Has anyone purchased and/or used an Ereader in Pattaya? Amazon promotes it's Kindle as having coverage in Thailand however I noted the coverage is EDGE (slower) and not 3G (faster).

ThaiBob -

I've had a Sony 505 for over two years now. I go to Pattaya frequently and the device has proved to be brilliant. It allows me to carry around hundreds of books. Reading on it is a pleasure.

The Kindle is a much more sophisticated device than the Sony. But a downside is the Kindle tries to lock you into the Amazon bookshop. The Sony is more generic.

The Kindle has some form of wi-fi, so you can access their bookstore and BUY books from them. Be warned that because of geographical copyright restrictions on ebooks, not all the ebooks listed in their store are available to a Thailand Kindle owner.

The basic Sony does not have wi-fi. You have to download books from the internet onto your computer, then plug the reader into a usb port on your computer and transfer the files. What that means is you can access many other ebook stores.

The big forum for ebook readers is mobileread.com. Someone from Thailand joined just recently, saying he had ordered a Kindle. Was that you? If you visit mobileread.com please do not discuss pirate ebooks. It is against their rules.

I did see someone using a Kindle in Royal Garden McDonalds at Christmas. I don't know if they are still hanging out there. They would be good to talk to. I'll be in Pattaya March 4 - 22 if you want to check out my Sony before taking the plunge on a Kindle.

Edited January 23, 201016 yr by Rimmer
Sentance refering to pirate software removed by RIMMER

I have a kindle here. Can download direct using EDGE (works fine) or to a computer and then transfer. Can also browse (email, etc.) with EDGE. No complaints.

My parents sent me the sony ereader from the US. It's very nice and I have no trouble using it here. Like the above poster said, you are locked into amazon with kindle. When I did the research, I went with the sony for more flexibility in getting books.

Thanks for the replies. Do they sell the Sony 505 at Tukcom? I also found this site.

http://www.kindlethai.com/

My parents sent me the sony ereader from the US. It's very nice and I have no trouble using it here. Like the above poster said, you are locked into amazon with kindle. When I did the research, I went with the sony for more flexibility in getting books.

Oh golly, before we have a flame war here - I only said the Kindle TRIES to lock you into the Amazon bookshop. I should have worded it better.

Amazon pushes the instant hassle-free connectivity with their store as a selling point for the Kindle. I have heard of Kindle users who think they can only get ebooks from Amazon. But of course there are work-arounds to get books from other sources.

As Kicking says, the Kindle is way more sophisticated and has browsing, note taking, dictionary facilities.

Thaibob - take all that into consideration before making a purchase. Also, from what I've read on mobileread, Amazon also has a better repair/replace/refund policy than Sony.

That kindlethai site you mention looks exciting. It seems they are serious about introducing the Kindle to Thailand.

Despite being a loyal Sony user, I'm now considering spending big bucks on a Kindle DX. dam_n it! See what you've started, ThaiBob?

Discussion of pirated software is not allowed

As RCR said, mobileread website has loads of information on most of the ebook readers.

My neighbour considered a Sony, but the model he was after (PRS-700?) was discontinued before he could get one, due to the issue of a hard to read touch screen in bright light conditions. After much searching, including looking at the Kindle and others, he decided to go with the Astak EZ Reader.

Details found at www.theezreader.com and here at www.astak.com/category.asp?id=8

He liked that the device supported many different document formats, instead of being held to just one or two formats, and that it had the reflow feature for PDF documents, details found here http://www.adobe.com/ap/epaper/tips/acr5reflow/index.html

The one thing he did notice was that although the device did have a built-in speaker and technically was able to play MP3 files and text-to-speech, only the button clicks seemed to use the built-in speaker, MP3 and TTS had to use the earphones. Not a big issue for him as he only uses it to read, apparently he uses the reader every day.

Forgot to mention in my previous post that many of the devices on the market have (or had when we looked at it) similar features and it was really down to the type of screen used and number of gray scale shades it could display being the main deciding point, being that the screen is the main component used of these devices. Second to that was the software features and document compatibility, and then other features.

Regarding the device software, if you find a device you like but the software is restrictive in one way or another, there is the very young but working OpenInkpot project who are developing their own ebook reader software that works on many devices on the market today that might offer features you do like, but if it interests you then do your research first. As I said though, its still very young. Details at http://openinkpot.org/