Help me choose my very first ebook reader.

thufirhaw · 05-12-2011, 05:04 AM

Hello, everyone. I'm new here, but I've lurking for a while now, and I feel like it's time to turn for you guys for help with a big decision for me: I'm finally getting an ebook reader after years of reading them from PCs and laptops but don't know which one to get. Can you guys help me? Sorry about the size of the post, I know it's way too long but I was trying to be very specific about what I want.

I'd rather have a dedicated device and I don't want a tablet, at least not for now, but if the one that best suits my needs turns out to be something more like a smartphone than an ereader so be it (by the way does anyone read on their ipod Touch? I'd like to know how that works for you).

Most of what I'll be reading in it will be fiction, and almost none of it will be comic books so color isn't necessary. Also, as for screen type I don't mind much whether it's LCD or E-ink, although I do have a slight preference for E-ink (I understand it means longer battery life, though I'm not sure of that. Am I right?)

I'd like it to have internet access; preferably wi-fi but 3G will do. Lack of access isn't a deal breaker though, if the rest of my needs are met.

Weight is not an issue, nor is thickness, but I'd rather have it smaller than bigger. The device's screen size is regardless for me as long as it can display all of the text on a page horizontally (it would be great if it showed all of it vertically too, but I'm willing to let that one pass).

Battery life is a big deal, the longer the better. Anything with less than 24 hr straight on battery life is useless for me.

Built in dictionary and note taking capabilities are not a must have. I probably won't use any of them very much so I really don't cara about them at all. Bookmarking would be great but not mandatory. Memory is not such a big deal either, if it can hold a couple dozen ebooks at once it'll be more than enough.

Price is a limiting factor but not too much of one as I'd rather have something expensive that fulfills all my needs than compromise on any of them to get a discount.

My main concern is openness. I'd like it to be able to read as many formats as possible and to be able to purchase from pretty much any retailer without needing to have the ebook converted. Also I have a lot of PDF stuff I'd like to be readable through the device.

So, that's the huge list of features I care about (or don't). Anyone has any ideas what would come closer to that?

covfam · 05-12-2011, 05:54 AM

if your not looking to have access to lots of different formats, and just want a good easy to use e-reader with a huge library then kindle is it for you.

if you want acess to color magazines & the ability to play games and other such activities, the nook color & ipad do good.

if your looking for an ereader for epub various formats, then the nook classic, sony readers and the kobo readers all work good. the kobo has less features than everybody else but cheaper if price is a factor.

unfortunatly unless you stick with free books regardless of format all the major ebook retailers have a DRM even the "much vaunted open epub" borders & barns&nobles "epub" has drm from adobe. now you can get programs online for stripping drm from books but it is a hassle if you"just" want to read.

Pick a device and DRM format you would rather be locked into for most of your books either epub drm "ADE" from adobe or AZW from amazon/kindle or Fairplay "ibooks" from apple most of the other drm's are quickly disapearing and those are the big 3 left.

the apple ipad or ipod touch has one advantage over all the ereader devices, it can read any of the formats out there because there is an ereader app for just about every format made while more expensive its the most flexible you dont have to be stuck with ibooks.

GeoffC · 05-12-2011, 06:34 AM

Welcome to Mobileread ... thufirhaw

As well as comments in this thread, you may find the matrix in the wiki useful .... >>> ereader-matrix ...

A Pocketbook will allow you to read mobi books (non-drm) and epub (drm & non-drm) ....

boswd · 05-12-2011, 10:08 AM

Well on here you are going to most likely get everyone telling you to buy what they bought because we love what we bought. So you'll have a Buy Sony, Buy Kindle Buy Nook, buy Kobo buy .....

But I can tell you why I bought and love the nook .

First off all the eink ereaders will meet your min. criteria. All have great battery lives. The kindle can go over 3 weeks with wifi off, Sony around 2+ and the nook about 5-8 days with wifi and 3G off. So you won't worry about charging any on a nightly basis.

