And they would like to be able to read DRMed books without having to convert them into an unencrypted versions for FBReader. While it’s illegal to do such conversion in the U.S., that is an issue for people elsewhere (and, in real-world terms, for some American citizens as well).

Keep in mind that I recognize that FBReader is just a baby right now and that I see immense potential. But in usability, it’s at this point no Mobi. The addition of the bookmarking and other features of course will help, and I expect that a year from now the program could be much changed. But I’m talking about today’s N770/N800 and today’s FBReader. Note the use of the words “at this point.”

Once FBReader improves, or once Adobe or Mobipocket or whatever ports over to the N770, matters will be rather different, especially if someone can address the rather unfortunate problems created by DRM so N770 and N800 owners can enjoy, say, books from Random House. That’s what the option of Adobe and/or Mobi will do.

Let’s hope solutions are at hand soon. I’m personally going to lobby Bill McCoy at Adobe to see about Digital Editions going on the N770 and N800, based on the importance of the platform. The more options for typical readers, the better!

“Which is more suitable for an individual comes down to what functionality you want, screen size, battery life, etc. For myself, I chose the Nokia N800 because it can do other things besides reading (like a PDA can) and it has a larger color screen than a PDA.”

I agree with your excellent priorities, Joseph. Let’s hope that the software scene changes so that the average users can more easily take advantage of the above for reading books from the big houses, not just Baens.

Thanks,
David
(with the usual reminder that he’s no fan of DRM and is just speaking in practical terms)

“The Nokias can serve as e-book readers, but as you can see, they’re only for enthusiasts at this point—not the world at large, given the complexities for the nontechnical.”

While I agree with you that the Nokia N770/N800 are not ideal ebook readers and they certainly aren’t for the average person who wants a device that is good for ebook reading “out of the box”, I think you overstate the “complexities” involved.

Installing FBReader on the Nokias is no more dificult than installing ebook reading software on a Palm PDA (like the TX) or a Windows Mobile PDA. I have owned a few different PDAs over the years, so I am speaking from experience.

Personally, I don’t see that the Nokias are any harder for a non-enthusiast to use for reading than any of the PDAs, which are not designed for ebooks any more or less than the Nokias are. Afterall, none of those devices come with reading software preinstalled either.

Which is more suitable for an individual comes down to what functionality you want, screen size, battery life, etc. For myself, I chose the Nokia N800 because it can do other things besides reading (like a PDA can) and it has a larger color screen than a PDA. At some point in the future, when dedicated color ebook devices are available for a rational price, I’ll probably buy one. However, those devices don’t exist yet, so I make do with other hardware that may not be ideal, but is “good enough” for the time being.

And you know? This actually is a great illustration of the future glories of interactive e-books—at least nonfiction—which should be discussion hubs, not just traditional books.

Meanwhile, Pond, best of luck finding a replacement for the Psion, and I sure hope that UMPC prices can drop a lot more.

Since I myself encouraged in a Palm TX comparison during the review, I won’t mind others thinking beyond the Nokias and reminding us of other present and future alternatives.

“Also, taken as a whole, the article is a heart-breaking cautionary tale of what we get into when we try to fit the round peg of ebook-reading into the square holes of devices-not-intended-for-the-purpose.”

Exactly how I hoped people would read the piece! The Nokias can serve as e-book readers, but as you can see, they’re only for enthusiasts at this point—not the world at large, given the complexities for the nontechnical.

Thanks,
David

Also, taken as a whole, the article is a heart-breaking cautionary tale of what we get into when we try to fit the round peg of ebook-reading into the square holes of devices-not-intended-for-the-purpose. Sheesh, why doesn’t somebody just come out with a good, all-purpose ebook reading device, already???

As for the near future, my sad only hopes rest upon cheaper UMPC devices coming. If they run MicroSoft’s latest OS, then we should be able to find reading-client software for any format out there. And the 7″ screens are about the size of mass paperback books. I expect the battery life will be atrocious, and I’d end up using it mostly plug-to-plug.

One ebook-reading function I’ve never seen mentioned in reviews: proofing/copyediting. When I get a Project Gutenberg book, I always end up correcting obvious scannos and spurious paragraphs. This is best done upon the original text file, so I can then send it in to the PG folks to fix the errors for future readers. But, this needs a display capable of handling up to 80 readable characters across, as well as editing software and input methods.

Thanks again for a great Sunday-night read.

I don’t have to return the N800 immediately, so it will be interesting to see if the screen is exactly the same as the N770′s. Correctly or not I’ve read somewhere that the N800 screen is a bit of an improvement. We’ll see. Even if that’s the case, the N770, as you’ve said, gets the job done.

