Have you had any problems with the Cybook?

[Over]

I'm making this poll to get an idea about customer satisfaction with the product. I want to know if all the problems in the troubleshooting section are just unfortunate few cases, or if there really are too many problems with the Cybook, making it a buggy product.

Edit: I'm talking about bugs and problems, not missing features and such.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Over

I'm making this poll to get an idea about customer satisfaction with the product. I want to know if all the problems in the troubleshooting section are just unfortunate few cases, or if there is really too many problems with the Cybook.

I answered 'Yes', but you have to understand, my original Cybook was one of the 'engineering samples'. I haven't had any problems with my retail model.

Derek

[Over]

Then you should have voted only taking in account your retail Cybook (which is the one that is sold to costumers in general). Taking that in consideration, what would have been your vote?

[tompe]

You are missing a lot of alternatives. Like having problem and not being able to fix it.

Yes, the software is buggy. On the other hand all software in consumer products are buggy nowadays.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Over

Then you should have voted only taking in account your retail Cybook (which is the one that is sold to costumers in general). Taking that in consideration, what would have been your vote?

Triple-yes. With special emphasis on NO. (I just love being a contrarian. You see, I bought my engineering sample and except for the firmware, it's almost identical to the original retail unit. (Okay, it had a *shiny* black case. )

If you're asking whether the Cybook is not durable, I'd have to answer it IS durable. The Cybook's hardware is quite good - presuming you're not the kind of person to fling it to the floor or sit on it. (That has happened to some units.) The firmware is also pretty darned good - as long as you're reading Mobipocket ebooks.

But then, PDF ebooks aren't really being sold for the 6" display. And support for other formats is taking a bit longer than I like, but as - for me - the majority of the titles that interest me are in mobi format, none of this is a problem. Your mileage may vary.

Derek

[Over]

Originally Posted by tompe

You are missing a lot of alternatives. Like having problem and not being able to fix it.

Yes, the software is buggy. On the other hand all software in consumer products are buggy nowadays.

The first YES is for those cases (ok, I assume that if you can't do anything about it, you'll return it, but you've got the idea.)

I'll make the first post more clear: I'm talking about bugs and problems, not missing features and such.

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Triple-yes. With special emphasis on NO. (I just love being a contrarian. You see, I bought my engineering sample and except for the firmware, it's almost identical to the original retail unit. (Okay, it had a *shiny* black case. )

If you're asking whether the Cybook is not durable, I'd have to answer it IS durable. The Cybook's hardware is quite good - presuming you're not the kind of person to fling it to the floor or sit on it. (That has happened to some units.) The firmware is also pretty darned good - as long as you're reading Mobipocket ebooks.

But then, PDF ebooks aren't really being sold for the 6" display. And support for other formats is taking a bit longer than I like, but as - for me - the majority of the titles that interest me are in mobi format, none of this is a problem. Your mileage may vary.

Derek

The reason I've made this poll is because I've been cheking out the troubleshooting section and Bookeen's blog, and got really scared, about "bricked" Cybooks, power drain, SD card reading problems, freezes and such. So I wanted to know how common is that, to know how probable is it to happen to me, when (if) I buy it.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Over

The first YES is for those cases (ok, I assume that if you can't do anything about it, you'll return it, but you've got the idea.)

Some words were impossible to lookup in a specific dictionary but this was not something you return it for and the bug seems to be fixed in newer firmware.

I have been bitten by some other bugs but no serious problems so I could not use the device or had to return it.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Over

The reason I've made this poll is because I've been cheking out the troubleshooting section and Bookeen's blog, and got really scared, about "bricked" Cybooks, power drain, SD card reading problems, freezes and such. So I wanted to know how common is that, to know how probable is it to happen to me, when (if) I buy it.

Okay... To be honest, I don't read PDF. I don't read txt. I don't play music on it. I don't use it to store and view lots of photos. I don't use it as some form of note-taker (can't anyway). I don't do much in the way of bookmarking for later reference.

I READ novels. For enjoyment. I probably go through a novel a day. (And when you think about it, that's a lot of page-flips.) So, yes, I have no real expectation that my battery charge will last for weeks. At an average of 800 page-flips per day, I'm lucky if I get 10 days of use. More like seven. But I tend to use my Cybook from sun-up to sun-down - which is a lot more usage than most readers put on their Cybooks.

As for 'freezing' and 'bricking'... Well, as I have pointed out, I don't have the profile of a typical "bricking" user - no PDFs, no photos, no bookmarking...