They are all fairly light, the nook being the heaviest of the Big Three but even then it only weighs as much as 400 page Trade Paperback, so they are all very light.

But on to why I bought the nook over the others.

1. Looks and form factor. Love the design, love the touchscreen navigation on the second screen. Looks very stylish and love the rubberized back with a slight concave on each side. fits perfect in the hand. Well thought out design IMHO

2. The LCD second screen: I like seeing my book covers in color. I like cover flow and it's 2011 and capactive touchsreen for navigating menues, your library etc just feels more modern than the others.

3. Love it's main Eink screen. Was great before but after the last update,(v1.5) the screen even pops more. They seemed to darken the text on an already pretty creame colored background. Would rank it right up their with the newer Pearl Screen on the Kindle 3 and new Sony's.

4. Epub: I love to shop around. I can buy books from Kobo, Google books, Sony bookstore and use the Overdrive Library Lending. I don't have to worry about converting formats. Just a buy and drop and drag.

4. Sd card slot and replacable battery. love the xtra storage and be able to swap out batteries if need to.

5. In store support. Something doesn't seem right or have a question etc, I can bring it to my local Barnes and Noble and bring it to the nook counter.

6. More InStore fun features : Read any available books for up to an hour each day, in store nook only coupons. Free Starbucks Cafe drinks or desserts. It makes it a little more than just a "gadget" My wife and I have a blast with this. We try to make it in at least two to three times a month and just relax with the nook.

7. Barnes and Noble's ebook (nook books) store. It's one of the best in the business. Love it.

8. IMHO has THE BEST line of accesories, Everything looks and feels very stylish and high end.

Well these are most of the main reason I chose a nook over the other major ereaders, I'm sure the Kindle, Sony and others will chime in with their recommendations

I hope this helps.

Good luck. Also Barnes and Noble is supposed to make an announcement at the end of the month about a possible new Nook. Might want to wait for that as well just to see what it is all about. Could mean a better ereader for you and/or discounted orginal nook classics.

jbcohen · 05-12-2011, 10:34 AM

This one, its called Ataco Jet Book Lite.

I do not own one nor do I have any stock in Attaco but owners have told me that this one has the widest possible number of formats that it can read. in other words if the Lite can't read that format no one can. I use my company provided smart phone and I have downloaded readers from Mobi Pocket, Amazon, Borders, Barns and Nobles, Kobo Books and Over Drive. I am limited to those formats and the real drawback is the real small screen. If you are interested I will talk more to the smart phone however the Lite may be what you need. jetbook.net.

boswd · 05-12-2011, 10:39 AM

Oh I just realized you are in brazil. Ok well I just wasted about 10 mins of my life. LOL
The Nook is available as of right now only in the US unless you know of someone who can purchase one and mail it down to you or if you ever visit the states. You just won't register it with BN and then its mainly an ePub ereader. You can purchase books from other sites, just won't be able to buy from Barnes and Noble.

I would say get the Sony then but I'll let a Sony owner chime in on the reason. I think they are sleek and have great functinonality. There are just way overpriced in the US.

Catlady · 05-12-2011, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thufirhaw

Most of what I'll be reading in it will be fiction, and almost none of it will be comic books so color isn't necessary. Also, as for screen type I don't mind much whether it's LCD or E-ink, although I do have a slight preference for E-ink (I understand it means longer battery life, though I'm not sure of that. Am I right?)

I'd like it to have internet access; preferably wi-fi but 3G will do. Lack of access isn't a deal breaker though, if the rest of my needs are met.

Weight is not an issue, nor is thickness, but I'd rather have it smaller than bigger. The device's screen size is regardless for me as long as it can display all of the text on a page horizontally (it would be great if it showed all of it vertically too, but I'm willing to let that one pass).

Battery life is a big deal, the longer the better. Anything with less than 24 hr straight on battery life is useless for me.

