Dear lord, do NOT buy the Velocity Cruz.

mwheinz · 01-07-2011, 10:58 AM

I bought the $99 VC reader yesterday at Best Buy. After 3 hours, I took it back.

I knew it would be sluggish.

I knew it would be heavy.

I knew the touch screen would be relatively unresponsive.

I expected to at least be able to turn pages in my books.

Either the Borders app or the touch screen itself was so utterly unresponsive that, while I could type in text (by pushing down till I saw the letter appear) I simply could not scroll in the borders app at all. Oddly enough, I think the bug must be in the borders app - because I was able to scroll the desktop screen.

In other news, I could not figure out a way to delete my borders id from the app, so I had to change my password before I returned the unit.

devarshib · 01-08-2011, 01:40 AM

Did you try the VC tablet? I've been looking at it since it has a capacitive screen, but haven't had a chance to try one in real life.

Catlady · 01-08-2011, 09:15 AM

QVC is selling a Velocity Micro Cruz today as its special value for $187; info is here.

daffy4u · 01-08-2011, 10:11 AM

I bougt the Cruz. Retuned it less than 48 hours later. I had to reinstall the firmware to remove my personal info (gmail access).

Noah98 · 01-08-2011, 10:41 AM

Buy the Pandigital Novel from Kohl's for $60 and install some custom firmware. Then you can run Kindle, Aldiko, Moon+, Fbreader, eraeader, etc.

The Borders/Kobo apps haven't been updated in a while and aren't working well on many tablets.

daffy4u · 01-08-2011, 10:43 AM

In my case, the PDN is not available at Khol's. They were all sent back.

mwheinz · 01-08-2011, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devarshib

Did you try the VC tablet? I've been looking at it since it has a capacitive screen, but haven't had a chance to try one in real life.

When I looked around the 'net for a discussion of the tablet, the common refrain was that it was better than the Reader, but not by much.

GreenMonkey · 01-08-2011, 02:37 PM

If you really like an LCD e-reader, you should spend the extra $150 or so and get the Nook color if you can. I know it's basically twice the price, but the difference between a decent processor/GPU/amount of RAM with a capacitive IPS LCD, and a resistive cheaper LCD....big difference.

It's really the best LCD e-reader at this point by a wide margin, and probably the best bang/buck Android tablet on the market right now, if you root it.

I know about having a budget, though. It sounds like the Pandigital Novel can be a bit better if you're on a tight budget.

mwheinz · 01-08-2011, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

If you really like an LCD e-reader, you should spend the extra $150 or so and get the Nook color if you can.

That does seem to be the consensus. I was hoping to use this one mostly as an inexpensive way to explore Android - and I was even willing to hack the firmware and so on - but the basic functionality was so poor, that just wasn't an option.

daffy4u · 01-08-2011, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwheinz

I was hoping to use this one mostly as an inexpensive way to explore Android - and I was even willing to hack the firmware and so on - but the basic functionality was so poor, that just wasn't an option.

That was my hope as well but I think I've seen enough to get it. Now that CES is just about over, I think there will be a flood of Android devices for sale on eBay as people upgrade. If you can wait a bit, better devices to choose from will be available.

montsnmags · 01-10-2011, 03:28 AM

Moderator Notice
Thread moved from "Deals, Freebies, and Resources" to "Android Devices".

Cheers,
Marc

travfar · 01-10-2011, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

In my case, the PDN is not available at Khol's. They were all sent back.

Not all of them. Some stores have sent them back. Others have not. People are still getting them in Kohl's today.

Beware though that the Cruz and the PDN are sisters. Basically the same tablet except the PDN runs faster at 800Mhz. I find it fine as a tablet. If you update the 2d/3d drivers and install the DVM optimized for the Samsung chip, it's snappier. Overall speed is about 30% faster and if you are one of those that do linear algebra on your ereader, it's about 3 times faster.

daffy4u · 01-10-2011, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travfar

Not all of them. Some stores have sent them back. Others have not. People are still getting them in Kohl's today.

