Notetaking and huge pdf. documents

[syazici]

Dear All

I am willing to buy an e-book reader as due to my job, I need to read lots of pdf documents. Some of these are very hugh quality pdf document, which are not too big interms of size. On ther other hand, sometimes I need to deal with hand scans (manualls scanned by a scanner). I understand that some of the e-book readers do not allow you to use externak memories. And I understand that even if they allow you to use external memories, it might still be difficult to read those huge documents (which have sizes like 30+ Mb.).
Could you please kindly recommend me which devices might help me for reading those huge documents?

Another thing is, I love highlighting documents, taking notes on them etc. as mots of the documents that I am dealing with are technicel books/ documents. I know Sony has a product by which you can take notes and even use your handwriting to underline books etc. But I am not usre about the performanbce of Sony. Could anyone recommend about the e-book readers which has this notetaking capability?
Cheers
Savas

[charmian]

If you care about external storage, then definitely the Kindle and iPad are out. However, you can also use cloud services like Dropbox to expand your storage.

If you are going to use scans that are not OCRed, I would especially advise you not to get anything smaller than a 9-10" tablet, and probably Android, because iPad doesn't allow you to put in microSD cards. And even if these pdfs do have reflowable text, if they have diagrams or extensive formatting, they aren't going to look very good converted. Reading scans of documents on a 6" e-ink reader like the Sony isn't going to be very pleasant. I have the Asus Trasformer and it works well for PDFs. However I haven't tried to open really large ones.

Now, if you are going to be highlighting/notetaking, you then need to choose a good program for that. I use ezPDF Reader, but there are other ones that people like. You will also need a capacitative stylus. The one people say are the best on the forums I frequent are the Adonit Jot and the iFaraday.

[jojoba]

I think you definitely need a tablet for this purpose. I went into the e-reader market looking for something to help me work with pdfs, but then realised e-ink devices won't give me the functionality I needed. Reflowing etc was very unpredictable for me, and the annotation offered by e-readers just doesn't compare to tablet based alternatives.

I use an iPad in conjunction with Dropbox, and use annotation apps such as iAnnotate and PDF Expert. They work brilliant for my purpose. Like the poster above said, if you care about extra storage then I guess an Android based tablet is the way forward for you.

[syazici]

Many thanks for all of th eresponses. But I have two concerns with the TABLETs:
1) Battery Life.
2) Not as good as the e-book readers for the eyes.
May I have some more commentson these?
And if possible, as I am new in this market, could anybody recommend me some of the Android based tablets...

One more thing: what about OCR based pdf files? Because 85% of my archieve is OCR based articles & documents. So for those can I use an e-book reader?

[Beryll Snyder]

Originally Posted by syazici

Many thanks for all of th eresponses. But I have two concerns with the TABLETs:
1) Battery Life.
2) Not as good as the e-book readers for the eyes.
May I have some more commentson these?
And if possible, as I am new in this market, could anybody recommend me some of the Android based tablets...

One more thing: what about OCR based pdf files? Because 85% of my archieve is OCR based articles & documents. So for those can I use an e-book reader?

Might give you the best of both worlds - pretty new on the market though:

Ectaco Color

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=167587

[charmian]

1) Yes, the battery life is less. The better tablets have around 8-10 hrs of battery life.
2) It really depends on the person. Some people say it doesn't matter to them, others say it does.

Personally, I find that reflowing the text is still unsatisfactory for me because it gets page numbers/footnotes mixed in with the text, deals with line breaks and paragraphs poorly, and screws up tables and charts, but YMMV (it also depends on what methods were used to create the PDF. If it was created from a word document, it may convert reasonably, but if it is just OCRed from a scan, it might not). If what you have is just pure text narrative, like a novel, it may be ok for your purposes. Try putting your pdfs through Calibre (convert from pdf to epub or mobi) or Mobipocket Creator (pdf to mobi), view them, and see what you think.

[hel]

Obviously tablets (7-10") will serve you much better if your eyes allow you to read from tablets...
From e-ink readers you could try Onyx boox m92, Sony 950... But readers are dedicated for long time continuous reading. For text searches, notes etc. they are far less useful...

[jojoba]

Originally Posted by syazici

Many thanks for all of th eresponses. But I have two concerns with the TABLETs:
1) Battery Life.
2) Not as good as the e-book readers for the eyes.
May I have some more commentson these?

The battery on my iPad lasts me about two days with my level of usage (several hours a day). Yes, my e-readers last a whole lot longer, but it's not actually a problem for me to recharge it every other day.

I was initially very negative to reading on LCD screens but I'm quite used to it now. This is a quite personal issue, though.

[multiprose]

i've had the kindle keyboard, pocket edge, and sony t1. the kindle keyboard had horrible pdf support (in that order). i hated the kindle keyboard pdf support b/c of no bookmark table so i tried the PE. it's a dual eink and lcd. very good for heavy duty pdf annotating, with lots of extras since you can get android market unlocked and install audiobooks and notesyncing stuff like evernote and springpad stuff. you can get it for a cheap $70 on ebay. although for i love the PE for annotating and taking notes while sitting (you can even hook up a full keyboard to the USB port), i didn't like the eink side too much b/c it wasn't touch and you had to use a special stylus which makes it so you can't pinch zoom with your finger. plus it was too bulky to use for a very long time if i'm laying on my bed. thus, i got a sony and love it. it has great pdf functions crop/zoom/scroll functions. it has the best pdf functions out of the under 200 price range eink readers. notes/annotations can be exported to cpu. i find myself using both readers. sony for comfortable long extended reading, relaxing laying down reading. PE for intense annotating, highlighting, boxing and more skimming and flipping pages than reading closely.

[Filark]

You might consider a full-sized enTourage eDGe. Much like the Pocket eDGe multiprose mentions, but bigger: 10" LCD and 9.7" eink. Often available on ebay.

Good luck!

[lorenzoens]

Originally Posted by Filark

You might consider a full-sized enTourage eDGe. Much like the Pocke eDGe multiprose mentions, but bigger: 10" LCD and 9.7" eink. Often available on ebay.

Good luck!

Totally agree