Showing posts with label ereader. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ereader. Show all posts

Sunday 15 January 2012

Samsung Galaxy Note In Lieu Of Kindle Reader

So I was planning to get me an ereader finally this year as a christmas gift to myself. Kindle seems to be the best bet since Kobo is not available here in the UK. Sony ereader?... Those seems to be the top contenders in the market at the moment (in the UK anyway). Kindle seems to be getting cheaper now. But if I buy Kindle I can only read Kindle books on it. And that kind of monopoly applies to every other "brand". Granted Kindle choices of books is vast but still limited to Kindle. So how about the smashwords ebooks that I got which I still need to read? I like them in my reader too. iPad therefore seems like a good choice since I could load all of these reader applications and read Kindle, Kobo and whatnots in it. But the iPad is very big. I want to be able to put it in my pocket. The pocket-size version of iPad is an iphone but I find my iphone's screen too small. Some pdf files gets too tiny for my old eyes to read that it renders reading pdf files on an iphone impossible. So I looked further afield. Tablets seems like a viable option. There is a Samsung tablet and a Blackberry one. They both look good. The Blackberry one became a null and void choice because for some reason Kindle for Blackberry won't work in the UK. It only allows you to use it if you are in the US. Unfair! I do not like the loss of the Kindle books choices. Anyway, I like my choices so Blackberry is out. The Samsung tablet seems fairly up in the market with reading apps. It uses the Android platform. Then I found a sweet solution, SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE!! Screen is half the size of tablets. Approximately 1.5 bigger than an iphone. Can be loaded with reading apps. It is a smartphone. Runs at 1.4GH and packed with two processors (dual-core)! Oh my!! Looks to be the best in the market. *gleeful smile*

Here is the downer, it is expensive. But I bought one for about 30% off the retail price from an amazon seller. You could probably get it even cheaper at ebay with a lot of cunning and patience I didn't have. A lot of people do not like the big screen and big size of the phone. But it is just the right size to read my books with and still be able to put it in my pocket at the same time. I would call it a pocket-sized ereader. It got good internet browsing capabilities and is supposed to be the fastest in the market. My unit is only limited by the quality of signal I get on my phone network. If I get WiFi, it's faster. I read/send emails on it. I am not much of a games person, but you could probably load it with games for when you get bored, don't feel like reading, waiting in line in a queue, etc. I also encountered a few "bugs" and kinks in the software, like some apps don't work properly. One time it wouldn't obey the "grid view" button and I had to turn it on and off. The transition from page to page does not "feel" as smooth as it does with the iphone. Or maybe I am used to the iphone and not with this one yet. It also got an "S Pen" to help you navigate the touch screen but I don't use it much. Anyway, I'm not yet done playing with it, but I think this is the best in the market in terms of ereaders. So for bookish people out there, I say the Samsung Galaxy Note is the best tech you could lay your hands on if ever you are looking for an ereader.