eBook Readers

[Natha]

Um, are you looking at Microsoft reports (be sure to read the user comments) or independent third-party reports (blog post with links to official statements from the W3C)?

Frankly I didn't dig that deep and just trusted a few articles I read and a few tests I did.
Thanks for the info, though !

[Natha]

My wife has a regular Nook and I got myself a Nook color for Christmas. Rooted it and it makes a great tablet.

What kind of screen technology uses the Nook color please ?
It's not color e-ink I guess.

[CoveredInFish]

Its an IPS display.

[Azhrei]

The default PDF reader is pretty good on the Nook color. Using my wifes nook primarily text PDF's were fine but heavy image PDF's such as some of my White Wolf PDF's were unreadable. The PDF's with images now look wonderfull on my Nooc Color.

The weakness in the Nook Color PDF reader is the inability to search text. Since I have it rooted I installed Adobe Reader for when I need to search a PDF.

Oh man, the color unit sounds nice!

How does Acrobat Reader perform? Is it fairly responsive?

If it runs Windows (which it must since you're using Acrobat Reader), perhaps you can install a JRE and then MapTool!

Edit: I suppose it could be running Linux, since Reader is available on that platform as well.

[Richard Weimer]

The default PDF reader is pretty good on the Nook color. Using my wifes nook primarily text PDF's were fine but heavy image PDF's such as some of my White Wolf PDF's were unreadable. The PDF's with images now look wonderfull on my Nooc Color.

The weakness in the Nook Color PDF reader is the inability to search text. Since I have it rooted I installed Adobe Reader for when I need to search a PDF.

Oh man, the color unit sounds nice!

How does Acrobat Reader perform? Is it fairly responsive?

If it runs Windows (which it must since you're using Acrobat Reader), perhaps you can install a JRE and then MapTool!

Edit: I suppose it could be running Linux, since Reader is available on that platform as well.

NOTE: There is also a version of Adobe Acrobat Reader available for Android. I have installed this on my Droid phone.

[neofax]

The Nook Color is Android based just like the Nook. It has been rooted so you can have a generic Linux build and have heard not seen proof it running straight Chrome OS. Now, my question is Google's Android has a version of JAVA on it, but does it handle all of the JAVA or is it just a JS implementation?

[Azhrei]

The Nook Color is Android based just like the Nook. It has been rooted so you can have a generic Linux build and have heard not seen proof it running straight Chrome OS. Now, my question is Google's Android has a version of JAVA on it, but does it handle all of the JAVA or is it just a JS implementation?

"JS"? You mean JavaScript?

Google's implementation of Java appears to be a full suite, but Oracle (proud owners of Java and its patent portfolio) have sued Google over their implementation. From what I've read, the technical aspects seem to fall squarely on Oracle's side of the net, but there may be legal angles that Google can use.

Iow, Java may not be on Android for long.

[neofax]

Yes, I meant JavaScript. Also, Apache gave up their seat on the Java SE/EE board today. Also, they announced that they are now supporting Wave in a box project to keep Google Wave alive. Oracle will not win that lawsuit as Google's implementation of JAVA is supposedly a clean room remake of JAVA. Since you enjoy proof: Dalvik

[Azhrei]

Yes, I meant JavaScript. Also, Apache gave up their seat on the Java SE/EE board today. Also, they announced that they are now supporting Wave in a box project to keep Google Wave alive.

That's interesting!

Oracle will not win that lawsuit as Google's implementation of JAVA is supposedly a clean room remake of JAVA. Since you enjoy proof: Dalvik

A clean room implementation doesn't help against patent claims, only copyright claims. Patent claims are currently much stronger than copyright anyway, since it doesn't matter how the functionality is achieved only whether it mimics what the patent covers. The article doesn't detail what the specifics are, but my understanding from prior readings was that the majority of the claims are patent-based.

Software patents are absurd anyway, but that's a discussion for another thread.

[Craig]

I know I getting into this disscusion late but heres my thoughts on e-readers. I have a sony prs-505, a kindle dx, and a ipad.
Having tried various pdfs on all three the ipad wins hand down.
The zooming ability on the Ipad out does the other two with ease.
Page turning the Ipad out does both. And with the apps you can get free or buy, the Ipad out matches them in every way. If your looking for the best machine for rpg gaming, save you cash and buy an Ipad.

I have a kindle (though not the DX) and a sony reader, and for the most part I agree with you. but...
I can no longer read for any amount of time on the iPad, its the darn screen flicker with a large background
containing the same colour. Not everyone notices it, but if ever do its one of those things you can't "un notice".
And no its not just the iPad I have, I have checked out many of them all have same flicker, I am also not imagining
it, there are plenty of people now angry at me now that I have pointed it out and they can't stop seing it either.
On the plus side not everyone is able to notice it. But if you do notice it you just can't use the device for reading
any more.
I want to get my hands on the notion adam ink to see how that does.

[KazeOdoriko]

I got a nook to hold all my books and adventures but I have to say that was the biggest waste of money. It seemed really cool at first super slow but it worked "okay".I let my girlfriend borrow it for a few weeks and the battery went dead! Thing won't even turn on. I tried everything than finally just gave up. Oh well. What really makes me mad is I just found out they made a new nook with color and a light screen!! That's why I never buy new tech till they fix the bugs....

[dragonlady]

I purchased the Nook Color to hold and read my RPG rulebooks.
I have found that the standard built in PDF reader is slow, causing large books to be a pain to page through and there is no text search function.

BUT...
The Nook Color was 'rootable' which opened up this ereader as a full android tablet.

At 7" it is the perfect book size for me. I tested both the full Adobe PDF reader for android and an app called ezPDF. Both were such an improvement on PDF reading and handling. They provide text search capability and ezPDF allowed for bookmarking so I can go back to pages easily. They were both snappier in paging through allowing me to get to particular pages easily.

Robyn

[Natha]

I'm writing this post from my new Asus Eee Pad Transformer, and frankly I'm loving it

[Hawke]

Well, my girlfriend won a sales contest and got an iPad from work! We own a kindle, and well, the weight and screen type makes the iPad tough to read for a long time on. The nice thing is since we both put books on her kindle, we now have another kindle-like device so we can both read for a bit.

I can't wait to try some DM tools on this sucker.

I do have to say that I'd never buy an iPad even if I wanted a tablet. The thing feels so crippled compared to things that android can do - flash, widgets, etc.

[Phergus]

Got my wife a Xoom and she loves it. It's pretty nice to play games, watch videos, surf the net and not bad for reading with also.