e-reader for internet browsing?

[ochhanz]

Hi all,

I know e ink screen are laggy with scrolling and black-white etc, but do e-readers have a proper internet browser? And does it show forums, wikipedia and new sites etc? I want to try e ink to see if it lets my eyes rest more, but mostly want to read articles on the internet etc instead of reading e-books.

 

[realwarder]

e-reader browsers are very very limited.

I read on regular tablet screens, just make sure you use white text on black and turn the brightness down. For night reading there are even apps on Kindle's that turn the brightness down even further than the normal dim setting which I found useful when I had one at night.

Either that, or use e-reader for books and desktop/laptop/tablet/phone for the web.

 

[ochhanz]

e-reader browsers are very very limited.

, could you tell me in what way they are limited? (not watching videos)

 

[realwarder]

, could you tell me in what way they are limited? (not watching videos)

They barely browse the web. E.g. basic text and graphics. Some websites don't work at all.

 

[Ryujingt3]

I just read on my Elite X3 using Bookviser Premium. You are probably better off getting a cheap Android tablet for internet and reading.

 

[ochhanz]

I bought a Pocketbook Basic Lux 2/3 weeks ago and my experiences so far:
- the 6 inch 4:3 e-ink screen with a 1024x768 reso is nicer to read books than on other screens. Bigger fonts look crisp and it reads relaxing to the eyes. Page-prev/next buttons allows using it with one hand (more relaxed than e.g. using a phone or tablet with 1 hand).
- the OS and browser are to simple and slow for browsing, but it's okay to read some news rss feeds.
- text is hidden to right side when zooming in the browser and when reading pdf's (personally I prefer big letters when reading), while with books and with Word/docx (only tried simple word files) file formats it changes the font which works great.
- even pdf's of ~100 blz seem to open quite fast.
- turn wifi off to double or triple the battery life.
- personally I don't think a touchscreen would be that useful on an e-reader which why I decided to buy one that is cheaper and in contrary to e.g. a touchscreen laptop when the touchscreen is broke you can throw away the device (/you cannot disable it I think).

 

[ochhanz]

I just read on my Elite X3 using Bookviser Premium. You are probably better off getting a cheap Android tablet for internet and reading.

, ty for the reply but I actually would now recommend against this. For the following reasons:
- most Android tablets don't have 4:3 or 3:2 screen aspect ratio and cheap Android tablets are ~7 or ~8 inch, making them only a little more useful for browsing the web than your average mobile phone (unless you have a tiny phone of course). You might as well save your money and don't buy a device that does not excel at browsing and where the OS is outdated in ~2 years.
- E-readers excel at book reading and Pocketbook shows .docx formats also quite well (except for images) with an 4:3 aspect ratio and really light weight, and if you shop smart its only ~70/80 bucks including taxes. The browsing through e.g. news rss feeds is not ideal but its at least something to partly fill the gap.

 

[Ryujingt3]

, ty for the reply but I actually would now recommend against this. For the following reasons:
- most Android tablets don't have 4:3 or 3:2 screen aspect ratio and cheap Android tablets are ~7 or ~8 inch, making them only a little more useful for browsing the web than your average mobile phone (unless you have a tiny phone of course). You might as well save your money and don't buy a device that does not excel at browsing and where the OS is outdated in ~2 years.
- E-readers excel at book reading and Pocketbook shows .docx formats also quite well (except for images) with an 4:3 aspect ratio and really light weight, and if you shop smart its only ~70/80 bucks including taxes. The browsing through e.g. news rss feeds is not ideal but its at least something to partly fill the gap.

So, a Kindle would be best to choose from then?

 

[ochhanz]

So, a Kindle would be best to choose from then?

, you mean compared to other e-readers or as in buying an e-reader?
If the first than I would say if you would like to directly buy amazon ebooks with your e-reader (good integration) and if (iirc) don't mind the somewhat walled garden (which you can bypass but you need to use a 3rd party tool). While Kobo e-readers are not walled garden but you do require setting up a Kobo account. And finally Pocketbook doesn't require any account and allows more file formats (including .docx) but buying ebooks with your e-reader is little bit less integrated but is still possible from what I gather. Whatever the case, placing ebooks from e.g. your laptop to your e-reader is easy and fast so I just chose Pocketbook (which also have a wide variety of e-readers from cheap to expensive, from small to big etc).
But only buy e-reader if you are going to mainly read books or documents of course, otherwise your probably better off just using your phone and/or current laptop/tablet/pc. Unless your willing to pay alot than there are bigger e-reader options (Sony Paper etc) which might be okay for browsing simple sites/fora, can't say for sure.

 

[Ryujingt3]

For me, reading on my Elite X3 is enough. It does the job and I have more than enough books on OneDrive to keep my busy. I also try to consolidate devices, so carrying around an extra device just to read books, to me, is not something I want to do. Even though the dedicated e-reader will most likely provide a better reading experience than my phone.

 

[ochhanz]

For me, reading on my Elite X3 is enough. It does the job and I have more than enough books on OneDrive to keep my busy. I also try to consolidate devices, so carrying around an extra device just to read books, to me, is not something I want to do. Even though the dedicated e-reader will most likely provide a better reading experience than my phone.

, which is understandable of course, but why ask if Kindle would be the best to choose from than?

 

[Ryujingt3]

, which is understandable of course, but why ask if Kindle would be the best to choose from than?

That was based on your own reply to me and the OP as well. However, also, should I decide to get a dedicated ebook reader somewhere down the line, it's nice to know what's the best one to get.

 

[justjun555]

we need tablet products like yota phone with secondary e ink screen that will solve all problems.

 

[ochhanz]

That was based on your own reply to me and the OP as well. However, also, should I decide to get a dedicated ebook reader somewhere down the line, it's nice to know what's the best one to get.

, I am the OP , anyway glad if my info has helped anyone :angel:

we need tablet products like yota phone with secondary e ink screen that will solve all problems.

, that is a great idea actually

 

[Ryujingt3]

, I am the OP , anyway glad if my info has helped anyone :angel:

, that is a great idea actually

Indeed you are the OP, my mistake. And the information was helpful, thanks.