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E-Readers
I am trying to decide what e-reader to get. I have played with all of them in person, and have thus reached a few conclusions, but I would like some feedback before taking the plunge. I'm only talking e-ink here; I don't want a tablet.
The Nook is out. In there rush to beat amazon on price, the nook, even with the latest firmware, can't even run effectively as a reader. There are constant loading screens (I mean, the screen actually pops up a window that says 'loading' and hangs for a bit) when turning pages, and the touchscreen part is laggy and prone to error. Add to that that Barnes decided not to upgrade to the newest (much faster) e-ink tech, and it loses hard (the page turns are noticeably slower).
The kindle is cheap. I was able to get mine for $100 (I have anther 2 weeks to return it, hence the debate). It does a good job, and it is great in winter since the pageturn buttons are easy to work with gloves on. On the other hand, it is cheap. The plastic case feels chinsey, and the key board is not very nice, and always there. I almost never use it, so it is just getting in the way all the time. Because of it, it is bigger than it could be. And let's not forget the closed format issue: amazon is the only reader that cannot read e-pubs (from google, project gutenburg, and everyone but amazon). I've been using calibre to get around this, but that only goes so far (unless you are willing to jump though hoops and breaks laws to un-DRM things).
The Sony reader is expensive. If I got the model that is the same price as the kindle, it has a smaller screen (5 vs 6") and less storage. To get the one with the same size screen as the kindle, it is ~$100 more. On the other hand, the construction is much better, all of the models are mostly touch based (they have hard pageturn buttons for use in gloves, though unfortunately not as nicely placed as the kindle) and thus smaller, and they read every format except amazon's. They also come with a stylus and handwriting support, but that is not really that big of a deal for me. Supposedly they have more glarey screens, but I held them side by side with the kindle and saw no difference.
So it is down to that classic fight between quality and price, with a dash of convenience and a touch of open source conundrum. Any thoughts?
The Nook is out. In there rush to beat amazon on price, the nook, even with the latest firmware, can't even run effectively as a reader. There are constant loading screens (I mean, the screen actually pops up a window that says 'loading' and hangs for a bit) when turning pages, and the touchscreen part is laggy and prone to error. Add to that that Barnes decided not to upgrade to the newest (much faster) e-ink tech, and it loses hard (the page turns are noticeably slower).
The kindle is cheap. I was able to get mine for $100 (I have anther 2 weeks to return it, hence the debate). It does a good job, and it is great in winter since the pageturn buttons are easy to work with gloves on. On the other hand, it is cheap. The plastic case feels chinsey, and the key board is not very nice, and always there. I almost never use it, so it is just getting in the way all the time. Because of it, it is bigger than it could be. And let's not forget the closed format issue: amazon is the only reader that cannot read e-pubs (from google, project gutenburg, and everyone but amazon). I've been using calibre to get around this, but that only goes so far (unless you are willing to jump though hoops and breaks laws to un-DRM things).
The Sony reader is expensive. If I got the model that is the same price as the kindle, it has a smaller screen (5 vs 6") and less storage. To get the one with the same size screen as the kindle, it is ~$100 more. On the other hand, the construction is much better, all of the models are mostly touch based (they have hard pageturn buttons for use in gloves, though unfortunately not as nicely placed as the kindle) and thus smaller, and they read every format except amazon's. They also come with a stylus and handwriting support, but that is not really that big of a deal for me. Supposedly they have more glarey screens, but I held them side by side with the kindle and saw no difference.
So it is down to that classic fight between quality and price, with a dash of convenience and a touch of open source conundrum. Any thoughts?