If you insist upon doing all the things which bring on these problems - at this point in the firmware development - you've got to expect problems with a Cybook. If you read, Read, READ - as I do - then you'll be fine.

Derek

[Over]

I see. Unfortunately I can't edit the poll. Still, I'll let people judge which option is the most representative to their case. In your place, I would choose the second YES. You didn't fix it, but it's not a serious problem (compared to freezes, etc). Of course, this is a little bit subjective, but this isn't a scientific study anyway

Edit: I was replying tompe's post.

[Over]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Okay... To be honest, I don't read PDF. I don't read txt. I don't play music on it. I don't use it to store and view lots of photos. I don't use it as some form of note-taker (can't anyway). I don't do much in the way of bookmarking for later reference.

I READ novels. For enjoyment. I probably go through a novel a day. (And when you think about it, that's a lot of page-flips.) So, yes, I have no real expectation that my battery charge will last for weeks. At an average of 800 page-flips per day, I'm lucky if I get 10 days of use. More like seven. But I tend to use my Cybook from sun-up to sun-down - which is a lot more usage than most readers put on their Cybooks.

As for 'freezing' and 'bricking'... Well, as I have pointed out, I don't have the profile of a typical "bricking" user - no PDFs, no photos, no bookmarking...

If you insist upon doing all the things which bring on these problems - at this point in the firmware development - you've got to expect problems with a Cybook. If you read, Read, READ - as I do - then you'll be fine.

Derek

I won't even touch in the audio features of the Cybook. All I want is to read mobi and txt files (any other formats I don't mind to convert them to mobi). PDFs, I can convert them. Maybe use them to read manga (japanese comics) and that's it.
Yet, I guess that when reading a book, bookmarking is important (I don't want to stop at page 100 and when returning to the ebook... Have to flip 100 pages to continue reading).

Also, updating the firmware seems to be causing problems to some (lots?) people.

Anyway, I just wanna get a general idea about this from this comunity.

[Justy]

Originally Posted by Over

Yet, I guess that when reading a book, bookmarking is important (I don't want to stop at page 100 and when returning to the ebook... Have to flip 100 pages to continue reading).

This has rarely been a problem for me, it usually seems to happen after a marathon reading session, and then I end up where I was last able to bookmark or where I last exited the book. I have always known when I was going to go back to where I started in the reading session, the Cybook would just refuse to add the bookmark. I have not had this issue with the newest firmware.

Originally Posted by Over

Also, updating the firmware seems to be causing problems to some (lots?) people.

I would say this was an issue for some people. I did the upgrade and had no issues. Some PDFs went to blank screens instead of crashing my Cybook, but then I don't usually read PDF files anyway. These were on just to see if Kids books with pictures would translate well to the Cybook.

[rjnagle]

My card was erased, but I think it was related to improper removal of usb card reader from machine. other problem was bad names for mobipocket files. i had 75 titles which in Cybook appeared as "The Project Gutenb" . I later learned that you cannot change titles in Mobipocket Reader, only Mobipocket Creator.

[rjnagle]

Overall, I am very happy with the cybook though!

[Over]

Originally Posted by Justy

This has rarely been a problem for me, it usually seems to happen after a marathon reading session, and then I end up where I was last able to bookmark or where I last exited the book. I have always known when I was going to go back to where I started in the reading session, the Cybook would just refuse to add the bookmark. I have not had this issue with the newest firmware.

Yes, I've read about that somewhere. After about 2 hours reading, the Cybook won't bookmark. You should bookmark before that time and restart the Cybook, to avoid that problem.

Weird.

By the way, I though that we didn't have to turn the Cybook on and off all the time, that it only consumes energy when we flip the pages. Sure, there's the CPU that must consume energy, but I guess there's some kind of sleep mode? Or a standby mode?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Over

Yes, I've read about that somewhere. After about 2 hours reading, the Cybook won't bookmark. You should bookmark before that time and restart the Cybook, to avoid that problem.

That problem appears to have been fixed with the new firmware.

By the way, I though that we didn't have to turn the Cybook on and off all the time, that it only consumes energy when we flip the pages. Sure, there's the CPU that must consume energy, but I guess there's some kind of sleep mode? Or a standby mode?

No, you switch it off after a reading session. You can leave it on, but the battery will drain in somewhere between 2 and 5 days (according to peoples' experience) if you do that. It has an "auto power-off" setting whereby it'll turn itself off after a specified period of inactivity.