Am I asking too much? - Page 4

semioticwafture · 01-21-2012, 03:53 PM

To my surprise I'm now leaning strongly towards the kindle (4, non-touch). That came about because on reflecting about the spyware issue, I realize that while a report of spyware is a problem, what's worse is spyware that has not yet been reported. So I probably actually want a device where I can change it so that it doesn't have spyware, or so that spyware is not effective.

I also decided that native epub support isn't actually non-negotiable for me: I don't actually have a problem with converting them to amazon's format.

I found a video on youtube that shows sane PDF page turn behaviour in landscape mode (sorry, don't have the URL).

From my readings so far it looks like the kindle is rootable, and -- presumably due to its popularity -- is particularly hackable once rooted. Disabling networking via that route would solve the spyware issue (and make registration a non-issue for me) and at least give me the opportunity to put in some work to replace software with something that does what I want.

semioticwafture · 01-21-2012, 04:10 PM

I tried reading PDF on a kobo touch today. I took an original and a cropped version of a mostly-text, single column document.

The original was too small for me to read when not zoomed, as expected. When zoomed, it was readable for me. However, there appeared to be no way to page down except by dragging, which causes inadvertent horizonal scrolling at the same time. I see that as impractical.

With the cropped file (which has the left and right margins removed), though it looks fine on my computer, on the kobo, the bottom of the page was chopped off. There was no evident way to scroll down to see the chopped-off part, regardless of zoom setting. It's possible this is the fault of the software I used (briss) rather than the kobo, but it's not encouraging.

Admittedly the staff in WH Smith were so keen to play with it with a PDF file loaded that I didn't get as much of a chance myself as I'd like! (the shop was close to closing) So it's possible I missed something. In particular, I didn't get to explore landscape mode properly, though I did try it briefly.

DuckieTigger · 01-21-2012, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by semioticwafture

To my surprise I'm now leaning strongly towards the kindle (4, non-touch).

That is good for you. You cannot go wrong with a Kindle. I believe that you do not need to register the device to be able to use it. Of course that would take away the ability for you to purchase Kindle books from Amazon or even not let you use DRM at all.

HarryT · 01-22-2012, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

That is good for you. You cannot go wrong with a Kindle. I believe that you do not need to register the device to be able to use it.

A lot of the functionality of the Kindle is disabled unless it's registered - eg, you can't use collections. There's really no downside at all to registering.

I'd recommend getting the Kindle Touch rather than the non-Touch. For $20 more you're getting double the battery life, almost 3x the available user storage, text-to-speech, X-Ray, and a few other things. The Touch is a much more capable device. The non-Touch is squarely positioned as an entry-level reader.

semioticwafture · 01-22-2012, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

A lot of the functionality of the Kindle is disabled unless it's registered - eg, you can't use collections. There's really no downside at all to registering.

I'd recommend getting the Kindle Touch rather than the non-Touch. For $20 more you're getting double the battery life, almost 3x the available user storage, text-to-speech, X-Ray, and a few other things. The Touch is a much more capable device. The non-Touch is squarely positioned as an entry-level reader.

Interesting, thanks for the tip.

For me though, I don't care much about those features, and more to the point I'd have to reevaluate everything -- I've spent too much time already trying to find one that works at all for me! (Also, they don't sell the kindle touch over here in the UK, so it's less convenient to get one from the US than to do what I'm about to do and drive down the road to my local supermarket

)

HarryT · 01-22-2012, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by semioticwafture

For me though, I don't care much about those features, and more to the point I'd have to reevaluate everything -- I've spent too much time already trying to find one that works at all for me! (Also, they don't sell the kindle touch over here in the UK, so it's less convenient to get one from the US than to do what I'm about to do and drive down the road to my local supermarket

)

I'm in the UK, too, as you may have noticed

. I take your point about convenience - I just think that the Touch really is a far better device.

Synamon · 01-23-2012, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'd recommend getting the Kindle Touch rather than the non-Touch. For $20 more you're getting double the battery life, almost 3x the available user storage, text-to-speech, X-Ray, and a few other things. The Touch is a much more capable device. The non-Touch is squarely positioned as an entry-level reader.

Does the Touch do landscape mode now? That seems to be a requirement for the OP to read PDFs.

HarryT · 01-24-2012, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synamon

Does the Touch do landscape mode now? That seems to be a requirement for the OP to read PDFs.

No, it doesn't.

semioticwafture · 01-27-2012, 05:37 PM

Just to report back on my experience, I got a kindle 4 non-keyboard, non-touch, and have been happily reading a (cropped) PDF file in landscape mode. The file is a few hundred pages of A4, and has a single column of text on each page. It works just fine for that.

If I want to read PDF files that have multiple columns of text per page, I think I will crop those files so that each column is on its own page, and read in portrait mode (I haven't tried that yet; perhaps the device has limitations on page aspect ratio -- if that turns out to be the case, I guess I'll just limit that when cropping by chopping up the column into multiple pages).

