Cheap LCD backlit?

[mike_bike_kite]

I was discussing the various clever features of all these modern ereaders with a friend down the pub. He's an insomniac and figured he could read in bed at night if it was backlit - he doesn't want to disturb the wife. He reads old scifi etc so txt and epub would cover most of his needs. A dictionary would also be a bonus.

I wondered if any of the LCD devices that are fading from fashion at the moment might be suitable and reasonably cheap. I looked at the Aluratek Libre Pro which seemed to tick all the boxes but it wasn't backlit. Any ideas?

[Sweetpea]

what size does he prefer? There are numerous good second-hand PDA's that will do if he doesn't want a larger screen. Otherwise, head to the Alternate Device forum, because there are plenty of both Android and WinCE devices (generally 7") discussed there. Most are around the $200 mark.

[mike_bike_kite]

Screen size doesn't matter too much - I guess 5" is as small as he'd want to go.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

Screen size doesn't matter too much - I guess 5" is as small as he'd want to go.

If 5" is the smallest he would go, then that rules out most PDAs as they will be smaller than that.

My recommendation is the Archos 7 Home Tablet. It comes with Aldiko which will handle ePub files. It's only $200 for 8GB - and you can add your own micro-SD card if you need more storage. It has a nice screen which is a back-lit LCD.

(Note that for this application, you would want to avoid the Archos 7 Internet Media Tablet - that one does NOT run Android and, to the best of my knowledge, does not have an ePub reader for it.)