Hello eink addicts,
I thought I would share my feelings with those of you who are also thinking about an upgrade from
M96 to
N96ML.
As usual flawless ordering process and communication with Ereader Store, the reader arrived after 3 days within Europe (I waited with ordering for the reader's status to become 'in stock').
Some of the differences may be to do with the versions of firmware my devices run on. My
M96 is on
2014-10-16 while the
N96ML on
2016-05-31. I can see in Ereader Store there is a
2016-07-02 upgrade for both devices. Will soon update it on both units and see what happens.
Until then this is how I feel after owning
N96ML for 2 days compared with
M96 for 2 years
Positives hardware:
+ Has light (more about the light in the next post).
+ Larger pen more comfortable to hold and harder to lose (I can also scratch my back properly now, some places couldn't reach before).
+ The tip of the fat stylus is kind of less scratchy, has a bit rubbery feel to it, I think it's better than the skinny one.
+ You can enter scribbling mode with a button on a side of the pen and use springy end of it like a real eraser.
+ The skinny pen also works.
+ The reader comes with much nicer case that puts it to sleep after closing.
+ More modern look with rounded corners and nice matte finish, the reader has a real quality feel to it now.
+ Nicer and with better tactile feedback physical buttons.
Positives software:
+ More options in the 'Library': filtering, tagging etc.
+ I get the feeling the 'Scribbler' app works faster now (adding new page, closing etc.), but see 'Negatives' for more.
+ Nicer implementation of the eraser in 'Scribbler' app - you get more feedback on how far it goes.
+ Notes in 'Scribbler' can now be exported, although only to separate PNG files (no PDF option).
+ You can now add custom names to notes in 'Scribbler'.
+ English dictionary works in 'Neo PDF Reader' out of the box.
+ Highlighting PDFs in 'Neo PDF Reader' can now be rendered as highlight or underline, I prefer highlight but it's nice to have a choice.
+ The scribble menu in 'Neo PDF Reader' can be temporarily taken out of the way when scribbling at the bottom of the page.
+ The menu in 'Neo PDF Reader' got improved a little, but still no user customisation possible.
+ 'Table of Contents' of 'Neo PDF Reader' opens on the page showing the area where you are currently at in the book.
+ Hyperlinks now work within PDFs.
Negatives hardware:
- No more 5-way joystick so no way to use the reader without a stylus.
- No more physical volume buttons.
- The fat stylus is more expensive.
- The on/off switch located at the bottom of the unit too easy to accidentally press.
- The pen holder/loop together with the pen are exposed when the case is closed. Can get damaged or lost when, for example, taking out of a backpack.
- The fat pen difficult to calibrate (default calibration is not accurate).
- Calibration process needs to be improved (works with the skinny one perfectly but you don't get one).
- Because of the calibration differences you can use only one kind of pen at a time.
- Nowhere to store the skinny stylus (no place in the case, and no place inside the reader).
Negatives software:
- Dropbox won't install.
- No backlight on/off indicator on the system bar - you can't tell if it's on or off during a day.
- Stroke rendering doesn't have that
nice effect of gradual changes of thickness any more. I thought it was a really cool trick to achieve this without hardware pressure sensing, but sadly seems to have been removed.
- Tapping on battery icon does not show percentage left any more. However, you can show it on the status bar in 'Neo PDF Reader'.
- Strange 'Scribbler' app behaviour - the doodles are not saved immediately. If you scribble a lot, then close and open the document, you will see... nothing much. That's because, presumably, 'Scribbler' hasn't managed to dump all your doodles to the database yet or something like that. Makes me wondering what happens when you turn off or put the device to sleep before the reader managed to save your scribbles.
- In 'Neo PDF Reader' eraser turns itself off after a single use.