So, you can ignore the conventional wisdom that e-ink ereaders are no good for reading PDF files, as long as:

you want to read A4 format text with text that isn't too tiny relative to the page, rather than things like comics or single-column text formatted with PDF paper size larger than A4, or single-column A4 pages with very small font size, and
you have a tool that works well for cropping (I used briss for this first PDF file -- that got the job done extremely quickly with little fuss), and
your eyesight is fair (text size seems about perfect for me under the conditions described above)

Thanks everyone for your help.

semioticwafture · 01-27-2012, 05:43 PM

...just to add:

The file in question has quite a few diagrams. They're easy to view, and the text in them is easy to read. I haven't needed to zoom ever.
I'm reading the file simply as a PDF file, not reflowing the text (partly because it has quite a few diagrams)

eb104b · 01-29-2012, 10:44 PM

I have an Ematic EB104B and it's very simple, easily reads PDF and EPUB. It doesn't connect to internet. It's 8 inches tall by 4.9 inches wide by .5 depth. You can read while charging, can take up to 32mb card, plays mp3, mp4, avi, jpg, rtf, txt, pdf, epub. Movie quality is good. Also has FM tuner, FM record, Voice record. I borrow from my local library online, download ebooks from Kobo. Battery charge last about 5 hours of read time, less for mp3s. It's not touch, it's not WIFI. Controls are buttons that resist, aren't incidentally activated. For $59 I like it alot.

andyh2000 · 01-30-2012, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eb104b

I have an Ematic EB104B and it's very simple, easily reads PDF and EPUB. It doesn't connect to internet. It's 8 inches tall by 4.9 inches wide by .5 depth. You can read while charging, can take up to 32mb card, plays mp3, mp4, avi, jpg, rtf, txt, pdf, epub. Movie quality is good. Also has FM tuner, FM record, Voice record. I borrow from my local library online, download ebooks from Kobo. Battery charge last about 5 hours of read time, less for mp3s. It's not touch, it's not WIFI. Controls are buttons that resist, aren't incidentally activated. For $59 I like it alot.

It also appears to have an 800 x 480 colour LCD screen. Not my cup of tea in an eReader. Might be great for watching vids though.

Andrew

HarryT · 01-30-2012, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyh2000

It also appears to have an 800 x 480 colour LCD screen. Not my cup of tea in an eReader. Might be great for watching vids though.

Andrew

The 5h battery life is a killer, too. Sounds terrible as a reader to me.

DuckieTigger · 01-30-2012, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The 5h battery life is a killer, too. Sounds terrible as a reader to me.

Remember, if anyone says a thing about battery life they always say: this will last you X months if you only read 30 minutes a day. By this logic 30 minutes is plenty for a device for the average (non)reader ...

01-21-2012, 03:53 PM	#46
semioticwafture Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: none	kindle To my surprise I'm now leaning strongly towards the kindle (4, non-touch). That came about because on reflecting about the spyware issue, I realize that while a report of spyware is a problem, what's worse is spyware that has not yet been reported. So I probably actually want a device where I can change it so that it doesn't have spyware, or so that spyware is not effective. I also decided that native epub support isn't actually non-negotiable for me: I don't actually have a problem with converting them to amazon's format. I found a video on youtube that shows sane PDF page turn behaviour in landscape mode (sorry, don't have the URL). From my readings so far it looks like the kindle is rootable, and -- presumably due to its popularity -- is particularly hackable once rooted. Disabling networking via that route would solve the spyware issue (and make registration a non-issue for me) and at least give me the opportunity to put in some work to replace software with something that does what I want.

01-21-2012, 04:10 PM	#47
semioticwafture Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: none	kobo touch PDF experience I tried reading PDF on a kobo touch today. I took an original and a cropped version of a mostly-text, single column document. The original was too small for me to read when not zoomed, as expected. When zoomed, it was readable for me. However, there appeared to be no way to page down except by dragging, which causes inadvertent horizonal scrolling at the same time. I see that as impractical. With the cropped file (which has the left and right margins removed), though it looks fine on my computer, on the kobo, the bottom of the page was chopped off. There was no evident way to scroll down to see the chopped-off part, regardless of zoom setting. It's possible this is the fault of the software I used (briss) rather than the kobo, but it's not encouraging. Admittedly the staff in WH Smith were so keen to play with it with a PDF file loaded that I didn't get as much of a chance myself as I'd like! (the shop was close to closing) So it's possible I missed something. In particular, I didn't get to explore landscape mode properly, though I did try it briefly.

01-27-2012, 05:37 PM	#54
semioticwafture Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: none	My experience with kindle 4 so far Just to report back on my experience, I got a kindle 4 non-keyboard, non-touch, and have been happily reading a (cropped) PDF file in landscape mode. The file is a few hundred pages of A4, and has a single column of text on each page. It works just fine for that. If I want to read PDF files that have multiple columns of text per page, I think I will crop those files so that each column is on its own page, and read in portrait mode (I haven't tried that yet; perhaps the device has limitations on page aspect ratio -- if that turns out to be the case, I guess I'll just limit that when cropping by chopping up the column into multiple pages). So, you can ignore the conventional wisdom that e-ink ereaders are no good for reading PDF files, as long as: you want to read A4 format text with text that isn't too tiny relative to the page, rather than things like comics or single-column text formatted with PDF paper size larger than A4, or single-column A4 pages with very small font size, and you have a tool that works well for cropping (I used briss for this first PDF file -- that got the job done extremely quickly with little fuss), and your eyesight is fair (text size seems about perfect for me under the conditions described above) Thanks everyone for your help.

01-27-2012, 05:43 PM	#55
semioticwafture Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: none	...just to add: The file in question has quite a few diagrams. They're easy to view, and the text in them is easy to read. I haven't needed to zoom ever. I'm reading the file simply as a PDF file, not reflowing the text (partly because it has quite a few diagrams)

01-29-2012, 10:44 PM	#56
eb104b Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Ematic EB104B	I have an Ematic EB104B and it's very simple, easily reads PDF and EPUB. It doesn't connect to internet. It's 8 inches tall by 4.9 inches wide by .5 depth. You can read while charging, can take up to 32mb card, plays mp3, mp4, avi, jpg, rtf, txt, pdf, epub. Movie quality is good. Also has FM tuner, FM record, Voice record. I borrow from my local library online, download ebooks from Kobo. Battery charge last about 5 hours of read time, less for mp3s. It's not touch, it's not WIFI. Controls are buttons that resist, aren't incidentally activated. For $59 I like it alot.