Would you buy a new device right now?

[DawnFalcon]

Never mind

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

It is though, given plastic substrate devices are now in sight?

To be honest, I don't think it's an issue with the small devices - they are pretty tough unless you seriously "abuse" them. Large screen devices, yes, a plastic screen is definitely a benefit, but it depends largely on how well the machine is built. Eg, the largest screen eInk device you can currently buy, the iRex DR1000S, has an extremely rigid chassis, and broken screens appear to be very rare on them.

[pdurrant]

Having had two 6" screens break, I'm certainly not buying another glass-substrate screen as plastic ones seem likely to appear in the next twelve months.

Originally Posted by HarryT

To be honest, I don't think it's an issue with the small devices - they are pretty tough unless you seriously "abuse" them. Large screen devices, yes, a plastic screen is definitely a benefit, but it depends largely on how well the machine is built. Eg, the largest screen eInk device you can currently buy, the iRex DR1000S, has an extremely rigid chassis, and broken screens appear to be very rare on them.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't think this is a good time to be buying a large-screen device, because there are many that will be released in the next few months.
...

I have been considering the Kindle DX. I know that they say that the long rumored Apple iTablet will be announced in a month, so I'm holding off getting anything to see if that will meet my needs. What other large screen devices are suppose to be in the works?

I've got a sony 505 as my main reading device. I have a kindle 1, just to get access to the Amazon ebook store. I bought the B&N nook, but while it was a good enough unit, it didn't give me the B&N shopping experience that I had been hoping for, so I gave that to my sister (I had just introduced her to ebooks by giving her my PRS 500 the month before). Right now, the biggest reason that I want a large screen device is for reading in the easy chair at home. I don't think it would work well carrying around with me, or reading in bed. It strikes me as especially useful for non fiction books.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I have been considering the Kindle DX. I know that they say that the long rumored Apple iTablet will be announced in a month, so I'm holding off getting anything to see if that will meet my needs. What other large screen devices are suppose to be in the works?

All the main manufacturers will probably release devices using the new 9.7" PVI screen. Then you have devices like the Plastic Logic "Que" and the iRex DR800.

Right now, the biggest reason that I want a large screen device is for reading in the easy chair at home. I don't think it would work well carrying around with me, or reading in bed. It strikes me as especially useful for non fiction books.

Absolutely right. That's exactly what I use my large-screen iRex DR1000S for.

[Nathan Campos]

If you see, we have many users with more than one e-reader, but I preffer my Kindle

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

To be honest, I don't think it's an issue with the small devices - they are pretty tough unless you seriously "abuse" them.

Well, it's down to how much you tend to abuse your gadgets. I'm prone to sometimes accidentally damaging things, (I've managed to crack mobile screen covers in the past) so a plastic-substrate reader is of great interest to me.

[Fledchen]

If/when something close to my ideal ebook display device comes along, I'd probably buy it. Right now there's nothing on the market that would work better and have fewer drawbacks (from my perspective) than what I have now.

I have a severe visual impairment and have, for the most part, given up on reading standard print books, even with low vision aids. Ebooks are wonderful, but only if I can configure how they're displayed to match my needs. I've become adept at converting books to LRF using Book Designer. I guess most consumers don't care much about font options, justification and margins because I see very little mentioned about configurability in most product descriptions. My main problems with my Sony 505 are worries about durability (glass screen) and the ergonomics of page turn controls. I get cramps in my hands if I don't switch fingers every 20 pages or so.

If something comes along that's rugged, has more ergonomic page turn buttons, and has highly configureable and crisp text display, I'm interested. For now there does not seem to be anything like that on the market. I don't care about color or wireless capability, but dictionary lookup and annotation capabilities would be nice.

[jboardman]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I have been considering the Kindle DX. I know that they say that the long rumored Apple iTablet will be announced in a month, so I'm holding off getting anything to see if that will meet my needs. What other large screen devices are suppose to be in the works?

I've got a sony 505 as my main reading device. I have a kindle 1, just to get access to the Amazon ebook store. I bought the B&N nook, but while it was a good enough unit, it didn't give me the B&N shopping experience that I had been hoping for, so I gave that to my sister (I had just introduced her to ebooks by giving her my PRS 500 the month before). Right now, the biggest reason that I want a large screen device is for reading in the easy chair at home. I don't think it would work well carrying around with me, or reading in bed. It strikes me as especially useful for non fiction books.

I have an Irex Iliad and a Kindle. I have the Irex as my "go to" device", and I usually let my wife use the kindle. I much prefer the larger screen, although the DR1000 and the Kindle 3 are just too big to lie in bed with to read.

[wrightad4]

I have the PRS-700 and bought it at the SonyStyle store in Denver when it first came out. I've just ordered the PRS-900 because of some of the new unique techie features that are not on any of the Sony eReaders. Best Buy lowered the price by $50.00 plus I had a BEST BUY $100 Gift Card for Christmas which saved me over $150.00 on the unit. THAT was a no brainer! I'm excited. The 700 is still good, but the screen seems a bit difficult to read at times.

[ficbot]

*sigh* I am still waffling. I was considering the Pocket Pro as it has the dictionary too and it's at least smaller and would offer me something different in that regard. But I really want the text to speech. I am not worried about the lack of epub on the Kindle since all the books I buy can be liberated and converted. But the Kindle doesn't come with a case, so I would have to buy that too, and this will be close to $300 by the time all is said and done...but I read a lot and would really use it...and I gave seen the video and it seems like the dictionary is fast and easy to use...but no folder to organize things...oh, what to do!

[KarenH]

The Pocket Pro has text to speech, too.

[ficbot]

Originally Posted by KarenH

The Pocket Pro has text to speech, too.

Really? I just read the manual off the website and did not see this mentioned anywhere. How do you use it?

[brecklundin]

Personally I sense the Pocket Pro and likely all other Astak readers will end up as footnotes in the history of ereading devices. They are nice tries at a product but ultimately they are simply clones of other device all made in the same factory and seemingly all with the same specs and firmware. In addition Astak has shown and even expressly stated they have no control over what the factory provides them in terms of the final product. That does not bode well long term. Still I really like the form factor, but there are superior readers in the same class.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Personally I sense the Pocket Pro and likely all other Astak readers will end up as footnotes in the history of ereading devices. They are nice tries at a product but ultimately they are simply clones of other device all made in the same factory and seemingly all with the same specs and firmware.

But, in fairness, the same is true of most readers. If you ignore the "big players", who genuinely can design their own machines, there are really only two manufacturers around: Netronix in the Republic of China, and Jinke in mainland China. All the other machines on the market (with a small number of exceptions) are made by them. Astak sell both Netronix and Jinke devices; Pocketbook are Netronix, as are Bookeen, and Cool-ER. BeBook are Jinke, etc etc.

What distinguishes the various suppliers are whether they use the "stock" factory firmware (as all the Jinke clones appear to) or whether they simply use the manufacturer's hardware and base operating system and write their own firmware (as Pocketbook and Bookeen do, for example).

Speaking personally, I looked carefully at the Pocket Pro, and went for the Pocketbook 360 instead. The Pocket Pro has a number of shortcomings which I disliked, such as the extreme difficulty of navigating hyperlinks, due to the lack of a simple "D-pad" navigation control.