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Jerry Muelver
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|  | Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Thread Started on Nov 8, 2009, 7:37am » | |
I was looking for some way to carry around language study and related reading materials for odd-moment reference and entertainment. Ebooks would be nice -- I wouldn't mind having a Sony Touch book. My Samsung netbook does the job nicely -- Adobe Reader lets you rotate the display, so a pocketbook page fits nicely on the screen. But I always have my cellphone with me. A smartphone would do the trick, but I can't see spending another $60 a month to duplicate services I already have with basic coverage and the datacard wireless connection for my computers.
Turns out, I have email service on my phone. I connect up with Google mail and read my mail, using connect minutes that would otherwise just to to waste (we get 700/mo, only use 150 or so because phone-to-phone within the account is free, and that's our main husband-to-working-wife usage). The screen on my Motorola Hint (QWERTY slider) is adequate, 1.5x2-inch, read comfortably.
So I put my head together (for once), and sent myself a couple of emails to myself on Google, with reading material in the text of the message. When I looked at the mail on my cellphone, it was wonderfully usable. I have to download the message (select "Read"), but after the download the phone disconnects from the service, no longer uses any minutes, and lets me read the message (repeatedly if needed) for free.
I just screwed myself out of a great reason to buy the Sony Reader, didn't I? 
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Rick Clark
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #1 on Nov 8, 2009, 4:10pm » | |
Heh. I am not convinced all these readers are going to be the next big thing. My guess is that once Apple integrates a reader into the iPhone or iPod, if they haven't already, then these readers may fade away. Why carry around a reader when you are already carrying your Swiss Army phone?
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Michael
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #2 on Nov 9, 2009, 7:34am » | |
Well, what's the baseline?
I'm thinking at the least: text & the ability to link to both local & remote documents. After that, formatting options & graphics.
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Jerry Muelver
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #3 on Nov 9, 2009, 2:01pm » | |
Just got back from cellphone place. Samsung now has a 2x3in screen, slide QWERTY, with "Document Mode" which reads documents stored in switchable mini chip. Almost there.... Phone is $419 retail, $169 after rebate. However, I still have 13 months to go on current contract before I get the deal on the upgrade. Who knows what they'll have by then? Probably have to get Son of Motorola Droid.....
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bartlett
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #4 on Nov 12, 2009, 4:42pm » | |
One issue with reading documents on cellphones with a 2x3 screen is vision. Some of use (such as yours truly) would have serious difficulty reading on such a screen for more than a few seconds. I would have to go with something more like the Amazon Kindle, Sony e-book reader (I forget its name) or Barnes & Noble's forthcoming Nook. I don't know about the other two, but the Nook can (supposedly, at least) enlarge the font of documents being read for those of us who cannot readily use microscopic displays.
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Jerry Muelver
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #5 on Nov 12, 2009, 7:41pm » | |
The Sony Reader (model #600 something, the "Touch") has 4 or 5 levels of text magnification.
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Michael
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Jerry Muelver
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #7 on Nov 13, 2009, 7:06am » | |
I'm already totally sold, but my CFO thinks I have enough computers for now, and something even more magical will be on the market in a couple of years, anyway.... 
I still have my dead-in-the-water Softbook from around 1997. It was a marvel then, but died of corporate neglect.
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Rick Clark
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #8 on Nov 13, 2009, 11:30am » | |
Looks like they already have an eBook reader on the iPhone, and it is free too.
http://www.lexcycle.com/
I don't know how much the books cost, but it looks like it supports a few free book formats as well as commercial.
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stevenp
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #10 on Nov 25, 2009, 3:46pm » | |
I actually pre-ordered the Entourage Edge. It will be my inseparable work companion. It has a Wacom tablet style eReader for note taking, doodling, charting, highlighting, etc. and a second display for the fully functional netbook running Android. The two halves integrate nicely. In addition, it has stereo speakers, video\picture camera, microphone, etc. You really need to see the demo on how this thing works. It is quite cool.
http://www.entourageedge.com/
BTW, it is pricey but is only a $1 more than the Kindle DX which can really only do a small subset of what this is capable.
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Jerry Muelver
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #11 on Nov 25, 2009, 4:42pm » | |
And best of all, after lugging that thang around for only four weeks, you'll look exactly like my avatar!
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stevenp
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #12 on Nov 25, 2009, 10:35pm » | |
I actually think that's one of the advertised features. 
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Jerry Muelver
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| | Re: Make your cellphone into an ebook
« Reply #13 on Nov 26, 2009, 4:39am » | |
The unit is impressive, for sure. Could use a slide-out keyboard, though. Or maybe a guy just needs a bluetooth keyboard for heavy work.
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