Tablet computing wins another convert - me!

[HarryT]

You're rather comparing apples and oranges when you compare the Sony Reader with a Tablet PC . If you want to read fiction - just normal books, from cover to cover - and have a device that's instantly "on" and you only have to recharge once a month or so, the Reader is unbeatable.

If you want a full-blown computer or if reading A4/Letter PDFs is important to you, a Tablet PC would be a much more sensible choice.

Better still, get both .

[AvidReader]

Thanks Bob. Looking forward to hearing what you think.

Harry, I see your point 100%.
I honestly wanted a Sony for the sole purpose of reading ebooks.
However I had a look over my downloaded collection of novels and every one of them is a pdf file in varying sizes and fonts, and having read extensively on these forums about how native pdf isn't always what you want it to be on the Sony Reader, it started my mind wandering to alternatives.
Comics, for example, and graphic novels etc. Colour would be nice, I thought, and then I read about how tablets are fairly portable these days (albeit a lot more money than a Sony reader) and on top of the ebook side of things, I'll also have a laptop/tablet to take with me and log onto the net if I'm in a wireless area (something I've never done before).
So as you can see, all of the possibilities sort of opened up.
Now I just have to 'open up' my wallet and part with a lot more money than I originally intended.
Heck, if we were at the stage where the Ebook's displayed everything you put on them natively, and were in colour, I'd buy one today.
The fast startup times and long battery life are unbeatable, as you said.
Anyway, I'm still very confused either way.
When I noticed that Bob bought a tablet to read ebooks, I jumped on him for more info because if it works for him, then I'm on the right track.

[JSWolf]

For text based pdf, use pdf2html to convert the pdf. Then you can clean up the mess and use either html2lrf or Book Designer to make the final LRF.

[wayspooled]

I've recently purchased a tablet pc to use to read around the house so that I'm not tied to the computer. I've quite happy with it.

I just wanted to mention though as far as reading outside the home, like taking a quick read in the line at the MickeyD's or snatching a moment here and there over the course of the day - it would not be my personal choice "if" there was a dedicated device available in the size I would need (10"x<something) and reasonable pricing. As soon as one of those is out, I'll be grabbing one fast as I can.

3.5 lbs can be a lot heavier than you think too. Try to find something that's 4lbs and wave it around and see what you think.

Even being lighter than a laptop, it's still far heavier than a device, eInk is a superior delivery to the eyes and the battery charging would probably be an annoyance to anyone else. I just bought 4 adapters and plugged them in at the 4 places I was likely to read so I didn't have to haul that around the house too. But then, I'm divorced <laughs>, not an option for everyone.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention I consider my recent used tablet purchase well worth the money but I also consider it a temporary thing until they make an e-reader device I can use.

[Studio717]

Originally Posted by HarryT

...

Better still, get both .

That's what I just did, though I bought a used Tablet PC rather than a new one. Love my Sony Reader, but PDFs just don't work very well on them, especially ones that don't rescale well.

I have used the PDF to LRF converters and they work quite well (with new, non-image PDFs), but I still couldn't mark them up, add comments, etc. Many of the PDFs are images of pages from old books (as in way old - some are 18th century), and the converters don't work as well (at least on the ones I've tried). So I bought an old Fujitsu ST 4110 Tablet PC off ebay and so far (just received it), I like it.

It is, as Wayspooled says, heavier than you'd think. I have a pillow book rest that I'm hoping will work with it. I have a lot of research PDFs to read and I really wanted something I could read while not having to sit at my main computer.

The Sony Reader is still tops for reading fiction, though. Light, easy to read, and with a battery that lasts a long long time - it can't be beat!

[gmanacsa]

I've been using a Lenovo X61T for reading fiction and comic books in PDF format. As many have noted, the screen is wonderful for this purpose, especially for comics:



I think comics on the tablet actually often look better than they do in print. However, I agree with Wayspooled and others that it's a bit heavy at 4 pounds, and all of the Windows overhead is far more than I want to deal with for an impulse read. I find that I use the Sony Reader far more often for reading straight fiction. I use it for unconverted PDFs regularly, but in landscape mode to get a comfortable text size.

My ideal machine would be a light, iPhone-/iPod Touch-like tablet equipped with an 8-10" screen with the iPhone's high pixel density (160ppi), the same slick interface and the web-enabled feature set.

More photos and thoughts on the Lenovo X61T here:
Comic Book Fans Surf the Waves of Change
Lenovo X61T Hands-On: A Bookworm’s First Ride
Lenovo X61T: The Reading-on-the-Couch Test)

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Interesting bit of trivia: You know the old, manually operated telephone switchboards? The ones with all the plugs and patch cable? They had a flat surface on top, with lots of ventilation slots cut in the panel to allow the heat from the vacuum tubes to escape easily.

