On 5/12/09, Jon Richfield <richfield@telkomsa.net> wrote: SNIP
but actual industrial strength, continuous READING on cellphones? I can read a computer screen all day without strain, but can someone tell me what kind of cellphone can give you say half a page of print at a time in comfortable size, steadiness, contrast and readable resolution for hours on end? SNIP
Jon
Well, It's not a half page of text, more like 3/8 at normal font size though it's configurable. (font size, contrast, brightness, etc - everything but resolution) I've been doing 'industrial strength' (~a book or two a week) reading on my Samsung i730 (Verizon, 3G, CDMA) for 3 years now. It's a 4 year old phone design, windows mobile, 2.8 inch screen (diag) 240x320 resolution, transreflective LCD (full sunlight or dark of night readable). No longer offered directly from Verizon, but you can get a used one on ebay or elsewhere for between $60 and $90 dollars (I bought a second for my wife 2 months ago). BONUS: You can permanently turn off the cellular internet in 5 seconds by renaming a file, and then use wifi only for internet access. No data contract fees or subscription required. It's always in my pocket, it's got a 4gb SD Card installed, and as a windows mobile device, can read everything except the one device formats (Kindle, and Sony). eReader (plain and encrypted) Mobipocket (plain and encrypted) MSReader (plain and encrypted) PDF (no DRM) Text and and every other open format available. Battery life on the normal battery is 4+ hours of continuous reading (but the battery is swappable) and 6+ hours on the extended battery. This phone shipped with one of each, and the base station can charge one battery to full in 2 hours while you are reading off the other battery. The 2 batteries were enough for 15 hours in airports and airplanes for me last week. (Note: I have 'replaced' the original batteries... I wore them out after 2 years or so - this performance is with 'new' batteries)