# What's the most hackable E-Reader?



## Warm Woolly Shee (Dec 1, 2009)

I want to get an e-reader for Christmas, and since I like to "test out" books before I buy them, I would like an e-reader that I can hack or at least put downloaded books on.  Any suggestions?


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 1, 2009)

'test'.. sure.
Since this is GBATemp and we're all just pirates anyway though...

The iPhone is pretty hackable, if you use Bookshelf or Stanza you can import your own library or even host it on a website if you have a domain.

If you want just an ereader and you don't mind a wait, I highly suggest looking into the Readius. Clearly it'll be the best one out I've been following it for a while now.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Dec 2, 2009)

I'm not sure what you mean by 'hack' exactly. I don't think you can do much in the way of running anything custom there's a lack of horsepower and... what else do you want the thing to do?
Just about every e-book reader supports non-DRM formats, it's all a matter of what flavors you want.

Sony has a nice touchscreen, but is the most expensive.
Kindle is a little behind (plus they steal your books) but still solid.
BeBeeok is the most open in terms of formats and is relatively cheap. 
Nook is a newcomer, but looks very promising. You won't get one until well after Christmas, though.


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 2, 2009)

Blue Zoidberg said:
			
		

> I'm not sure what you mean by 'hack' exactly. I don't think you can do much in the way of running anything custom there's a lack of horsepower and... what else do you want the thing to do?
> Just about every e-book reader supports non-DRM formats, it's all a matter of what flavors you want.
> 
> Sony has a nice touchscreen, but is the most expensive.
> ...


Sorry to say, but just about all of those are just terrible eReaders. :/

They're the popular ones people know of, but before those were even getting ready to come out, there were better ones. They're like the iPhone in the way that Nokia's were doing better things years before.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Dec 2, 2009)

I'm sorry, I thought he wanted an e-book reader and not a phone. For that matter, just grab dslibris for the DS, it's free.
The Readius is nice but paying more money for less landscape and no e-pub support out of the box.


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 2, 2009)

Blue Zoidberg said:
			
		

> I'm sorry, I thought he wanted an e-book reader and not a phone. For that matter, just grab dslibris for the DS, it's free.
> The Readius is nice but paying more money for less landscape and no e-pub support out of the box.


Considering the fact that you can literally use the iPhone as a Kindle (with the software) or othrs like Sanza, while it is a phone, it's also an eReader. You could use an iPod touch for the same idea, but considering hte price, it's lulzy. However if looking for a phone, obviously worth it.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Dec 2, 2009)

What separates e-readers from things like internet tablets and phones is the e-paper/e-ink technology. You can use something like a phone as a tiny, eye watering reader or use a dedicated device that reduces eye strain and has a respectable screen.


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## ZAFDeltaForce (Dec 2, 2009)

Frankly, if you want to pirate books, just download PDF files from unscrupulous sources and read them on your computer.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Dec 2, 2009)

That's great, if you want to sit in front of your screen all day instead of outside, on a couch, etc...


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 2, 2009)

Blue Zoidberg said:
			
		

> What separates e-readers from things like internet tablets and phones is the e-paper/e-ink technology. You can use something like a phone as a tiny, eye watering reader or use a dedicated device that reduces eye strain and has a respectable screen.


I've been following e-Paper technology for a while, in fact I own some from india ink. Thing is, if you've used an iPhone with any reputable reader on you'd notice that it replicates it quite well and doesn't hurt the eyes (unless you're an idiot who turns the light up to 101).

If you're going to bother getting something dedicated to SOLELY reading books (one more thing to carry on that only serves ONE purpose), wait for the Readius, at least it scrolls open so that it folds into itself, or go get the Rex (You can also write on it).

EDIT:
Well, Polymer Vision (Readius developers) flopped and went bankrupt, but Wistron (basically the Readius) is coming out early 2010.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Dec 3, 2009)

Almost all e-books readers support some form of non-DRM format so 'previewing' books is as simple as buying them. the iRex would be nice, if it wasn't for the price (twice as much as the sony equivalent) and battery life (compared to the forerunners). Readius would be nice, if it ever comes out which is doubtful, if the price was around $199 or less.


