I have always been interested in e-book readers due to their long battery life and better readability of their screens compared to tablets. I bought my first, and so far only, e-book reader couple of years ago. It was a Kobo Touch. I was happy with it as it did everything I wanted to do, which was to read books and play Sudoku once a while. Gradually over time I have noticed that I stopped using my Kobo Touch until I recently decided to give it away. This was not due to any fault with the Kobo (I still recommend the Kobo Touch to anyone who is looking to buy a e-book reader), but with every e-book reader.
You see, currently I am primarily reading programming books about C#. These books are usually in PDF format which contain quite a lot of code examples. Anyone who has a e-reader knows that its difficult to read PDFs, let alone programming books, on e-book readers. Another problem that occurred to me after using my e-book reader was that I was finding myself reading late at night. This meant it was dark so I could not see the text. Since I bought the Kobo Touch before they even announced Kobo Glo (a e-book reader with built-in light) meant I had to either buy a bedside lamp or use my tablet (Nexus 7). I chose to go with the latter option as it would disturb less people.
I know this was not the best solution as the tablet’s battery life is not as good as e-book readers and it starts to hurt my eyes after several hours of reading. I decided I will buy another e-book reader but it has to meet two prerequisites:
Number one – the e-book reader has to have a built-in light so that I can read in the dark. This is common with most e-book readers nowadays but not when I bought the Kobo.
Number two – the e-book reader has to handle PDF files properly. This means it should allow me to zoom in, find text and allow me to bookmark pages. This will make it easier for me to refer back to a section of a book which was important to me.
With the recent announcement of the updated version of the Kindle Paperwhite, I started to look at e-book readers again. So far I have been eying up the Nook SimpleTouch GlowLight as it meets my prerequisites (even though it might require some rooting) and it is currently on sale. I am however wary as they have have confirmed in their press release that they are working on a new Nook so I might wait and see what they come out with. Maybe they will be able to match up to the screen quality of the Kobo Aura HD. In the worst case, the Nook SimpleTouch GlowLight will drop more in price.
Are you a developer and have a favorite e-book reader? Do you even use one or just stick with a tablet. Or do you know of a good e-book reader for reading programming books? Leave a comment and let me know.