Do all tablets read txt files? What about jpg if they are color models?

[yoda313]

Ok I think I might end up buying myself a super cheap knock off tablet after the holidays depending on gifts received and given and that sort.

Not serious about it and not gonna spend much on it either - ie less than a 100.00.

I've seen lots of ipad clones on ebay that I've been tempted to get. They'd be just about a 100.00 with shipping from China (total price - kinda 50/50 on unit and shipping cost). Not sure if I want to got that route necesarliy.

What about something from sylvania or pandigital? Those basic low end tablets - how are they? I'm not looking for anything fancy or dual core/quad core or even cameras or anything.

I just would want something that would load a txt file and a jpg file - separately of course.

Any thoughts?

Again this is not serious or 100% for sure. But I think I would like to play with one. Wifi would be great but not necessary. A memory slot would almost be a necessity.

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FYI I know about the basic Kindle under a 100.00 model but its monochrome so that kind of doesn't work for me. I'd want color for jpg files.

Unless the 79.99 kindle does load txt files? I don't know if it does or not.....

edit - come to think of it those models that do read jpgs would obviously have resolution restrictions. I don't know how many pics I'd want on there but I do understand conversion would be necessary and not necessarily pretty for the end result if stretched or squatted incorrectly.

[stiltman]

Get a touchpad this weekend
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57338766-64/hp-touchpad-the-final-$99-offer/

then root it and install the full Android OS

That's what I'm going to do.

[gadgetguy]

The only model Kindle that can be considered a tablet is the Fire. All of the others have e-ink screens and the resolution and refresh rate makes them worthless for pictures, videos, or any other type of multimedia. For reading they are excellent and are easier on the eyes then staring at a backlit screen for extended periods, but if you want versatility, they're not the right choice.

The $79 Kindle can read basic text files and pdfs, although pdfs are not all equal in format and flow so there may be difficulties with some documents. Amazon also has a service that allows you to email a document to them and they convert and upload it to your Kindle for you. Many common formats are supported, but again, with varying levels of success.

[yoda313]

Thanks stiltman. However I'm not ready to buy yet. Even though thats a great price for that unit.

@gadgetguy - thanks for the info on the kindle. I did not know it can read txt. THat is good to know. does it have a memory card slot or is it flash memory only?

Also I'm not sure these are files I'd want to send to amazon for converting. Fan fiction and other stuff I'd rather not mention.

This wouldn't be for extended reading either.

I do have a psp and I'm half tempted to get that pandora battery to do the modding. But I like it just the way it is. Though the firmware I have on it - 6.2 I think doesn't have ebook support. Its great for video though. FYI its the first gen fat model not the go model or other 'lite' models.

Basically I'd like to make my psp supersized.

Does anybody have any experience on those supercheap no-name knockoffs? Or like I said the low end sylvania and pandigital models?

Thanks again.

Edit - You know I might not need to do this at all.

I forgot about those txt to jpg converters they have online. I got one again and converted a txt file I have and set it to a style I'd like for the psp. In no time flat I got a jpg file suitable for the psp. I chose a medium gray backround and black text to make for easier reading. It seems to be just fine.

What I like is even though its not a true ebook reader I found by leaving the folder and going back into the folder it goes to the last file I was on. So in essence its a book mark while the psp is on. Granted it doesn't highlight in the page I was reading but I don't have to remember which file number in the jpg sequence I was reading if I leave the folder.


I also remembered the jpg resizers they have out there. I was able to take a pic I have on my pc and reconvert it to the psp specs and plop it on there. All in all not too shaby. The software I used had a keep aspect ratio option so it wasn't distorted or blotch or anything.

I think what I might do know is invest in memory sticks (this is a sony after all). I do have 3 gigs free currently on the stick I'm using but between web video clips I still have left to convert and know txt and jpg files I'll be using up lots of space.

I think I may, for the time being, ditch the idea of a tablet. I can just convert anything I want onto the psp. I've done it for video forever but not for txt and jpg - not in a long time anyway.

Its not as ideal as simply copying and pasting a txt file and having a bit larger screen and true searching and bookmarking functionality. But at least I have something I can use right now with minimal investment in extra memory.

