Hi everyone!
I read all the posts at this forum about JBC since I own JBC at least for now (I hope that I can return it soon to Ectaco for the refund which is not so easy to do but I hope Paypal will help me with this issue). I own JBC for 7 days now and very disappointed with this device. I also own Kindle DXG (for 2 month) and Sony T1 reader (for about a month). I bought all these 3 readers hoping to reduce eye strain on my eyes and my 10 years old son’s eyes. So far I am very satisfied with Sony T1 and Kindle DX and very disappointed with JBC. Sorry I couldn’t figure out how to add to my profile Kindle DX and Sony T1. I registered just yesterday on this forum. Anyway, let me explain my negative position toward JBC using some pictures. The same PDF file is displayed on all the pictures. I used the same camera to take all this pictures, the same light conditions and the original of this PDF file can be found somewhere at this forum. I start with the picture of this file on PC screen.
Then the picture of the same file on Sony T1 (I was able to increase the letter size on Sony T1 very easy – larger letter are more comfortable for my eyes. This is another reason I bought two 9.7’’ readers for my child and myself – DX and JBC. On DX and JBL I could only zoom this file but I don’t enjoy navigating through the zoomed PDF page on both Kindle DX and JBC (but to be honest DX is doing it about 3 times faster than JBC). So I left this page how it is on JBC and DX and took the picture.
As you can see on the original PDF file the title “Preface” has pretty bright blue background and the letters in the first sentence are blue, too. The main selling point of JBC is color eInk. Can you see any blue color on such dark JBC’s screen at the picture? I cannot – not on the picture and practically not on the original. I think the original blue color looks much better as grey contrast color on Kindle DX than so called blue on JBC. You can clearly see how dark and grey is the screen on JBC compare to T1 and DX. JBC DOES cause a lot of eye strain on my eyes while DX and T1 practically don’t cause any (with normal indoor lighting). I think it would be more appropriate to compare eye strain between JBC and iPad 2 which I also own and which is known to cause some eye strain during long reading sessions. In my opinion in normal indoor light conditions my eyes get more stressed on JBC than on Ipad 2 - mainly because of very dark grey screen of JBC. In the very bright sunlight outdoor JBC causes less eye strain for me that iPad 2. Everyone who ever tried to read books or watch video on iPad 2 on bright sunshine outdoor will probably understand what I am talking about. But most of reading on 9.7” readers occurs indoor in normal light. So for my purpose of comfortable reading JBC is not the right device. Also please look at thitd picture that shows the artefacts on JBL. On this picture you practically can read 2 pages on JBC’c screen - the previous page and the current one.
From my experience Kindle DX and Sony T1 both are much better quality reading devices. It is MUCH more comfortable to read on their eInk Pearl screens compare to eInk Triton of JBC. Also from my experience Kindle DX is at least 3 times faster than JBC, and Sony T1 is at least 5 times faster than JBC. So far I really like only 2 things on JBC – battery life (charged it just once – a week ago and it is still has 75% of charge but I couldn’t read as much on JBC as my son and I read on Kindle DX and Sony T1 since it is very uncomfortable for us to read on JBC for longer sessions) and nice leather case it came with. But battery life is pretty good on my Sony T1 and Kindle DX, too.
Now about pricing. I bought refurbished Kindle DX in early January for $199.95. Our Kindle DX was refurbished but we didn’t have any problems with it so far especially considering the very heavy usage of this device at our family. I paid $88 for my Sony T1 around Valentine’s Day (about a month ago). It is a great Reader with Android on it. There are some Community developed tools for Sony T1 that I found on this forum. With these tools it is ALMOST ideal Reader for me (it would be ideal for our family if it would have 9.7” screen instead of 6”). For example I would choose Sony T1 between three devices on my picture to comfortably read the PDF file which I use in this post. Even with its 6” screen it is much more comfortable for my eyes – the easy adjustable font size that fits the full page and fast page turning. Consider all this I don’t think the price of JBC (currently $499.99) makes any sense. Honestly I woudn’t pay even $50 for JBC if to compare JBC with my ALMOST ideal Sony T1 for which I paid $88. And if I would have the opportunity to see and try JBC in the store before buying it I simply would never buy JBC. In my opinion, the pictures of JBC on Ectaco’s website and even on JBC’s box are very misleading. My guess is that Photoshop was heavyly used to create these pictures.
There is no way to make the JBC's screen SO light (with any lightening conditions) in reality.