(Interesting: Your email made me check; I just found out that there is an
update for the kindle so I installed it to see if the pdf reading has changed:
http://tinyurl.com/coo6qu It does include a pdf change for pan/zoom)
On Jul 20, 2010, at 2:23 PM, Robert Holmes wrote:
Owen - I nearly got myself the new Kindle DX precisely because I have tons of
technical PDFs and no simple portable way of reading them (hey, my failing
eyesight means if it's not on 8.5 x 11 I can't see it...). The Kindle was
getting dinged by a lot of people for its poor PDF support (no bookmarks,
poor searching, can't follow links). As a user, what's your experience been?
I find the pdf capability of the kindle lacking, mainly because pdf is not
reformatable the same way e-books are. I also have a smaller kindle and with
the keyboard taking up so much space, its really a paper-back sized screen.
That said, by switching to landscape, it works OK, but sorta annoying.
Re: other formats -- one problem is that the kindle does not handle other ebook
formats, so at least for now, the way to convert BN or Borders to Kindle is
via conversion software. The ipad supports all of them so when I recently
bought two tech books from sitepoint, they were available as pdf, epub, and
mobi.
And how reader-friendly is the glossy screen of the iPad?
I don't have any problems with the glossy screen, reading is fine and indeed,
when we last traveled (just Taos) I took both, and ended up reading both. AND
the kindle reader for ipad/iphone is great so with the kindle you really have
all three devices!
I don't read outdoors much other than the patio, and its fine there but I've
heard its not great in direct sunlight.
Is it visible out of doors (I like to read books papers on my deck, not in
dark subterranean environs)? Advice please!
It depends how bright it is. Our patio is covered so not direct sunlight.
There is a brightness control so you can run it at highest brightness if you'd
like. And the battery life is quite surprisingly good. Only the kindle is
better.
The thing most in kindle's favor is lightness and battery life. It also is an
everywhere bookstore, if you're traveling that's kinda nice .. sorta like
amazon built-in. Does lack color but for most tech stuff, no problems. I've
read some folks dislike the page change dust effect caused by the kindle use
of digital ink. Biggest annoyance for me is that the landscape/portrait
change is too clicks. If I were reading lots of pdfs, the DX would likely be a
must-have.
I haven't seen or held a DX so its possible the DX being much larger, some of
the above parameters will change. But it is enough expensive that I suspect the
ipad may catch up! Currently it's roughly $350 vs $500.
But in the end, I advise actually try them both. I can bring them to wedtech
if you remind me to. And you do need to think a lot about what you actually
want to read on the device. For pdfs, I mainly use ipad, for paperbacks, the
kindle. For tech books, it depends on the publisher. Sitepoint does a
spectacular job of pdf, mobi, epub.
-- Owen
-- R
On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 1:59 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:
Interesting: Amazon ebooks surpass hardcover books:
http://tinyurl.com/2esb5x6
With both a kindle and an ipad, I find I'm reading a lot more ebooks. The
complete works of Sherlock Holmes on the kindle just now ($.99) and two
computer tech books (HTML5, JavaScript) from SitePoint ($5.00 on sale last
week). They certainly weigh less! (Great for large travel books, for example)
I think tech book are going to be majority ebooks soon, simply because they
go out of date so quickly. The tech folks are doing a good job of making a
book a complete experience, including multiple formats (epub, pdf, mobi).
Most formats now have an app (ipad, iphone, ipad, android, desktop) so the
books can be used on multiple devices.
It'll be nice when they have fewer formats, or at least all devices handle
them all.
-- Owen
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
