MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - iRiver Cover Story Owners Gather! + Review

greenapple · 11-09-2010, 10:17 PM

I've had a chance to play with the Cover Story at a store for a short time. I must say, the hardware is pretty cool, and the response from touch is quick. It's much smaller and lighter than the original, and feels quite comfortable to hold. I brought my SD card to the store for a quick test, and here's the result:

Cover Story inherits all the problems from the original: a) TXTs and DOCs still don't work correctly; b) the screen seems to be a lot worse now, and very reflective. Contrast is poor, background is dark. It's harder to read than the original; c) No of zoom levels are still the same (ie few, compared to, say, Kindle), and PDFs don't zoom; d) Very irksome (as it was for the original) is the very limited number of characters displayed for file names on the file list. So you literally have to guess what books you're clicking on. Worse if you'd named the books as author - title.

On the positive side, the integration with SD card now works. It now remembers the zoom settings for ebooks on the SD card. The unit I saw came with around 200 free classics, probably a plus point, but not much, as you can download them for $0 from the internet. The screen saver is customizable and the default (there's only 1 image) looks great.

Overall, it's a decent product, if you could accept the shortcomings. The worst problem with Cover Story, if I have to pick one, is the reflective screen. It is really pretty bad.

11-09-2010, 10:17 PM	#20
greenapple Evangelist Posts: 404 Karma: 664 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle DX, Kobo Aura HD	I've had a chance to play with the Cover Story at a store for a short time. I must say, the hardware is pretty cool, and the response from touch is quick. It's much smaller and lighter than the original, and feels quite comfortable to hold. I brought my SD card to the store for a quick test, and here's the result: Cover Story inherits all the problems from the original: a) TXTs and DOCs still don't work correctly; b) the screen seems to be a lot worse now, and very reflective. Contrast is poor, background is dark. It's harder to read than the original; c) No of zoom levels are still the same (ie few, compared to, say, Kindle), and PDFs don't zoom; d) Very irksome (as it was for the original) is the very limited number of characters displayed for file names on the file list. So you literally have to guess what books you're clicking on. Worse if you'd named the books as author - title. On the positive side, the integration with SD card now works. It now remembers the zoom settings for ebooks on the SD card. The unit I saw came with around 200 free classics, probably a plus point, but not much, as you can download them for $0 from the internet. The screen saver is customizable and the default (there's only 1 image) looks great. Overall, it's a decent product, if you could accept the shortcomings. The worst problem with Cover Story, if I have to pick one, is the reflective screen. It is really pretty bad. Last edited by greenapple; 11-09-2010 at 10:27 PM.