E-reader, for library books & PDFs with some caveats

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Most of the time, I use my laptop or iPad Pro for PDFs. The eInk devices are my emergency fallback when "they're better than nothing" is the mantra.

And in some cases, nothing is better then a smallish eInk screen when it comes to PDF..

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Most of the time, I use my laptop or iPad Pro for PDFs. The eInk devices are my emergency fallback when "they're better than nothing" is the mantra.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And in some cases, nothing is better then a smallish eInk screen when it comes to PDF..

Sorry, Jon but I have to ask which way to take your statement. Am I to read it as stating that a smallish eInk screen is the best for PDFs or that not having access to the PDF is better than using a smallish eInk screen?

Enquiring minds are eager to know.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Sorry, Jon but I have to ask which way to take your statement. Am I to read it as stating that a smallish eInk screen is the best for PDFs or that not having access to the PDF is better than using a smallish eInk screen?

Enquiring minds are eager to know.

I'm saying that the effort and hassle to try to read a PDF on an eInk screen can be not worth it.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm saying that the effort and hassle to try to read a PDF on an eInk screen can be not worth it.

Indeed, you can buy a decent 10" tablet at at close to HALF the price of 7" eink, so I have both.

[anacreon]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Most of the time, I use my laptop or iPad Pro for PDFs. The eInk devices are my emergency fallback when "they're better than nothing" is the mantra.

Of my PDFs, 49 can be read comfortably on my Libra, and the rest (166 presently) are on my Forma only. But though a few are more or less comfortable to read in good daylight, many are not.

I tried to read on my 15" Surface Book 2: it is only comfortable for a while sitting on a sofa with my legs on an ottoman, but the battery doesn't hold for hours, and the back becomes warm after a while. Plus it doesn't keep my page from one time to the next. Plus my eyes suffer if I have to endure a backlight for long.

I downloaded the Gaffiot 2016 Latin-French dictionary yesterday, and the Forma really doesn't suit, so I've decided to once more explore options for those 166 books I've started but gave up on.

How does your experience on your laptop or iPad pro compare?

I would love a bigger ereader with good PDF handling AND front light, but I've read here that there is no front light possible on bigger screens. So it would have to have a very white screen with a very crisp definition. I would only use it for PDFs and perhaps a few ebooks with high definition illustrations / maps / schemes / tables, since I'm fine with my kobo readers for all the rest of my books

EDIT: blue text

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by anacreon

I would love a bigger ereader with good PDF handling AND front light, but I've read here that there is no front light possible on bigger screens.

13.3 inch devices are not illuminated.
Up to 10.3 inch devices are illuminated.
I can only recommend the Android devices from Boox (up to 13.3) and Likebook (up to 10.3).
Since there is only one manufacturer of this screen (EInk), it depends on the technology of the control how well something is displayed.
I have (illuminated) devices from both manufacturers and I am very satisfied with both

[fafaforza]

Hi folks, I wanted to jump on this thread instead of opening a new one.

I similarly want a reader with good PDF support. My specific use case is downloaded Wall Street Journal PDF versions of the print edition. Think the printed newspaper unfolded into a PDF. I will be doing a good bit of zooming and panning.

I currently have a Kobo Aura One and it does an OK job with the PDF, but fairly frequently it will freeze up doing a double-tap zoom, resulting in a lot of waiting and making the experience annoying.

In fairness, each page is huge. Still, there appear to be better options these days, like the Onyx Boox Nova 2, which is also a 7.8" device, which I like, since that size fits in my back jeans pocket. Any other devices I should be considering? No need for annotations or a pen or drawing or an Amazon book store. Just files copied over USB or network.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by fafaforza

Hi folks, I wanted to jump on this thread instead of opening a new one.

I similarly want a reader with good PDF support. My specific use case is downloaded Wall Street Journal PDF versions of the print edition. Think the printed newspaper unfolded into a PDF. I will be doing a good bit of zooming and panning.

I currently have a Kobo Aura One and it does an OK job with the PDF, but fairly frequently it will freeze up doing a double-tap zoom, resulting in a lot of waiting and making the experience annoying.

In fairness, each page is huge. Still, there appear to be better options these days, like the Onyx Boox Nova 2, which is also a 7.8" device, which I like, since that size fits in my back jeans pocket. Any other devices I should be considering? No need for annotations or a pen or drawing or an Amazon book store. Just files copied over USB or network.

Before you buy a new Reader for your PDF, go to the Kobo forum and find the thread in the developer's section to install KOReader. KOReader has very good PDF support. You can use that to read PDF on your KA1 and you will have a much better experience. Will it be good enough to not need to buy another Reader, only you'll know after you try KOReader.

[fafaforza]

Oh yeah, thanks, I remember reading about it when I first got the Kobo, but was too lazy or not invested enough to go through the install procedure. I do like the reader otherwise, so here's hoping KOreader will work out.

[fafaforza]

So KOReader seems much faster than the native Aura One reader, but it doesn't have the zoom features I like.

On the native reader, I doubletap the screen which zooms to the top left corner of the page. I can then swipe to pan around the page with a single refresh per move. Doubleclick again to go back to the full page to scroll on to the next page.

The doubleclick does a 300% zoom which is perfect for the specific PDF, and it conveniently cuts the 6 columns in half.

I wonder if KOR or another reader supports that sort of zoom functionality, as it's perfect aside for being slow.

[Marinolino]

Originally Posted by fafaforza

So KOReader seems much faster than the native Aura One reader, but it doesn't have the zoom features I like.

On the native reader, I doubletap the screen which zooms to the top left corner of the page. I can then swipe to pan around the page with a single refresh per move. Doubleclick again to go back to the full page to scroll on to the next page.

The doubleclick does a 300% zoom which is perfect for the specific PDF, and it conveniently cuts the 6 columns in half.

I wonder if KOR or another reader supports that sort of zoom functionality, as it's perfect aside for being slow.

There is a zoom & pan mode in Koreader.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=321656

There is also a reflow mode for the scans that might work well or not quite, depending on the page layout (tap on the bottom, gear wheel tab)

Six-column pdf newspaper page is a pretty extreme case for 8" reader, so, I would probably use Briss or k2pdfopt apps for cropping it quickly into a six (one-column) separate pages or three 2-column pages beforehand, and then would read it normally in portraite or landscape mode.

If you could send a link or pdf file I would be able to tell my preferred way.