Best Smartphone for eBook reading?

[Shaitan00]

I'm old school (admitted) - up until a few months ago I walked around with 3 pieces of hardware at all times - a LG Swine cell phone, a Palm Pilot for eBook reading (only), and a Netbook for the rest ...

Well, lately my Palm died (it was 10 years old ... too bad was great for reading my PDFs for hours on end - see I am not difficult)... so I was looking into replacing it with an eBook reader but it looks like most of what I loved about my Palm (good in the dark, nice backlight, AC adapter, etc...) aren't really available on most eBook readers...

So some in the forum have suggested I check into "alternative devices", last night I started looking into Smartphones (combine eBook and Cell) - but honestly totally new world for me ...

Let me just say this - not a Apple fan...
So - if my primary goal is reading eBooks and I can bundle a cell easily ... what would be the best recommendation?

(btw - I am in Canada - if that helps)

[RoboRay]

I've dabbled a bit with FBReader on my HTC Incredible and it works pretty well. FBReader for Android isn't as customizable as the Linux or Windows versions, but you can adjust the font to something comfortable for you and switch between black text on white background and white text on black background. The latter, with the backlight turned down low, will probably do nicely in dim lighting conditions, but that's about the only time I think I would switch to white on black.

I expect the actual phone choice won't matter so much, so long as it can run the reader software you want to use. I picked FBReader because I already use it on my OLPC, but there are other options out there.

A smartphone can also make your netbook more useful with tethering for internet access anywhere you go.

[The Hooded Claw]

I've carried a Palm PDA or smart phone for over ten years, but have always resisted ebooks because trying to read for a long period on the small screen put me off. With the release of the EVO 3G, there is a reader with a 4.3 inch screen, half the size of the screen of my beloved Kindle. I thought this might be large enough, and found my experiments with reading on FBReader worked out. I posted a review thread here in this forum recently, and am about to update it with a report of a better way to "flick" to change pages.

I'm not particularly touting the EVO 4G, there is at least one other new smart phone with a 4.3 inch screen out. Presumably others will come as well.

I have mostly Kindle books, and a Kindle app for Android is on the way that will make all Amazon ebooks readable on Android devices, you'll need an independent ereader if you want to read non-Amazon books.

[zapikoe]

Does larger screen applies?
Ebook reading on larger would help to ease reading activity, by larger fonts

With 3G and Wifi capabilities I'd recommend the Huawei Smakit S7 and Dell Streak

[wodin]

HTC EVO!

Why, you ask ... 4.3" screen! It gives you about half the screen size in terms of characters per page as a Kindle or Sony.

[iloveroman]

Dell Streak. It's why I got mine and it's working out well!

Why - cos we laugh in the face of 4.3 screens! muahahaha

[ngrant]

Just got this last week and installed the (free) pReader app - fabulous, and Mobi books look very nice. The one epub that I loaded has trouble with the double quotes but I expect I can fix that in Calibre. The touch screen is "only" 3.1 inches but the 480x320, 24 bit TFT looks great. For the sake of my poor eyes, I set the font size to 20 BOLD, lowered the brightness to 25% and find I can read for extended periods holding the phone in my left hand and flicking my thumb to turn the pages.

I chose this phone because
1. I love Palm
2. I love Verizon
3. The Mobile Hotspot feature is free, with 5GB per month to tether up to 5 devices, and unlimited data for $30/month when using the phone's 3G connection directly.

Wikipedia says: "The Pre was launched on June 6, 2009 with Sprint, and later also went on sale in Canada with Bell Mobility." I have the Pre Plus from Big Red so am not sure what the differences are...

I consider the MP3 player, camera/video camera to be bonuses as my main requirements were for the web and email, and of course actual phone calls. I hardly text but the slide-out keyboard is nice for typing on when I need to. If you get this phone, I highly recommend the touchstone charger, it works like magic!! Verizon has the phone for $49 with 2 year contract in USA, and the touchstone and car charger kit is another $20 if purchased together. This might sound like a commercial, sorry, but I am that pleased with my new acquisition and with how surprisingly well it performs as an ereader.

