Best touch e-ink reader?

[NicholasV]

I recently got a Kindle 3 Keyboard which I am gonna return after trying briefly a Nook Simple Touch at Barnes and Noble and finding the Touch interface much more ideal. Basically I want an e-reader to start buying modern Greek books again, because I am sick of dealing with the cost(shipping doubles the price, and they already more expensive than the American market) and time involved in shipping. The Greek market seems to mostly use epub.

These are the features I want:
-- I would like a good web browser that will continue to be developed, that allows to download pages for offline reading. A possibility for more than one browser would be ideal.
-- Good dictionary support, when they release a good English-Greek dictionary I would like to load it.
-- I would like a product whose firmware would be improved for a while after purchase or something that has a potential alternative firmware or ability to be rooted, incase I have it for years and the company abandons it leaving a still experimental web browser, rudimentary PDF support, etc.

I think there are pros and cons of each. I like that the Nook has buttons for page turning, but B&N is still in danger of actually going out of business. Amazon is an a-hole company that has remotely deleted user's e-books, underpays and poorly treats their workers and created a proprietary format.

What store can I demo a fully functional Kindle or Kobo Touch at? What do you guys recommend?

[AndyfromVA]

-- I would like a good web browser that will continue to be developed, that allows to download pages for offline reading. A possibility for more than one browser would be ideal.

Have you considered the Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet? They have much nicer web browsers than any of the e-ink readers.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by NicholasV

Amazon is an a-hole company that has remotely deleted user's e-books, underpays and poorly treats their workers and created a proprietary format.

Oy vey.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I have a Kobo Touch, which is the clear winner for firmware updates. Firmware updates are frequent and often include added features.

I'm not sure if you can download pages off the web - on any reader. I haven't really tried it on mine.

The dictionary for English on the Kobo Touch is good (Merriam-Webster), and Kobo has recently launched internationally, but I don't see an option for Greek in my "language" settings. I don't have the most current firmware though. The Nook does not appear to support Greek either.

It's unclear to me from your post whether you intend to read in English or Greek. But if it's Greek, neither one currently has support, though both say they may expand their language support in the future.

Best Buy should have demos for you to test out. Two things to keep in mind with the Kobo, though:
1. The demos are often running very old firmware.
2. The Kobo has an option to set your refresh rate between once every page turn, and once every 6 page turns. So if you see some mild ghosting, it's probably not a flaw in the reader - it's just set to a low refresh rate. If it bothers you, you can set it to refresh every page.

I can see you have a problem with restrictive companies and products. So do I. And between the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo, the Kobo is by far the most open. That's one of the reasons I went with it.

[NicholasV]

To me e-books are a racket, they don't have to pay for materials, manufacturing, shipping, or much infrastructure(since you pay your ISP to maintain your access to the net), less personnel costs but they are still more comparable in price to a given softcover than they are not. For a few bucks more I can get a paperback, and most often for cheaper I can get a used copy. With e-books you still don't technically own anything, you cannot loan it, or resell it. For these reasons I don't see myself buying too many English e-books unless they actually start passing all those cost savings onto me as a consumer. But with Greek books it is much different because of shipping.

I just looked at a large Greek publishers' website and it says:

Originally Posted by Livanis.gr

Τα ψηφιακά βιβλία δεν υποστηρίζονται από Kindle και Nook.

Our electronic books are not supported on Kindle or Nook

So I guess this tips it perhaps in favor of Kobo.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by NicholasV

I just looked at a large Greek publishers' website and it says:

So I guess this tips it perhaps in favor of Kobo.

The Kobo might be ok, but I suggest getting confirmation that it displays Greek. It might require the appropriate font be embedded in the ePub.

The Kindle includes support for the Greek language, but perhaps what the publisher means is that they don't provide MOBI ebooks. Calibre can convert DRM-free ePub to MOBI. The MOBI won't have embedded fonts (which are not supported) but the standard fonts include Greek glyphs.

[Kai Winters]

Selling anything that isn't vital to life is a racket. Do you need a TV? You can watch a bird fly by or a sunset.
Do you need the nice house you live in? Probably not, a yurt should do nicely.

How about a vacuum? A broom would also do just as well wouldn't it?

Some people prefer a book, whether hard cover or paperback. Others prefer digital.
Talk about a "racket"...I'd say the publishers, whether paper or digital, have quite a racket going. And don't get me started on the movie and music industries.

LOL...It never ends.

I like my ereader because of its' convenience. I can carry hundreds of books with me at all times in my pants pocket and no one will notice. The pages do not fall out because they are so old the glue has dried out...I still have my original paper back of the "Hobbit" I bought in '67 for a 7th grade reading assignment...and have hundreds of books in boxes and hundreds in my pants pocket...wonder what group is easier to handle.
Regarding the resale value of books, whether hard cover or paper back...hmmm yard sales get maybe a buck for a hard cover and generally 20 cents for a paper back.

Used book stores are very few and very, very far between. There is not much money in the used book market for anyone.
There is not much of a market for a digital book either I'd expect. Though I'd give you a copy on a cd or email the file to you before I'd give you one of the many books I own.

Also I can go to the Gutenberg press and download thousands of books for free and read to my hearts content. No library card needed. No walking or wasting gas going to the local library to find out they only have one copy of that book that was published 20 years ago and it has been out for 6 months and probably won't be returned. I can download it easily at the "Gute". They also have books in many languages besides English.

Don't be so quick to dismiss the digital book world as a racket. Some parts yes but that is true of the world, always has been and always will...

[NicholasV]

My library system supports Overdrive e-book lending. So far I am not that impressed, there are not many books available and much more are taken out compared to print books, probably because it is so trivial to have the 5 book limit constantly loaded. However, I use linux so I cannot use the desktop "Overdrive Media Console" or "Adobe Digital Editions" software.

A librarian and Amazon's site both mention that you can download books from your Amazon account via wi-fi without needing to resort to usb. Is Kindle the only reader that can do this? However, I also notice there is much less title availability of Kindle editions compared to DRM Epubs.

[gari189]

The Sony T1 has an Overdrive app built-in which lists all the libraries which have Overdrive books. On the T1 you just select your country, region and library and it will take you to the ebooks for that library. Type in your library username, password and select the book you want to borrow, download wirelessly straight to your T1 - job done. Thats how it works in the UK anyways.....

Have to say when I saw this mentioned on an review site, I was sceptical but I've tried it and it works really well. No need whatsoever to involve your laptop or pc. Browsing isn't easy on a 6 inch screen, so maybe use the pc to browse and decide what you want to borrow...

[gatemaze]

Originally Posted by NicholasV

However, I use linux so I cannot use the desktop "Overdrive Media Console" or "Adobe Digital Editions" software.

You can use Adobe Digital Editions through wine perfectly fine. Download the book with the ADE and then add it to calibre to organise and pass it to your ebook reader.

[gatemaze]

Nichola,

with my prs650 I had issues reading greek epubs due to greek fonts support missing. There is a workaround which I don't recall out of my head. Maybe the latest ebook readers such the t1 have resolved these issues.

Just something to bear in mind when you select your ebook reader.