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## VVoltz (Dec 3, 2009)

Well, I agree. I would love to hack any of those fancy eBook readers, the screen is just too nice, but I'm not paying 10 dollars for a book I can download for free and read on my lower quality screen.


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 3, 2009)

Fujistu's look nice. Readius is now being replaced by Wistron or w/e it's called.

*Posts merged*

Btw, good info on the subject:
[url=http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki]http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki[/url]


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## delta123 (Dec 3, 2009)

i have the sony prs-505. that has drm and non drm pdf support with reflow if the pdf allows it. battery life is great, 2 weeks or 8000 page turns. it is a 6 inch screen, and besides some pages from the full metal alchemist manga that has too mall of writing to read, everything i put on is good. i want to get a 7in or the colout fujitsu. but 1k on something that does not read epub is not worth it.

the prs 300 has a small 5 inch screen which fits in your pocket, from what i hear. and the prs 600 have touch screen with note writing abilities.


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 3, 2009)

Yeah the current problem is the price for these things with not enough functionality. 

I would have went with the Readius even for 400 because of folding meaning it easily fits in a shirt pocket or any nook and cranny.


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## Rogue_Ninja (Dec 3, 2009)

My Nook ships on 12/11 the first shipment was sold out. One of the features that sold me on it was that it supports a micro sd card which is something the kindle does not do at the moment.


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## Joe88 (Dec 3, 2009)

I dont really see the point in e-readers when netbooks cost just about as much and do just about everything (excluding serious gaming and whatnot...)


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## rctgamer3 (Dec 3, 2009)

The most hackable e-Reader is of course the Nintendo e-Reader


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 3, 2009)

The *only* point in having an e-Reader is the eInk screen making it a lot easier on your eyes so that you can read for hours or days on end without hurting your eyes.

However it's obviously not worth 300 dollars for something that literally can say it ONLY does that and supports 3 formats WOOHOO big friggin' deal you support 3 formats that you SHOULD be supporting off the bat, they should ALL be supporting the different formats, they should also be supporting CBR/CBZ as the majority of ebooks pirated or not, are in that format.

Either way it really isn't worth it AT THE MOMENT.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Dec 3, 2009)

There's also weight to consider. E-readers weight about half of less than a netbook.

As for comics, all the major readers support some form of image format (jpg, png) so unloading the comics into individual folders and viewing them. BeBook is supposed to support zip & rar formats which is what a cbr/z file is anyway. Rumor has it sony's .lrf file format can be manipulated to make comic friendly files, but there's next to no documentation on the format at the moment.
This is one place that I'd have to grudgingly say the iphone actually shines. the 'mycomics' program is very well done and you get a color screen (albeit it a small one).


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## cracker (Dec 4, 2009)

Devices that are meant to be specifically for e-reading are crap really. All of the good ones have e-ink and no backlighting (afaik). For a cheap 'hackable' e-reader a Windows Mobile/Pocket PC device is ok. PDFs load and flow slowly on them though. In contrast the iPhone/iPod Touch can handle PDFs with ease and zooming in and out is great (Felaur PDF is what I use). For text/lit reading you can use just about any device with homebrew capability or built in text reading would be ok since it doesn't involve decompression and graphics.


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## Pyrofyr (Dec 4, 2009)

Another thing to consider is that for things like comics the size of the eReader can matter a lot, when digitized they tend to be of less quality when seen even at the same resolution/dpi. For example I needed a 1920x1080 monitor to view them decently, unless I flipped my tv on it's side which is stupid. :|

The iPhone has a temporary solution in the form of an app that 'zooms' in to text fields on the fly to view them closer.

I might look into an ereader just for comics though...


