? If so, without all the features of a tablet, I guess it's not really what I'm looking for. Thanks for the heads up though! If it must be an LCD tablet, anyone have opinions on the PocketBook 701? The 360 looks interesting, but it looks like only the 360 Plus has Wi-Fi - apparently it then has a browser and RSS reader, which would be excellent. At first I excluded it because it seems very small, but on closer examination, it appears the screen itself is almost the same size as the other readers I was looking at. Anyone with a 360+ want to offer opinions? And can it handle PDFs? Any other suggestions?

10-27-2011, 07:57 PM	#4
GA Russell New season! Posts: 7,682 Karma: 31487351 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	Vlad, before you dismiss the jetBook, let me make clear that its screen is a TFT screen, not a backlit LCD screen like a tablet's. It's like looking at a wristwatch. In my opinion, the text is blacker than any eInk screen's. I believe the battery lasts for 23 hours of reading per charge.

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