Among other things: Which reader has the fastest page turn?

[LeiraHoward]

Background:

I've been haunting these forums for a few months now, but haven't registered or posted yet. I hate to put up yet another "help me!" post, but I haven't seen any that correspond exactly to my list of wants and needs.

I'm a long time voracious reader. My husband has been encouraging/urging/pushing me toward getting an Ebook reader. (Mostly so he doesn't have to carry all my reading material on our vacation trips, I'm sure.) I have a feeling this will be my Christmas present. :-)

I've been hesitant to get one, mostly because looking at a computer screen for a long time definitely gives me a headache. With the new eInk technology, that seems to alleviate those issues.

My local library had a couple readers to check out and try (the Kindle and the Nook Color). I find that the Kindle's eInk screen is easy on the eyes, while whatever the Nook Color uses gives me almost immediate headaches. Also, the operating system on the Nook drove me crazy immediately, and I soon found limitations and things that annoyed me with the Kindle as well.

So far, the best option I've seen is the Pocketbook 360 Plus, but it doesn't seem to have much (if any) support available on the web, and from what I've seen on the forum here, the manufacturer seems to be doing less and less support. I've also not actually been able to get my hands on one, and I'm not sure how a 5" screen will be for reading. The 6" Kindle screen seemed about right, but definitely was lacking in most of the other areas I wanted.

I should also mention that I live in the United States, as that affects support and availability.

Needs:(More or less in order of priority)

(1) FAST refresh/page turn. I read VERY quickly, and I was constantly waiting on the Kindle for page turns.
(2) Easy on the eyes. (Probably eInk, unless some of the other tech will do the same.)
(3) Less black flash on page turns. I noticed that after a half hour or so of reading on the Kindle, the flash of the screen had started to hurt my eyes. If I read more slowly, this probably would not be an issue. I wouldn't mind an animated page turn, either.
(4) Customizability. I'm a techie and like to be able to tweak things "just so".
(5) Good technical support (software updates, etc.) and warranty from the manufacturer.
(6) Ability to drag and drop files from computer to put on reader without needing to add software to my computer.
(7) Multitude of file types. Mostly what I read now is from Gutenburg, so .txt and .html are a must.

Preferences: (not in any order)

(1) Case of some sort available to protect the screen.
(2) Not too many buttons. (QWERTY keypad not needed!)
(3) Relatively light. Similar to a paperback book, easy to hold with one hand.
(4) Screen size similar to reading size on a normal paperback book.
(5) Case with reading light available to purchase. (That's the one thing I really liked about the Kindle.)
(6) My husband would prefer that if it has buttons on both sides (like the Kindle) that you can customize it to have buttons on the left turn the pages back, and on the right turn the pages forward.

Things I don't care about at all:

(1) Internet access. I expect that I'll mostly be loading the device from my PC, to make organizing things easier. If it has free access, that's fine, but I won't pay extra for it.
(2) Fancy color options. Plain old black or grey or white is fine for me.
(3) Ability to do anything other than read books. It is kinda fun if I can play games on it as well, but if it does that, my husband will want to be playing with it and I'll have to get a second one for myself!

Anyway, thanks for reading through all of that. If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them! Also, if you can give me a link to the device you suggest, that would help me out a lot.

Thanks!

LH

[thebestjeter]

I have very bad news for you: The Kindle 3 has one of the most page turn speed out there (if not the fastest one). There isn't any e-ink device with faster page turns. That's the reality for the e-ink tecnology.

The flash black is because the Kindle make a full refresh every page. In another devices, the full refresh is configurable, so you can set the full refresh every 3 page (for instance), but that affects your reading experience in other way: the letter are becoming less dark and sharp until the full refresh occurs. So, the flash black is also the reality of e-ink tecnology.

[Billi]

Leira, welcome to MobileRead!

If you find the Pocketbook 360 interesting but you prefer a 6" device you can have a look at the Pocketbook 602. It fits most of your needs and the software of both devices is more or less the same.

-Full page refresh is configurable. You can, for instance, decide to do a page refresh every nine page turns. This will result in a very fast page turn but with the disadvantage of a greater ghosting effect. A page refresh with every page turn takes a little more time but has no ghosting effect.

- Pocketbook devices are very customisable.

- Multitude of file types: yes. txt and html files are displayed (among a lot others). But Gutenberg also offers mobi and epub versions for most of the books, so you're not confined to txt or html.

