Mine is red

Some people make forts out of pillows.  I made a nest out of 2 blankets, a sleeping bag, and 4 pillows.  I camped out in front of my (gas) fireplace, and read a book on consulting.  One has to always keep learning, to be the best at their field, offer themselves and their clients the latest and greatest info, and of course, to keep the brain working.  This e-book was the reason I got the reader, so here’s my feedback on the usage:

It’s a neat toy… er… tool!  It takes a tiny bit of getting used to, but overall is useful.  The fact I finished the book goes a long way.  You can not change the font size of the text with a regular book (though, since I like to play devil’s advocate, I’ll also remind people that for $6 or so, you can get a pair of magnifying reading glasses at any pharmacy- like Walgreens or  CVS). This feature was convenient, but did not work on pages that were graphics.  To be a descriptive geek, you are not zooming in… you are only increasing the font size on what the PDF knows is text.  That means that if you are looking at a graph, and it is too small… you’re screwed.  I had this happen on 2 pages.

Additionally, with these E-Ink displays, the makers often claim that there is no problems with glare, but I disagree.The glare levels and the ease of reading depends on the amount of light, and the angle you are reading at. I mostly didn’t have a problem with the glare, but since I was using a fire for my lightsource, I did have those few moments where I had to either move, or move the book.  The book (yeah… e-reader, but I’m calling it a book) is very light– about the weight of a regular paperback (11oz or so), so my hands didn’t tire as I was laying on my back, with my book over my head.  I tried multiple reading positions, and none offered any discomfort. Reading some other peoples’ reviews, I see that the PRS600 has more glare than some of the non-touchscreen models of readers… so- I’m not sure what the Nook will hold.

I found that reading became a lot more convenient when I rotated the orientation by 90 degrees.  This really increases the width, and the technology handles the height.  This took a tiny bit of getting used to, but was then welcomed.  What happens is that the book squeezes in the amount of text that it can, and then you flip to the next page, and it shows you the next chunk of your page.  So, one page gets broken up into as any pages as are needed to display its contents.  The getting used to that’s required is to get used to the different shades of gray.  The book shows in solid black writing what its on the page, and the last sentence (or 1st sentence, if you’re on the 2nd+ part of the page) is in a lighter gray… so the book shows you that the page keeps going, and it’s easy to figure out where you left off.  A nice feature, and I commend the people who came up with it..

The notes feature that I was so excited about in my last post is still neat…. but… I”m not so sure the functionality is quite where I want it to be yet.  I currently can export highlighted portions of text, along with the info about it (page #), but my handwritten stuff either doesn’t export, or I need to read more instructions. The note scribbling is a tad slow, and the screen resolution isn’t super high. Think of those digital signature pads for credit card purchases at the store.

The MP3 Player that’s included will never be used by me.  I have an Ipod Nano that I have put on so much mileage….. it is designed to play audio, where this just has the audio as an extra feature.

Again, what was really useful for me is that I had the book without the distractions.  When I wanted to check my tweets / facebook / email, I actually had to make a trip to my office.  The sad part is that there was this one hour-long office visit.  *sigh* the interaction with people is really an addiction for me.

So far I think that this is a cute tool for reading documents on the move, or if someone is an interaction junkie like me then this gives them the buffer to bypass that.  However, it’s not as fun as a regular book.  It’s still not quite the same.  Perhaps it’s the fact that I got the touch-screen edition, so it has more glare.  If you have to read, this can save you shelf space, and is a good tool.  However, I’m not sure that it’s worth $300. I do like the direction that the technology is headed in.  I predict that in the future, we will all have tablets.  They will replace laptops.  We’ll have a touch-screen, small video camera, wi-fi communication, color displays, gesture recognition, internet, etc…

Oh yeah…. right now I have a Palm Treo 650.  It has an outdated display by today’s standards… but I hear a lot of people are starting to read their books on their iphones or blackberries.  The new Verizon Droid seems to have a pretty nice display — I’d be interested in seeing how that works as a E-reader. If you have feedback on using your phone as an e-reader, I’d love to hear it.