MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - New 302

kgn · 06-15-2010, 07:47 PM

I recently bought a PB302 from Tatiana on this forum. She is great to deal with and highly recommended if you want to buy one yourself.

The 302 shows a lot of promise. While I like the unit, there are some small problems with it.

1. the cover verges on useless. It is a nice leather thing - looks good, and it is useful to protect the screen. But there is no hole for the power plug. More importantly, it is very hard to press the side buttons with the cover on, especially since the side buttons work in a weird fashion. You have to click on the INSIDE of the button to make it work, and with the cover on, this is hard (not impossible, just awkward). The cover also hides the power LED.

2. epub format does not seem to work very well. Personally, I find it useless - too slow and menus/buttons do not work well while in the viewer. Very hard to change pages. Often you have to swipe 3 or 4 times to change a page. Eventually, you just give up.

3. metadata is not displayed. This is weird to me - it is the very first thing I would write if I was writing the software. I am hoping for it in the next firmware release.

The thing about the metadata is fundamental. Like most users, I have a lot of books on the 302. I would like to know what they are - some details about the book - and I would like to see the cover art as well. Even in Detail or Thumbnail mode, cover art is not always (never in my case) displayed. Certainly no book (meta) data is displayed.

PDF is a problem (to me, useless), but that is not a surprise. I guess PDF will always be a problem. I do not count this as a problem as I think all 6" readers will be the same.

All the other formats seem great (ie FB2, DOC, TXT, etc). I think this is because these formats all use the FBReader, and that seems to work just fine.

WiFi worked. I don't know what to do with it yet - but I got a wireless connection very easily. The internal mini-browser seems a bit of a problem. I went to Google and it did not display properly. Could not use it at all. Not a big issue for me, but if you want to surf the web it will be.

There is a very nice clock - looks good. The games and other apps are fairly basic.

The 302 does not come with an English dictionary. You can download a fairly old and basic one, but I was not that impressed with it. Still, the few times I tried it, it did work.

Glare was a big worry for me - many people reported it as a problem, and suggested that a matte screen protector would be needed. Frankly, I cannot see the problem. My screen has no glare at all. I was slightly disappointed in the contrast of the screen though - it does not have a white background - it is more of a dirty gray. This does not give as bright an image as I would have liked. Still, it is very readable, as I guess all eink screens are.

The 302 handles the SD card seamlessly. You just plug it in and anything on the SD card will appear in your list of books. You do not have to switch to it, or to internal memory - it just does it. It also seems very fast. Very nice.

If you tilt the 302, the g sensor changes the orientation of the screen. In theory, anyway. I found it to be very flaky. Sometimes it would - sometimes it wouldn't. Or it would do it when you did not want it to - and to get it back can be awkward. Frankly, not worth the trouble.

The touch screen is great. It is just as well, as I cannot use the buttons (with the cover on)!! it is very nice. Swiping the page left to right (or vice-versa) changes the page - very much like the iPhone and the like. Swiping up and down changes the font size. Very nice.

I like the fact that you can change the theme (the very first thing I did). Now it looks pretty good. And you can change almost everything else - very nice also.

This is the very best thing about the 302 - it seems you can change almost anything. Even the poor ePub reader - I suspect it will be fixed - or if not - you can find another one and use that instead.

It is a nice unit.

06-15-2010, 07:47 PM	#1
kgn Groupie Posts: 171 Karma: 94 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Brisbane, Australia Device: Pocketbook 302	New 302 - first impressions I recently bought a PB302 from Tatiana on this forum. She is great to deal with and highly recommended if you want to buy one yourself. The 302 shows a lot of promise. While I like the unit, there are some small problems with it. 1. the cover verges on useless. It is a nice leather thing - looks good, and it is useful to protect the screen. But there is no hole for the power plug. More importantly, it is very hard to press the side buttons with the cover on, especially since the side buttons work in a weird fashion. You have to click on the INSIDE of the button to make it work, and with the cover on, this is hard (not impossible, just awkward). The cover also hides the power LED. 2. epub format does not seem to work very well. Personally, I find it useless - too slow and menus/buttons do not work well while in the viewer. Very hard to change pages. Often you have to swipe 3 or 4 times to change a page. Eventually, you just give up. 3. metadata is not displayed. This is weird to me - it is the very first thing I would write if I was writing the software. I am hoping for it in the next firmware release. The thing about the metadata is fundamental. Like most users, I have a lot of books on the 302. I would like to know what they are - some details about the book - and I would like to see the cover art as well. Even in Detail or Thumbnail mode, cover art is not always (never in my case) displayed. Certainly no book (meta) data is displayed. PDF is a problem (to me, useless), but that is not a surprise. I guess PDF will always be a problem. I do not count this as a problem as I think all 6" readers will be the same. All the other formats seem great (ie FB2, DOC, TXT, etc). I think this is because these formats all use the FBReader, and that seems to work just fine. WiFi worked. I don't know what to do with it yet - but I got a wireless connection very easily. The internal mini-browser seems a bit of a problem. I went to Google and it did not display properly. Could not use it at all. Not a big issue for me, but if you want to surf the web it will be. There is a very nice clock - looks good. The games and other apps are fairly basic. The 302 does not come with an English dictionary. You can download a fairly old and basic one, but I was not that impressed with it. Still, the few times I tried it, it did work. Glare was a big worry for me - many people reported it as a problem, and suggested that a matte screen protector would be needed. Frankly, I cannot see the problem. My screen has no glare at all. I was slightly disappointed in the contrast of the screen though - it does not have a white background - it is more of a dirty gray. This does not give as bright an image as I would have liked. Still, it is very readable, as I guess all eink screens are. The 302 handles the SD card seamlessly. You just plug it in and anything on the SD card will appear in your list of books. You do not have to switch to it, or to internal memory - it just does it. It also seems very fast. Very nice. If you tilt the 302, the g sensor changes the orientation of the screen. In theory, anyway. I found it to be very flaky. Sometimes it would - sometimes it wouldn't. Or it would do it when you did not want it to - and to get it back can be awkward. Frankly, not worth the trouble. The touch screen is great. It is just as well, as I cannot use the buttons (with the cover on)!! it is very nice. Swiping the page left to right (or vice-versa) changes the page - very much like the iPhone and the like. Swiping up and down changes the font size. Very nice. I like the fact that you can change the theme (the very first thing I did). Now it looks pretty good. And you can change almost everything else - very nice also. This is the very best thing about the 302 - it seems you can change almost anything. Even the poor ePub reader - I suspect it will be fixed - or if not - you can find another one and use that instead. It is a nice unit.