Received Pocketbook IQ

zetareticuli · 11-16-2010, 10:47 AM

Got my IQ and only had a very short time to play with it last night. The device feels heavy for its size but the construction is very sturdy. It doesn't look cheap at all.

There are problems, however. The responsiveness of the device is not there yet. The touchscreen works pretty good. I immediately loaded an SD card with some PDF books. It took 2 minutes to recognize all the PDF material on the SD card. I then proceeded to open an 8 MB PDF and it took 40 seconds to display. A 20 MB PDF took closer to a minute to display. These two PDF files I looked at did not display very well on the IQ. Some pages were centered and I could read all the text but other pages the font was running through the right edge of the reader and I could not read them.

I could not get the WiFi to connect. I use MAC address filtering in my router and I was not able to get the MAC address of the device. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know. I also had a very short time to work with it and very little time to investigate menus and settings.

I plan to give a more detailed review later but for now my first impression is that it is ok for the money it costs. It is not great. At least not great with this firmware. There will probably be updates that will resolve the issues with responsiveness and other problems I have not run into yet.

There is still work to be done on this device. I don't think it is ready yet.

speedtouch · 11-16-2010, 11:36 AM

Thanks for your post. I am really interested in the IQ. Judging from your opinions, I'll probably hold off until PB releases a couple of firmware updates. Were you able to open some epubs or mobi or other ebook files?

As far as your MAC goes, if you look in the logs of your router you should hopefully see an unknown device trying and failing to connect. The log should have the MAC of the unauthorized device and that would, most likely, be the IQ. Is it possible to take the back cover off or maybe a battery cover? Maybe somewhere in there you'll find the wifi MAC.

Get us some pictures if you can.

katzki · 11-16-2010, 11:43 AM

I'm waiting to receive my IQ. Thank you for sharing your experience.
It seems that IQ is not proper for handling heavy sized PDF files. How about other formats? To me, epub or mobi and light pdf files are more important. I hope they will be fine on IQ.

and... I'd like to hear from Pocketbook people about their next firmware update plans. Considering the above review, we need a remedy for some problems that IQ probably has now.

zetareticuli · 11-16-2010, 11:59 AM

I will test with other document formats as well. I only had about 30 minutes to do everything with the device last night. I did not have time to do much. I am going to try to get the MAC address from the router. I did see the MAC address registering in the router but I wanted to double-check it from the device.

There is a lot of work to be done. The overall performance in PDFs is slow. I think the best course of action is to wait for the updated firmware to be released before purchasing the IQ.

I will take pictures and post a more detailed review later. Right now I can't say whether I am happy with the IQ or not. It seems to me that for $140 there is not much you can ask for these days. The device has problems but I think it has lots of potential if the issues are corrected. If the issues are corrected, the IQ makes a nice little e-reader and mini tablet for the money.

tvpupsik · 11-16-2010, 11:59 AM

zetareticuli, I am not sure about your location and where you got the IQ from but in the USA the sales of IQ haven't started yet since the firmware is not ready. The expected start sales/shipping date for IQ is November 20th.

katzki, I've tried epub and fb2 on the IQ and they work very well even with the current firmware version.

zetareticuli · 11-16-2010, 12:02 PM

I already got mine. I am in the US. I will be happy to post pictures of it when I get home. I got mine yesterday.

katzki · 11-16-2010, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zetareticuli

I already got mine. I am in the US. I will be happy to post pictures of it when I get home. I got mine yesterday.

Then, could you check out whether your IQ has the latest firmware on it?
If other IQs are supposed to be delievered on 20th Nov for fixing firmware problems, does this mean that the firmware on your IQ is not the most recent one?

speedtouch · 11-16-2010, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvpupsik

zetareticuli, I am not sure about your location and where you got the IQ from but in the USA the sales of IQ haven't started yet since the firmware is not ready. The expected start sales/shipping date for IQ is November 20th.

tvpupsik, thanks for the info regarding firmware. Hopefully the new firmware will iron out the problems zetareticuli experienced. I really, really hope so because the IQ is what I want to get myself for Christmas this year.

tvpupsik · 11-16-2010, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zetareticuli

I already got mine. I am in the US. I will be happy to post pictures of it when I get home. I got mine yesterday.

In this case I hope that the store who shipped you the IQ explained you the firmware restriction on the device. Officially IQ sales in the US haven't started yet, only pre-orders are opened.

zetareticuli · 11-16-2010, 01:29 PM

When I turned on the device there was a message indicating that I should go to the Pocketbook site to obtain the latest firmware for the device. The message stays on for 20 seconds each time I power on the device. When I went to the website, there were no firmware there for the IQ. This was all last night. As soon I as get home I will post a screenshot of the firmware that my IQ is running along with some other pictures of the device. I don't think the functionality is ready and I hope the problems get resolved with the new firmware.

soondai · 11-16-2010, 01:49 PM

thanks for the preliminary review zeta. I was especially curious about large scanned PDFs. Does not sound promising. Guess it was a lot to hope for in such an inexpensive device, but I did anyway.

I'll certainly keep following developments here, but sounds like IQ probably is not the answer for me.

edit:
just one follow up Q, could you scroll through the PDFs okay once they were loaded or was there a lot of lag? Were they scanned PDFs?

I imagine the centering can be fixed and I could tolerate slow loading if there's no lag once they are loaded.

tvpupsik · 11-16-2010, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zetareticuli

When I turned on the device there was a message indicating that I should go to the Pocketbook site to obtain the latest firmware for the device. The message stays on for 20 seconds each time I power on the device. When I went to the website, there were no firmware there for the IQ.

