Best PDA To Read e-Texts On?

GabrielStrange writes "I've been thinking for a while now that I'd like to own some sort of portable device on which I could read e-Texts. This device should be able to read both simple text files (i.e. Project Gutenberg e-Texts) and more complex formats, like Plucker, Acrobat or Microsoft Reader. It should have a fairly high-res display with a backlight that would be easy on the eyes... but doesn't particularly need to be a color display. I'd like it to work with at least one (if not both) of the machines on my desktop, which run Linux 2.6 and MacOS X Panther... And to use a USB port. And I'd like it to have a built in, rechargeable battery, because I already have enough devices to worry about batteries for. And, of course, I don't want to pay very much for it. Anyone got any recommendations for such a device? It's proving to be almost impossible to even obtain an actual list of devices that have these features."

Comments

iBook

[Tyler Eaves]

You can probably pick up a used iBook for under $500. I can't imagine wanting to read large volumes of text on any PDA.

Try 2 of the 3

[chrispyman]

Ha... nice try, but no such device exists. You can only have 2 of the 3 items... Take your pick of:
1) Good resolution
2) internal battery
3) low price

For Ebooks

[TheKidWho]

I would definetly recommend the Tapwave Zodiac, the orientation of the device, and the size of the screen make it perfect for ebooks.

Zire 21

[Kesh]

Just pick up a palmOne Zire 21. Less than $100, B&W 160x160 screen, USB, 8 Mb storage. It'll handle all the formats asked for, and runs quite a long time on its rechargeable battery.

Re:I use an iPaq 3900 series

[Joe Tie.]

I think I'd have to chalk it up to personal prefrence. I've got a 3650, and have had pretty much the opposite experience. No problems at all with screen size, I find it easier to go back than with a book since I can use the search feature, and the small size to me makes it more comfortable to read than a book.

$15 Handspring Visor and the Weasel Reader

[gdad2]

Its funny you posted this. I've just delved into this for the first time with the old Handspring Visor I've been toting around. I paid $100 for it when it was new, but I just picked one up at a yard sale for $15. (Both 8MB) I used the Weasel reader, so I don't have to pay anything for that. (Although it doesn't like my version of ZLib. Throws a warning message but continues all right.) I've been reading Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow and I got a copy of Free Cultre by Lessig. The Visor has a backlight that lets me read without waking up the Mrs. Its been a lot of fun for me because this is the first time I've really applied open source software. I've *read* about it all over the place, but this was the first time I ever really found a *personal* benefit. I've seen Tiger Direct advertising old Palms for $45. Doesn't seem to take much to get into the OSS EBook thing.

Re:Tungsten T3!

[mclove]

DeepReader (http://www.rzanerutledge.com/deepreader/) hasn't been updated in a while but has *great* anti-aliasing - not sure how well it'll work on your T3 but it's worth a shot for unprotected eBooks at least.

Any Zaurus with a CG Silicon Screen

[FromWithin]

Any Zaurus from the following: SL-C700, SL-C750, SL-C760, SL-C860, SL-6000

Beside that marvellous-looking new Sony thing with ePaper screen, there's really no contest.

Opie-reader reads AportisDoc, Weasel (ztxt), Plucker, gzipped text, ppms text. It will also give html a go, but the built-in NetFront browser works well, and Opera is available for it.

The 640x480 screen on the Zaurus means the auto-scroll is super-smooth, and makes other PDAs look like they have lego screens. The screen is incredible quality. It really is like nothing else. Super-clear and bright; it has to be seen to be believed.

The clam-shell design has got a thumb wheel that can be assigned to scroll-speed (or whatever) when in portrait mode.

The PDF readers read full PDFs, none of this Palm cut-down stuff.

It runs Linux on-board, has got USB, has a removable rechargable battery (rechargable in-place via the AC adaptor).

As to "pay very much", well if you buy an import, you'll pay a fair whack. If you get one direct from (in?) Japan you can get it much cheaper. I got my C750 for 60000 yen about two weeks after it was released in Japan. It's a lot cheaper over there now.

My Zaurus has seriously changed the way (and the amount) that I read. So much so, that dead tree books are starting to really annoy me because they take up so much physical space.

It's definitely one of the best things I have ever bought

Re:240x320...

[Kenja]

"...is the default resolution of a Pocket PC (QVGA), not 200x320."

It is, but thats the point. With some third party tools you can get the e80x series of PDAs to run in 480x640 at all times rather then with just the few apps Toshiba supports at that res.

Look at the size of that thing

[Namarrgon]

I can't imagine holding an iBook in one hand on a crowded bus.

The advantage of a PDA is its small and convenient size - smaller than a paperback. You're reading mostly linearly anyway, so you don't need a large screen (paperbacks are much smaller than iBooks). All you need is crisp text, a backlight, decent battery life and an easy way to turn pages (I prefer a thumbwheel myself).

Re:No such thing?

[nprefontaine]

Be very wary of the Zire series though, not all of them have backlights. Find a used Clié or M515 instead, for around the same price.

Well, here's my advice:

[Mac Degger]

First off, no matter what device you go for, get a palmOS device. The reason for this is that you will be using the adressbook/agenda functions of your device too, since you already have the machine; it would be a waste not to. So make sure your device has decent versions of those apps: so get a palm.

Second, don't get hung up on resolution: that doesn't matter that much for pure reading. 160x160 is enough and 32x320 is just overkill (although it is nice of course, it just isn't neccessarry for reading!).

Thirdly, get a colour device. It's kinda obvious, but I'll say it anyway: with a colour device you can read in true black and white, which is best for reading long texts. All those monochrome devices out there are not black and white: they're grey and black, or green and grey or whatever: they will strain your eyes more than a true colour device.

Fourth, find out where you read. Any device is good indoors, but if you do a fair bit of reading in sunlight, you will have to get a newer machine, because they have screens which can actually be read outside in sunlight.

Fifth and finally, don't get hung up on memory that much. Sure, it's nice to have 128mb to spare, but remember that a large paperback takes up about 200-400 kb. That's less than half a meg. Old devices (like my IIIc) have 8 mb. Which means that with all the other apps I have on there (and it is a fair number), I still have about 8 books in there too.
However, if you read a lot of pdf's (but why would you read that crappy format? It's better to copy/paste the text into .txt and use for example isilo to convert that), you might want to have either a device which has a bit more internal ram, or one which can take CF/SD/whatever card you might want.

So, to recap: get a colour palmOS device, and the price will depend on if you read many, many large files and want to be able to read outdoors in bright sunlight.

Or wait for e-ink devices to hit the market :)