Thanks for anymore tips or suggestions.

[stiltman]

Don't worry, you wouldn't have gotten one of the Touchpad's any way. I tried getting one. Ebay's servers were crashing all over. I think I tried 50+ times and it kept crashing at the same point. Finally got through the last part, and they were gone.

Looks like I'll get a Kindle Fire now

[yoda313]

Might want to hold off on the Fire for now. THere was a headline on yahoo that said there were gripes about the first release of the Fire. Didn't read the article though.

However I'm sure a firmware update will solve any serious issue.

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Back to my psp as a fill in for a ebook reader/tablet. Its gone fairly well.

Like I said I'm not gonna be reading full books on it. I just download stuff off the net. Not full literature.

The gray background and black text works really well on the psp. It softens the glow of the psp screen. THough I do read with a light of course. And I'm not reading longer than ten or twenty minutes a session so that helps.

And the few pics I've converted have turned out well so far. Though the one program I did use to do the resizing had an odd issue. It had the blurry look to it on some of the pics. Kinda like if you looked at a normal photo on a 16bit screen resolution instead of 32bit or higher. You know all blotchy and stuff. The odd hting was the preview thumbnail on the psp showed as normal but when you viewed the pic it wasn't good. Oh well I'll eventually try a different pic program - please note some did work well just not all of the ones I tried converting to 480x272 - well I selected the option to leave unchanged if smaller than the target resolution - some are.

And another thing about doing the txt to jpg stuff. The neat thing is even after shutting down it remembers which file I was looking at. The way the txt to jpg thing works is it encodes the txt file to dozens of jpg files (depending on how large the file is). Each jpg is a "page" of the book. So now if I leave the "page" ie the jpg file I was reading and shut it off it will remember it. I have the few txt files I've converted in a few folders in the photo section of the psp menu. I select the folder I want to read and start on the first page. If I shut down when I'm on say pg 15 when I go back to that folder it selects pg 15 (ie file 15) and I can pick up where I left off. Of course since its a jpg you can't leave a book mark of which line you were reading but there isn't a whole ton of text on each page anyway so it is essentially its own book mark.

Now I don't think I'll be able to do this with any drmd purchased titles if I go that route. I can get these jpg files with a number of txt2jpg and pdf2jpg programs. But I don't think any would work with store bought volumes. Though i could be wrong about that I haven't really looked.

But I don't know that I'd ever buy an ebook anyway. This is just for short stories and fan fiction type stuff I've bumped into online that I can't get in print.

[gadgetguy]

To my knowledge, only the first Kindle had a card slot. Amazon, in their infinite wisdom, decided it was no longer a necessary feature. Customers complained, but mine is a 3rd generation and there's no card slot. I don't know for certain about the latest models, the Touch or Fire, for sure but I haven't heard anyone say it's back.

[stiltman]

They still don't have a SD slot
If you go with a nook tablet, it does have one. That's a good thing, since the nook tablet only has 1Gb of user usable memory

[yoda313]

since the nook tablet only has 1Gb of user usable memory

Wow that isn't much. Are you sure thats even fully useable? I wouldn't be surprised if its actually more like 800mb with a lot devoted to the os. Though I guess it could be a true 1.0gb.

But at least it has a memory slot so you can do more.

Still it seems like I"m gonna stick with my psp for now. Unless I see some deal I can't pass up on a no-name tablet.

[yoda313]

Bump.

Well I finally splurged. (birthday)

I went on amazon and bought a refurbed velocity cruz t301. It seems to fit the bill. Its only android 2.2 (with an upgrade) but it might be upgradeable beyond that. Also it seems to have the file support I want.

Unfortunately its only a 4:3 screen but I'm not using it just for video so letterboxed video is ok for this purpose.

I got it for just over 50.00 plus shipping. I should be getting it sometime next week.

I'll report in when I get it.

edit - ok I just looked at a review on youtube and it looks very good. Its a bit bigger looking then I was expecting. The features seem to work like I'm expecting them to. All in all I think I got a good deal.

Unfortunately I haven't gotten a shipped notice yet but I'm hoping to get it by Wednesday at the earliest. Here's hoping.

I'll post back when I get it with a new thread