Built in dictionary and note taking capabilities are not a must have. I probably won't use any of them very much so I really don't cara about them at all. Bookmarking would be great but not mandatory. Memory is not such a big deal either, if it can hold a couple dozen ebooks at once it'll be more than enough.

Price is a limiting factor but not too much of one as I'd rather have something expensive that fulfills all my needs than compromise on any of them to get a discount.

My main concern is openness. I'd like it to be able to read as many formats as possible and to be able to purchase from pretty much any retailer without needing to have the ebook converted. Also I have a lot of PDF stuff I'd like to be readable through the device.

So, that's the huge list of features I care about (or don't). Anyone has any ideas what would come closer to that?

Here's how the Jetbook Lite stacks up with your wants:

Non-backlit LCD screen. Very easy on the eyes, without the annoying page flash you get with e-ink screens.
No Internet access or 3G. You load books from your computer via USB cable or SD card.
Five-inch screen. Various options for turning pages, so easy for lefties and righties both.
Runs on four AA batteries--I believe the specs say around 22 hours on a set of batteries. If you buy two sets of rechargeable AAs, you can just swap out the batteries as needed. So you never need to have any downtime.
No note-taking or dictionary. Limited internal memory, but can accommodate SDHC card.
Price generally hovers around $100.
Reads a variety of non-DRM formats--epub, txt, pdf, fb2, mobi, prc. Reads ADE and BN's DRM, so you can get books from just about every source except Amazon without having to strip DRM or convert.

CWatkinsNash · 05-12-2011, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

Here's how the Jetbook Lite stacks up with your wants:

Non-backlit LCD screen. Very easy on the eyes, without the annoying page flash you get with e-ink screens.
No Internet access or 3G. You load books from your computer via USB cable or SD card.
Five-inch screen. Various options for turning pages, so easy for lefties and righties both.
Runs on four AA batteries--I believe the specs say around 22 hours on a set of batteries. If you buy two sets of rechargeable AAs, you can just swap out the batteries as needed. So you never need to have any downtime.
No note-taking or dictionary. Limited internal memory, but can accommodate SDHC card.
Price generally hovers around $100.
Reads a variety of non-DRM formats--epub, txt, pdf, fb2, mobi, prc. Reads ADE and BN's DRM, so you can get books from just about every source except Amazon without having to strip DRM or convert.

+1 on this recommendation. Good price for its capabilities. My other recommendation would be a Sony, but it's kind of on the other end of the pricing spectrum. While the Jetbook Lite has a more limited feature set, it offers a lot of value at that price point.

With the JBL, as stated, you've got access to pretty much every source except Amazon. With the way the book market is shaping up, most of Amazon's content can be found either at one of the ePub retailers or on Smashwords. Even many of the Kindle freebies also show up at an ePub retailer.

jocampo · 05-12-2011, 11:39 AM

Hi,

Welcome to Mobileread.

I see you're in Brazil. So you should get something that you can officially request customer support or avoid shipping back and pay that yourself in case of issues. Based on that and the great battery life the device has (up to a month), I would recommend a Kindle 3.

Please take a look on Sony's eink readers also, but like someone mentioned already, they can be expensive. But they have good International support.

silasgreenback · 05-12-2011, 11:56 AM

Though you mentioned that you have no preference over LCD or E-ink, you may want consider the difference. I have a Kindle, but I fell in love with the E-ink display before I even noticed the other features. The Kindle and the Sony line have Pearl displays, but from in-store demos of other readers I've seen, E-ink looks great whether it's Pearl or not. I love my Kindle, but I think I probably would've been just as happy with the display of any other E-ink device.

You may already be familiar with Calibre, but it's worth mentioning that no matter what your device, if you're using Calibre, there's very little you can't do as far as making your books look great and making any format compatible.

As an aside, judging by your user name, you may want to consider that the Kindle version of Dune is horribly formatted.

Good luck and happy reading!

thufirhaw · 05-12-2011, 09:27 PM

Great! Thanks everyone, for all the thoughtful responses. Those and the link GeoffC posted have given me a lot to think about.