- The support is better than your impression of it. There are a lot of very helpful users here in the forum and some Pocketbook merchants and employees also write here.

[polly]

I would also recommend looking at the Sony x50 series. The lighted case works very well in low light situations. Unfortunately, fancy page turn graphic and e-ink screen are not compatible. I find that I don't notice it as I read, but each of us is different.

I would also recommend that you look at Calibre. The developers are active here at MobileRead and Calibre gives you a lot of control over how the books look on your reader and how they are organized.The readers that I've used show up as a flash drive when you attach them, so it is possible to drag and drop, but Calibre does a much better job of organizing them for me.

[Fbone]

There are a few new ereaders expected from Amazon and Sony later this year. If you can wait a month or two you'll have more choices.

[Pinecone]

I will also put in a plug for the Sony x50 series. Or the new ones coming soon.

But as others have said, the black flash is part of the eInk technology.

The Sony 650 adds the ability to turn pages with a touch (swipe) of the screen, so you can hold it is many different ways. It also has buttons to turn pages if you want.

The touch screen means no physuical keyboard, but yuo can jot notes if needed.

And while Calibre is software needed to add, you can use the Sony without it. But you DO need the Sony software to register your reader with Adobe and to buy books from the Sony store.

Calibre adds a LOT of customization to help you organize your books so you can find them.

Not a big deal with 20 - 100 books, but get up in the multi hundreds, organization is VERY important.

[LeiraHoward]

Thanks for the input so far. I'll have to check out those other devices.
Calibre is now bookmarked.

Are the Sony x50 series devices the ones that Sony calls the "Reader Touch Edition"? I'm not so sure that I would want a touch screen. Seems to me that I would end up with lots of smudges and have to be constantly cleaning the screen. Though I guess some people must use them with no problems.

Are there any lighted cases available for the Pocketbook 602? And how does it compare with the Pocketbook 360+ as far as refresh rates go? (I originally saw information on the 360+ due to an article about the ability to play Doom on it, so obviously it is pretty fast).

I wish there were some stores around here that carried those devices so I could just walk in and play with one to see how I liked it before buying. Seems like a lot of money to spend on a sight-unseen device.

I hadn't heard any rumors about the new devices yet... any idea what specs they will have?

[polly]

The touch screens are completely matte, so fingerprints don't appear on them. If you tried hard, and had cheetos powder on your fingers, you might succeed, but with relatively clean hands and normal usage, I can't see any fingerprints or smudges after hundreds of page turns.

[GreenMonkey]

Try out a Nook touch at a B&N store. The page turn on it now only does a full screen refresh every 6 pages or so, so the rest of the time, the page turn speed is crazy fast.

I thought at first that I would prefer a consistent flash every page, but I got used to once-every-6 just fine.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by polly

The touch screens are completely matte, so fingerprints don't appear on them.

They may not have fingerprints, but they will get smudged. I clean my 950 screen often. And I don't eat Cheetos while reading.

[Pinecone]

I clean my 650 touch screen every few weeks. Just a quick wipe with a micro fiber cloth.

More often, I clean if because I spilled/splashed something on it, which will happen with or without touch screen.

[boswd]

the new nook str (touch) and the kobo touch are the two that comes closest to meeting your needs.

both are eink, both have touch user interfaces, both have less flashing than the kindles and Sony's. Both are very very light.
Both will see good update support
nook has the edge on accesories
nook str has forward and backward page buttons on both sides the kobo does not.
the nook also is more easily hackable for your "tinkering" since it's an android OS.
the kobo has the edge on more file support and better stock PDF, but if you are into rooting then you can install great PDF support for the nook STR.

both feel great in the hand

if you have a Barnes and Noble close by check out the nook STR there, if you have a Best Buy I think both the new Kobo and the new nook are there as well.

Those are the two I think give you the best options of what you are looking for.

[Skip Wyona]

Thanks for the info on refreshing screens. I was wondering why text on e-ink screens sometimes appears unclear.

[LeiraHoward]

Thanks again for your input. I'll check those out.

[nogre]

I just lost my Kindle and got an Aluratek Libre Pro (for $50 used) as a replacement. It has a specially modified black and white LCD screen, which means page turning is as instantaneous as you can get and it has no backflash. It does ebooks fine and has a 5 ink screen. It does not do any fancy stuff or customizability as far as I can tell but if you want an ebook reader, definitely check it out, seeing as you can get one for cheap.