tablets, readers and E ink - a question

[Amichai Rotman]

Hi,

I own an e-vrit e-ink reader and a Samsung 10.1 Galaxy Tablet.

I used the e-vrit for a while to read books from the e-vrit site and some
plain text classics. It does feel easier on the eyes, but it was very slow
to respond, so the experience is somewhat diminished... PDF files are
supported, but unusable - the screen is too small and the CPU is too slow
to render the image - about 2-3 seconds for each page flip.

Since then I switched to the Galaxy Tablet and I barely put it down: I use
it for reading mostly (80%), some puzzle games and some web browsing. Being
an Android device, it has integrated support for all Google services
(including Gmail, of course).

It is a bit less comfortable to read for a long time, but I don't have that
much free time anyway. I mostly read on the go or before sleep.

I'd strongly recommend a 10" Android-based tablet. I don't know the Kindle
Fire HD specs too well, but I guess you'd find some limitations with it.
The e-ink technology is not very useful yet, i'd wait for the next
generation.

In short:

If you are going to read a lot of content you buy from the provider
(e-vrit, Amazon) and have access to a light source - Go with the Kindle /
e-ink device. 10" is the optimal screen size for PDF files. Microsoft Doc
files are not very well supported with Kindle.

If you want some freedom to choose the e-texts source (PDF, epub, text,
etc.) and you are on the go most of the time - Go with the Android 10"
Tablet.

Good Luck!
   Amichai Rotman
 Penguin - FLOSS Computer Service and Technical Consulting
 +972-73-7962360 ||  +972-54-4605787
   עמיחי רוטמן
 פינגווין - שרותי מחשוב וייעוץ טכני בקוד פתוח
 073-7962360 ||  054-4605787



Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail!


On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 12:20 PM, yochai <yochai at titat.info> wrote:

> Hey,
>
> >From my experience E-Ink are better for reading plain text.
> The E-Ink I had experience with was all black and white and wasn't so
> great for internet access or pictures. Reading on it was better then a
> paper book, felt the same for the eyes and pages didn't flip by them
> self, also a lot of books are much heavier.
>
> The main issues of LCD are the inability to read in direct light and
> lower batter life.
> Even after anti-glare cover that I've added, I still need to shade the
> screen.
>
> Experience:
> A few hours of toying with a E-Ink based reader and a lot more with the
> Nook Color I own.
> The biggest issue I found with the Nook Color for reading was that with
> some PDFs it was to slow to read (more then two second to load the
> content into the screen) but I think it won't be an issue with a newer
> tablet.
>
> If you go for E-Ink make sure that you have a light-source.
>
> Yochai
>
> On 10/08/12 11:06, Dan Shimshoni wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Question:
> > I think of buying some tablet device which its main purpose is reading
> > (pdf, documents in word format, books, and for a real less degree xchm
> files).
> > I intend to use if also for Internet browsing (also reading/writing
> > emails via webmail).
> >
> > Options I think of are:
> > Some 10'' Reader (like kindle) which has E-Ink support.
> >
> > Tablet (10'') like some android-based tablet or iPad.
> >
> > AFAIK, most tablets (if not all) do not come with E-Ink support.
> >
> > In all cases, what I need is wifi support (3G is not mandatory).
> >
> > My question is simple:
> > Suppose I intend to have 80% of the usage time for reading docs (pdf,
> etc)
> > and only 20% of the  usage time for Internet - which is better ?
> >
> > Or to put it more sharply - Is E Ink technology really substantial
> > when reading docs ?
> >
> > I appreciate those who has real experience with these devices
> > regarding reading pdf/books and accessing internet
> > with this devices will comment from their experience.
> >
> > rgs,
> > DS
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Linux-il mailing list
> > Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
> > http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Linux-il mailing list
> Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/pipermail/linux-il/attachments/20121008/f62bb9af/attachment.html>