OT: Android tablet epub Reader

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Kevin Cozens <kevin-4dS5u2o1hCn3fQ9qLvQP4Q at public.gmane.org>

| On 12-03-31 05:23 PM, Scott Allen wrote:
| > Unless you're in the dark. E-ink isn't generally back lit and needs
| > ambient light to be visible. Tablets are generally back lit (and
| > usually are hard to read in bright light, such as sunlight).
| 
| Its the same with traditional (dead tree) books. I don't try reading them in
| the dark so I don't find having an eInk based reader is going to limit when I
| can read books.

I'm currently reading a novel with my Kobos.

I've tried the original E-Ink Kobo (newer E-Ink models have an
improved display) and the Kobo Vox (7" Android tablet with LCD screen
(102xx800; very nice AFFS+)).

According to http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87110
the E-Ink Kobo specs are 800x600 but only 754x584 are usable.

So far, I prefer the VOX when I read in bed and the E-Ink Kobo when
I'm out of the house.

- VOX's self-illumination is handy in bed.

- the VOX gets considerably more text on a page, it is clearer, and
  page turns are faster

- E-Ink's size, weight, and battery life are significant advantages on
  the road.

- I wish I could turn off the VOX's boot chime

- the VOX really does seem to have poor battery endurance.  The E-Ink
  Kobo's battery is great.  The VOX battery cannot even last very long in
  sleep and it doesn't do what the E-Ink one does: switch from sleep
  to off if left alone for a while.

- for page turning, I actually prefer the mechanical switch of the
  E-Ink Kobo.  Even though it makes an audible click.  My VOX's touch
  sensing is a bit unreliable -- that may be a defect and it may be
  biasing me.

- The VOX is a full Android tablet so you can google etc. in the
  middle of reading (if you are have WiFi available).  Potentially
  handy when reading in bed and not, say, on the subway.

- the E-Ink Kobo came with 100 public domain books in its ROM.  I've
  actually read a couple.  A nice bonus.

The VOX has all sorts of hooks to make reading a social experience.  I
don't want that but others may find it fun.

I don't recommend buying the VOX: at the moment, the Blackberry
Playbook is roughly the same price and size but is a much better piece
of hardware.  Not surprising: the PlayBook is being sold at less than
half the price point it was designed for.  I assume that the Kobo
reader software for the Playbook is reasonable.

For reading novels and other plain, lightly formatted text, both Kobos
are quite reasonable.

For reading PDFs, I prefer the 10" tablets to the 7" one.  My daughter
actually reads PDFs on a Nokia N810 tablet with a 4" screen (800x480
pixels).  She trims the margins before downloading.

I DON'T like DRM.  Last week I bought three books with DRM (a first).
>From the Kobo store.  They were so inexpensive that I consider them
disposable, so I can live with DRM on them.  The books?  The Hunger
Games trilogy, less than $1.50 each.

The Kobo store has lots of Project Gutenberg books (free, no DRM)
which is convenient.

The Kobos and the Nokia run Linux.  The PlayBook runs QNX.
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