best ebook readin pda?

[lefnire]

I'm looking for something to read .pdf, .chm, .html, .doc... as many types of ebooks (non-proprietary mobi-ish stuff) as possible. I'm looking for the best conversion.. presently i have a zire71 which only has available, from what I understand, a pdf reader (besides the proprietary readers) which converts the pdfs pretty badly. the images that contain text get converted to text, which stinks because I'm reading programming books with source code, and one line code now spans 10. Sometimes the entire book gets converted to an image, bla bla bla...
anyway, i'm looking for the hardware to which is available the best ebook software. I'd like to spend as little as possible, so if there's a pocket pc out there that pretty much sucks, but rocks with ebooks, that would be prime.
any ideas?

[nosmohtac]

Any PPC would fit your needs. The only thing left to decide is which is more important to you, the price or the size.
I haven't looked recently, but the Dell axim X5 was going really cheap the last time I looked on ebay. They are quite a bit thicker than the zires, but a pretty solid PPC. If you want to stay closer to the size of your zire, the HP 19xx series and 41xx ipaqs would be an excellent choice.
Understand that these PPC's are running and older PPC OS, but there are many programs that still run well on them. If size is not that important, and you want a larger screen with VGA resolution, it's pretty tough to beat the Toshiba e805. It's also USB host capable, so you can hook up many USB devices to it.

I know that you said you mainly want an ebook reader, but there are a few PPC's that would fit your needs nicely. Are there any other things you would like to do with your PDA, that would make it easier to narrow the field?

[Menneisyys]

You may want to read http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39067 . Much as it's more of a Palm vs PPC thread, it contains a lot of info on PPC devices as well.

In a word: for e-book reading, I'd definitely get a VGA PPC; for example, a cheap x50v.

If you can't afford a VGA device but can buy , say, a Palm OS T3, you can also consider buying it because of the superior screen (compared to a QVGA PPC) and the ability to lower the backlight level as low as you want. Then, though, you won't be able to directly read CHM files (http://www.winmobiletech.com/chm/).

[applejosh]

Just to chime in about the T3, the screen on it is fine indoors but outdoors it becomes pretty close to useless in any kind of bright light (even indirect). If you plan on reading outdoors on a nice sunny day, forget the T3.

[Menneisyys]

Just to chime in about the T3, the screen on it is fine indoors but outdoors it becomes pretty close to useless in any kind of bright light (even indirect). If you plan on reading outdoors on a nice sunny day, forget the T3.

Yeah... as far as outdoor usage is concerned, prolly the hx4700 and the PL720 are the best, also counting in the VGA screen. They are indeed better than the T3. Some of the other VGA models (mostly the Toshi e800/e830) have a much less visible screen (I haven't compared the x50v and the A730 to these two devices yet).

[lefnire]

actually, besides my rediculously high expectations on ebook format versatility, i'm not that needy.. i don't really care about having that great of a display, as long as it displays. I'll be mosly indoors, don't care about size, or any other features. heck, when it comes to size I would even get a laptop if it werent for the 800 some odd bucks difference. So if the difference in OS capabilities in ebook reading hasn't changed in the last 2 or 3 years (the last windows PPC os was 2003?), then I'll be great garage saleing a peice of crap that does what i want.
Know of any really low key ones?

[nosmohtac]

Here's the link to a Toshiba e310 sitting at $62 with less than an hour to go.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38331&item=5781018245&rd=1

The current OS is WM (Windows Mobile) 2003SE (Second Edition)
The Toshiba e310 is PPC2002, but it will suit you for ebook reading.

[Janak Parekh]

actually, besides my rediculously high expectations on ebook format versatility, i'm not that needy.. i don't really care about having that great of a display, as long as it displays.
You may say that now, but take a look at a VGA-enabled Pocket PC first if you can. It makes reading on the device a joy. The near-200dpi resolution makes it look like you're looking at illuminated paper.

That said, price is an issue with VGA units. If price is the overriding concern, a 240x320 Pocket PC or a 320x480 Palm may very well be good choices for you as well.

So if the difference in OS capabilities in ebook reading hasn't changed in the last 2 or 3 years (the last windows PPC os was 2003?), then I'll be great garage saleing a peice of crap that does what i want.
You can read most ebook formats on both platforms. I don't know about DRMed .LIT files (i.e., Microsoft Reader) on the Palm, though.

--janak

[applejosh]

You can read most ebook formats on both platforms. I don't know about DRMed .LIT files (i.e., Microsoft Reader) on the Palm, though.

AFAIK, there is no Palm program that can natively read .LIT files (DRM'd or not). That's why I use ereader (on both platforms). If one PDA dies, I still have the other. (Of course when both die at the same time, I'm screwed, but luckily I got a replacement iPAQ today. T5 should show up next week.)

[Menneisyys]

You may say that now, but take a look at a VGA-enabled Pocket PC first if you can. It makes reading on the device a joy. The near-200dpi resolution makes it look like you're looking at illuminated paper.

It's even more than 200 dpi with <4" devices. (On 4" VGA devices, it's exactly 200 dpi).

[Menneisyys]

You can read most ebook formats on both platforms. I don't know about DRMed .LIT files (i.e., Microsoft Reader) on the Palm, though.

Well, you can always convert them ;)

The other "problematic" format is CHM, but with most CHM decompilers, you can decompile them and transfer to some other format (for example, HTML). Some Palm OS-based readers (for example, Mobi) will be able to render these files.

[Janak Parekh]

It's even more than 200 dpi with <4" devices. (On 4" VGA devices, it's exactly 200 dpi).
Right, I meant to say "approximately 200 dpi" to account for the different screen sizes. Nevertheless, the effect is fantastic.

--janak