

Ask HN: An E-book that is also a PDF reader ? - IgorCarron

I run a small blog on a very specific subject (compressive sensing to be exact) which is very much followed by a community of researchers and engineers from all over the world. One of the reason the blog has some success (i.e. in the quality of the readership) has to do with the fact that I am putting some time in analyzing near real time new preprints on the subject of interest to that community. I am doing this as a hobby. However for this to happen, I am reading these from a laptop or a netbook but neither of these solutions are optimal. I am looking for an E-book reader that can render math expression written in the different pdf preprints I get to download everyday. From an informal gathering of information on the net, it looks like Kindle 1 and 2 do not act as PDF readers. Does any of you have any experience with any other E-books when it comes to reading PDF preprints. I am also looking for the ability to read PDFs without having to do conversion of any kind as I read many papers every day.<p>I also know that I am not the only one in the scientific community that is looking for that product, so I venture that your guidance will help many.<p>Thanks in advance,<p>Igor.
http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com
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yan
The new Kindle DX has a large e-ink display and it _can_ open PDFs natively,
where as Kindle 1 and 2 needed conversion. Haven't used one myself, so I can't
comment on the quality/readability, but it sounds like exactly what you're
looking for.

~~~
IgorCarron
Thanks Yan

With regards to the Kindle DX, I think I am a little afraid of the DRM issues
which for one reason or another might make it a brick because I am either in
the wrong country when I am reading something or else. The DX is also not in
the hands of users, as it will begin selling later this year, I am really
looking for the point of view of an actual user of a real product that one can
already buy.

~~~
jakewolf
I've used my Kindle 2 in Greece and Israel. Outside the USA, you won't have
wireless service, but you can buy books on amazon and transfer via USB from
your computer. Same thing goes with PDFs. Just download, convert to ebook
reader format and transfer.

~~~
IgorCarron
On your Kindle 2, can you read math formula from scientific papers ? can you
read easily two columns papers ?

Igor.

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ableal
(re-run of a comment I made previously; device reads PDFs)

iRex Digital Reader 1000S, 699 EUR; <https://www.irexshop.com/>

    
    
        10.2 Inch (diagonal) electronic paper display
        1024 x 1280 pixel resolution at 160 pixels per inch
        16-level grey scale
        Mini-USB connector
        Wacom® penabled® touch sensor input with Stylus
        ...
    

More data and opinions over at <http://mobileread.com>, etc.

~~~
IgorCarron
Ableal,

one more thing, I just noticed the cool-er readers. In the specs there is:

"Formats JPEG, PDF, EPUB, TXT Languages 8 Content DRM PDF. EPUB"

Does it mean that it does what I am looking for, it reads directly a pdf with
no translation that could misrender the math in my papers ?

Igor.

~~~
ableal
These ( <http://www.coolreaders.com/specifications.asp> ) look like one of the
standard 6" e-ink screens [
<http://www.eink.com/products/matrix/High_Res.html>; iRex is not using the
same screens as most everybody else]

You _can_ read PDFs on those (I just got one from mybebook.com), but I do not
think you're going to be happy reading technical PDFs, or anything 'printed'
to A4/U.S.Letter size pages, on those 6" screens.

For freely circulated PDFs, DRM ought to be irrelevant, so the KindleDX may be
right for you. Note that the iRex has touch+annotation features that you may
need. It's the price of a low-end laptop, but may be worth the investment.

I'd really head over to <http://mobileread.com/> and read a bit. You may even
get one of the friendly locals to test one of your PDFs ;-). I don't have my
iRex yet, it's next in my shopping list ...

