Upon further testing...
Things to like:
- stable, no system crashes so far
- sleep mode seems to work
- greatly increased app install space; I have 40 apps taking up 120MB space with two in the 15 MB range. I saw the low drive space icon during the angry birds Rio install but it went away afterwards and I added 2 more 6 MB apps with no problems. Considering I have about a dozen apps I can do without in the newsfeed area alone, install space is a non-issue even without rooting/ hacking
Things that need work:
- PB reader can't possibly come from the GiK. It shows zero improvement. Still launches the resource-eating indexer service even if invoked from the file manager which slows everything including the reader to a crawl.
- Package management panel allows viewing and removing but not installing.
- Dictionaries can be deleted but not added--at least I haven't found where they go.
- TTS voices get deleted in the management panel but can only be added in the file manager -- the installed manual, while much improved, has it wrong.
- TTS voices are pretty good but the pauses!! About 15 seconds between sentences, paragraphs, and pages (even in the middle of a sentence). Speed adjustment does not reduce the wait, not does feeding it plain text. Occasional mid-sentence pauses don't help.
Verdict:
The generic webpad side of the IQ is probably as good as Android 2.0 gets.
(Without moving to 2.2 I doubt things will get much better.)
The Pocketbook Reader side of the IQ is just about useless. The Reader app pales before almost every other android reader app in appearance and functionality, the TTS engine is as bad as the voices are good, and the previously useful dictionary app has been neutered by the new dictionary management scheme.
Presumably the update was pulled back to fix the TTS and dictionary issues but the lack of progress on the Reader in 5 months suggests that what it is is what it will be. (As is the persistence of the unnecessary indexer service.) PB Reader on android is looking like a lost cause.
It's a good thing there are plenty of choices in quality reader apps. I'm using mostly Coolreader 3 now that it has prc and pdb support, plus Kindle, Aldiko, and Overdrive occasionally. I'm looking forward to the Bluefire release to see if I can cut Aldiko and Overdrive out.