Not in Southern Los Angeles County. I've gone in person and called around and can't find any (that's why I said "In my case").

scveteran · 01-10-2011, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwheinz

I bought the $99 VC reader yesterday at Best Buy. After 3 hours, I took it back.

I knew it would be sluggish.

I knew it would be heavy.

I knew the touch screen would be relatively unresponsive.

I expected to at least be able to turn pages in my books.

Either the Borders app or the touch screen itself was so utterly unresponsive that, while I could type in text (by pushing down till I saw the letter appear) I simply could not scroll in the borders app at all. Oddly enough, I think the bug must be in the borders app - because I was able to scroll the desktop screen.

In other news, I could not figure out a way to delete my borders id from the app, so I had to change my password before I returned the unit.

I tried it and I can that my experience was a whole better than yours. Really I think it is well worth the money.

mwheinz · 01-13-2011, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scveteran

I tried it and I can that my experience was a whole better than yours. Really I think it is well worth the money.

scveteran,

The behavior was so bad I did wonder if I simply got a bad unit; it's good to hear someone else had a much better experience.

01-07-2011, 10:58 AM	#1
mwheinz award-winning bozo Posts: 258 Karma: 172703 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Philadelphia Device: Kobo Libra 2	Dear lord, do NOT buy the Velocity Cruz. I bought the $99 VC reader yesterday at Best Buy. After 3 hours, I took it back. I knew it would be sluggish. I knew it would be heavy. I knew the touch screen would be relatively unresponsive. I expected to at least be able to turn pages in my books. Either the Borders app or the touch screen itself was so utterly unresponsive that, while I could type in text (by pushing down till I saw the letter appear) I simply could not scroll in the borders app at all. Oddly enough, I think the bug must be in the borders app - because I was able to scroll the desktop screen. In other news, I could not figure out a way to delete my borders id from the app, so I had to change my password before I returned the unit.

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01-08-2011, 01:40 AM	#2
devarshib Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony 505	Did you try the VC tablet? I've been looking at it since it has a capacitive screen, but haven't had a chance to try one in real life.

01-08-2011, 09:15 AM	#3
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,345 Karma: 52398889 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	QVC is selling a Velocity Micro Cruz today as its special value for $187; info is here.

01-08-2011, 10:11 AM	#4
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	I bougt the Cruz. Retuned it less than 48 hours later. I had to reinstall the firmware to remove my personal info (gmail access).

01-08-2011, 10:41 AM	#5
Noah98 Eccentric Posts: 510 Karma: 342150 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Florida Device: The nook, ipad 3, Kindle Fire HD (8.9), Kindle Paperwhite	Buy the Pandigital Novel from Kohl's for $60 and install some custom firmware. Then you can run Kindle, Aldiko, Moon+, Fbreader, eraeader, etc. The Borders/Kobo apps haven't been updated in a while and aren't working well on many tablets.

01-08-2011, 10:43 AM	#6
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	In my case, the PDN is not available at Khol's. They were all sent back.

01-08-2011, 02:37 PM	#8
GreenMonkey DRM hater Posts: 945 Karma: 2066176 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Michigan Device: Nook ST glow, Kindle Voyage	If you really like an LCD e-reader, you should spend the extra $150 or so and get the Nook color if you can. I know it's basically twice the price, but the difference between a decent processor/GPU/amount of RAM with a capacitive IPS LCD, and a resistive cheaper LCD....big difference. It's really the best LCD e-reader at this point by a wide margin, and probably the best bang/buck Android tablet on the market right now, if you root it. I know about having a budget, though. It sounds like the Pandigital Novel can be a bit better if you're on a tight budget.

01-10-2011, 03:28 AM	#11
montsnmags Grand Sorcerer Posts: 10,155 Karma: 4632658 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: none	Moderator Notice Thread moved from "Deals, Freebies, and Resources" to "Android Devices". Cheers, Marc

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