Is there a cheap mobile device just for reading offline websites?
March 6, 2011 4:37 PM Subscribe
There are any number of mobile devices which can be used to read ebooks, go online, play games, etc etc, but is there a cheap bare-bones alternative for people who just want a mobile device for reading HTML files they transferred onto it?
(Be lenient if this is a stupid question, I'm not particulary tech-savy)
Response by poster: @Burhanistan: I would basically like to use it as an alternative to printing out articles and things like that - in otherwords, mainly text-based content.
@box: 10 MB would basically be enough. It should have about the size of a Kindle, but be cheaper.
posted by quizblorg at 4:53 PM on March 6, 2011
@box: 10 MB would basically be enough. It should have about the size of a Kindle, but be cheaper.
posted by quizblorg at 4:53 PM on March 6, 2011
Why not scour eBay for an old model (circa 2003) tablet PC? Those should be fairly cheap and, provided they're working, would be able to manage offline stuff with relative ease. I'm thinking along the lines of an HP TC1000? There's some listed on eBay now for ~$50
posted by msbutah at 5:51 PM on March 6, 2011
posted by msbutah at 5:51 PM on March 6, 2011
Another option for smaller form would be an old model iPaq or Palm Pilot, but those might require a bit more tech knowledge to load up with documents, etc.
posted by msbutah at 5:52 PM on March 6, 2011
posted by msbutah at 5:52 PM on March 6, 2011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858723010R
This might interest you. Normally these are around ninety dollars. However, I'd strongly suggest checking out reviews of this product before buying it to see if it meets your needs.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=205 <>
Checking out Craigslist in your area might get you a cheap used e-ink reader as well.
posted by shoyu at 6:03 PM on March 6, 2011
This might interest you. Normally these are around ninety dollars. However, I'd strongly suggest checking out reviews of this product before buying it to see if it meets your needs.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=205 <>
Checking out Craigslist in your area might get you a cheap used e-ink reader as well.
posted by shoyu at 6:03 PM on March 6, 2011
Pretty much any ebook reader worth mentioning can read HTML just fine. The Kindle's built-in web browser is absolutely amazing, and will read local HTML just fine. The Nook's browser isn't QUITE as good, but will get the job done. You can also very easily format HTML as one of the common ebook formats using Calibre, and you're off from there.
The same goes for the IOS devices - The iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Probably not what you'd consider cheap, as the barrier of entry there is about $170 for an older used 8GB Touch. Still, any of a number of apps will do just this. The complication here is that you can't just drop documents onto the IOS device's drive and have any program read it. For this I'd use Goodreader
Android devices are crawling out of the woodwork, and any that have Market access will have access to many programs that'll get this job done, and you can read files from the local filesystem or an SD card just fine.
posted by Rendus at 6:08 PM on March 6, 2011
The same goes for the IOS devices - The iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Probably not what you'd consider cheap, as the barrier of entry there is about $170 for an older used 8GB Touch. Still, any of a number of apps will do just this. The complication here is that you can't just drop documents onto the IOS device's drive and have any program read it. For this I'd use Goodreader
Android devices are crawling out of the woodwork, and any that have Market access will have access to many programs that'll get this job done, and you can read files from the local filesystem or an SD card just fine.
posted by Rendus at 6:08 PM on March 6, 2011
You're looking for a Kindle. It will be much better to read on than any used beater computer at the same price.
If the price is too for you high check for refurbished ones or the usual places ( Craigslist/ebay) for used ones.
posted by Ookseer at 6:33 PM on March 6, 2011
If the price is too for you high check for refurbished ones or the usual places ( Craigslist/ebay) for used ones.
posted by Ookseer at 6:33 PM on March 6, 2011
An older PDA (but not too much older) should be able to do everything you want. But with modern PCs and backwards (in)compatibility with older devices and with what "in the bad old days" doing these things were a pain-in-the-ass.
I never imagined I would ever recommend an Apple product, but an older iPod touch will do everything you want to do reasonably well and easily.
I've been nursing a succession of old Sony Clie, jury rigging and patching it up as needed until the last one finally disintegrated on me. I picked up a 2G (2nd generation) iPod touch (second hand, obviously) from Craigslist for $120.
I hate hate hate the friggin' thing* and Apple software in general (and specifically wrt the iPod touch), but it does ebooks well (Stanza as the reader and Calibre bookshelf as a way to make anything virtually anything - from other ebook formats to html - into epub format for it, and sync via iTunes. Stanza also does native PDFs pretty well.), and does WiFi and internet surfing reasonably well and very easily. It works fine from a PC but I hear it's even more seamless from a Mac.
It works. Battery life lasts a couple of days use for me, but it charges really fast. The screen is bright and reasonably sharp; it detects when it's ambiently dark and reduces screen brightness so as to not blind you, and turns up brightness when it detects ambient is bright. It's pretty thin, and compared to a Sony Clie NX90... for the first couple of weeks I kept panicking and thinking that I had dropped it or left it behind because I couldn't feel it in my thigh cargo pocket.
There arequite a few tons of games for the iOS platform.
