The ultimate lowcost Ebook reader?

I was looking for a low cost pda which I could use as an Ebook reader, I just didn't think the software, screen or formfactor of my other pda's were ideal for ebook reading. Recently I bought a Casio Cassiopeia E15 for €10,= on Ebay.

I think this oldy is great for reading Ebooks! The screen is excellent for in or outdoor reading, the compact flash card in combination with a card reader makes it very easy to load new books on the unit and the action rocker is great for turning pages.
The batterylife is also very good, it runs for many many hours on two plain AAA batteries.
I use the uBook application, which runs just great on the E15.


The only thing I'm not very happy with is the Notetaker app that is used to write small notes. Does anyone know if there is a notepad-like program that will run on it? I tried all programs on http://www.yetanotherhomepage.com/j7xx/j7xx.html but none of them runs on the E15

And I would like to play a bejeweled-like game once in a while. Is there a program like it for CE 2.11 ppc's?

I'm very curious which pda's the community here uses for reading Ebooks, so please share your thoughts

I've used virtually every single device I've ever had at one point or another for reading eBooks, generally using the excellent Mobipocket Reader. About six months ago though, I caved and bought a dedicated reader, the Sony PRS-505. There are many advantages over the more versatile PDA, principally the e-ink technology which gives a paper-like reading experience with minimal glare and high contrast, and an amazing battery life (weeks on a single charge). Pair it up with the open source and multiplatform Calibre, and I don't think I will be going back to squinting at small LCD panels again.

While on the subject, recently Google Books started offering 1+ million of their public domain ebooks in EPUB format.

Yes, I'm hoping that Google's move will give a bigger push to epub being the encoding standard for ebooks, much like mp3 is for audio files today. I'm fed up of years of checking whether a book is in lit, lrf, pdf, doc or whatever.

Wyrm, of course none of the programs are going to work from Handheld Attitude, because they are for HPCs and for ARM processors. You want to look for pocketpc or palmpc (but not Palm OS) or ppc MIPS applications.

Try something like this: http://www.pdagold.com/software/detail.asp?s=45

or something like this: http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=13174

or: http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=23596

or: http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=1383

or: http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=499

Thank you, I will try these programs.



I know, I have a J720, but according to this post it is wise to check Handheld Attitude out (It does link to a lot of programs which have a win ce 2.11 version). None of these however worked on my e15...

I have an E-15, but I'd never seriously consider using it as an e-book reader - that 240x320 screen is way too small. (H/PCs' wide screens, on the other hand, were made for e-book reading.) Actually, I only use the E-15 occasionally for stuff more suitable to the small screen - like playing Sudoku (thanx to .NET CF 1.0).

I have to disagree Gregg, I used to own an E-15, but I used it all the time as an ebook reader. I actually used my E10 and E11 for the same thing. I liked it for the same reasons Wyrm stated...ran on simple batteries, lasted a long time on those, worked great in the daylight, and had the simple CF slot for storing your ebooks. Also using Ubook reader on it allowed for screen rotation, so I could use it in landscape mode which helped keep my neck muscles from spasming....

At the same time I recognize the HPC's screen advantage to eBook reading over ppc....hence why I eventually quit using all my ppcs and started using my MP700 which was also monochrome and ran on batteries.

The screens of HPCs are indeed larger, but so is the overall size of the unit! When I'm relaxing in a hammock I really like the fact that I can hold AND operate it with just one hand. (And have a beer in the other hand)

Well, during those times...I listen to my book in audio format...that way one hand is free for beer and the other for pretzels....

LOL Rich ... I just can't help but imagine you letting mom read u a story before bed

But I can read from my H/PCs (even the tablets) without holding them at all (just setting them down on a table or my lap). To read the tiny screen of the Palm-size/Pocket PC I have to hold it up closer to my face, and my hands have a tendency to fall asleep while doing this. Even while lying in bed (actually especially while lying in bed) using the smaller H/PCs is more comfortable for me, as I can rest the front edge of the keyboard half on my chest while the device is in its maximum open position. There's no way to do this comfortably with the Palm-size/Pocket PC.

Agreed. Best ebook reading in my experience: my J720 (eReader, Mobipocket, Adobe Reader, Isilo) hands-free in bed, just tapping the screen to turn the page. In my pre-HPC days I did, however, log many, many hours reading on my old monochrome Palm Pilot (but my eyes were so much better then).

You must be kidding: Rich with beer and pretzels listening to his mom reading a story?

After a few beers, he'll probably start telling stories of his own.

Rich, the program in the third link requires .NET CF 2.0, which won't run on the E-15 (not yet at least - see the news item on the home page). And Julio's program in the last link requires the eVB runtime files, which aren't natively on the E-15 IIRC, so they'd have to be installed as well.