What to Buy? & Why?

[RedHerring]

Hey there,

I'm probably going to be buying an eReader for Christmas but I'm not sure which one I want to get.

First of all though, I have spent some time on the resident wiki and on the forums, but it seems like the base knowledge required for what I want to know is a bit high.

For instance -- I think I'd want to root my Nook if I got it, because that apparently lets you do more stuff, but I'm not sure what that entails. I can find guides on how to root it and I can find definitions of root (something about the highest level of the OS), but nothing that actually says "If you root your Nook you can do X, Y, Z, etc. on it."

I mean, if it let you use it as a tablet how would that even work with the eInk for things like browsing?

Most of the comparison tools compare things like the formats and whatnot that will work with the eReaders too, but that doesn't matter to me because I already have a large library of eBooks that I read on my laptops. I can always just use Calibre to change them into ePUB or something else if needed before moving them to my eReader, right?

Basically I want the tablet with the good battery life (has to be eInk I think for that) that offers the most "extras." "Extras" seem to all come more or less with rooting your eReader though? And you can't root a Kindle? Or?

I'm just at a loss as to what these things "can" be capable of.

I'd also like to get one with a decent external light option. I saw some beautiful Kindle leather covers with built in light, but not so much for the Nook.

So, basically, the info I've found is either (1) too basic, and covers things like what formats the various eReaders take or (2) too advanced. I could not find this info very well on Google.

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much,
RH

[CRussel]

Not if he wants good battery life.

[polly]

I'd say that you need to start with what you plan to do with your reader. E-paper devices are really good at reading text based content and pretty poor at doing anything else. If you really want something that will do e-mail, web surfing, movies, and games, then you want a tablet. If you really want something that will provide you a reading experience almost exactly like a book, then you want e-paper. If you want a device that will do both, you're going to be disappointed.

Rooting Android based readers permits book reading apps written for Android to be used on the reader. For instance Cool Reader has some really nice display features that people like. You can install the Amazon app and read books for Kindle on something that's not a Kindle. Understand that rooting is NOT supported by the manufacturer. If you really want to put a Kindle app on your rooted Nook, you better go ask lots of questions in the Nook forum first.

You are correct that if there's no DRM, Calibre can convert from and to a wide variety of formats.

[Cheddartrek]

Pretty sure he wants an eInk reader as he said that near the end. Good battery life and whatnot.

Sounds more like he's asking what you can do with an eInk reader if you root it -- which I'd also like to know -- and which one of them is the best.

[mohawk]

Root on, Scooters.

[Abtacha]

Originally Posted by Cheddartrek

Sounds more like he's asking what you can do with an eInk reader if you root it -- which I'd also like to know -- and which one of them is the best.

Rooting a (Android) Reader allows you to install Android apps on it. For e-ink readers that means you can choose which App you want to read your books in, mostly. E-ink just isn't fast enough for most other things. There may be some other usefull things like a calendar, e-mail app, dropbox, ... (which apps actually work depends on the device) but you're not going to turn a reader into a tablet by rooting it.

As to which one is the best, I think the Nook Simple Touch is the e-ink reader where rooting works best right now. The other Android e-ink reader (Sony PRS-T1) is still fairly new and doesn't offer much space for apps without resizing the System partition.

[RedHerring]

Thanks guys! That was really helpful.

It sounds like it's the Nook Simple Touch for me. I don't mind invalidating the Warranty if it's worth it -- they aren't prohibitively expensive. Installing a few Android Apps sounds like it'd be a great addition. Especially since this thing comes with some version of internet to go with it (that I don't have to pay for). Just basic apps like a calendar/storage would be nice, or even something like the ability to make a to-do list.

Can anyone then suggest a good Lighted Cover for this thing? I spent a while looking but it seems like most of the high-quality under-$50 ones are for Kindle and most of the ones for Nook are either too costly or too crappy.

Thanks again.

[VicLavigne]

hmmm. I'm not sure what you mean by "I don't have to pay for" related to internet. The internet access on the Nook STR is wi-fi, which might be free for you -- but just depends on what you are using as an access point. McDonalds' might be free, an airport might not be.

As for rooting, I've owned the Nook classic, Nook Color, and Nook STR. Only tried rooting the Nook Color, and wasn't really impressed with the outcome. Ended up overwriting the whole firmware and installing CM7. Now, I like CM7 on the Nook Color, it feels like a regular android tablet. But I don't think you'll get anywhere near this experience with the Nook STR. All that rooting will do is give you the ability to add some apps, but how those apps work on the device is a totally different question. Don't expect a tablet-like quality on a B&W e-ink device, I don't see it happening.

Vic