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## delta123 (Dec 4, 2009)

i have my comics in epub format. and like i said i have not have had any problems with being able to read them. i would like to read them in a 7' screen because japanese mangas when printed in volumes are that size, but they are slightly more expensive. having a 6' screen is still very readable. and i love it. 

epub is the new industry standard for ebooks. they have embedded fonts if they need to making it more accessible to books with other languages. with epub i am able to get all my chapters of a manga into volumes and have chapter markers for each chapter. 

LRF is a sony format only, although you can still use the format it is technically now dead. sony has been replacing that format with epub. but the advantage of lrf over epub for the sony reader is that it was fast for flipping the pages of comics. if i have one chapter to read i would usually just convert the comic to lrf. but epub is better for the volumes. but if i could find a way to convert epub to lrf without loosing the image quality then i would make all my comics lrf.


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## Warm Woolly Shee (Dec 25, 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys.

As Blue Zoidberg said, a laptop/DS/iphone is not an option.  I much prefer e-ink technology or something similar.

By hackable, I pretty much mean free books for me to "try before I buy."  If I recall, Kindle was a bit difficult.


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## delta123 (Dec 25, 2009)

what i find with most ebook stores, they allow you to read a chapter or two before you buy them. you can get pdf's of your books everywhere, which you might find good to convert to epub to read as not all pdf files allow reflow.

sony has their new prs-900's which is getting pretty good reviews. it has the mobile internet thingy for you to by books off their store, like the kindle. and it supports epub. the kindle does not support epub yet, which they should because epub is what everyone else is using, and limits them to just the amazon store. but any epub reader is good. aztek is great. 

but there are laptops that are coming out that have the reflective surface, so you can use it in the sun without having to increase the back lite.


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## Blue Zoidberg (Dec 26, 2009)

Amazon probably won't ever support epub because it would hypothetically cut into their download profit margin. It even took them quite a while to finally integrate the mobi they already own. The Kindle is pretty a fairly closed system (proprietary formats, no memory expansion) and you never know, if you make them angry they're liable to remove content from your reader...


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## Blue Zoidberg (Jan 27, 2010)

It appears Amazon is taking some steps towards making their product more versatile. They've given out "Kindle Kits" to some software companies (including EA) and hope to start rolling out programs soon.

In other news, one of the most hopeful new e-readers the Plastic Logic Que has been put through its paces. The English born device is the product of some 20 years R&D into plastic transistors and the Que is a large, unbelievably lightweight, touchscreen reader. 
It naively supports a variety of "business formats" including word and power point and touts barns and noble's online book list for extra reading. However, the Que has proven to be slow, even by e-reader standards, and very cost prohibitive.

Finally, and more to the point of the OP, the Nook has had some friendly hacking going on. Yep, the plucky little e-reader with the Android heart has been "rooted" or given up access to its core menu system. 
What does this mean? Well, a couple of inspired folks have started putting Android Apps onto the Nook. Apparently "any app will work" but the programs need a bit of formatting to meet the layout of the Nook. So far Pandora and a small web browser have been converted but the team, an I'm sure more apps will crop up soon. 
And B&N's reaction? They seem to like, or at least not care, the idea of 3rd party programming. Since the Nook was rooted, three firmware patches have come out and none of them have touched the accessibility of the core programming. Maybe this is why Amazon is so keen to put their Kindle Kits into developer's hands...


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## Pyrofyr (Jan 31, 2010)

If you want something that's JUST an eReader, test the actual eReader before buying it, go somewhere with one on display, check out if it's worth it.

There are so many problems with an eReader though that unless you want to read books a lot, it's too big to carry.

Since you're adamant I'll just point out that the first thing to look for is anything that folds, as long as when it folds out it's a decent size (6 or 7 inch screen), any smaller and you're condensing the average comic/manga which is a problem. 

There are a few new software ideas coming out for reading comics better on eReaders but they're not widely taking yet. One example is an iPhone app (I believe they worked it into one eReader too..) wherein clicking on any text bubble would zoom in on it to read it without a problem.

eReaders are not very good at the moment, wait until color becomes the norm and 'scroll'-style eReaders are more readily available as opposed to these shitty hard plastic cover ones.


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