Some of you have noticed I live in Brazil, and of course that means my options are somewhat limited, but really not as much as it would seem at first. A relative of mine is going to the US soon and I'm sure he can track down the one I choose. Also, the lack of support is not such a big deal to me as I'd expect not to need it that much (I'm quite tech savvy), plus I know a few people who I trust would know how to fix it in case it was necessary (at least well enough to have me reading again).

The jetbook lite sounds right up my alley, but since price won't be as limiting as it would be if I were buying it here in Brazil I'll give the Sony some thought as well. Also thinking about the nook (despite the lack of all the stuff jbcohen mentioned if it works as a "read everything but B&N ebooks" it will do just fine).

Well that was really helpful, I can't thank you enough, all of you.

jocampo · 05-12-2011, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thufirhaw

Also, the lack of support is not such a big deal to me as I'd expect not to need it that much (I'm quite tech savvy), plus I know a few people who I trust would know how to fix it in case it was necessary (at least well enough to have me reading again).

Please! Don't fall into the trap of buying something that is supported here in USA, but does not in Brazil.

Trust me! Computers and electronic devices are not like old cars...that you can fix yourself. They just stop working without notice and most of the time the only way to fix it is returning the device. An eink reader that does not turn on is not so easy to fix ... same for a broken screen. With a good customer support, getting a replacement can be as easy as returning the device.

Just my 2 cents!

Boa sorte!

thufirhaw · 05-12-2011, 10:46 PM

Thank you so much for your concern jocampo, and I do agree with you, good customer support is a great thing to have. On the other hand, I actually earn part of my income fixing computers, and though I myself have no experience with ereaders I know people who have and in whom I trust.

In fact it's not at all uncommon in Brazil for people who are not official support representatives to do a good job fixing electronics (and other stuff) as for decades official support has been substandard or absent over here (things are changing now, though). We call it jeitinho brasileiro ("the brazilian way"). It's risky of course, but through my job I've come to know people who helped me jailbreak some stuff and fix others, for almost a decade now. Never had a complaint.

Good luck to you too!

ProfCrash · 05-13-2011, 09:51 AM

It looks to me like your requirements are loose enough that you can choose pretty much whatever you want. I don't know much about the non-mass market ereaders so I cannot comment on those. If you have found you are interested in I would suggest posting in that ereaders specific board area. You will probably get more responses there then here.

Since you are in Brazil and you have mentioned wanting 3g/WiFi I would look at the Kindle 3 and the Sony 950. Both have 3G/WiFi. The Kindle browser can be used with the 3G and WiFi, the Sony 950 browser can be used with the WiFi.

They are both well built and supported internationally. The Sony 950 is only sold in the US but I would think that would be less of an issue since the 350 and 650 are sold across the globe.

They both have a ton of books available for them. The Kindle store is massive and getting around geographic restrictions is not difficult. Use a US address, gift cards, and maybe a VPN blocker and you will be able to buy books in the US store fairly easily. If you are concerned that won't work for you, the Sony 950 is an EPub reader and you will be able to shop at more stores then you can with the Kindle. Note, more stores does not neccessarily mean more available titles.

And frankly, Calibre is very easy to work with so no matter what way you go you will be able to buy books with Mobi or EPub and convert them for your device easily enough if you so choose.

They both have

thufirhaw · 05-15-2011, 10:10 PM

So after getting information here (thanks to everyone who posted

) and reading around the forums I've decided to go with the Sony 350, it seems more flexible regarding where I buy from and like I said I plan on buying titles from lots of places, including retailers here in brazil, plus it is supported intertionally. I just wish it was a bit more "pocket" but I carry a backpack around everyday so it will be portable enough.

Also the company I work for is giving me an android based smartphone (the samsung galaxy S) which makes wifi/3g on the reader kind of redundant as well as allows me to download the kindle app and read stuff from amazon.

