With all the devices out there, all the computers and phones and everything, there is still one device I’m missing: A decent, portable PDF reader. Why? To read technical eBooks. From what I can see, there really is no device that does that well. I first had hopes that the Kindle would, but from what I am reading, it and other eBook readers all have flawed PDF support. Besides, it is not available in Germany anyway.

I realize that PDF is not a good eBook format. It is a terrible one, in fact. What PDF is designed for is to give similar output on both the screen and physical paper. The content is not allowed to reflow (exception: there is an extension in newer versions of the PDF file, which is not heavily used as far as I can tell). This is bad for eBook readers, which often have a limited screen (on the other hand, you would not want the reader to reflow the code samples).

There must be some way to have a whole A4 or Letter page displayed readably on a screen. Netbooks might be a solution and so might traditional Table PCs, I have yet to try them. (Although the latter is sort of out of the question for cost reasons) What I did try was turning my 15” MacBook Pro on the side and then rotating the internal screen using Display Rotation Menu. This works to some extent, but the notebook is just too heavy to hold for extended periods of time.