Oct 31st, 2012, 3:16 am
I have an eco-reader (rebranded Hanlin). At the time I already had thousands of e-books in various formats all sorted into directories on my pc but was sick of reading on my pc. Initially I bought a netbook for reading but it didn't take long for me to discover that it was still too big and heavy. I decided on the hanlin because it reads a lot of formats (the thought of converting every book I wanted to read didn't appeal to me), it takes an SD card, it uses the directory structure you have on the card/put in the in-built memory (I really wasn't interested in recategorising and/or renaming thousands of books).

My reader hasn't been without it's problems, occassionally it needs to be reset or won't open a particular file but after the first one was stolen, I bought another one. It's fantastic for travelling, the battery lasts for weeks on end. I have found that I can't read in direct sunlight - the e-ink fades if direct sunlight is falling on it - but there isn't the glare you get from regular screens if you're just outside in indirect sunlight. I also like that it reflows PDF's.

That being said, it doesn't come with all of the bells and whistles many readers come with but I wasn't interested in connecting to the net, taking notes etc., I just wanted to read books (I do like the light that some kindles have though). You can listen to music but I don't, I think it may have text-to-speech but I'm not interested, one other thing I would like is the ability to delete books without hooking it/the card up to my pc.
Oct 31st, 2012, 3:16 am
Nov 1st, 2012, 12:59 pm
I just posted in another thread raving about my current setup. FWIW I started with a Kobo Touch, but seeing all the glowing reviews from @wondergirl and others perhaps mine might be buggy as its touch responsiveness is abysmal. I'm in Australia but managed to get a Nook Color and got around B&N restrictions by using a VPN. However, as the format is epub you can use any bookstore - Diesel is great. After a while I bought a 32GB SD card from ebay for about $30-35 which transformed my Nook into an Android tablet - quite amazing and GREAT. The beauty of this is that your original Nook is still there, and you can go back to it at any time - the SD doesn't affect the Nook physically at all. However, my granddaughter now has that Nook and I have ended up with a cheap generic Android 7" tablet (AU$115) that I absolutely LOVE. Android touch generally is fantastic, even on a lowly machine like mine - I can lie in bed flicking pages with my thumb. :) The other advantage is that you can try out several reading apps and choose whatever suits YOUR way of reading. I use one called Mantano which I find beyond excellent. And then of course you have the best of all worlds with movie players and "proper" internet etc. etc. The only DISadvantage to Android and tablets in general - which include the Kindle Fire - is the reflective screen, which makes using them outdoors or in a car difficult. For those occasions I use my Kobo. IMHO, at around $100, having an Android as a second/first reader is affordable and very worthwhile!
Nov 1st, 2012, 12:59 pm
Nov 1st, 2012, 9:28 pm
Quote: I can lie in bed flicking pages with my thumb.

How exciting that must be LMHO!!
Nov 1st, 2012, 9:28 pm