So how does that sound? The Sony 350/galaxy S combo looks to me like it will meet most of my needs.

05-12-2011, 05:04 AM	#1
thufirhaw Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Location: São Paulo, Brazil Device: none	Help me choose my very first ebook reader. Hello, everyone. I'm new here, but I've lurking for a while now, and I feel like it's time to turn for you guys for help with a big decision for me: I'm finally getting an ebook reader after years of reading them from PCs and laptops but don't know which one to get. Can you guys help me? Sorry about the size of the post, I know it's way too long but I was trying to be very specific about what I want. I'd rather have a dedicated device and I don't want a tablet, at least not for now, but if the one that best suits my needs turns out to be something more like a smartphone than an ereader so be it (by the way does anyone read on their ipod Touch? I'd like to know how that works for you). Most of what I'll be reading in it will be fiction, and almost none of it will be comic books so color isn't necessary. Also, as for screen type I don't mind much whether it's LCD or E-ink, although I do have a slight preference for E-ink (I understand it means longer battery life, though I'm not sure of that. Am I right?) I'd like it to have internet access; preferably wi-fi but 3G will do. Lack of access isn't a deal breaker though, if the rest of my needs are met. Weight is not an issue, nor is thickness, but I'd rather have it smaller than bigger. The device's screen size is regardless for me as long as it can display all of the text on a page horizontally (it would be great if it showed all of it vertically too, but I'm willing to let that one pass). Battery life is a big deal, the longer the better. Anything with less than 24 hr straight on battery life is useless for me. Built in dictionary and note taking capabilities are not a must have. I probably won't use any of them very much so I really don't cara about them at all. Bookmarking would be great but not mandatory. Memory is not such a big deal either, if it can hold a couple dozen ebooks at once it'll be more than enough. Price is a limiting factor but not too much of one as I'd rather have something expensive that fulfills all my needs than compromise on any of them to get a discount. My main concern is openness. I'd like it to be able to read as many formats as possible and to be able to purchase from pretty much any retailer without needing to have the ebook converted. Also I have a lot of PDF stuff I'd like to be readable through the device. So, that's the huge list of features I care about (or don't). Anyone has any ideas what would come closer to that?

05-12-2011, 06:34 AM	#3
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Welcome to Mobileread ... thufirhaw As well as comments in this thread, you may find the matrix in the wiki useful .... >>> ereader-matrix ... A Pocketbook will allow you to read mobi books (non-drm) and epub (drm & non-drm) .... Last edited by GeoffC; 05-12-2011 at 06:37 AM.

05-12-2011, 10:08 AM	#4
boswd Banned Posts: 2,391 Karma: 1001781 Join Date: May 2010 Device: The Nook, Nook color and Droid X	Well on here you are going to most likely get everyone telling you to buy what they bought because we love what we bought. So you'll have a Buy Sony, Buy Kindle Buy Nook, buy Kobo buy ..... But I can tell you why I bought and love the nook . First off all the eink ereaders will meet your min. criteria. All have great battery lives. The kindle can go over 3 weeks with wifi off, Sony around 2+ and the nook about 5-8 days with wifi and 3G off. So you won't worry about charging any on a nightly basis. They are all fairly light, the nook being the heaviest of the Big Three but even then it only weighs as much as 400 page Trade Paperback, so they are all very light. But on to why I bought the nook over the others. 1. Looks and form factor. Love the design, love the touchscreen navigation on the second screen. Looks very stylish and love the rubberized back with a slight concave on each side. fits perfect in the hand. Well thought out design IMHO 2. The LCD second screen: I like seeing my book covers in color. I like cover flow and it's 2011 and capactive touchsreen for navigating menues, your library etc just feels more modern than the others. 3. Love it's main Eink screen. Was great before but after the last update,(v1.5) the screen even pops more. They seemed to darken the text on an already pretty creame colored background. Would rank it right up their with the newer Pearl Screen on the Kindle 3 and new Sony's. 4. Epub: I love to shop around. I can buy books from Kobo, Google books, Sony bookstore and use the Overdrive Library Lending. I don't have to worry about converting formats. Just a buy and drop and drag. 4. Sd card slot and replacable battery. love the xtra storage and be able to swap out batteries if need to. 5. In store support. Something doesn't seem right or have a question etc, I can bring it to my local Barnes and Noble and bring it to the nook counter. 6. More InStore fun features : Read any available books for up to an hour each day, in store nook only coupons. Free Starbucks Cafe drinks or desserts. It makes it a little more than just a "gadget" My wife and I have a blast with this. We try to make it in at least two to three times a month and just relax with the nook. 7. Barnes and Noble's ebook (nook books) store. It's one of the best in the business. Love it. 8. IMHO has THE BEST line of accesories, Everything looks and feels very stylish and high end. Well these are most of the main reason I chose a nook over the other major ereaders, I'm sure the Kindle, Sony and others will chime in with their recommendations I hope this helps. Good luck. Also Barnes and Noble is supposed to make an announcement at the end of the month about a possible new Nook. Might want to wait for that as well just to see what it is all about. Could mean a better ereader for you and/or discounted orginal nook classics. Last edited by boswd; 05-12-2011 at 10:30 AM.

