On 5/13/05 8:29 PM, "rvijay07" <rvijay07@myway.com> wrote:
How convenient are handhelds to read E-books ? Specially in terms of eye strain and power lasting etc., ?
They're not bad as far as eye strain. Better than a CRT monitor, maybe not as good as a laptop LCC. Of course not as good on the eyes as a paper book, but I have no complaints about my Palm Tungsten T. For convenience sake I've always got a small library with me with public domain texts, Fictionwise and Peanut Press (or whatever they're calling themselves/who bought them out most recently) purchases, a searchable dictionary (MSDict), and some of my own work. I mostly use Palm Reader (and drop book for converting), and AvantGo, which came with my handheld, for Word and Excel documents. You can adjust the font size in both I believe, which would reduce eyestrain for anyone who has problem with smaller type. And--it used to be the case anyway--with Palm Reader you can purchase a $20 "pro" version with extra font choices, and some of them you might find easy on the mind. Palm devices hold a charge for a looong time. Just make sure you don't have any bluetooth or wireless card turned on cuz that's a big power drain. I imagine some of the newfangled stuff they put in Palms these days (camera, etc) would also be a big power drain. But I'm reading on the bus, waiting in line, waiting for others on shopping days, waiting to pick people up for the airport, probably half an hour a day easily and if I forget to charge the thing it will still have over half a charge after a week. On trips shorter than a week, where there's usually a lot of waiting around and reading, I usually don't even bother bringing the charger. My current model is about two years old, I believe, and the battery still holds a significant charge. Alex. -- http://www.telltaleweekly.org - Funding a Free Audiobook Library http://www.alexwilson.com - Alex Wilson Studios LLC