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Old 10-09-2012, 06:44 AM   #16
astmario
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Icarus Excel is also good 9.7" e-ink reader, it has Vacom touch, so it works very well for annotation.
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Old 10-09-2012, 09:06 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GGMerlin View Post
Hi Gagarin,

Would you say that the screen of the Onyx is much better than the Kindle Touch?

I am in your situation. I read a lot of pdfs for hours at a time, but I don't work on them like you do.

I just need a good reader, but I am loathe to invest 350€ on an M92, inasmuch as I don't know who they are and it seems that the quality of the stuff depends on the goodwill of the vendor and I don't really understand who does what. There are so many vendors each with its own branding, firmware and support. And pricing.

I could possibly invest 250€ in an Amazon product (a new DX for instance, but I doubt that Amazon will come up with this type of product any more), but being a conservative type I just need belt and braces before spending the price of a week in a 4 stars hotel in Thailand on unknown quantities.

Thanks for your time.
The best reply I can offer is a couple of screenshots. In both you can see an article I read recently in paper, two pages printed in A4 (thus A5 per page), compared with the same test as viewed in the Onyx i62HD. In both cases I used the beta pdf reader (which although it needs some work, it's clearly superior to the old reader), available with the latest firmware update.

In the first image I used the auto crop mode. The only reason that the printed article is more readable is that the reader's background is on the grey side (which is a limitation with all e-ink devices). In the second image you can see a two column article, and thus I'm using the paper (column) mode; and it's actually easier to read in the Onyx screen.

In addition, I discovered that many pdfs can reflow properly, and thus you can read them as conveniently as any epub file; in general, the simpler the text formation, the more likely the reflow will work. Landscape mode can also come handy for pdfs with small font.

Keep in mind that you'd need reasonably good eyesight in order to read the articles the way I print them, and it's the same for the Onyx screen. Also, things get harder when your pdfs include figures or tables.

My opinion is that this reader is doing an impressive work with pdfs, considering it's a six inch device. I compared it with a regular 800x600 device, and the difference is more than significant.

Knowing that M92's software is almost identical, I believe that the latter has two advantages over the i62HD. First, the 9 inch screen, meaning that you can read anything without much tweaking. Second, thanks to the stylus and the screen size, you can keep notes just like you would in your paper books/articles (the technology is also present in the i62HD, but in practice it's not feasible).

In summary, if you need it for pdfs with relatively simple formatting, I believe the i62HD would do fine. Otherwise, you should consider the M92 (or another 9 inch reader).

A final piece of warning. I get the feeling that picking an Onyx over a Kindle is like choosing a Linux operating system instead of Windows. While the first is clearly better, you'd need to look into it yourself in order to truly enjoy its benefits. For instance, there was not a full manual included, and I learned many important things (such as how to upgrade the filmware or add more applications) via Googling or searching this forum.


PS. For comparison, that's where you can find the articles pictured. Print the first two pages in one A4 sheet in order to understand the scale.
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs..._1970-2006.pdf
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs...5_19-51_IN.pdf
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Old 10-09-2012, 12:48 PM   #18
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Very comprehensive answer. Thank you. I am a window guy could not find Linux easy to deal with.

Thanks for the PDF, two interesting papers, I'll try them on my Kindle touch and see how it pans out.
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Old 10-10-2012, 09:41 AM   #19
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Hi Gagarin,

Thanks for your detailed posts on this hardware. I'm in sort of the same situation as you: I want to do a lot of reading of academic -- Astronomy/Astrophysics in my case -- articles and find it wearisome on a laptop screen & want to save paper. I'm weighing the options currently, so will be interested to hear more as you settle into the device.

Given that astro articles usually involve a lot of tables / graphics, I'm thinking the 9.7" might be a better choice for me, but I am being cautious because of the higher price. If I sent you a sample article would it be possible for you to try looking at it on your Boox and give your impressions of useability? If it's a pain, no big deal -- just thought I'd ask. :^)

Thanks again,

Glenn
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Old 10-11-2012, 04:23 AM   #20
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Ah, I missed this reply... feel free to attach a sample article, and I'll get back after 1-2 days with a photo or two. I'm also curious how this reader would handle a figure heavy article (and if it's not very technical, I many actually read it since I have some interest in astronomy).
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Old 10-11-2012, 07:05 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gagarin Gambit View Post
Ah, I missed this reply... feel free to attach a sample article, and I'll get back after 1-2 days with a photo or two. I'm also curious how this reader would handle a figure heavy article (and if it's not very technical, I many actually read it since I have some interest in astronomy).
Thanks ... I was a little post-happy yesterday.