As for eye irritation from the screen, one other precaution is to read off the N770 in a well-lit room, while at least trying to avoiding glare from the lights. The eye irritation issue varies from individual to individual. Ellen Hage, for example, as I recall, recently had eye surgey and found herself grateful she had an E Ink machine. I, on the other hand, find myself pretty tolerant of LCD screens with the brightness turned down sufficiently—I like the contrast of LCDs compared to E Ink. But as we know, the next gen of E Ink will be better in that respect.

Re DRM, you’ll notice I unabashedly appealed to Nokia and software-makers to address this issue with appropriate programs that can handle encrypted files. Let’s hope they listen. No guarantees. But we can dream, especially since libraries tend to rely on DRMed books, groan. Meanwhile I hope that others will join me in appealing to the IDPF to do a logo to promote an “epub1″ standard ASAP, even if the accompanying DRM isn’t there. Let the publishers decide whether they want encryption; an “epub2″ logo of a different color can always come later. In the next day or so, I’ll do yet another post on the need for a logo.

Thanks,
David

Frankly I just don’t care at all about all the other features of the N770; I bought it solely as an ebook reader. I’ve come to realize that the screen is simply too small for all web use, so I browse manybooks.net from my laptop, can copy the downloaded files to the N770. Likewise, the handwriting recognition and onscreen keyboard are both too cumbersome for any real use as a PDA. Finally I just can’t see myself using the device as a phone; I already have a phone. So – the system is, for me, only an ebook reader, and I’m completely fine with that.

The screen resolution is great, but even so I find my eyes getting tired in a way they just don’t when I am reading p-books. I think this is mostly about the backlighting; something just feels wrong about that. I’ve done lots of experimenting with font/backround colors and screen brightness, and while I’ve mitigated the effect, I do still notice it. Another possible suspect: the reflectivity of the screen itself. If you don’t focus your eyes on the text, you still notice a glare or reflection of yourself in the screen. By the way, the device just isn’t going to be usable in direct sunlight. Too much glare.

Also the size of the screen is an issue. Lay a business card over the screen to get a sense of its real size – the business card is only slightly smaller than the screen! Compare this to an open book; it’s quite a difference! However, the size is also an advantage; the device fits easily in my back pocket. And with the cover on, I feel fine keeping it there, even if I sit down (will let y’all know if that turns out to be a bad assumption and I break the device!). Anyhow, this size makes it easy to brink the device along to the doctors office, or wherever.

Final thoughts on the screen: usable, in most situations. But I would very much like to try an e-ink screen.

Button placement on the N770 is fine; page turning isn’t really a problem. But basically the only way to hold the device is to wrap your hand around the back of it and (depending on which hand you use) press the page up/down buttons with your thumb, or middle/index fingers. When lying down, this wraparound hand position usually results in the device being at a bit of an angle. It would be nice to be able to hold it like a book.

I have not yet addressed the DRM issue. Haven’t even tried to get any commercial books from any of the e-book vendors; at this moment there’s enough free stuff on manybooks to keep me busy. I know that at some point I’ll need to be looking at the commercial vendors, and I don’t look forward to it, knowing that in many cases I won’t find the book I want, or will find it at a higher-than-paper price and protected by DRM the N770 cannot yet read. Soon I’ll check out my local library’s ebook offerrings; I have no idea how that will go.

Overall impressions: I bought the N770 as a way to ‘get my feet wet’ with e-booking. So at the time I am actually impressed; the N770 has given me a way to experience reading material (eg from manybooks) I just would not have bothered to sit at my computer to read. That’s a benefit!

The experience of reading from a screen rather than from paper still leaves a bit to be desired. I think this is a combination of the LCD screen shortcomings (glare, backlight, size) and my own 30+ years habit of reading from paper. In time screens will get better and my own tolerances will change.

I really can’t see spending more than around $200 for an ebook device, though. Within that price, I do count the time I’ll need to tweak and twiddle until I have a satisfactory experience (so no DT375 fiddling for me, thanks). I am eagerly awaiting a massmarket InfoPad in this price range. I yearn for the day that I can somehow trade in all my p-books for a worthwhile e-book experience (and be able to buy all new books in ebook format). That day is far from here yet. But the N770 is definitely a way to get started toward that goal. It’s getting the job done.

