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Help me pick a midrange Android phone?
nosh:
Good luck finding that - and really, the screen on any phone is too small for that.
-f0dder (August 14, 2012, 01:18 PM)
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I've found this issue to be very dependent on the person doing the reading. I've read full ebooks off my Nokia S60's tiiiiny, crappy display. :) And I see the difference between the older iPad and newer retina displays but once I start reading, I'm completely oblivious to it. Reading a book off a PC monitor, OTOH... why don't you just gouge my eyes out?
daddydave:
Good luck finding that - and really, the screen on any phone is too small for that.
-f0dder (August 14, 2012, 01:18 PM)
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Should be an improvement over my previous devices (Palm Tungsten T3, Dell Axim x51v, iPod Touch 2) at any rate. I'm not expecting it to be a Kindle.
However, it depends on the reading material, too. I think if I am reading to learn, there is a real benefit to a bigger page, especially if I am dealing with charts, tables, source code listings, etc., and also because I seem to absorb some of it through peripheral vision. But a lot of my "ebooks" are things like RSS feeds and reference documents where that is less of an issue.
daddydave:
Whatever you do, don't be tempted to get an older Galaxy S II unless it has Ice Cream Sandwich installed OEM. They are very nice phones, but I have dealt with too many horror stories of people who had one with Gingerbread, did the update to ICS and it completely broke multiple functionalities. If you find, like, and purchase one with Gingerbread, DO NOT UPDATE IT. It is not worth the pain...
-Edvard (August 14, 2012, 12:03 PM)
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Thanks for the warning, I was indeed tempted to do exactly that!
At this point, I'm strongly considering throwing most requirements out the window and going with a Virgin Mobile $35/month plan (300 minutes + unlimited data), and choose from the handful of phones they have. I'm paying $15/month currently for a dumb phone plan so that's a little easier to stomach. The cheapest "bring your own phone" plan I've seen in $45/month for unlimited everything, which I don't need.
Or I can just keep waiting, and the available options may improve.
4wd:
Good luck finding that - and really, the screen on any phone is too small for that.
-f0dder (August 14, 2012, 01:18 PM)
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I've found this issue to be very dependent on the person doing the reading. I've read full ebooks off my Nokia S60's tiiiiny, crappy display. :)-nosh (August 15, 2012, 02:32 AM)
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+1 here, I've read a hundred or so epub/txt ebooks on my two 320x240 2.4" androids - don't notice it once I get into the book, just turn the pages faster.
But for anything that won't reformat to the screen size, forget it.
J-Mac:
Good luck finding that - and really, the screen on any phone is too small for that.
-f0dder (August 14, 2012, 01:18 PM)
--- End quote ---
Should be an improvement over my previous devices (Palm Tungsten T3, Dell Axim x51v, iPod Touch 2) at any rate. I'm not expecting it to be a Kindle.
However, it depends on the reading material, too. I think if I am reading to learn, there is a real benefit to a bigger page, especially if I am dealing with charts, tables, source code listings, etc., and also because I seem to absorb some of it through peripheral vision. But a lot of my "ebooks" are things like RSS feeds and reference documents where that is less of an issue.
-daddydave (August 15, 2012, 05:18 AM)
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Dave, I have had a LOT of handheld computers - I'm calling them that because I am referring to devices before they were mobile phones. From the Apple Newton way back, through all generations of Palm/Handspring devices, and on through Windows CE and PPC and finally Windows Mobile 5. I even wrote some software for Palm and Windows PPC. (OK, pretty rudimentary stuff, but still...)
The Axim x51v had the most readable/watchable screen of all the devices I owned. Even now it still beats the hell out of my Droid Razr screen. Granted the Razr has a pretty lousy screen compared to most Samsung devices. But the x51v was VGA, which stepping from QVGA to VGA and quadrupling the pixels was pretty shocking visually. Unfortunately about half the developers had no idea how to use it and so their programs just showed up at 25% of their previous size with 4 times the content onscreen. Nice if you could actually decipher text, etc. that tiny! But the devs who properly changed their apps to take full advantage of VGA by not decreasing the size as much but greatly increasing the detail made using the Axim x51v a fantastic experience. That was when I actually did start reading ebooks and watching TV and movies on it without straining my eyes! And the 3D games.. heck I still have a good working x51v and I still play 3D games on it! 3.7" diagonal screen. Beats anything I can view on the Razr!
BTW, I also still have a working Axim x5, x50v and Asus MyPal 716. :P
Jim
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