Best Pdf E-Book Reader ?

owlwink

Hey guys,

JUst wondering if anyone could give me some advice on which e book reader is currently the best for reading your own pdf files.

Any advice at all would me much appreciated.

Cheers,

Owlwink.

daithimac

Some may Argue that its not an e-reader per say but I have never seen a pdf rendered quite so well on a portable device as on the ipad. I had a sony reader and books like the for dummies of programing books were a nightmare to read because text sections that were placed in blocks on the page could not be handled.

I got the goodread app for my ipad for €0.79 and it displays PDF's perfectly to the point where I sooner download magazines than buy them. also iBooks the native iPad reader app has just been updated to read pdf's. Its also perfect for reading epub documents and word docs too. The online store seems to be contained solely of copyright expired publications at the minute but I assume that when contracts are agreed with publishers that bestsellers will be added to the list.

Bob Z

daithimac wrote: »

Some may Argue that its not an e-reader per say but I have never seen a pdf rendered quite so well on a portable device as on the ipad. I had a sony reader and books like the for dummies of programing books were a nightmare to read because text sections that were placed in blocks on the page could not be handled.

I got the goodread app for my ipad for €0.79 and it displays PDF's perfectly to the point where I sooner download magazines than buy them. also iBooks the native iPad reader app has just been updated to read pdf's. Its also perfect for reading epub documents and word docs too. The online store seems to be contained solely of copyright expired publications at the minute but I assume that when contracts are agreed with publishers that bestsellers will be added to the list.

How is at reading comics?

watty

The iPad is not an eBook reader. It's a locked down netbook with no keyboard.

Screen size/ Pixels is the issue. you want about 720 wide by 1024 high pixels minimum and ideally about 900 x 1200 11" minimum to avoid having to scroll PDFs.

Most readers will read PDFs. But the common readers are too small for standard Letter size & A4 size PDFs. If you create your PDFs A5 size then any reader with 6" or larger screen will do.

I have 15.4" 1600 x1200 laptop and 1600x1200 19" CRTs on my two PCs because I have to read a LOT of Letter size and A4 PDFs. You really need the 1200 lines min. I tried a WS laptop with 1920x1080 and unless you set it up on edge to have portrait, the reduction from 1200 lines to 1080 on the vertical meant that either the zoom was such that text was illegible or every page had to scroll.

Obviously with portrait device as most readers are you don't need 1600x 1200, 860 x 1200 would work.

The iPad is also a very expensive locked to iTunes gadget. No simple file browse as storage on PC.

No truly portable device can do A4 PDFs properly, A5 PDFs are OK

Ghost Train

iPad is probably the best portable pdf reader, has better battery life than netbook or laptop, instant on with no boot up, is faster with pdfs than think like the kindle or sony readers, screen resolution is fine for the size, touch interface works well. It's a bit locked down but nothing that stops you doing what you need to do with it in most cases

watty

iPad

It's no good for A4 PDFs
You have to copy via iTunes app.
There ARE netbooks and even some laptops with same battery life.
It's Apple controlled appliance.
It's too heavy to hold in one hand.
It's madly overpriced.
Instant on is merely "suspend" you can do that with many devices.
Real eReaders have x5 battery life.
You can't read it at all easily outdoors.

If you are buying an iPad *ANYWAY*, yes you can use it as a not too bad PDF reader, but it's a massively bad buy to buy mainly for PDFs and especially for A4/Letter size.

Don't be fooled by the Apple hype.

Ghost Train

Its not true that you have to use itunes to put ebooks on the device, with goodreader there are a few different ways to load pdfs, from email attachment to sending over wifi

http://www.goodiware.com/gr-man-howto.html#transfer

If its mainly reading basic text pdf's then a standard ereader probably might be a better cheaper option. If the PDFs are more varied and you want close to PC experience on a portable device iPad would be better option than netbook or laptop imho