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05-12-2011, 05:54 AM	#2
covfam Addict Posts: 304 Karma: 1139862 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Ipod Touch,Ipad3,Kindle fire, Samsung Galaxy tab, Samsung Galaxy S3	if your not looking to have access to lots of different formats, and just want a good easy to use e-reader with a huge library then kindle is it for you. if you want acess to color magazines & the ability to play games and other such activities, the nook color & ipad do good. if your looking for an ereader for epub various formats, then the nook classic, sony readers and the kobo readers all work good. the kobo has less features than everybody else but cheaper if price is a factor. unfortunatly unless you stick with free books regardless of format all the major ebook retailers have a DRM even the "much vaunted open epub" borders & barns&nobles "epub" has drm from adobe. now you can get programs online for stripping drm from books but it is a hassle if you"just" want to read. Pick a device and DRM format you would rather be locked into for most of your books either epub drm "ADE" from adobe or AZW from amazon/kindle or Fairplay "ibooks" from apple most of the other drm's are quickly disapearing and those are the big 3 left. the apple ipad or ipod touch has one advantage over all the ereader devices, it can read any of the formats out there because there is an ereader app for just about every format made while more expensive its the most flexible you dont have to be stuck with ibooks.

05-12-2011, 10:39 AM	#6
boswd Banned Posts: 2,391 Karma: 1001781 Join Date: May 2010 Device: The Nook, Nook color and Droid X	Oh I just realized you are in brazil. Ok well I just wasted about 10 mins of my life. LOL The Nook is available as of right now only in the US unless you know of someone who can purchase one and mail it down to you or if you ever visit the states. You just won't register it with BN and then its mainly an ePub ereader. You can purchase books from other sites, just won't be able to buy from Barnes and Noble. I would say get the Sony then but I'll let a Sony owner chime in on the reason. I think they are sleek and have great functinonality. There are just way overpriced in the US.

05-12-2011, 11:39 AM	#9
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	Hi, Welcome to Mobileread. I see you're in Brazil. So you should get something that you can officially request customer support or avoid shipping back and pay that yourself in case of issues. Based on that and the great battery life the device has (up to a month), I would recommend a Kindle 3. Please take a look on Sony's eink readers also, but like someone mentioned already, they can be expensive. But they have good International support.

05-12-2011, 11:56 AM	#10
silasgreenback New Leaf Turner Posts: 260 Karma: 1026664 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Hadestown Device: Kobo Glo	Though you mentioned that you have no preference over LCD or E-ink, you may want consider the difference. I have a Kindle, but I fell in love with the E-ink display before I even noticed the other features. The Kindle and the Sony line have Pearl displays, but from in-store demos of other readers I've seen, E-ink looks great whether it's Pearl or not. I love my Kindle, but I think I probably would've been just as happy with the display of any other E-ink device. You may already be familiar with Calibre, but it's worth mentioning that no matter what your device, if you're using Calibre, there's very little you can't do as far as making your books look great and making any format compatible. As an aside, judging by your user name, you may want to consider that the Kindle version of Dune is horribly formatted. Good luck and happy reading!

