I'm officially posting the 1,000 post.

[Dr. Drib]

Welcome, everyone.

How do you like your jetBook?


Don

[Jack Tingle]

Hardware - excellent. The screen is a joy to read from. I'm even mildly impressed with the display of photographs. The controls are good, with several possible hand positions.

Firmware - not so good. I miss Gower Point's microbook and Mobipocket's reader. What's this with tables of contents not working even on books that have functioning TOC? And don't get me started about only two sans serif fonts. And no, I don't want to spend the time to turn everything into PDF. I come to read a book, not to edit it.

Net score - average. I'm not planning on selling it on eBay, but I haven't sold my PDA either. Ectaco could make things a lot better with a bit more effort on the firmware side. One lives and hopes.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

[GhostHawk]

Good, I've had mine for about 6 months now and it has been fine to this point.

Sometimes my PC won't see it after plugging in the USB cord, I've learned to turn on the jetbook at that point and then it sees it and functions fine.

Screen stays amazingly clean considering, and I get remarkably little glare from mine except in direct sunlight. In fact I would say I can comfortably read on the jetbook in less light than it would take to read a paperback.

Only thing I would really wish for is the ability to rename files, folders while reading.

But then I really don't have any other portable device to compare it too.
I know I'll never go back to reading most of my books on paper. The jetbook is just so much more convenient, plus I can jump back and forth between books without having a stack of books by my chair.

[Andybaby]

the screen is as good as eink, though the dpi seems much lower. it does have to be held at certain angles, unlike eink where all angles are good to read from

the rendering engines leave alot to be desired, but RTF and HTML are very serviceable for me, and supports the features I need.

[rogue_ronin]

Does it read zipped HTML?

m a r

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by rogue_ronin

Does it read zipped HTML?

m a r

I havent tried, give me one. I remember reading you wanted to know if it supports CSS, and my guess is no, but it did support heading font sizes and page breaks, and centered text, which is important to me.

[rogue_ronin]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

I havent tried, give me one. I remember reading you wanted to know if it supports CSS, and my guess is no, but it did support heading font sizes and page breaks, and centered text, which is important to me.

If the attached looks like junk, it doesn't support CSS. But if you can recognize that it looks like junk, I guess it can read zipped HTML...

m a r

[Dr. Drib]

I just wish Chaper Links were active.

Also, reading ANY omnibus ebook [of novels, for example] is a process I do not recommend. I finally deleted all the omnibus ebooks on my device. There's no easy or elegant way to get to the next novel.

Number one priority: Get those links working, and then I'll be a happy camper.

I like the form factor a lot, with the exception of the sliding page mechanism. It's a comfortable Reader to carry with me.



Don

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by rogue_ronin

If the attached looks like junk, it doesn't support CSS. But if you can recognize that it looks like junk, I guess it can read zipped HTML...

m a r

Nope it doesn't work. it doesn't show the file in the list manager

I was about to say, YAY it worked, but then I remembered I had another john carter book on my reader (the 5th one I think)

[rogue_ronin]

@Dr. Drib: I completely agree about links. My ideal reader is basically something like the Jetbook, with a touchscreen for links and input, and a backlight. Preferably with a PixelQi screen.

I was thinking about the slider the other day -- someone in another post had the device apart, and the slider apparently just triggers two mini-buttons on the mainboard. It might be possible to do an elegant mod that replaces the slider with buttons. If I had a couple, I'd take a look at least.

@Andybaby: thanks for looking. Zipped would be nice, it's just neater. It's probably not hard either, since they support ePub. But their board sucks, and I don't know how they look for feedback.

Oh, as long as you have the file -- would you check out the CSS support? Compare it to a 600 pixel (or so) wide browser window, and describe how it looks? If you have time or inclination, that is.

Thanks!

m a r

[Andybaby]

I actually like the slider. its good for certain times. and ill check it out next time I get it plugged into my computer.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

I actually like the slider. its good for certain times. and ill check it out next time I get it plugged into my computer.

Actually, your post made me realize I wasn't very clear in what I was trying to say, which is this:

I like the idea of a slider, it's just that I think the one on the jetBook doesn't move as smoothly as I would prefer. I realize, however, that for other people there may be no problem at all.


Don

Do I like it? Here is how I would rate the Jetbook :

On scale of 1-10, 10 being my idea of the ultimate reader, I would rate the Jetbook a 7. However, among the current reasonably priced readers (i.e. excluding iRex which on paper has most features I would desire) I would rate it a 10 out of 10 due to its superior screen, price and feature set. Although the software can be a little rough around the edges I know that the company is actively improving it.

Its nearest competitor, the Sony 300 is higher priced (street price, that is) and its sloooooow software is lacking basic functionality that the Jetbook has in spades. Need I mention its screen is vastly inferior in contrast level relative to the Jetbook, which has a brighter background (hey it is reflective, isn't it?) and really black text. And lastly all the e-ink devices have those long, horrid blackouts during page changes while the Jetbook changes pages almost instantly. How could I not like it?

PS About the slider, I rarely use it myself, but I think the feel of its movement could be improved.

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by rogue_ronin

I was thinking about the slider the other day -- someone in another post had the device apart, and the slider apparently just triggers two mini-buttons on the mainboard. It might be possible to do an elegant mod that replaces the slider with buttons. If I had a couple, I'd take a look at least.

This is true, but the buttons the slider is hitting are placed horizontally, so it would be a challenge to make a mod. To see the slider assembly, you only have to get the case open (4 screws and lots of prying -- actually, the hardest part of taking apart the jetBook). Or check the thread I posted with pictures.