eBook Readers for Field Reference Reading

[VidThreeNorth]

This is going to be a short post, though I might add to it later. If anyone else has some experiences with these products, particularly recent products, I'd be interested in finding out what your experiences have been.

I have 3 eBook readers, "old", "older" and "oldest", so what I am writing is probably outdated.

The Short Summary:

All of the ones I have used have been slow and inadequate for the use I intended.


My Ramblings:

EBook readers, as far as I know, started in Japan a long time ago. I think they were around back in 2000. In Japan, I think the biggest seller was NEC. Sony did ok though. I think the earliest Sony versions came to North America around 2005. At any rate, in their proprietary wisdom, they did not support PDF files until they started selling them in North America. They didn't feel that we in North America would buy them without PDF support. As far as I am concerned, I think they were right about that. I would never have bought one without PDF support.

My first reader was a refurbished "PRS-300" back in 2011. They were typical Sony over-priced products. I was told by the salesman to be careful NOT to upgrade it because the upgrade would fail and lock up the eBook. So I just used it "as-is" for a couple of years. It has a particular problem with charging. The USB port would NOT charge the eBook using a regular charger. One had to either buy a special charging adapter, or charge it on an actual computer. But even if you charged it on a computer, it might not charge. The computer had to be actually running (ie: not "sleep mode"). If you left the eBook plugged it when the computer was sleeping the eBook would try to "charge" the computer, thus draining the battery in the eBook. If you let it drain completely, the battery could die, making the eBook a useless slab of technology -- or worse, it might explode, or something like that.

It was also not expandable. I think it was something like 500MB of Flash.

But the real problem was that it had a screen, I think 800 x 480 black and white, and only a very simple PDF reader. So some fonts do not display well. And there is only 1 level of magnification beyond standard, so it can be very inconvenient to read something like a camera manual. The only way I can practically read most of my "ebooks" is to rotate the display sideways and read pages in 2 parts (upper half and lower half).

I actually did use it for a while until I bought a Kobo reader when they first came out. I had little hope for the Kobo reader, but it did come with a library of free classic books (Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, and many more). I am still reading those included books and enjoying them. But for camera manual reading it is about as bad as the early Sony.

A couple of months ago I found the Sony PRS-300 again, and having forgotten about the warning from the salesman, I upgraded it. It locked up as I had been warned, but being a long time computer programmer and techy type guy, I fiddled with the controls and happily got it to work again. [Just in case you need to know, I think I fixed it by holding the "Home" button down and sliding the power switch and hold it a few seconds. I might be wrong about that, but I think that was what I did just before it started to work again.]

I don't notice any functional difference. The upgrade had to do with converting it to a Kobo book store reader instead of Sony's original, (now defunct) in-house store.

My last eBook reader was a Sony PRS-350 which I bought refurbished after Sony got out of the eBook business. It has a touch screen and is smaller, and it charges more normally through USB (using most ordinary USB charging cables). I don't think the PDF support is any better, but I did like the size.

Anyway, that's what I know about them. I just started again loading camera manuals into the Sony PRS-300, so it has some value, but I think it could have been better.

 

[Original katomi]

I have had e readers with limited success I now use I pad, I phone, I pod for my e books camera books and mags apart from not letting me have a direct link to the video content on the camera mag it’s an easy way to have e books

 

[Strodav]

I use Kindle or Apple Books on an ipad pro. Kindle can also display pdf files. There are other advantages to having a tablet with a camera. In addition to thousands of apps and games, I use it like I use to use a Polaroid years ago. You can take test shots with the tablet, different perspectives, different lighting, looking for dynamic range issues, ... , and look at them on a large screen in order to set up the best dslr shot.

 

[Original katomi]

Good idea
I knew a chap who used to shoot first in Polaroid first then shoot in med format he had few to zero bin shots as a result

 

[ac12]

cell phone, tablet/pad, Kindle reader.
Each has advantages and disadvantages.

• Cell phone
  • pro
    • Almost always with you.
  • con
    • But the more apps you use, the more drain on the battery. I've seen phones go dead in the middle of the day.
      • Then you need the external power pack to supply power to the phone.
    • Screen is small. Especially difficult for us old fogies with aging eyes.
• Tablet/pad
  • pro
    • BIGGER screen than a phone, so easier to read manuals with diagrams.
    • Some can be used to view/edit photos.
  • Con
    • Much bigger than a phone
    • Yet something else to carry
    • The Kindle e-reader app is not consistent in operation between the various tablet/OS. And some are NOT tablet friendly, but really meant to be used on a computer with a larger monitor.
      
    • What I hate is when someone holds up a large tablet/pad to take video, blocking the view of people behind them. It is all about them, they don't care about others.
• Kindle e-reader (B&W e-ink models)
  • pro
    • Easily read in bright sunlight where the LCD screen on the phone and tablet is difficult to see.
    • Battery life is MUCH longer than a phone.
  • con
    • Yet something else to carry
      
    • No color display
    • 6 inch screen is smaller than a tablet.