Black Pandigital Novel (Canada) - my impressions

Rose · 11-23-2010, 07:07 AM

On Monday (yesterday) my local Future Shop had the black PDN on sale for $149, down $30 from the usual selling price. I'd been thinking of getting one for awhile, so I could stay in touch with friends and family on the road without having to lug my laptop everywhere. At that price, I decided to give it a shot.

The Quick Start guide included in the box was for the US version; some of the features it outlined were not present when I powered the device on for the first time, so that was somewhat confusing. But the installed user guide was the proper one, and after reading it I was able to get the most out of the PDN.

The touchscreen was more responsive than I'd expected given the reviews. It's not as sensitive as an iPad, but I never had to tap repeatedly to get it to work. No problems with internet connection either, and e-mail worked well. I could not use the E-mail application for my free Yahoo or Hotmail accounts, but got around that by going to those sites directly and logging in.

I did encounter one issue when using the Kobo Books application. When I accessed it for the first time and tried to log in using my existing Kobo account, the application kept crashing. So I tried to download a free book first, but same thing occurred when I tried to log in after making my selection. On a hunch, I decided to buy a cheap book and see if that changed anything. SUCCESS!! I was prompted for my ADE account details, but it was smooth sailing afterward. My Kobo login details were accepted without further incident.

Despite the initial problems, I have to say I love the PDN. It does what I need it to do. Those expecting iPad-level quality and features probably won't be satisfied, and the Kobo bug was potentially off-putting, but I'm pleasantly surprised given the abundance of negative reviews. If my father didn't have a Kobo that he uses nonstop, I'd be putting the PDNB on his Christmas list.

dartdiva · 11-26-2010, 01:49 AM

I too bought the pandigital novel a couple of days ago too; same place, same deal.

I found that when I first started it up it was slow and difficult to navigate and actually froze up on me, so I upgraded the firmware right away. I do wish that they would post the firmware version and date on the download page.

The upgrade did make screen more responsive and now there are forward and back arrows on the reader pages so you do not need to rely solely on swiping to turn pages.

I especially wanted this model for the night reading mode that I REALLY love. Since I haven’t joined the blackberry/ iPhone/Smartphone trend, having the Wi-Fi , browser and email support... which is really slow... is just a bonus. I will still be somewhat connected if I am that far away from an actual computer, which isn’t often, lol.

I haven’t figured out how to import eBooks from an SD card. The Canadian manual simply says "import eBooks from SD" no mention of how, lol. The US manual says to select "import SD" from the quick launch, but the Canadian version has this. In the meantime, I just transferred the files via USB.

The other thing that I hope that they change in the future updates is the ability to back-up and restore your settings... as it is now you lose them all when you update the firmware.

I work on a 30” Dell IPS monitor so can honestly say that I am spoiled and quite fussy yet I still think that the PDN screen is acceptable for what it is. I do agree that it won't satisfy enthusiats...

Overall, for the price I can say I’m very happy with this purchase... and I’m sure that with future firmware updates will only make it better.

11-23-2010, 07:07 AM	#1
Rose Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 110 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Hamilton, Ontario Device: Sony PRS-300, Pandigital Novel, Kindle 3 with wifi	Black Pandigital Novel (Canada) - my impressions On Monday (yesterday) my local Future Shop had the black PDN on sale for $149, down $30 from the usual selling price. I'd been thinking of getting one for awhile, so I could stay in touch with friends and family on the road without having to lug my laptop everywhere. At that price, I decided to give it a shot. The Quick Start guide included in the box was for the US version; some of the features it outlined were not present when I powered the device on for the first time, so that was somewhat confusing. But the installed user guide was the proper one, and after reading it I was able to get the most out of the PDN. The touchscreen was more responsive than I'd expected given the reviews. It's not as sensitive as an iPad, but I never had to tap repeatedly to get it to work. No problems with internet connection either, and e-mail worked well. I could not use the E-mail application for my free Yahoo or Hotmail accounts, but got around that by going to those sites directly and logging in. I did encounter one issue when using the Kobo Books application. When I accessed it for the first time and tried to log in using my existing Kobo account, the application kept crashing. So I tried to download a free book first, but same thing occurred when I tried to log in after making my selection. On a hunch, I decided to buy a cheap book and see if that changed anything. SUCCESS!! I was prompted for my ADE account details, but it was smooth sailing afterward. My Kobo login details were accepted without further incident. Despite the initial problems, I have to say I love the PDN. It does what I need it to do. Those expecting iPad-level quality and features probably won't be satisfied, and the Kobo bug was potentially off-putting, but I'm pleasantly surprised given the abundance of negative reviews. If my father didn't have a Kobo that he uses nonstop, I'd be putting the PDNB on his Christmas list.

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11-26-2010, 01:49 AM	#2
dartdiva Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Edmonton, Alberta Device: pandigital novel	I too bought the pandigital novel a couple of days ago too; same place, same deal. I found that when I first started it up it was slow and difficult to navigate and actually froze up on me, so I upgraded the firmware right away. I do wish that they would post the firmware version and date on the download page. The upgrade did make screen more responsive and now there are forward and back arrows on the reader pages so you do not need to rely solely on swiping to turn pages. I especially wanted this model for the night reading mode that I REALLY love. Since I haven’t joined the blackberry/ iPhone/Smartphone trend, having the Wi-Fi , browser and email support... which is really slow... is just a bonus. I will still be somewhat connected if I am that far away from an actual computer, which isn’t often, lol. I haven’t figured out how to import eBooks from an SD card. The Canadian manual simply says "import eBooks from SD" no mention of how, lol. The US manual says to select "import SD" from the quick launch, but the Canadian version has this. In the meantime, I just transferred the files via USB. The other thing that I hope that they change in the future updates is the ability to back-up and restore your settings... as it is now you lose them all when you update the firmware. I work on a 30” Dell IPS monitor so can honestly say that I am spoiled and quite fussy yet I still think that the PDN screen is acceptable for what it is. I do agree that it won't satisfy enthusiats... Overall, for the price I can say I’m very happy with this purchase... and I’m sure that with future firmware updates will only make it better.

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