The nokia n800 should be a good candidate for reading books (in pdf, chm,doc format). Unfortunately, I can't find a video review anywhere on the net that covers the fbreader or built-in pdf reader to see how the n800 performs.

I would like to read technical books that have diagrams/images, mostly in pdf format. Would I be able to use the n800 to read these (a full book) with the currently available software? How long does it take to navigate from one page to the next? How plreasant (or frustrating) an experience is it? What is battery life like when just reading a book (with wifi disabled)?

Have you a particular example in mind to test against? Preferably something that is avilable for download somewhere.

You semed to be asking specifically about pdf files? I just looked at Chess Today's daily news and its illustrations abd diagrams worked just fine, no delays or difficulties. Its main format is pdf.

Thanks for the help. Here's a a 10 page example pdf that is freely available at http://www.hfoobook.com/pdf/hfoo-associateuml.pdf

It contains the diagrams/images that would be typical for me. However, the above example won't help to show that a full pdf book of 10-50mb would still be fast enough to read on the n800.

I read somewhere that the 770 can take a second or more to move from page to page when reading a full book which would be frustrating. Has anyone had experience of reading a "large" pdf (with images/diagrams) on the n800?

I have read several EMC pdf's on my n800 and some of the larger images can take some time to load.. Images with shaded backgrounds can take up to 10-15 seconds to load and you can't move to the next page until they do.. however for the most part its fine, and its true about the one second pause usually waiting for the next page.. but its just one second.. All in all its still a very convenient option for reading the files.

It looks ok, providing:
- It's readable in non-zoom, but looks better in 120%-150% zoom.
- With zoom you would have to scroll around a bit (just use the stylus directly on the page and push it around). That works ok too.
- It looks even better in full-screen mode.
- But in full-screen mode the N800 pdf reader hides access to the page previous/next buttons, which is one of the general complaints we all have about it.. so to use full-screen you would have to go in and out of fs mode whenever you want to change a page. I don't know if anyone has figured out a configuration to enable the buttons for this.
- That document is slightly slow to change pages. Takes 1-2 seconds or so, which is definitely noticable. Other documents I have read have been much faster to page, with no delay, The difference is probably caused by the amount and type of figures.

I have never tried a really large document. I think I have read here on ITT that the pdf reader chokes a bit on large files, apparently it tries to read it all or something stupid like that. But this is hearsay from me as I haven't tried it.

I read the heroes graphic novels on my n800. takes a few seconds, but not horrid. use the time to sip more coffee.