05-12-2011, 09:27 PM	#11
thufirhaw Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Location: São Paulo, Brazil Device: none	Great! Thanks everyone, for all the thoughtful responses. Those and the link GeoffC posted have given me a lot to think about. Some of you have noticed I live in Brazil, and of course that means my options are somewhat limited, but really not as much as it would seem at first. A relative of mine is going to the US soon and I'm sure he can track down the one I choose. Also, the lack of support is not such a big deal to me as I'd expect not to need it that much (I'm quite tech savvy), plus I know a few people who I trust would know how to fix it in case it was necessary (at least well enough to have me reading again). The jetbook lite sounds right up my alley, but since price won't be as limiting as it would be if I were buying it here in Brazil I'll give the Sony some thought as well. Also thinking about the nook (despite the lack of all the stuff jbcohen mentioned if it works as a "read everything but B&N ebooks" it will do just fine). Well that was really helpful, I can't thank you enough, all of you.

05-12-2011, 10:46 PM	#13
thufirhaw Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Location: São Paulo, Brazil Device: none	Thank you so much for your concern jocampo, and I do agree with you, good customer support is a great thing to have. On the other hand, I actually earn part of my income fixing computers, and though I myself have no experience with ereaders I know people who have and in whom I trust. In fact it's not at all uncommon in Brazil for people who are not official support representatives to do a good job fixing electronics (and other stuff) as for decades official support has been substandard or absent over here (things are changing now, though). We call it jeitinho brasileiro ("the brazilian way"). It's risky of course, but through my job I've come to know people who helped me jailbreak some stuff and fix others, for almost a decade now. Never had a complaint. Good luck to you too!

05-13-2011, 09:51 AM	#14
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	It looks to me like your requirements are loose enough that you can choose pretty much whatever you want. I don't know much about the non-mass market ereaders so I cannot comment on those. If you have found you are interested in I would suggest posting in that ereaders specific board area. You will probably get more responses there then here. Since you are in Brazil and you have mentioned wanting 3g/WiFi I would look at the Kindle 3 and the Sony 950. Both have 3G/WiFi. The Kindle browser can be used with the 3G and WiFi, the Sony 950 browser can be used with the WiFi. They are both well built and supported internationally. The Sony 950 is only sold in the US but I would think that would be less of an issue since the 350 and 650 are sold across the globe. They both have a ton of books available for them. The Kindle store is massive and getting around geographic restrictions is not difficult. Use a US address, gift cards, and maybe a VPN blocker and you will be able to buy books in the US store fairly easily. If you are concerned that won't work for you, the Sony 950 is an EPub reader and you will be able to shop at more stores then you can with the Kindle. Note, more stores does not neccessarily mean more available titles. And frankly, Calibre is very easy to work with so no matter what way you go you will be able to buy books with Mobi or EPub and convert them for your device easily enough if you so choose. They both have

05-15-2011, 10:10 PM	#15
thufirhaw Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Location: São Paulo, Brazil Device: none	So after getting information here (thanks to everyone who posted ) and reading around the forums I've decided to go with the Sony 350, it seems more flexible regarding where I buy from and like I said I plan on buying titles from lots of places, including retailers here in brazil, plus it is supported intertionally. I just wish it was a bit more "pocket" but I carry a backpack around everyday so it will be portable enough. Also the company I work for is giving me an android based smartphone (the samsung galaxy S) which makes wifi/3g on the reader kind of redundant as well as allows me to download the kindle app and read stuff from amazon. So how does that sound? The Sony 350/galaxy S combo looks to me like it will meet most of my needs.

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