Mobile devices
This is a list of Mobile Devices in no particular order. These are mostly more generalized devices that are designed to do multiple things, not just read eBooks.
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[edit] EBook Dedicated Readers
These devices are specifically designed to enhance the reading experience. Full information on these units can be found in the article on E-book devices.
The following portable devices feature audio and text together.
- Intel Reader - A hardware solution for visually impaired with a camera, OCR, and TTS
- NowBible - A hardware device that provides both text and Audio for versions of the Bible.
- Royal Electronic Bible - Dedicated to Bible Reading, some models have audio.
- Bookman - some models have audio.
- Samsung E60 - inside an english french or french english dictionary, audio mp3, all kind of files except those with digital restrictions (DRM)
[edit] Cell phones and PDAs
- PalmOS PDAs Personal Digital Assistants running the Palm Operating System
- PocketPCs Personal Digital Assistants running the Microsoft Windows Mobile Operating System
- Smartphones Cell phones incorporating additional functions. These can be running any of several operating systems and programs (E-book readers) that you can use depending on the operating system.
- Symbian Smartphones A PDA or smartphone running the Symbian OS. This typically supports Java as do some of the other OS's. Note that Symbian replaced Psion.
- Windows Mobile SmartphonesCurrent Windows Mobile cellphones run WM v6.5 and many are touchscreen, including one with the largest screen and highest resolution on any currently avaialble cellphone and therefore an ideal portable e-reader (HTC Touch HD2)
- BlackBerry This is a popular cell-phone OS and email messaging system from RIM.
- iPhone is a cell-phone from Apple running mac OS with much added functionality. They also have a similar product without the cell-phone functionality called iPod Touch.
- Android Devices running the Android OS developed and maintained by Google Inc. Some android devices provide e-reading functionality out of the box such as the Samsung Galaxy S which is equipped with Aldiko Book Reader software.
- Cell phones Many modern low end cell/mobile phones have a java J2ME runtime environment, these can support eReaders.
- Palmtop running WindowsCE is a PDA platform similar to PocketPC devices but without the standardization of functions that PocketPC provides. Note that the Window Mobile OS running on Pocket PC devices is a superset of the basic WindowsCE OS.
- Linux - A stripped down version of the Linux OS running on PDA devices such as Sharp Zaurus although there are also Linux OS ports to some iPAQ units.
The thing that this list has in common is that they are all mobile devices or mobile devices OS's that can use add-on or built in programs to read e-books but this is not generally their primary function. They typically have smaller screens than those used on dedicated eBook readers.
[edit] Alternate Ebook Readers
The following are some devices that have been tried by members of this forum and found to be usable.
- HP 360LX
- HP Jornada 720
- NEC MobilePro 900
- PepperPad3
- Chumby
- Nintendo DS with homebrew cart
- Airpanel had a large 10" screen.
- Sony PSP with homebrew firmware
[edit] Larger General Purpose Devices
These typically have a 7" screen or larger.
- UMPC - Ultra Mobile PCs
- MID - Mobile Internet Device
- Web Tablets
- Tablet PCs
- Netbooks - no touch screen. Ultra-cheap sub-notebook matrix
[edit] PMP Devices
Portable Media Players are abundant and often have larger 7" screens. Small PDA sized devices are also found such as the Zune or iPod and the Galaxy Player. Usually this requires converting the text to graphics images. Even Digital Frames can be used as Readers if the text is converted to images.
[edit] Game machines
Even some game playing machines like the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS can be used to read eBooks. These are especially useful for EBook reading for children along with children's learning devices.
[edit] Laptops
A laptop is typically portable but not mobile. They are too large to be comfortably used in a mobile environment, they are too heavy, the screen is oriented poorly for eBook viewing, and they have poor battery life.
Even with all these negatives many people will use them to read eBooks and there are many programs available that can be used with Windows, MacOS X, and Linux devices. Some use them in conjunction with a more portable unit and many eBook formats are available for both a portable device and a laptop permitting sharing of eBooks. In a few cases you can even sync between the portable device and the main computer so that you can start a book on one and pick up where you left off on the second machine.
[edit] Software
In order to use one of these devices you will likely need some specialized eBook Reading software. Although you may be able to get by with Web Browsers, text editors, and Word processors, generalized software will not provide the best reading environment.
