Which is the best ereader to read PDF ?

[SkyDream]

From my point of view the iPad isn't an ereader.
It's the same as using my laptop/netbook for reading.

[HarryT]

May I ask how much time you've spent reading on an iPad? It really is absolutely nothing at all like reading on a laptop.

[pwjone1]

Originally Posted by HarryT

May I ask how much time you've spent reading on an iPad? It really is absolutely nothing at all like reading on a laptop.

I would have to agree, tablets are different from computers, and reading on them is much easier.

I think the trade-offs here really depend on what the .PDF formats are. It they're fairly dense, originally meant for print on 8x10+ish sizes, then really your best bet is going to be a high resolution Desktop display or Laptop. The displays are just better than for the portable devices. If you have color in the PDF, much the same. The iPad scrolls nicely and supports color, so that will work. The Kindle DX will work in and is better in a number of ways, but not if you have color. Mostly you're trading off display quality and color for lower costs and longer battery life, going from PCs/laptops to iPad to DX.

[SkyDream]

Originally Posted by HarryT

May I ask how much time you've spent reading on an iPad? It really is absolutely nothing at all like reading on a laptop.

Shame on me.
I must admit that i haven't spend any time reading on the iPad.
I don't own one just seen at a friend.
But will it be that much different once the iPad Bookshelf application is available for PC ?

[HarryT]

On a laptop the keyboard gets in the way, you very often can't alter the screen brightness, and it's not at all a nice reading experience. You hold an iPad on your lap just like you would a hardback book; you can set the screen brightness to match the room's light levels, so you don't strain your eyes, and it's really just like reading a book.

[kba]

how about these android tablets? (I mention those because cheaper than an iPad)

they are close to the same price as the Sony 900 ($240), and Kindle DX ($360). and even less than the kindle dx

the pdf's I have do sometimes contain color (technical graphs etc) so the tablets would be nice, but the e-ink is a considering if its easier on the eyes. but since the tablets you all say are like reading a book, then I am not sacrificing the eink technology.

some of the tablets:
http://www.cruzreader.com/reader.php $200
pocketbook IQ (not released and no price yet)
samsung galaxy tablet http://news.softpedia.com/news/Samsu...e-154161.shtml

[hel]

Honestly, I don't like cheap android tablets: they all have cheap screens and cheap slow processors. The main part of the reader is the quality of the screen: sharpness, wide range of brightness (if it has a backlight). All cheap models available right now have in the best case only regular TFT. May be you have to wait a bit while Samsung, Asus and others will be in the game =)

[vxf]

I use a PRS900 for PDFs. A slightly bigger screen would be nice, but it works. I read mostly PDFs in landscape mode, so that a third of a page is displayed. It works great if you are not too concerned with tables/graphs and so forth.

Reflowing works well too - but I like to annotate my files and, well, if you take handwritten notes on anything reformatted, they will display only in that particular format. If you don't care for annotations...

So I settle for just landscape. As above, if you are dealing with mostly text, it works great.

The PRS900 has lots of other advantages/disadvantages. Too many to discuss here. But the ones that are key to me:

Pluses:
- Sturdy, nice design.
- Long battery life (well, most e-ink devices...)
- Touchscreen.
- The whole annotations system. Being able to highlight, take freehand notes, view those on my PC and then export them...
- Supports a variety of formats. I bought it for PDFs, but ended up using it much more than I thought.
- 3G is nice, especially for newspapers in the morning.
- Built-in dictionaries.
- Replaceable battery.


Minuses:
- Glare. It bothers some, doesn't bother others. You just need to see one in real life and decide where you stand.
- Poor contrast, at least compared to some other non-touchscreen devices.
- SONY's Reader software is not as bad as some make it sound - but it certainly isn't flexible nor user-friendly. Backing things up is a nightmare.
- The device slows down with too many notes, files, highlights, etc. Also, if you have too many books on it, then every time you turn it on it takes a long time to rebuild the database. To the point of becoming unusable. SONY should be sued for claiming you can carry thousands of books. Load 500 books on the PRS900 and it will take over 4 hours to turn on.
- A good number of PRS900s have screens that fade in the sun. SONY replaces them for free, but it's still a hassle.

[SkyDream]

Originally Posted by vxf

Also, if you have too many books on it, then every time you turn it on it takes a long time to rebuild the database. To the point of becoming unusable. SONY should be sued for claiming you can carry thousands of books. Load 500 books on the PRS900 and it will take over 4 hours to turn on.

That's true for all Sony e-readers.
SONY support asks me why i need to have than 30-50 books on the reader.

[Acton]

The Amazon Kindle is the best e reader for reading PDF documents,Samsung UN55C8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV especially after it announced an upgrade. See here for the update details:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…

[rammbam]

Originally Posted by Acton

The Amazon Kindle is the best e reader for reading PDF documents, especially after it announced an upgrade. See here for the update details:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…

Plz check the link!

[tovare]

Originally Posted by Acton

The Amazon Kindle is the best e reader for reading PDF documents, especially after it announced an upgrade....[/url]

So far it seems to me like the Sony touch/daily is much better than the Kindle in dealing with pdf. (After only two days with the kindle, so there may be hidden features).

Superior zoom and pan features on the sony. On the sony you can pan realtime across the document and zoom anyway you like.

On the Sony, you can reflow the text in the pdf.

On the Sony you can use the table of contents and links in pdf files. (I can't find that on my K3).

The pdf-search function seems more accurate on the Sony and is easier to use.

My Sony PRS-600 seems much faster in dealing with PDF than my K3.


(But ofcourse the contrast on the kindle display is far superior. The kindle 3 has a 1:10 contrast and the Sony touch PRS-600 1:2, but I'm not impressed with the PDF-support, but apparently the K3 is wastly superior to the K2 and K1).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Acton

The Amazon Kindle is the best e reader for reading PDF documents, especially after it announced an upgrade. See here for the update details:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…

No, the Amazon Kindle (the 6" models, at least) is very probably the WORST reader for PDF files, given that (unlike pretty much every other device on the market) it doesn't support reflow at all, meaning that any A4/Letter-formatted PDF files is quite impossible to read.

[Tomsk]

There's the recently announce Archos 101 which might be suitable for pdfs.
http://www.archos.com/products/ta/ar...try=us&lang=en

Pricing looks good at <£300.

However it's screen resolution is only 1024x600. Fine if you're happy scrolling up and down a single page, but not quite good enough (IMO) if you want to see a full page at a time.

Also I'm not sure about applications for dispalying pdfs. Adobe are supposed to have one for Android OS, but all I've found are dead links to it.

[kba]

Now Sony has released new readers

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/01/s...entire-reader/

I wonder if they are any better.

I will try to wait for the other models coming out by other companies. I think I read somewhere that better tablets will be out, that will be more suitable for reading.