Mobile EBooks, Take 2
General
- February 13th, 2008
OK, quick poll; who else has read ebooks on mobile devices? I’ve tried:
- iPhone (excellent screen but some of the ebook readers aren’t very good — aside from mine, of course
- E90 (very good, but I found the screen either too wide and short or too narrow in portrait mode)
- N80 (very good, but just not enough screen area)
- N800 (better screen size but I just find the N800 software awkward compared to S60 — remember that I use S60 devices all day, every day!)
- a PanTech phone, but I don’t know the model. Windows Mobile device. (screen was lower resolution; eyestrain set in quickly)
- Nokia Series 40 device [I had the number wrong, as one commenter astutely noticed!] — (very elegant little thing, but the screen is just too small for reading for very long)
- Dell Latitude laptop (screen is fabulous for reading but battery life and weight/form factor are killers)
I haven’t used an N95 long enough at a single stretch to try reading; I’ll have to see if I can talk somebody out of one for a weekend. And somebody in Nokia must have a Kindle or a Sony Reader or both. (That they’d loan to a small design team with a larcenous rodent skulking around.)
The main problem is the small screens and overall feel of the device, once you get to play with a Sony Reader you’ll see why it’s good: huge screen that is not a strain in the eyes + nice resolution + book feel (size etc).
So yeah, no reading in non eInk displays for me.
And I don’t think there was a 6882… maybe you meant a 6822?
@Fernando: http://www.nokiausa.com/A4409056
I use my Treo 700p for eBook reading. I actually just started getting into eBooks in December and I love the idea of being able to read one wherever I am at. The 700p’s screen is actually just perfect for eBook, it seems. That is, if you are not looking for a book sized screen.
I use N95 with MobiReader for my e-books. It is not perfect; as you mentioned the screen is a bit small (especially when we have graphics, such as flow-charts).
Related to this topic; I am using Web browser to read news everyday. However, I don’t like visiting web sites that don’t offer mobile version.
I use QReader on an E50 all the time. Lots of people say the screen’s too small and ask how I do it; all I can say is that you get used to it, and it means that I have a whole library in my pocket wherever I am. Book reading is probably the second most important use of my phone, with phone calls grudgingly first, the web third, and music fourth; I need all of them on whatever phone I have.
I use QReader on N80 and feels pretty good. I don’t think the screen is problem. After all it’s a book in your pocket.
I’ve used several devices over the years for reading eBooks:-
Toshiba E330
Toshiba E750
Toshiba E830
Nokia 6682
Nokia E62
My wife has used a similar range of devices…
On the PocketPC devices, I use MS Reader. On the Nokia devices I use MobiPocket.
Even the tiny screen of the 6682 is fine for reading on for a habitual eBook reader like me.
With all of the devices, I much prefer the small size of the the device compared to a paper book. I can carry hundreds of books with me at all times, when I can normally only carry one paper book. In fact most of the time I cannot even carry one paper book, as I rarely have anything other than the pockets of my jeans to store things in.
I just came across this guy’s blog. He is porting WebKit to iLiad e-reader.
http://blog.adamrb.com/2008/02/building-better-web-browser.html
Here is a little secret:
The E70 with X-plore is a perfect txt file reader. Open a huge .txt file with X-plore. Mine is 4.5 MB. Is there any S60 program which can handle a 4.5 MB txt file and does not cause memory full error?
The text size can be varied in X-plore in 3 levels…
It is amazing. Screen size (416×352) is perfect for reading a book. 2.1 inch is not so perfect
I have used e-books since the Palm Vx came out. Mobipocket reader really works well on the N95 (commercial and non-commercial texts), FB-reader does excellent work on the N800 thought it can not handle commercial mobipocket books.
The winner actually is my Dell Axim X51v the 640×480 screen is sharp and bright and the screens viewing angle works well in portrait mode. It runs Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket and copes with PDF and HTML formatted books of course.
Something wrong with the links to the next blog post “eBook Formats: html, pdf, text, custom” - cannot post a comment there.
Just wanted to say that PDF is typically aweful to use on mobile devices becuase it is slow and a memory hog. Dedicated book readers are typically a lot more responsive and far more pleasant to use.