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Old 07-15-2010, 05:44 PM   #1
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Pandigital Novel or the Nook

So, I have had my Sony prs-505 for four years now and have loved every minute of it and have decided that I would like to purchase another ebook reader with wifi availability on it. The Pandigital Novel or the Nook are my two choices that I have fell most in love with, however I haven't even looked at all the wonderful progress that has been made with ebook readers, so I need all of your guys advice, which do you think or if there is a better one for around the same price that offers the best and that I would be able to use calibre on, because I love my calibre and really can't live without it...thank you kovidgoyal for such an amazing software!!!!
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Old 07-15-2010, 05:53 PM   #2
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It is worthwhile that you write what you expect of a new reader. Crudely comparing the Pandigital and the Nook is possible of course, but if you give a certain "list of requirements" or similar, the community will be of greatest help.
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Old 07-15-2010, 10:37 PM   #3
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well the Pandigital is really more a mini iPad marketed as more a dedicated e-reader. The Nook is a dedicated e-reader. It will depend on your reading habits. do you prefer e-ink to LCD? Do you like to read outdoors alot? Do you want the multifunctions or just an ereader?
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Old 07-16-2010, 12:12 AM   #4
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I just bought a Pandigital Novel today to test out. I already have a Nook, an Asus T91mt tablet, and my wife has an ipad.

Long story short (Edit): The LCD had a weird dark spot on it, and that will be my excuse to return it. ***I returned the one with the bad screen yesterday, regretted it, and bought another one today.

Here are my thoughts on my experience with it today:

I downloaded an excellent guide on Slatedroid (thanks Nate!), and had it hacked within a few minutes of owning it. I installed lots of apps, and a really good launcher. Overall, it is a good, cheap alternative ($124 after rebate and 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond) to the ipad or other tablets. The problem is, you get what you pay for.

Pros:

1. with the upgraded firmware, hack, and Launcherpro (didn't like panda launcher--too sluggish) it was pretty snappy.

2. Got Aldiko, Kindle, and ereader pro working really well with fairly snappy page turns. (Kobo wouldn't work, but other reader software did)

3. Retained the Barnes and Noble app and was able to load my epubs through Calibre with ease (Calibre actually recognizes the Pandigital Novel)

4. Easy night time reading

4. Browser and other apps worked well enough to be useful (unlike the Nook's browser)

Cons:

1. Still sluggish, although much better after hacking

2. The screen is not that sharp. For example, the book covers in the Barnes and Noble launcher look blurry. Overall the screen is lackluster compared to my Asus T91mt and my wife's Ipad. I also found that reading on the Nook's screen is just so much more enjoyable. I was dead set against eink for the longest time, and now I think I'm sold on it! I will say that the Ipad has a great screen also, although in direct sunlight the brightness needs to be turned way up.

3. It's heavy (although lighter than my Asus T91mt) , and not very ergonomic. It feels both solid and cheap at the same time. The Nook feels much better in hand and looks far more elegant.


So, my advice is if you are looking for a great ereader with some bells and whistles, get the Nook. You will enjoy reading on it very much. If reading is the primary purpose, the Nook or the Kindle are the best bets. If however you are looking for a multifunction device, and an ipad is not in the budget, then get the Pandigital Novel. It's only competition is the lighter, buggier, outdated and more expensive Archos 7 HT. Although, if you do get the Pandigital Novel, immediately hack it or you will be sorely disappointed!

(Edit) ***The more I thought about it, the more I realized that for $124 (that's tax included, after rebate) the novel is just too good to pass up! I definitely don't need it, but the gadget hound in me needed a new toy I guess lol.

Last edited by Noah98; 07-18-2010 at 08:28 PM. Reason: Changed my mind :)
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Old 07-16-2010, 12:25 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by Noah98 View Post
I just bought a Pandigital Novel today to test out. I already have a Nook, an Asus T91mt tablet, and my wife has an ipad.

Long story short, it is going back to the store tomorrow. The LCD had a weird dark spot on it, and that will be my excuse to return it.

Here are my thoughts on my experience with it today:

I downloaded an excellent guide on Slatedroid (thanks Nate!), and had it hacked within a few minutes of owning it. I installed lots of apps, and a really good launcher. Overall, it is a good, cheap alternative ($124 after rebate and 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond) to the ipad or other tablets. The problem is, you get what you pay for.
Uh, are you able to reset it to the original firmware? How can you return it, hacked?
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Old 07-16-2010, 01:34 AM   #6
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If you are looking for an LCD reader you might be interested in this:

http://www.jr.com/augen/pe/AGN_EBA701/

I don't know how well it works, but I have one on pre-order. I'm currently using my iPhone to read at night when I don't want to have a book light on, but I really want a larger screen.

I *love* my PB360 but it doesn't have wifi. What are you looking for the wifi for? If it's just to transfer/buy books that is easily done with a computer and side-loading via calibre. I have had Kindles and Sonys and never used the wifi/whispernet.

-Marcy
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Old 07-16-2010, 07:56 AM   #7
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Uh, are you able to reset it to the original firmware? How can you return it, hacked?