I'm attaching one that has a little bit of everything: math notation, graphics, plots, tables ...

/G
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Old 10-13-2012, 03:57 PM   #22
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I apologise for not including images, but here's what you want to know.

I need to read the abstract in landscape mode & cut margins. The font is rather small, but readable.

Column mode works quite well for most of the article, and it's a comfortable reading. Most tables and figures also show up correctly. But not all.

There are figures that takes more than half of the page length (eg figure 2). This takes more space than you have available under column mode. You either need to see it in two parts, or zoom manually.

Figure 5 is not aligned with the columns, but is located in the centre of the page. This does not work at all with column mode, and I need to use landscape mode again.

In summary, it's possible to read this article, but it requires too much tweaking and thus it's quite inconvenient. If this is typical of what you read, you definitely need a 9 inch reader.
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Old 10-13-2012, 06:16 PM   #23
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From your photos, Onyx i62HD seems to have a very good screen. It seems much better than the Nook Touch I had.
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Old 10-13-2012, 11:44 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gagarin Gambit View Post
In summary, it's possible to read this article, but it requires too much tweaking and thus it's quite inconvenient. If this is typical of what you read, you definitely need a 9 inch reader.
Thanks. I very much appreciate your trying it out.

It looks like I will need to get a large-format e-reader or a tablet. I wish the Onyx M92 was getting more consistently positive reviews ... people seem to either love it or find it really disappointing.

/Glenn
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Old 10-21-2012, 11:27 AM   #25
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hey gagarin,

I'm a bit behind you (in terms of getting a reader) as i haven't had much time lately - which is fine as i now can get something from your experience

I was looking into all the pdf reflow stuff around - and right now was struggling if the sony prs t2 could be fine - but also found a picture where it totally messed up a mathematical formula.

So my questions about the Onyx i62:
1. Is the HD the same as the Firefly?? Or is this the "old" i62? Where did you buy it? And how much did it cost you?
2. as i would be reading biological/chemical/pharmaceutical articles/abstracts - would be nice if you could take a look at some example articles and tell/show how the Onyx handles them:
Article 1
and
Article 2

(pdf download on upper right)

thanks

Last edited by Ababakar; 10-21-2012 at 11:29 AM.
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Old 10-23-2012, 10:04 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gagarin Gambit View Post
While I agree with your reasoning, a tablet is a no-go for me. I find LCD extremely tiresome and I already spend several hours in front of one, so I need to get an e-ink device.

The thread you linked to has some very useful information, especially if it comes to choosing between Onyx M92 and Pocketbook 912, but it doesn't answer my main question: Is it possible to do this kind of reading/work using a 6 inch reader?
I tried with the Sony PRS T1- it is a drag!! I don't even like reading books on the 6 inch reader. It's just not enjoyable.
I'm keeping my eye on the Onyxboox 92 posts. Looks very very interesting.
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Old 10-24-2012, 07:38 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ababakar View Post
So my questions about the Onyx i62:
1. Is the HD the same as the Firefly?? Or is this the "old" i62? Where did you buy it? And how much did it cost you?
2. as i would be reading biological/chemical/pharmaceutical articles/abstracts - would be nice if you could take a look at some example articles and tell/show how the Onyx handles them:
Article 1
and
Article 2
Here's a somewhat late answer...
1. As far as I know, Firefly is identical to the HD, with the addition of a build-in light and a 16 GB microsd card. I got my i62HD from http://ereader-store.de/en/ for 160 euros + 10 euros shipping, and I was quite pleased with the delivery (it shipped the very same day I placed my order, and it arrived after a week). Moreover, they offer a 2 year guarantee instead of 1 year you usually get, and the shop owner is active in this forum and provides frequent firmware updates (eg see here and here).
2. I'm quite busy at the moment to test the articles, but from a look I believe that you need 9 inches. I don't think that a 6 inch screen can handle the figures included in these files, even one of HD quality.
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