What do you suppose the primary cause of failures in those devices was?

Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup.

The operators would set their soup mugs on that flat surface, and inevitably it would get spilled sooner or later.

Just a bit of useless trivia that I always found interesting. Carry on.

Hahah, teach them to hire humans to run the switchboard... er, guess this was before the computing age evolved. Actually and interesting bit of trivia, I'm usually quite careful around PC's and such with drinks; quite a while back I spilled a soda on a regular keyboard and it just stopped working (strange because I figured it would have only made the keys a little less responsive and not totally kill it), after that I've been a lot more aware of where and how I handle my drinks around PC's.

You didn't happen to have a Campbells soup incident did you?

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by erwin

From the info I got at the time the TC1000 pen problems were a "yes or no" issue: some machine had them right from the start, others never at all in their life. Mine, unfortunately, was a "yes" machine...

Anyway, I'm happy the have switched to the 1100 (bought it second hand on eBay for about 700 €). The 1100 is more powerful enough to eliminate all the (already few indeed) sluggines of the 1000, and the incorporated Bluetooth and SD slot are really useful.

IMO is unfortunate that HP choosed to terminate that form-factor product line.

Yes, I've heard mixed reviews about the pens as well, though I've used a few different Tablet's afterwards and most of their pens were either too thin or felt like I was holding a square plastic stick in my hand; not too natural.

I agree about the TC1100, I should have upgraded already but decided I needed to move to a different form-factor. I could have really used the pep introduced by getting away from the tired Transmeta Crusoe proc, not to mention the Bluetooth and 802.11g would have been a nice upgrade! Does it still run as warm as its predecessor?

Also agree about how they terminated dev on the formfactor too, I think they could have eventually gotten the slate down to a lot lighter and thinner form (though it was pretty nice to begin with). Most of the weight was in the battery and there have been a lot of advances in mobile computing since.

[gmanacsa]

Originally Posted by Azayzel

Yes, I've heard mixed reviews about the pens as well, though I've used a few different Tablet's afterwards and most of their pens were either too thin or felt like I was holding a square plastic stick in my hand; not too natural.

The X61T's pen feels like the one from a Wacom tablet -- that's a good thing. It has a substantial diameter like that of a normal writing pen, and it's comfortable to hold.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Azayzel

You didn't happen to have a Campbells soup incident did you?

Nope, the story was related to me in one of my Electronics classes in college (that type of switchboard rather pre-dates me, I'm afraid, and yes it was very much before computers ).

Interesting you should mention keyboards -- with the old ones you could actually wash the things: dunk 'em repeatedly in clean water until you were happy with them. As long as you let them dry out completely before you plugged them back in, they were fine. Go figure.

Can't do that with the new ones, of course the old ones didn't cost $9, either.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Nope, the story was related to me in one of my Electronics classes in college (that type of switchboard rather pre-dates me, I'm afraid, and yes it was very much before computers ).

Interesting you should mention keyboards -- with the old ones you could actually wash the things: dunk 'em repeatedly in clean water until you were happy with them. As long as you let them dry out completely before you plugged them back in, they were fine. Go figure.

Can't do that with the new ones, of course the old ones didn't cost $9, either.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this but isn't the USB card that's more likely to fail a shorting than the keyboard itself?

[NatCh]

Not necessarily, yvanleterrible, the keyboard has circuit boards in it too.

A lot of modern stuff is, usually, a lot less moisture sensitive than you'd probably think, it's the combo of water and electricity that is ... a 'not good' thing.

It really depends a lot on the construction of the individual keyboard. If it uses epoxy circuit boards, and the key/contact/spring mechanism isn't sensitive to moisture, it'll probably come through fine, in the absence of electricity, of course.

A USB card would probably survive a dunking just fine, as long as it wasn't powered up at the time, and it wasn't re-connected until it dried thoroughly. They're mostly epoxy boards, and most components aren't too moisture sensitive these days.

For those old switchboards, for example: if I remember rightly, they just hosed 'em out, let em dry and replaced a few vacuum tubes and put 'em back in service.

On the other hand ... I really, really don't recommend that anyone dunk electronic parts just to see what happens.

[NatCh]

Wait, nevermind all that, I missed a word or two in your post, yvanleterrible.

Yeah, the USB card probably is more sensitive than the keyboard, but it's not that big a difference, I wouldn't think. However, I didn't put any research into that comment.

[yvanleterrible]

You gave good info, I didn't know there were cicuits in keyboards.

[NatCh]

That's because you don't take apart everything you can get your hands on like some people do.