Best ebook reader for pdf files.

[federico.massimi]

Hi, I'm going to buy an e-book reader. I am very undecided. To me it is primarily a product for reading PDF files (including formulas, graphs, drawings and complex layout) and possibly Office 2013 documents. I know that for all models exist converters, but which is the best in this direction? remaining at a price around 100 €.

[faltradl]

my opinion: forget ist

[susan_cassidy]

No e-ink reader is very good at reading PDF files, except the extra-large ones, because most PDF files are formatted for 8.5 x 11 or A4 page sizes. You probably need a tablet instead.

[Elfwreck]

What they said.
Best e-ink reader for PDFs is probably the Kindle DX, or another of the larger-screen readers. They're overpriced compared to the rest of the market, and they're not actively *good* at dealing with PDFs.

A tablet--with screen size as a priority--is best for PDFs. Absolutely nothing in the dedicated ereader market is good for PDFs, because PDFs are a page-based medium, and ebook readers are designed for scrolling formats.

There is no way to make a letter-sized page's contents look good on a ~5"x4" screen. And converting the letter-sized page's contents to a different layout--reflowing, which Sony does moderately well--depends on how the PDF was created, not how good the reflow software is.

[markom]

Originally Posted by federico.massimi

Hi, I'm going to buy an e-book reader. I am very undecided. To me it is primarily a product for reading PDF files (including formulas, graphs, drawings and complex layout) and possibly Office 2013 documents. I know that for all models exist converters, but which is the best in this direction? remaining at a price around 100 €.

Used Kindle dx (white) can usually be found for that amount.

Install kindlepdfviewer thereon and you've got yourself a very good pdf reader with all necessary zooming/cropping options, highlighting, gamma correction, night mode, folder management etc.

It also reads epub, cbz(zip-ed jpegs), djvu, html !!! so there is usually no need for a conversion of any kind but cbr to cbz (or pdf for cbr-ed bitmaps) that can be easily done in a minute for an average comic using app like winrar for windows.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=157047

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...9&postcount=12

[sheygetz]

Originally Posted by federico.massimi

To me it is primarily a product for reading PDF files ...

No.
It is not.
Not for you or anybody else.
It is a product for reading ebooks.
PDF aren not ebooks.

[I want to buy a car, I'm undecided. To me it is primarily a product to sail the seven seas/ fly to the moon/bake double-crust pies. See what I mean?]

Buy a tablet. That is product which is meant to be different things to different people. And it does PDFs well.

Hendrik

[markom]

Originally Posted by sheygetz

No.
It is not.
Not for you or anybody else.
It is a product for reading ebooks.
PDF aren not ebooks.

[I want to buy a car, I'm undecided. To me it is primarily a product to sail the seven seas/ fly to the moon/bake double-crust pies. See what I mean?]

Buy a tablet. That is product which is meant to be different things to different people. And it does PDFs well.

Hendrik

It takes quite a lot of car upgrading to sail the seven seas but it takes just a couple of minutes to upgrade Kindle dx to a very good and relatively cheap pdf reader with kindlepdfviewer.

By reading I mean just plain reading, fast enough reading of A4 format comparable to reading a paper book.

Tablets allow for handwriting or much faster or smoother handwriting in comparison to current 10" e-ink readers like Onyx with that capability and when I need that or color recognition I use tablet simultaneously while reading on Kindle dx or paper&pencil.

I don't mind reading pdfs for hours on LCD though, because for me it is iPad or netbook 75% of the time indoors (at low brightness + ultra anti-glare) and e-ink 75% outdoors.

[Pismire]

Have a look at the Nook HD+, a budget solution for tablets.

[Julius Caesar]

Wait until Sony release the following gadget. 13.3" Far better than Kindle DX. Kindle DX is overpriced and old both in term of software and hardware.

[jojoba]

I'm a researcher and go through lots of pdf files every week, and I'd definitely recommend a tablet over e-ink. I love e-ink, but it's just not the best tool available for working with pdfs.

[tomsem]

I'm still interested in answering the original question.

_IF_ one were buying a 6" eInk reading device for reading PDFs (even after everyone has tried to talk one out of it), what device would people recommend?

I've only tried Kindle (Touch and Paperwhite) and Sony PRS-T1 (I assume later models are about the same). Sony is a little better, because you can do on device cropping (manual or auto) and settings stick with the document (different PDFs may require different optimizations). On Kindle settings are global and there is only auto cropping of whitespace. Also Sony allows for use of stylus to mark up documents and has PDF reflow.

I suspect Kobo's support is more basic.

Nook STR PDF support is not very good. No landscape viewing, no PDF bookmark or link support.

[markom]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I'm still interested in answering the original question.

_IF_ one were buying a 6" eInk reading device for reading PDFs (even after everyone has tried to talk one out of it), what device would people recommend?

...

My recommendation is not for a particular device but for additional software after rooting.

For Kindles it is kindlepdfviewer(KOReader)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PauN_9O4dM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5bH8T2QiFE

and for Sony PRS/Nook ST it is some good android pdf reader like Orion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayAcdHuI5hwn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBcvWuWw_w


Those who don't want to root their readers should use k2pdfopt to adjust pdfs beforehand on their PCs before transferring them to e-ink.

For A5 pdf we should just use landscape mode (cropped margins) and for A4 pdfs (both scans and textual) reflow function in k2pdfopt.

http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/

[Randy11]

Originally Posted by tomsem

_IF_ one were buying a 6" eInk reading device for reading PDFs (even after everyone has tried to talk one out of it), what device would people recommend?.

You could look at ONYX i62. There is many options to use the PDF : zoom, multicolumn mode, etc.
The ONYX M92 has the same options. There is a comparison between i62 and M92 for the same page of document, somewhere in this thread I believe - I put a picture.

[Randy11]

I've found the page : https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...92#post2561089

[Agama]

Originally Posted by tomsem

_IF_ one were buying a 6" eInk reading device for reading PDFs (even after everyone has tried to talk one out of it), what device would people recommend?

I've only tried Kindle (Touch and Paperwhite) and Sony PRS-T1 (I assume later models are about the same). Sony is a little better, because you can do on device cropping (manual or auto) and settings stick with the document (different PDFs may require different optimizations).

Sony eReaders also provide a reflow mode for PDFs: it has its limitations, (e.g. page header/footers can look a bit messy), but it does help, especially with text-based PDFs.