I agree that there is a need for more Linux e-book reader software packages. This is strange given that Linux is running on most new dedicated e-book devices and is well positioned to take a big chunk of the small full function device market (everything from the Nokia 770 up to small inexpensive laptops). It is also strange because usually Linux has too many choices, not to few, in a market segment. I think it may be because Linux was not seen as a viable option when many of the existing e-book packages were getting started. It is telling that new packages, like dotReader and Digital Editions, have Linux plans.

The only device that I have seen that has the most sensible button placement is the RocketBook, GemStar, eBookwise 1150 line. Those paging buttons are large and fall under the thumb naturally as you hold the device (left or right handed). Other functions are handled by the stylus. I personally think this is a great arrangement and think that other manufacturers should take note. Even if another device didn’t want to use a stylus, they should still have large paging buttons and use smaller buttons for other functions.

The one device that may be an exception to the above comments is possibly the iliad. Their scroll bar thing looks workable, although I haven’t tried one myself.

Even the upcoming Cybook 3 has a small D-pad, similar to the Nokia and many PDAs. D-pads are fine for tiny devices like these, but an ebook reader should have more easily accessable buttons for paging, which is the most used function of an ebook reader.

Screen? My own eyes are eons old, but I guess we’ll still respectfully disagree on the difference between the Nokia and the Palm when it comes to readability. The screen dimensions aren’t that far apart. While the Nokia might present the smaller fonts a bit better, at that size they’re not helpful to me anyway.

That said, yes, I can appreciate the screen differences, and others might even more so, just like you. The big question is whether they’re worth paying $97 more in street price for the N800. Many, I’m sure, would take your side on this.

Once again, my appreciation for the review of the review, especially for all the useful information you added!

David

Addendum: I should have written in this note of the extent to which DRM gets in my way with the N800. It means that I can’t read books from major publishers such as Random House. So, while screen quality is a factor, there are others beyond price, the reason why I’d go with the much-cheaper Palm TX if I were limited to just one machine. Just my opinion—with my personal reading needs in mind!

TX vs N800 for reading: I’ll have to disagree with you on this I almost bought a TX a while back, but I still thought the screen was too small. Even on the N800, in FBReader I use a larger font than normal. However, with the higher resolution of the N800, I can still get more than a few words/line with the larger font. I guess the youngsters can still see things on their tiny cell phone screens, but almost all of us over 40 can’t

N800 Media Player: You can install several other players from the Maemo site you mentioned. Mplayer has a minimal interface, but is more efficient at playing videos without dropouts or lipsync issues. Canola makes your N800 act like a dedicated media player and has a very nice interface. There is a major new version of Canola coming.

If you want to convert your own videos to play on the N800, there are a few different methods, but the easiest for a Windows user is found here: http://xoomer.alice.it/sepaolo/n800vc/. For most videos, the settings shown on that page work great. If you convert a 4:3 (TV aspect ratio) video, try “Fit height”. That program is very fast and produces a very watchable video on the N800.

As for software in general, there are quite a few third-party apps available via Maemo and other repositories. Even PIM software.

Battery life: With WiFi off, I do get 6+ hours of reading time. The battery gauge says 7 hours when I have a fresh charge. I have informally timed my usage and the gauge seems to be close. If you are watching videos or playing music, the battery life is about half that. Web browsing with WiFi on doesn’t impact battery life nearly as much as playing media.

BTW, the recent OS upgrade for the N800 improves battery life and screen sensitivity. It also officially ads Skype.

Speaking of WiFi, if you go into Control Panel on the N800, you can set the “Search Interval” to “Never” and the “WLAN idle time” to “5 minutes”. This will save on battery time.

PDF reading: Although the built-in PDF reader works ok, you can install Evince, which will read PDF and a few other formats. I find Evince a bit faster. One major feature in Evince’s favor is scrolling/paging a PDF when in fullscreen mode. The built-in viewer will not go to the next page when in fullscreen. You have to exit fullscreen mode, page, and then go back to fullscreen (yuck!).

LIT/OEB: I later found that if you take the exploded LIT files and after zipping them up, give them a file extension of “oebzip”, instead of just “zip”, that FBReader will open them directly.

Cludgey: I misspelled that in my email. It should be kludgey

epub: I downloaded several sample files from the IDPF web site and by simply renaming them with an “oebzip” extension, FBReader was able to open them. I’m sure that something in the epub format isn’t supported by FBReader, but those samples were readable.

N700 vs N800: I agree with you that if you mainly want to use it for ebooks, the N700 is the way to go on the cheap. If you want the other functionality, go with the N800 (until something better comes along).

One final note: For lots of help and information about the N700/N800, try this forum: http://www.internettablettalk.com/