EZ Reader Plus review

[DaleDe]

I have had my EZ Reader Plus for a few days now and have formed an opinion. I really like this unit. I also have an EZ Reader Pocket Pro and an EZ Reader Basic.

The unit looks exactly like my EZ Reader Basic 6" device which my wife uses except the word EZ Reader at the top is different. Hers is on the right side while mine is centered. The cases are exactly alike so we have to open them to tell them apart.

The capabilities are exactly like the Pocket Pro except for the missing thumb wheel. It has two buttons for music volume on the side instead. And it is missing the TTS capability. I hope they will add this at some point. In addition it has more ram memory than the pocket pro which gives it more buffer space so it can handle images and complex pages a bit faster. It also has 16 gray scale levels which is awesome. Images look like a black and white photograph, very crisp.

Page turns are almost twice as fast as the Basic and even faster than the Pocket Pro. (I suspect this is because of the extra RAM memory or it may be easier to process 4 bit (1/2 byte) than 3 bits chunks.)

The black text in ADE ePUB is as dark as the EZ Reader Basic and darker than the Pocket Pro resulting in better contrast. Many have darkened the text on their pocket Pro with external fonts for most formats but this isn't easy in ADE. (Adobe Digital Editions is used for PDF and EPUB.)

System fonts are replaceable and it comes with the same 9 as Pocket Pro.

All of the eBook formats listed of the other EZ Readers are also supported in this one. I suspect it will work better in handling complex formats better that previous ones due to its additional memory but I have not specifically test this yet. ePUB support includes the ability to follow links which is the same as Pocket Pro but not in the EZReader basic.

This unit ships with CoolReader 3 which can support ePUB and will use the CoolReader dictionaries for books that use CoolReader although is does not come with one.

There is an electronic PDF manual supplied with the unit and it also includes a paper manual along with two addendums. One tells how to insert and remove the device from the case and the other tells how to get started buy books at the EZReader web site including how to deal with DRM if needed.

The eBook Reader ships with: the above manuals, a case, a wrist lanyard, a set of headphones, a USB cable, a USB AC charging adapter that runs on 100-250 V. It also comes with a screwdriver and spare screws for the battery cover. The battery was not installed. It is easy to install and easy to replace using off the shelf batteries (the same as the Basic).

The music player is similar to the one on the Pocket Pro and does not have the equalizer.

It has the Display adjust features from the Buggins LBook release. It can be set to adaptive, speed, effect.

It supports 28 language settings.

The version of the firmware is:
V2.02ASTAK.100628
which includes the CoolReader version from 10-03-22 and the ADE from 10-03-22. The internal viewer is from 10-04-12.

Questions?

Dale

[eGeezer]

Thanks for the info. Precise and in-depth as usual.

I dunno, tho. I may want to wait for the new Sonys to come out before I decide not to buy one of them. I mean, I have no intention of ever buying a Sony, but wouldn't it be proper and fair to wait? LOL.

I've not been clear on the dating stamp on the FW. yy-mm-dd, right?

That CoolReader is included (and apparently no battery-drain problems that you can detect?) as well as improved performance over my current PPro in several areas, means I will probably get around to ordering one when I get back from yet another vacation. Just hoping my PPro gets back to me before I leave, which it appears to be on schedule to do.

Btw. Is it epubs you need to add .fb2 onto in order for Coolreader to find them?

Thanks for the feedback.

[RichyRich]

Does it have the soft touch stuff like the Pocket Pro or is it just plastic?

[Solicitous]

Interesting that the Eco Reader firmware for their release of the V3+ has TTS.

I would be rather interested to see a side-by-side comparison of the darkness of the text with a Pocket Pro.

[Davimee]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

It has the Display adjust features from the Buggins LBook release. It can be set to adaptive, speed, effect.

Thanks for the review! I do have a question regarding the firmware... what is adaptive, speed, and effect? When I had the LBook firmware on my Pocket Pro I noticed that setting, but I wasn't sure what it meant. I assume speed means something works faster, but what about adaptive and effect? Thanks.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by eGeezer

Thanks for the info. Precise and in-depth as usual.