From what I know this is a standard marketing message on both IQ and 602 devices. The text might be changed with the new firmware.
And you are right there are no firmware downloads on the link mentioned for any of the devices.

For me personally this message is a bit annoying since it is showing up always, even if I set show current page boot option on my new PB 602. On old models (301+, 360 and 302) I would see a screenshot of the page I read last having this option on. Unfortunately it is not the case with the current firmware version of 602. I hope I will be forgiven for talking about 602 in the IQ related thread

zetareticuli · 11-16-2010, 06:52 PM

Guys, I posted pictures here

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...57#post1219957

11-16-2010, 10:47 AM	#1
zetareticuli Addict Posts: 367 Karma: 228 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Aztak Mentor	Received Pocketbook IQ Got my IQ and only had a very short time to play with it last night. The device feels heavy for its size but the construction is very sturdy. It doesn't look cheap at all. There are problems, however. The responsiveness of the device is not there yet. The touchscreen works pretty good. I immediately loaded an SD card with some PDF books. It took 2 minutes to recognize all the PDF material on the SD card. I then proceeded to open an 8 MB PDF and it took 40 seconds to display. A 20 MB PDF took closer to a minute to display. These two PDF files I looked at did not display very well on the IQ. Some pages were centered and I could read all the text but other pages the font was running through the right edge of the reader and I could not read them. I could not get the WiFi to connect. I use MAC address filtering in my router and I was not able to get the MAC address of the device. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know. I also had a very short time to work with it and very little time to investigate menus and settings. I plan to give a more detailed review later but for now my first impression is that it is ok for the money it costs. It is not great. At least not great with this firmware. There will probably be updates that will resolve the issues with responsiveness and other problems I have not run into yet. There is still work to be done on this device. I don't think it is ready yet.

11-16-2010, 01:49 PM	#11
soondai Guru Posts: 672 Karma: 1109784 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Paperwhite	thanks for the preliminary review zeta. I was especially curious about large scanned PDFs. Does not sound promising. Guess it was a lot to hope for in such an inexpensive device, but I did anyway. I'll certainly keep following developments here, but sounds like IQ probably is not the answer for me. edit: just one follow up Q, could you scroll through the PDFs okay once they were loaded or was there a lot of lag? Were they scanned PDFs? I imagine the centering can be fixed and I could tolerate slow loading if there's no lag once they are loaded. Last edited by soondai; 11-16-2010 at 02:02 PM.

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11-16-2010, 11:36 AM	#2
speedtouch eBook Newbie Posts: 373 Karma: 1724 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Kobo Clara HD	Thanks for your post. I am really interested in the IQ. Judging from your opinions, I'll probably hold off until PB releases a couple of firmware updates. Were you able to open some epubs or mobi or other ebook files? As far as your MAC goes, if you look in the logs of your router you should hopefully see an unknown device trying and failing to connect. The log should have the MAC of the unauthorized device and that would, most likely, be the IQ. Is it possible to take the back cover off or maybe a battery cover? Maybe somewhere in there you'll find the wifi MAC. Get us some pictures if you can.

11-16-2010, 11:43 AM	#3
katzki Zealot Posts: 103 Karma: 736 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: sony prs 650	I'm waiting to receive my IQ. Thank you for sharing your experience. It seems that IQ is not proper for handling heavy sized PDF files. How about other formats? To me, epub or mobi and light pdf files are more important. I hope they will be fine on IQ. and... I'd like to hear from Pocketbook people about their next firmware update plans. Considering the above review, we need a remedy for some problems that IQ probably has now.

11-16-2010, 11:59 AM	#4
zetareticuli Addict Posts: 367 Karma: 228 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Aztak Mentor	I will test with other document formats as well. I only had about 30 minutes to do everything with the device last night. I did not have time to do much. I am going to try to get the MAC address from the router. I did see the MAC address registering in the router but I wanted to double-check it from the device. There is a lot of work to be done. The overall performance in PDFs is slow. I think the best course of action is to wait for the updated firmware to be released before purchasing the IQ. I will take pictures and post a more detailed review later. Right now I can't say whether I am happy with the IQ or not. It seems to me that for $140 there is not much you can ask for these days. The device has problems but I think it has lots of potential if the issues are corrected. If the issues are corrected, the IQ makes a nice little e-reader and mini tablet for the money.

11-16-2010, 11:59 AM	#5
tvpupsik Addict Posts: 203 Karma: 502 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO Device: PB 360, PB 602, PB IQ	zetareticuli, I am not sure about your location and where you got the IQ from but in the USA the sales of IQ haven't started yet since the firmware is not ready. The expected start sales/shipping date for IQ is November 20th. katzki, I've tried epub and fb2 on the IQ and they work very well even with the current firmware version.

11-16-2010, 12:02 PM	#6
zetareticuli Addict Posts: 367 Karma: 228 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Aztak Mentor	I already got mine. I am in the US. I will be happy to post pictures of it when I get home. I got mine yesterday.

11-16-2010, 01:29 PM	#10
zetareticuli Addict Posts: 367 Karma: 228 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Aztak Mentor	When I turned on the device there was a message indicating that I should go to the Pocketbook site to obtain the latest firmware for the device. The message stays on for 20 seconds each time I power on the device. When I went to the website, there were no firmware there for the IQ. This was all last night. As soon I as get home I will post a screenshot of the firmware that my IQ is running along with some other pictures of the device. I don't think the functionality is ready and I hope the problems get resolved with the new firmware.

11-16-2010, 06:52 PM	#13
zetareticuli Addict Posts: 367 Karma: 228 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Aztak Mentor	Guys, I posted pictures here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...57#post1219957