[bookoffers]

Smart Phone for Ebooks. Symbians OS is the latrest version of smartphone a powerful eBook Reader. The good news is that this application is free and runs on all Symbian Smartphones.

[ghostyjack]

Originally Posted by bookoffers

Smart Phone for Ebooks. Symbians OS is the latrest version of smartphone a powerful eBook Reader. The good news is that this application is free and runs on all Symbian Smartphones.

What software are you talking about? Please could you give a link to this software.

I've been using Foliant on my Nokia X6 up until now. It's a pretty good program but doesn't support too many formats, mainly just txt and fb2 formats. Reading on the X6 is surprisingly good. Foliant is a pretty good program, but I'd prefer an epub reader if ones available for it.

[Grumpster]

I'm using an HTC Touch Pro2 which runs 800x480 resolution and I use Freda software to read ePub books and Mobipocket to read .mobi and non DRM amazon books. I love it. My mom is also using the same setup.

Both the HTC HD2 (Windows Mobile) and the EVO (android) have the same resolution though a slightly larger screen. I currently use the winmo simply because I've been on that platform for years, but considering the future of the 6.x platform is limited I'd strongly recomend going with the android EVO since you'd have to switch platforms anyhow. I'd steer away from the palm simply because of it's small screen.

Both the Winmo and Android have a good selection of software, though if you'd like to purchase either Amazon or B&N books you'd almost have to go with the Android. It's unlikely that any future software will be developed for the current winmo platform and the future winmo 7 support is totally up in the air despite what bill gates would have you believe. Android software is very actively being developed these days.

My next phone to be purchased in a few months will definitely be the EVO. Personally I prefer using my phone to read my books. A Nook is just to large to carry in my pocket.

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by Grumpster

Both the Winmo and Android have a good selection of software, though if you'd like to purchase either Amazon or B&N books you'd almost have to go with the Android. It's unlikely that any future software will be developed for the current winmo platform and the future winmo 7 support is totally up in the air despite what bill gates would have you believe. Android software is very actively being developed these days.

I can reassure anyone that cares: Freda will be released for Windows Phone 7 (development is already quite well advanced, so hopefully I will have it up and running in time for WP7's launch in 2010 Q4). I've actually got a commercial agreement with a book publishing site that will use this software, so you can be reasonably confident that I will deliver
In terms of reading purchased books, I suppose I should mention that if you buy a book in a DRM-protected EPUB format (such as B&N or Adobe Digital Editions) it is a fairly simple matter to remove the DRM protection from the book. It may be illegal, depending where you live, but it's not difficult. On account of it being potentially illegal I won't provide any detail beyond the obvious:
Search on Google for "how to remove drm protection from epub files".

[boothy]

Hi

I use both mobipocket and Palm ereader pro on a Nokia N97 (what they now call the `classic`rather than mini) - although the device has its faults - Ereader Pro utilises the touch screen for page changing \ auto scrolling etc - the good thing about ereader pro is you can easily copy trutype fonts from your pc to give far greater options in fonts types - which to me is probably the most important feature when reading a book.The battery is quite large and therefore lasts longer than most comparitive smartphones but does not get any where near the e-ink based devices.

Boothy

[anthony_barker]

Screen size is a bit small compared with the 4'+ devices.

However:

1) Fbreader and Dorian both work well for ebooks - the keys on the side work well as a rocker (next)..
2) Pdf reader is better than the one for android (also evince)
3) Garnet VM - palm emulator allows you to run 97% of your old palm apps
4) 800 x 480 resolution screen
5) Full Operating System - not a crippled iOS or Android dalvik vm

I've tried various iphones - 3g/3gs/4 and android phones
Only iphone 4 comes close or may be a bit better (you have kindle app).

Android pdf readers suck. Fbreaderj isn't as good as fbreader on linux or ibooks...

- Actually they used to - the one that ships with htc android 2.1 works very well..
Basically it seems all the phones are ok - you just probably want a 4.3 -6" screen

Cheers

[RolandD]

I use MobiPocket on my Blackberry Storm 2. I have friends that use Aldiko on Android and Palm phones and it looks really nice.

[gtriever]

Droid X works for me, plus they're on sale since the new 4G phones are coming out shortly.