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nrapallo · 12-20-2010, 09:17 PM

I picked up this nicely packaged device at one of my local XS Cargo (for the list $99) and was pleasantly impressed with how sleek it appeared.

Well, you know what they about judging an (e)book by it's cover...

I needed a low cost epub e-reader (preferably backlit LCD) and this seemed a perfect match, that is, until I used it with my ebook creations!

I'm one to cram as many hyperlinks as I can into my ebooks and was shock (ok surprised) that there is no way to navigate (i.e. click) on-screen links like footnotes or links to diagrams/images. This is a MAJOR fail. Nowadays, an epub book is much like a website and can you imagine in this day and age if the website hyperlinks could not be clicked through. What a travesty!

I'm not so sure why the Adobe Mobile Edition wasn't better utilized with the directional pad to navigate those links. Once you navigated there, then a simple press of the "OK" button to follow that link would have made this a KILLER unit!!!!!!! The way it is now and perhaps the reason it is being liquidated before it's launch, speaks volumes as to proper beta-testing done or NOT. One minute using this device and I knew it was sub-par for my use.

Now, take this with a grain of salt, as I'm spoiled by having "touchscreen" access to my ebooks, especially for following links, annotating, dictionary look-ups... Oh, well, I'm hoping for a compatible FIRMWARE as noticed (expected?) by DeadMan...

Another MAJOR faux pas is the zoom function when used with .pdf ebooks. Like many ebook vendors they seem to always forget (don't properly implement) the fact that after you, say, zoom to half a page, then when you advance the page, the second half of that page should be shown (as is seen in continuous mode) and not the top half of the next page and so on...

They have a very interesting zoom level for pdf ebooks called "Selection Zoom" that allows the user to crop, with adjustable crop marks, the left-right margin. This is done by moving those crop marks into the white margin however far you like. The only problem is that store-bought pdf ebooks that use 8x11 sized pages and zoomed out to see the entire page, then show those crop marks (after this Selection Zoom is chosen) inside the text extent on the page. Promising feature, but again fails a real-world test. It's like no-one ever tried that function during development...

I was disappointed that .html files could not be displayed (though I knew it wasn't a supported format). I guessed that supporting .html would be rudimentary when you support epub and text files (I was hoping to salvage my use of this e-reader given the above deficiencies.) It did, however, a superb job rendering (raw) text files without having to first be converted to epub or pdf. For me that is a MAJOR plus!!!

The music player seems nice enough but I haven't test it too much yet. I know you can easily start and stop music playing in the background using the dedicated "Play/Pause" button on the right of the Directional Pad.

I haven't tested any video formats (the spec's say they are not supported) but other similar looking hardware buttons/ports have that capability. i.e. similar looking hardware appears to be the Slick ereader, the aforementioned The Prestigio 3072B, and even the Aluratek 7" Color ereader.

Perhaps there's hope (for a compatible firmware upgrade...

)

And what gives with that "Hold the power button depressed for 7 seconds" to turn on this baby. When I first got it, I plugged in the power adapter and pressed the "On" button for no more than two seconds and it worked. After fully charging it, it now takes 7 seconds when not plugged into the power adapter.

I'll tinker some more as I hope DeadMan will too!

12-20-2010, 09:17 PM	#20
nrapallo GuteBook/Mobi2IMP Creator Posts: 2,958 Karma: 2530691 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: REB1200 EBW1150 Device: T1 NSTG iLiad_v2 NC Device: Asus_TF Next1 WPDN	There's hope... I picked up this nicely packaged device at one of my local XS Cargo (for the list $99) and was pleasantly impressed with how sleek it appeared. Well, you know what they about judging an (e)book by it's cover... I needed a low cost epub e-reader (preferably backlit LCD) and this seemed a perfect match, that is, until I used it with my ebook creations! I'm one to cram as many hyperlinks as I can into my ebooks and was shock (ok surprised) that there is no way to navigate (i.e. click) on-screen links like footnotes or links to diagrams/images. This is a MAJOR fail. Nowadays, an epub book is much like a website and can you imagine in this day and age if the website hyperlinks could not be clicked through. What a travesty! I'm not so sure why the Adobe Mobile Edition wasn't better utilized with the directional pad to navigate those links. Once you navigated there, then a simple press of the "OK" button to follow that link would have made this a KILLER unit!!!!!!! The way it is now and perhaps the reason it is being liquidated before it's launch, speaks volumes as to proper beta-testing done or NOT. One minute using this device and I knew it was sub-par for my use. Now, take this with a grain of salt, as I'm spoiled by having "touchscreen" access to my ebooks, especially for following links, annotating, dictionary look-ups... Oh, well, I'm hoping for a compatible FIRMWARE as noticed (expected?) by DeadMan... Another MAJOR faux pas is the zoom function when used with .pdf ebooks. Like many ebook vendors they seem to always forget (don't properly implement) the fact that after you, say, zoom to half a page, then when you advance the page, the second half of that page should be shown (as is seen in continuous mode) and not the top half of the next page and so on... They have a very interesting zoom level for pdf ebooks called "Selection Zoom" that allows the user to crop, with adjustable crop marks, the left-right margin. This is done by moving those crop marks into the white margin however far you like. The only problem is that store-bought pdf ebooks that use 8x11 sized pages and zoomed out to see the entire page, then show those crop marks (after this Selection Zoom is chosen) inside the text extent on the page. Promising feature, but again fails a real-world test. It's like no-one ever tried that function during development... I was disappointed that .html files could not be displayed (though I knew it wasn't a supported format). I guessed that supporting .html would be rudimentary when you support epub and text files (I was hoping to salvage my use of this e-reader given the above deficiencies.) It did, however, a superb job rendering (raw) text files without having to first be converted to epub or pdf. For me that is a MAJOR plus!!! The music player seems nice enough but I haven't test it too much yet. I know you can easily start and stop music playing in the background using the dedicated "Play/Pause" button on the right of the Directional Pad. I haven't tested any video formats (the spec's say they are not supported) but other similar looking hardware buttons/ports have that capability. i.e. similar looking hardware appears to be the Slick ereader, the aforementioned The Prestigio 3072B, and even the Aluratek 7" Color ereader. Perhaps there's hope (for a compatible firmware upgrade... ) And what gives with that "Hold the power button depressed for 7 seconds" to turn on this baby. When I first got it, I plugged in the power adapter and pressed the "On" button for no more than two seconds and it worked. After fully charging it, it now takes 7 seconds when not plugged into the power adapter. I'll tinker some more as I hope DeadMan will too! Last edited by nrapallo; 12-20-2010 at 09:24 PM.