ereader recommendations?

[BaguaKicksAss]

I need one that isn't backlit, sick of reading my PDFs on my laptop. Also when traveling packing a bunch of physical books just isn't feasible.

 

I would love one of those 9.7 or 10" screen ones, but they are all $400 and up .

 

So 6" it is....

 

I have to be able to read PDFs on it, has to be ink read in sunlight screen, and has to be able to zoom in and out with touch....

 

Any suggestions from folks who have tried out some readers? Kobo is tempting. Is $130 for the one which I think has all that....

[Spotless]

It seems like the kindle is cheap and effective.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Can you read PDFs on the kindle?

[Spotless]

I don't have one but on the models in the $200 range you definitely can.

You can test them in Barnes And Knoble if they still exist - at least that is where I tested them several years ago.

 

I'm all Apple but my friends with kindles watch movies on them as well.

[BaguaKicksAss]

I'm in Canada...

 

I don't want one of the ones which plays movies, since those are backlit, and well... may as well use my laptop. Trying to get away from reading lit screens, do that enough..... on TTBs lol.

[BaguaKicksAss]

One day, I will be able to surf the internet on the ipaper version, not backlit, now that would be awesome!

[iain]

Hello BaguaKicksAss

 

I have a sony reader which is good. Not sure if they are still made as the sony store has closed and account passed to kobo (or whatever it is called).

 

I chose the sony for pdf capability and also it was the only one capable of displaying UTF-8 fonts which is important for Sanskrit.

 

It has a handy functionality with Evernote which sends automatically to the reader in a clear up format.

 

Battery life is very good.

 

Humm, doesn't look like they make them any more an the replacement is expensive, though it looks great ...

 

http://store.sony.com/digital-paper/cat-27-catid-digital-paper;pgid=vxxo2vq_InRSRp4aIzyplUph0000fUq1XoL_;sid=ohv55dkUYCjQ5Y15qLqa4ekebnjHBrMAl0wDdXrn

Edited November 19, 2014 by iain

[soaring crane]

The basic, non-backlit, Kindle handles pdf's pretty well, but lags with large files. You can get one cheap today, but it would be a good idea to compress the pdfs to the smallest possible size before copying them to the device.

 

No-light version

 

Honestly, though, I'd get the one with the light. You don't have to use the backlighting, but it's a huge benefit and nothing like looking at a computer screen or tablet.

 

Kindle's and tablets are the only thing I have any experience with, so can't speak to other e-readers.

 

I should mention that my wife and I are weaning ourselves off amazon. So, we're actually looking at alternatives now, too.

 

My mother had a Nook last time she visited and it was pretty nice. I assume it does pdf, too.

[iain]

I paid 130 € for the reader or some thing like that.

 

Its workings are a little klunky but it was the best for pdf's at the time as it has a re-flow pdf function which is nice.

 

I have used it on the internet through wifi whilst traveling, can be frustrating as page functionality often does not work, though I didnt spend to much time testing, there is a wikipedia and dictionary searh option from words selected whilst reading, which I use a lot.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Touchscreen-Digital-Technology-microSD/dp/B008UNSPO2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416432552&sr=8-1&keywords=sony+e-reader

Edited November 19, 2014 by iain

[soaring crane]

The thing with pdfs is that pdf is not necessarily pdf. There are a lot of ways to make one of these files. If it's a good quality pdf with real text, then scrolling generally isn't a problem. A monthly magazine from the publisher in pdf format will scroll like any other file. A scanned book in jpg/tif/pdf format will not. And then you also can't change text size or font, or do anything else that can do with real text.

 

The Kindle lets you hide images and use a simple text format (I assume all e-readers have this function), but only with files that are formatted correctly.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Thank you for the suggestions everyone .

 

Which ones of these can you make the text/images on the screen larger and smaller by touching the screen? (like a smart phone) Also where you can slide across the page? I have trouble reading little tiny text. Fortunately I have been peeking over people's shoulders lately who have been using various devices, and the text looks large enough. Though their devices look a little larger than the 6" standard...

[soaring crane]

Thank you for the suggestions everyone .

 

Which ones of these can you make the text/images on the screen larger and smaller by touching the screen? (like a smart phone) Also where you can slide across the page? I have trouble reading little tiny text. Fortunately I have been peeking over people's shoulders lately who have been using various devices, and the text looks large enough. Though their devices look a little larger than the 6" standard...

 

see my post #10 above. It depends on the file. The Kindle does all that stuff very nicely, and has bookmark funcitons, dictionary, translator, etc ... but only if the files are the proper format.

[BaguaKicksAss]

The thing with pdfs is that pdf is not necessarily pdf. There are a lot of ways to make one of these files. If it's a good quality pdf with real text, then scrolling generally isn't a problem. A monthly magazine from the publisher in pdf format will scroll like any other file. A scanned book in jpg/tif/pdf format will not. And then you also can't change text size or font, or do anything else that can do with real text.

 

The Kindle lets you hide images and use a simple text format (I assume all e-readers have this function), but only with files that are formatted correctly.

 

All of what I will be reading is scanned books . Many of them thanks to the lovely folks at google. However google's PDFs don't look any different than anyone elses so likely not the fancy sort you are talking about. They do tend to have been put through OCR though.

 

Hmmm, now I wonder if Kobo takes kindle files, and vice versa....

[BaguaKicksAss]

see my post #10 above. It depends on the file. The Kindle does all that stuff very nicely, and has bookmark funcitons, dictionary, translator, etc ... but only if the files are the proper format.

 

So they are not like a cel phone where what is on the screen just gets larger, no matter what the format is?

[soaring crane]

well, yeah, you can zoom and all that, but if if it's a scannned book, the effect might be like zooming an image. If it's OCR i.e. a text image then it should simply increase the size of the text, but I'm not 100% sure.

[BaguaKicksAss]

So I got a KOBO . Finding one in perfect condition on craigslist for $20 was the deciding factor. Well actually I looked at e-readers in a few local stores first, and liked the whole lack of backlit aspect of those.

 

The folks who sold it to me were this older chinese couple a 15 minute walk from me. The wife spent some time showing me how to use it. Apparently they have a lot more features than the one I bought for a friend 5 years ago. The neatest bit is that the local libraries will loan out books for them for 3 weeks, then when your loan period is up, the book just vanishes from the ereader. How neat is that?

 

Now to see how many PDFs I can fit on this thing .