I dunno, tho. I may want to wait for the new Sonys to come out before I decide not to buy one of them. I mean, I have no intention of ever buying a Sony, but wouldn't it be proper and fair to wait? LOL.

I've not been clear on the dating stamp on the FW. yy-mm-dd, right?

That CoolReader is included (and apparently no battery-drain problems that you can detect?) as well as improved performance over my current PPro in several areas, means I will probably get around to ordering one when I get back from yet another vacation. Just hoping my PPro gets back to me before I leave, which it appears to be on schedule to do.

Btw. Is it epubs you need to add .fb2 onto in order for Coolreader to find them?

Thanks for the feedback.

Yes the dating stamp is year-month-day. I added the dashes to make it a bit more clear.

If you want Coolreader to read a format that Jinke hasn't already targeted it for then you can add .fb2 to force it. This works for all formats that CoolReader understands. This can improve TXT and HTML for example.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Interesting that the Eco Reader firmware for their release of the V3+ has TTS.

I would be rather interested to see a side-by-side comparison of the darkness of the text with a Pocket Pro.

I will try and get some shots but I am not always good at that sort of thing. It is not a pearl screen. The white is the same and the black can be achieved on the PP using darker fonts only they don't work in ADE. You can get an idea if you look at a FB2 file. We have a few available for download here.

I know Astak wants TTS but Jinke is afraid of the legal stuff. They have to be convinced that they are protected from that. I noticed that only customers can get ECO Reader firmware.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Davimee

Thanks for the review! I do have a question regarding the firmware... what is adaptive, speed, and effect? When I had the LBook firmware on my Pocket Pro I noticed that setting, but I wasn't sure what it meant. I assume speed means something works faster, but what about adaptive and effect? Thanks.

I haven't seen a definition and have not experimented much with this. Adaptive seems fine and I think this mean "do the right thing" while the other two mean do what it says all the time. Speed is clearly as "fast a possible". More later with more testing.

Dale

[cloggy]

Hi DaleDe, ever considered to install Buggins LBOOK V3+ firmware..? So this should give you the option to open ePub in CR3 by long pressing the number?

..or is this a stupid question..

[Acreo Aeneas]

Dale,

Have you encountered the battery drain issue? (When you start reading a book and then lock the screen and then come back hours later to find half your battery already gone.)

[Davimee]

Ok, thanks Dale!

[eGeezer]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Yes the dating stamp is year-month-day. I added the dashes to make it a bit more clear.

If you want Coolreader to read a format that Jinke hasn't already targeted it for then you can add .fb2 to force it. This works for all formats that CoolReader understands. This can improve TXT and HTML for example.

Dale

I can always use things that make it more clear. Thanks.

And thanks for the clarification on .fb2. Didn't realize it was generally to force ALL formats (that CR understands).

So, the next logical question is how do I determine which formats are already targeted by Jinke for CR (if there are any, yet)? No sense in spending time adding .fb2 to formats already targeted.

Thanks again.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by cloggy

Hi DaleDe, ever considered to install Buggins LBOOK V3+ firmware..? So this should give you the option to open ePub in CR3 by long pressing the number?

..or is this a stupid question..

It is not stupid. I have seen some early samples for Jinke that may be leaning this way but the released stuff does not support this. Of course you can always replace the firmware with the Buggins LBook version.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Acreo Aeneas

Dale,

Have you encountered the battery drain issue? (When you start reading a book and then lock the screen and then come back hours later to find half your battery already gone.)

No, I have never seen this problem on a v3 or V3+. There is no problem in the Plus that I have detected. I have yet to see it get off of full charge and I have been using it about a week now.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by RichyRich

Does it have the soft touch stuff like the Pocket Pro or is it just plastic?

It is hard to describe. I does not have the rubberized coat of the Pocket Pro but it is not shiny plastic either. It is dull and looks like a variation of the Bakelite plastic used on car batteries. Looks very rugged.

Dale