Looking for an email machine that reads

[BearMountainBooks]

I'm going to be reading through the various posts here, but thought I'd also just out and out ask--I'm looking for a wi-fi device that can reliably get email and web access for a trip. Sure it would be nice if it could handle open office, but I've give up on that in the price range.

I don't want a contract for access; I don't travel enough.
I need web access to look for restaurants, confirm hotels, look up addresses, etc and especially access email.
I want the device to be able to handle books; I read a lot.

I'm looking at spending 100 bucks.

Sure, I'd like the entourage edge or a netbook. But I've priced those. They're outside my range.

I read a lot of Kindle books--but the Kindle doesn't have reliable easy email so it's out (even if I could find one for 100 bucks.)

Nook, same problem.

iPad--yeah, it's be nice, but let's get real.

I'm leaning towards the iPod Touch. There are three for sale in my neighborhood, 2nd generation, for 100 or thereabouts. Any other ideas? Any recommendations on what is *the* most excellent cheapie???

Thanks!!!!

Maria

[HarryT]

Yes, the iPod Touch will work fine. It has a pretty good e-mail client on it, and there's a whole range of different reading apps available for it. I'm not sure I'd personally want to read a lot on a screen that small, but if you can live with it, that's great.

Good choice.

[BearMountainBooks]

Thanks Harry. Yes, I know the screen size isn't ideal for reading...but ya gotta go with what fits the budget and so far I'm not finding anything else in that price range. There area few tablet PCs I'm looking at...but I hate to buy anything without researching so this is part of the research!!!

I came across this odd-end model on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-7-Touch-MI...item1e5d322589

There's so many knock-offs out there...

[BearMountainBooks]

and does anyone know if open office runs on android???

[Ea]

I'd definitely second an iPod Touch. The size doesn't actually annoy me (much) - I once tried to use it as my primary e-reader - but it was a little annoying that it can't hold a charge for more than an hour or two (mine's an old first gen Touch, so it might have gotten better)

[Logseman]

As an iPod touch 1g owner, I can say the device is ideal for checking your mail, and the Kindle app will read your books mighty fine. Other apps can take care of your other needs.

However, if the iPod touch 1G is the one you are about to buy, you really do need to jailbreak it right away. Some of the apps from the App Store are not working anymore in it (which means "goodbye" to my good monies spent on Twittelator and iCompta ) and jailbreaking it could (I don't know for certain) allow you to read OO files with some kind of app fron Cydia.

[Ea]

It really depends on what Maria needs. I've just upgraded my 1st gen Touch to OS v. 3 and am reading books with the Kindle and Stanza apps. The Stanza app also allows me to access my calibre library wirelessly, and alltogether it fulfils all my reading needs without jailbreaking it.

[Logseman]

Originally Posted by Ea

It really depends on what Maria needs. I've just upgraded my 1st gen Touch to OS v. 3 and am reading books with the Kindle and Stanza apps. The Stanza app also allows me to access my calibre library wirelessly, and alltogether it fulfils all my reading needs without jailbreaking it.

The matter is, iTouch 1G won't get any more upgrades from Apple. Many apps are not working anymore as they need iOS 3.2 or higher in order to work. What if Stanza or Kindle start demanding iOS uncompatible with iPod Touch in order to work?

[Ea]

Well, I expect that the current apps as they are installed now will keep working. I don't plan to upgrade the apps.

[BearMountainBooks]

I did go and look at a touch today at best buy--you're right. The readability is Excellent. I was pleasantly surprised. The guy demoed that little email program--that was actually not as nice as the e-reader!!! More like texting than the babbling I usually do. Guess I'll have to curtail my enthusiastic email replies.

That is not the end of the world, of course. Looks like they packed a lot of functionality into the touch albeit with a few things that won't be "great" -- like touch typing and writing a book scene when something hits. But yeah, I wasn't expecting to get the "book scene" thing. Even with most netbooks (that run CE) there's no real word processor. Given that, I can't figure out why anyone would really want a netbook with CE.

I did find a netbook with regular OS in the 120 price range. Full keyboard (small but nice). That would work too, but I know how it goes. I buy for 120, then I upgrade the memory...and before I know it, I'm in for 160..

All good thoughts. I just have to decide ...

[Logseman]

If you're ready to go the Linux way (my recommendation being Ubuntu, in one of its thousand netbook flavors like Easy Peasy or Jolicloud), I can recommend Abiword as a very fine and small word processor. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of word processors like MS Word or OpenOffice Writer, but it is a very worthwhile alternative in cheap netbooks, where disk space and RAM are constrained.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I did go and look at a touch today at best buy--you're right. The readability is Excellent. I was pleasantly surprised. The guy demoed that little email program--that was actually not as nice as the e-reader!!! More like texting than the babbling I usually do. Guess I'll have to curtail my enthusiastic email replies.

Gmail is nicely integrated - but then.... I had to use the Touch for some days recently as my only computer and link to the Internet. I definitely did.not.like. the touch keyboard. I prefer something with physical feedback, like a real keyboard. But many others seem very satisfied with it. And for substitute contact during a vacation, I'd say it's fine enough.

[BearMountainBooks]

I've nothing against Linux. Used it before--only question I have -- can it save it .doc format? Like it or not, I end up having to use that format to upload to Smashwords. They used to take RTF, but no longer.

That isn't a deal breaker either so long as I can cut and paste it eventually into a final document in whatever format.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look. I think one of the netbooks i was looking at was a Linux machine.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Ea

Gmail is nicely integrated - but then.... I had to use the Touch for some days recently as my only computer and link to the Internet. I definitely did.not.like. the touch keyboard. I prefer something with physical feedback, like a real keyboard. But many others seem very satisfied with it. And for substitute contact during a vacation, I'd say it's fine enough.

Your point is well made. I do a lot of business over email and some of the replies can get lengthy. I curtail a lot of business while on vacation, but things do come up. I'm sure I could get the necessary reply out, but I'm equally certain it wouldn't be the most fun I ever had...

BUT I'm also not as likely to even bother taking a netbook along on the train or suddenly be able to pull it out of my backpack to check something on the web...so if I buy a netbook and end up not carrying it because it's that much larger...



The wheels turn, but they aren't attached to anything...going nowhere fast!!!

[Logseman]

Abiword does save .doc. That's very useful for college, as they seldom accept any other format.

http://www.abisource.com/tour/

Originally Posted by Abisource themselves

What use is a Word Processor when you can't share your documents with your friends? AbiWord is able to read and write all industry standard document types, such as OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages and many more.