PDA for PDFs?

[face_p0lluti0n]

This is an example of PDF not actually being portable. Since it was created for standardized pagination, which is actually antithetical to portability of display, that's not a knock on PDF. (It's a knock on people who insist that PDF is great format for reference, I guess.)

If PDFs don't work on iPhone -- which was gonna be my suggestion for your best best -- then it's pretty hopeless. Wait until a portable format optimized for display gains widespread acceptance.

That's depressing, though I guess I'm glad I invested in the netbook now.

I've seen a few RPG books actually available from Amazon in Kindle format, but nothing on the WotC or White Wolf or even Green Ronin/Malhavoc level of mainstream. (and I'm not feeling too optimistic about WotC offering anything digitally, much less the 3.x back catalog that my group uses).

However, even if that caught on I suppose that doesn't solve the problem of some sort of acceptable standard.

I like the idea of HTML, hyperlined references, like all of the HTML SRDs floating around out there, but HTML doesn't lend itself well to watermarking or DRM.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I have on order an eSlick Reader from Foxit Software. For those of you that know Foxit does a free PDF reader software, like Adobe Acrobat, but it is not a bloated PoS! So they have released a PDF reader, which is the cheapest eReader on the market. It only does PDFs and.TXT. However it is still on order so I don't know if it is good as I hope....damn WotC for stopping gaming PDFs!

According to the manual it reflows PDFs and cuts off margins. However how well this works on a DnD file remains to be seen. There is also a free ware prog which 'cuts up' PDFs (so ideal for the Dragon mage, converts each of the 3 columns into page each) so this would be good for smaller readers.

There is an 'almost' A4 size reader out, the iliad something, which would be ideal, but the firmware and battery life ain't great yet. Also a cople of net books from Gigabyte have tablet functionality which would be nice. Still netbooks/laptops/etc are still not epaper so not easy ion the eye, are heavier etc. Comes to personal choice. I am looking forward to the next gen ereaders, in however many years time, that do colour, are foldable etc.

A good site for this stuff is here: MobileRead Forums
The freebie software is called Papercrop: Taesoo Kwon

 

[Mark]

eSlick Reader

Wowser. "weight of 6.4 ounces (180g) and the thickness of 0.4 (9.2mm)" That's impressive.


I'm holding out for one like the iliad but with better battery life. In the meantime, I just use my laptop with the adjustable chair raised up a bit like it would be anyway to see and reach over the DM screen.

 

[jdrakeh]

The iPhone is marvelous but at the end of the day it's still just a phone. Obviously, it has a lot of bells and whistles, but it's primarily designed to make phones calls — not read books, watch movies, or listen to music.

Things like the Kindle are much closer to being what you want than the iPhone (or any other mobile phone) ever will be — when the manufactures get over idea that they need their own, unique, file types.

The forthcoming FoxIt reader and the recently released iliad from iRex are really the first devices designed to serve as dedicated electronic book readers that aren't crippled by hardware or software limitations.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I'm getting a Sony PRS 505 e-reader this coming Father's Day. I am hoping it does well with my .pdfs.

 

[dmccoy1693]

The iPhone is marvelous but at the end of the day it's still just a phone.

True for the moment. The real question is when are we going to have a fully functional phone PC. The answer is: not long. Wanting it before its arrival means that it'll be integrated quickly into society.

I mean I'd love to take a picture of an ugly person I see on the street, pull it up in photoshop (or gimp more likely), change the skin color to green, distort the face some, add an axe, call it an orc, type in a background and send it off to my gamers all while using the same device. We're not there yet. 3 years from now, quite possibly.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Wowser. "weight of 6.4 ounces (180g) and the thickness of 0.4 (9.2mm)" That's impressive.


I'm holding out for one like the iliad but with better battery life. In the meantime, I just use my laptop with the adjustable chair raised up a bit like it would be anyway to see and reach over the DM screen.

The Iliad will get a better battery life, apparently it is a matter of implementation in the firmware. Although there is big rage going on that they advertise the (not yet available) updated firmware battery figures rather than actual! I am quite excited about this one as well: Plastic Logic Home
Due in 2010 I may well upgrade from the eslick then. Or use both, a large one and a paperback sized one.

 

[Krensky]

I got an ASUS EeePC 1002HA for a number of things, including a hopeful first time at GenCon. GenCon fell through due to the whole recession thing, but I love my netbook. 1.6 GHz,1 GB RAM and 160 GB disk, standard wireless B/G/N wireless, bluetooth, adequte speakers, decent graphics, plays HD video like a song with CCCP and coreAVC, reads PDFs great, less then 3lbs. Worth every penny and a lot of other people in my group expressed interest in them.

 

[Mark]

The Iliad will get a better battery life, apparently it is a matter of implementation in the firmware. Although there is big rage going on that they advertise the (not yet available) updated firmware battery figures rather than actual! I am quite excited about this one as well: Plastic Logic Home
Due in 2010 I may well upgrade from the eslick then. Or use both, a large one and a paperback sized one.

That's good news and thanks for the link.

 

[jdrakeh]

True for the moment. The real question is when are we going to have a fully functional phone PC. The answer is: not long. Wanting it before its arrival means that it'll be integrated quickly into society.

True handheld PCs were around for almost a decade and none of them proved to be very functional. When most PC manufacturers started phasing them out, mobile phone manufacturers started incorporating the features of handheld PCs into their 'smart phones' (with similarly limited function).

Almost four years after the first generation of 'smart phone' was introduced, the only truly impressive leg up that such products have on the current generation of handheld PCs (or UMPCs to use the latest slang) is. . . the availablity of phone features.

While a mobile phone provider may decide to get out of the mobile phone market and into the computer market at some point in the future, I think it's pretty unlikely to happen anytime soon.