There are less expensive Android tablets (from 7 to 11" screens, bigger than an iPod) - lots of Chinese generic offerings available on eBay. Around the $100 new (or a little bit more) price point. A friend of mine got one as a toy and was pleased with it, but if you aren't particularly tech savvy, it might be more of a pain than you want. One problem is that the screens at this price point tend to be pressure-sensitive rather than resistive. Resistive is sexier but resistive can be more flexible in some circumstances (ie., gloves).
*but when upgraded to the latest iOS and subsequently jailbroken (not difficult, even for someone not familiar with tech - hint, keep the 'back' button depressed for the full 15 seconds even if the seconds countdown on the computer screen disappears with 5 or so seconds to go) I merely hate hate the damned thing.
posted by porpoise at 7:39 PM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
I never imagined I would ever recommend an Apple product, but an older iPod touch will do everything you want to do reasonably well and easily.
I've been nursing a succession of old Sony Clie, jury rigging and patching it up as needed until the last one finally disintegrated on me. I picked up a 2G (2nd generation) iPod touch (second hand, obviously) from Craigslist for $120.
I hate hate hate the friggin' thing* and Apple software in general (and specifically wrt the iPod touch), but it does ebooks well (Stanza as the reader and Calibre bookshelf as a way to make anything virtually anything - from other ebook formats to html - into epub format for it, and sync via iTunes. Stanza also does native PDFs pretty well.), and does WiFi and internet surfing reasonably well and very easily. It works fine from a PC but I hear it's even more seamless from a Mac.
It works. Battery life lasts a couple of days use for me, but it charges really fast. The screen is bright and reasonably sharp; it detects when it's ambiently dark and reduces screen brightness so as to not blind you, and turns up brightness when it detects ambient is bright. It's pretty thin, and compared to a Sony Clie NX90... for the first couple of weeks I kept panicking and thinking that I had dropped it or left it behind because I couldn't feel it in my thigh cargo pocket.
There are
There are less expensive Android tablets (from 7 to 11" screens, bigger than an iPod) - lots of Chinese generic offerings available on eBay. Around the $100 new (or a little bit more) price point. A friend of mine got one as a toy and was pleased with it, but if you aren't particularly tech savvy, it might be more of a pain than you want. One problem is that the screens at this price point tend to be pressure-sensitive rather than resistive. Resistive is sexier but resistive can be more flexible in some circumstances (ie., gloves).
*but when upgraded to the latest iOS and subsequently jailbroken (not difficult, even for someone not familiar with tech - hint, keep the 'back' button depressed for the full 15 seconds even if the seconds countdown on the computer screen disappears with 5 or so seconds to go) I merely hate hate the damned thing.
posted by porpoise at 7:39 PM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
There aren't really any older devices with screens sizes designed for reading, I would go for a refurb/used Nook or Kindle.
I have seen Kindles refurbs (w/ 3G) for $90 and Nook Wifi for $80.
posted by wongcorgi at 8:24 PM on March 6, 2011
I have seen Kindles refurbs (w/ 3G) for $90 and Nook Wifi for $80.
posted by wongcorgi at 8:24 PM on March 6, 2011
There are plenty of ~$100 Android iPad-clones being made in Taiwan; have a look on dealextreme and similar.
posted by polyglot at 1:45 AM on March 7, 2011
posted by polyglot at 1:45 AM on March 7, 2011
Any old Palm or, say, a Nokia 770, would be dirt cheap and handle plain HTML just fine. But I'll join the chorus that if can swing the cost of a refurbished one, you'd get much better results from an e-ink reader, especially when used with instapaper.
posted by Zed at 1:21 PM on March 7, 2011
posted by Zed at 1:21 PM on March 7, 2011
Though you say it's out of your price range, the Kindle has a feature that few people know about, which might make it worth the $$ to you -- using chrome on your computer, you can install an extension called "send to Kindle" that puts an orange button on your toolbar. When you see an article on the web you want to read later, click that button in your browser and it will send a text version of that article to your Kindle, where it shows up in your list of content next time you sync. Longform.org is one example of a great source of long, interesting articles like this, but it will suck up the text from any page you want it to and throw it onto your Kindle.
It's crazy useful. I use my kindle almost EXCLUSIVELY for this, and I probably have north of 100 long web articles on there right now, perfect for doctors offices, train rides, etc. Of course, it's all free content.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:32 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's crazy useful. I use my kindle almost EXCLUSIVELY for this, and I probably have north of 100 long web articles on there right now, perfect for doctors offices, train rides, etc. Of course, it's all free content.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:32 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also the screen on the Kindle is designed explicitly to be comfortable to read in all types of natural and unnatural light. My beloved smartphone cost several times that of the low end Kindle and it almost unreadable in direct sunlight. Other cheaper nuvo-tablets and old throwaway tablet PCs will suffer the same or worst fate. Don't scrimp a few bucks and end up with a product that you can't use where you want to use it.
posted by mmascolino at 8:41 AM on March 8, 2011
posted by mmascolino at 8:41 AM on March 8, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
How big do you want this device to be? How much memory do you want it to have? How much money, and how much time, do you wish to devote to this project?
posted by box at 4:43 PM on March 6, 2011