Maplin A10JQ MID now available

[Nate the great]

Maplin (a UK based retailer) just posted the product page for the A10JQ, a Windows CE based device. The retail is £69.99, which is quite reasonable. Here are the specs:

• 5" touchscreen
• CPU: 480MHz Telechip
• 128MB RAM
• 480 x 272 screen resolution
• Wifi
• 2GB storage built in
• USB Host
• SDHC card slot
• microphone and headphone built in
• microphone and headphone jacks

If you look at the screen resolution, you'll see why this device is so cheap. It should still be usable as an ebook reader, though.

Why are we covering this, you might ask? Since it runs WinCE, it should be possible to use quite a few different ebook reader programs on it, including: Adobe, Mobipocket, eReader, MSReader, and ZuluReader (Epub). I've used a number of WinCE based devices as ebook readers; sometimes they work well and sometimes they don't. It's worth a look.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Why are we covering this, you might ask? Since it runs WinCE, it should be possible to run quite a few different ebook reader programs on it, including: Adobe, Mobipocket, eReader, MSReader, and ZuluReader (Epub). I've used a number of WinCE based devices as ebook readers; sometimes they work well sometimes they don't. It's worth a look.

From one of the reviews:

No chance to instal other WinCE apps - the ARM processor seems a bit non standard.

[Nate the great]

But one of the other reviews says it can.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

But one of the other reviews says it can.

Ah, yes, I found that one... Hmm, might be that the person not able to install anything is trying to install Windows Mobile applications (which don't always work without some tinkering, if you even get them to work)

[pholy]

# 5" touchscreen
# 480 x 272 screen resolution

That's 110 dpi, compared to 167 dpi for 6" Visplex, 200 dpi for 5", and 300 dpi for those old, obviously inadequate laser printers...

So the fonts aren't going to be very crisp, I think.

[discusaigon]

and the bad thing is maplin only ship it to UK and Ireland

[HorridRedDog]

"Another app that is working superbly."

MIOPocket3.0;

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...OPIC_ID=126303

MIOPocket - how do we install it?: Seen it running on the A10JQ on YouTube

Copy it to your SDCard Root.

Run MIOPocketAutorun.exe - allow the software to install (Takes a while)

You should now have an unlocked MID with Windows 7 style interface.
....[/U][/COLOR]
http://maplinmid.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=25[/url]

This unit may or may not be good but there are possibilities.

Where some people cry about how a 4", 5", 6" 8", 9", or even a 10" screen is too big (or too small), I realize that I need a small one for walking around, a mid sized one for relaxed reading, and a large format one for manuals.

If I can get a small one for a low price, and do a little work on it, that will take care of one need.

On another site I was just reading someone trashing the Maplin A10JQ (while others there were sainig how good it was). It was like little children trashing a cigarette lighter - "Don't buy this piece of cr--! It can't roast a turkey - it can't heat your home -it can't...". blaa, blaa, blaa.

The real news about the Maplin A10JQ is that small devices capable of reading ebooks are starting to come out at a low price. And just like the first autos, they arn't perfect. Give it time.