It was very easy to revert back. The Pandigital wasn't rooted, just hacked to install a new launcher and apps. I had it back to the original state within a few minutes.
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Old 07-16-2010, 08:22 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Marcy View Post
If you are looking for an LCD reader you might be interested in this:

http://www.jr.com/augen/pe/AGN_EBA701/

I don't know how well it works, but I have one on pre-order. I'm currently using my iPhone to read at night when I don't want to have a book light on, but I really want a larger screen.

I *love* my PB360 but it doesn't have wifi. What are you looking for the wifi for? If it's just to transfer/buy books that is easily done with a computer and side-loading via calibre. I have had Kindles and Sonys and never used the wifi/whispernet.

-Marcy
Wow, this device definitely looks like one to keep an eye on!
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Old 07-17-2010, 10:53 PM   #9
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I guess I can't catch a break with this thing!

I just had to revert my second device back after I noticed that it had a big dust particle stuck under the screen. It was very noticeable when viewing anything on a light screen. I'm not sure how I missed it, unless one of the pixels died after some time. Oh well, back to the store again tomorrow! I never thought I would shop at Bed, Bath, and Beyond so much...

This time I'll just exchange it for another, and hopefully give the screen a thorough run through before I hack it again!
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Old 07-17-2010, 11:23 PM   #10
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I demoed the Nook last month, and bought the Novel a few days ago (and promptly hacked it). Noah98 is right on the money with his posts.

The Nook, even with the WiFi, MP3 player and browser, is primarily an ebook reader. Your money is going to the eInk screen, which is superior to an LCD screen when reading in daylight. If you want to read, I would get that (or a SONY or a Kobo, whichever suits you best).

The Novel is being sold as an ebook reader, but it's not a very good one. As Noah98 mentioned, the screen really isn't all that great to read on, except in the dark of course. It's really not a tablet either as the hardware / OF isn't setup that way, although the hack does work well. With the hack and some app searching, I've been able to get a ton of Android apps on it (Pandora and Opera Mini, for example) and it does function - but, it's also buggy and does crash on occasion. I will probably keep it just to play around with it and because it was so cheap, and maybe sell it once real Android Froyo tablets start showing up at the EO this year.

If you are technically inclined and want a really cheap Android 2.0/2.1 quasi-tablet that may get better with future hacks, then the Novel might fit you. A jack of all trades device, does a little of everything but nothing really well (yet).
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Old 07-18-2010, 11:18 AM   #11
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I'm thinking of picking one of these up when they go on sale to use as an Android tablet, well at least as a fairly cheap one to experiment around with. The only reading that I'd likely use it for would be after dark in the summer... plan to mainly use it instead of beastly(and too warm for summer) notebook as I like to check web news and handle emails in the morning outside somewhere. I expect that the tablet's inout would be good enough for most emails that need immediate responses.

As to being useful as a primary reader: probably not if you're outdoors alot as most of the devices with color LCD are pretty much unusable in direct sunlight unlike the eInk screens. (I have a PRS-505 too for reading, but was getting hacking envy w/the nook's arrival.)

I also started researching the other cheap Chinese tablets w/Android like the Ramos W7 which has the rockchip 2808, and looking at some of the newer Cortex A8 based tablets just starting to appear, but if I could find the Novel on sale for c. $120 I think that I'd just have to pick it up to check it out. Ships with Android 2.0 and apparently has a planned update to 2.2 which one user claims(slatedroid) that he has already managed to install. (Actually found the link to check here via slatedroid... duh... it's being sold as a reader device so naturally I went to look for info on slatedroid instead of here... dowt...)

[EDIT]
I just realized that the Chinese were shipping tons of Android tablets the other day at reasonable prices while checking out Dingoo(handheld game machine). Slatedroid has TONs of info on tablets... the Archos tablets seem to be pretty far behind now, and kind of expensive compared to some of the Chinese tablets.

I'm still fence sitting until I see some hands on reviews/impressions of the newer Cortex A8 based tablets and/or the Rockchip 2818 based ones come out...

Although... I'm still bugeyeing that RAmos W7... and now this if I can find it on sale...
[/EDIT]

Last edited by cutterjohn42; 07-18-2010 at 11:24 AM.
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Old 07-18-2010, 08:32 PM   #12
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Ok, third time's a charm! I finally got one with a screen with no defects. All hacked and ready to go
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Old 07-20-2010, 02:04 AM   #13
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New firmware was released today for the Pandigital Novel, and it definitely improved the device. So far I noticed:

1. Improved WIFI
2. More responsive touchscreen
3. Cleaner interface and new icons (official Pandigital launcher)
4. Hacks can still be applied
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Old 07-20-2010, 11:58 AM   #14
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Wifi nook os $149 sounds like a much safer and enjoyable option, if your goal is reading and not tinkering
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Old 07-21-2010, 01:08 AM   #15
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Wifi nook os $149 sounds like a much safer and enjoyable option, if your goal is reading and not tinkering
eInk is definitely better than an LCD, if you need just a reader. And the Nook does have a nice screen.

But Noah98 is correct about the new PDN firmware, I can attest to that. Specifically, that WiFi is definitely improved - this thing is a keeper.
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