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Recommended device for reading PDF books
  • hedroxhedrox

    Hi guys, I have some books about cinematography and pohotography that I would like to read, but when I´m on my PC I can´t find a time for some reading.. I allways work or do something else and my eyes are really tired so It allways ends that I won´t read anything..
    I was thinking about buying a e-book reader because of my tired eyes and because I would like to read somewhere out, in the garden.. and after I saw a great new topic about Recommended books I thought It´s time to ask you guys, what reading device would you recommend me ? I was thinking about the new kindle touch.. but my friend says it doesn´t display PDFs and after converting it to e-pub the pdf doesn´t stay in it´s native form.. it´s messed up and something wont show...so it was a dealbreaker for me.. then I was reading some reviews about kindle DX.. I like the big screen and resolution but owners say that opening a big pdf´s (about 15mb / I have a lot of which are more than 100mb) is really slow and reading big pdf files is really a pain.. Do you guys have any experience with readers? or do you all read only on PC? I am thinking about buying a monitor with some e-paper mode.. or I will probably buy just a cheap 10" tablet with good resolution for reading .. what do you use for reading ? thanks! and sorry for my english

  • 13 Replies sorted by
  • kitanokitano

    I have a kindle 3rd Gen and I am using it to read PDF books, most of the time I have to change the orientation and it does the job, so easy on eyes and battery life.

    Other times for pdf which are scanned I use my ipad or touchpad.

    There's no perfect solution.

    Having said that Kindle fire might be another good solution or perhaps any cheap android tablet accompanied with kindle.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    If you want to read in the garden, tablet is out of options for this scenery.

    Personally don't use Kindle DX (here is slightly discounted one - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazon-Kindle-DX-3G-9-7in-Graphite-eBook-Reader-/251075066676), but I have one in family. It displays PDF, not ideally, but other 6" Kindles are really not good due size and low res.

    Recommend to have pair of Fire (for browsing, some email, office docs and color things) and DX, or Fire and smaller reader.

    I also do not know why you need PDF, as most Amazon books are sold in native Kindle format. And they also share same infrastructure, so you can have always synced tablet, reader and PC.

    If you need one device only and do not get books mostly from Amazon - other option is http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ectaco-jetBook-Color-First-Ever-Color-E-Ink-eBook-Reader-Tablet-eReader-EInk-/150836635552

    Colors are very washed out, but resolution is high.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Having said that Kindle fire might be another good solution or perhaps any cheap android tablet accompanied with kindle.

    Strongly advice from "any" Android tablets. Due to heap of crap and your wasted time. I mean here book reading specifically. Get iPad or Fire.

  • hedroxhedrox

    @kitano do you also read large pdf files? I think there is some kind of a problem with large files due to the smaller RAM and weaker processor in e-book readers

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev thank you for your tips, I have almost all of them in PDF.. Most of them are probably scanned and also because they are old and not all from foreign countries..but also from mine (Slovakia) where PDF was the most used format for reading something...

    Damn! that Ectaco jetBook looks pretty good.. I don´t need perfect colours , and it probably has all I need.. but the price is really too high for me..

    after some searching I found this Prestigio tablet

    it has 9,7" S-IPS screen ( glossy like kindle fire ) with high resolution and processor power should be enough for my needs.. and is cheaper than 7" kindle but my eyes will suffer .. looks like a better solution for reading, than k.fire or ipad

    I guess I have not much choices.. priority is something suitable for reading (big matte screen, with enough power to not cause me a headache from using it) anyway...thank you guys for your suggestions.. if anybody else has a good tip let me know!

    probably I will end up with a kindle or prestigio tablet with some kind of antiglare screen protector...

  • diggerdigger

    @hedrox care to share what books you have?

  • kitanokitano

    @hedrox Kindle 3 Wifi is able to display all the files (in landscape orientation) it's only the matter of file formatting... the scanned files are generally badly formatted and heavy, for that I use IPad or Hp Touchpad (bought it for £89 during the sale). I have also used a free PDF cropping software to remove the white space on all the sides from pdf to display the files really well on Kindle).

    Also, for largely text based pdf files I use free kindle delivery service to convert them to native kindle format and send it to my Kindle. To use the service send the file as an attachment to (yourusername) @ free.kindle.com and in the subject type convert. Simple.

    I believe the newer Kindle models are a bit faster and cheap under £100.

    If I were you I'd buy a kindle (perhaps a refurbished from Amazon if you are low in budget) and a tablet (IPad, Touchpad, kindle fire, cheap android tablet (like the prestigio one you've mentioned) or better MS Surface tablet)

    Happy reading!

  • hedroxhedrox

    @digger
    Available Light - Photographic Techniques for Using Existing Light Sources /Basics Photography - 01 Composition /Basics Photography - 02 Lighting /Color Management for Digital Photographers For Dummies /Digital Nature Photography - The Art and the Science /From Still to Motion /The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction /The Five C's of Cinematography - Motion Picture Filming Techniques /Meir_Schneider_-_Yoga_for_Your_Eyes /The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt and I also have some in czech/slovakian language but not about photography or filmmaking

    @kitano thanks for the info.. I will try that free kindle service with a large pdf file and will test it on my friends kindle touch.. if it won´t be satisfied I´ll probably buy some cheap tablet.. btw .. didn´t know about MS Surface... looks really nice.. but the price will probably be out of my interest.. thanks!

  • kitanokitano

    Delete

  • kitanokitano

    @Hedrox Here's one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008B68BQU/ Android Tablet for £69 - Fulfilled by Amazon. Try it for 14 days.

  • dream_beamdream_beam

    my suggestion is the new iPad with "retina" display. I enjoy reading PDF books with the new iPad. Mine is the cheapest 16gb wifi only model

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @dream_beam

    Issue is that it is not for garden. Not really good under sunlight.

  • hedroxhedrox

    @kitano thanks, I allready have searched all offerings on amazon.. there are many cheap android tablets but as Vitaliy said.. they are not ideal for outdoor reading.. @dream_beam thanks for the tip, it is probably better for reading than older ipad (which has my sister) but I think it´s only usable for indoor reading

  • dream_beamdream_beam

    @hedrox @Vitaliy_Kiselev you are right, I read PDFs on iPad mostly indoors. I will try it in garden/outdoors today

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