Quote:
Originally Posted by degustibus
Not as versatile as Fire 7/8, not as quick as old Kindle 5. I got it for the larger screen, for outside reading --and it works pretty well for that. But it's slow and jerky, page turn is jerky -- just no comparison with respect to performance. It's an overpriced reader, usable but I'd not recommend it with high marks. As I said, Mars mediocre. 3/10 as a reader, 1/10 tablet function.
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The main advantage of the Mars over the Fire is that it uses e-ink instead of an LCD screen. This makes it better for reading, though it also makes it less useful for watching videos or playing games.
Dedicated Kindles do have some advantages over the Mars, particularly with respect to page turning in Kindle books, but this is the fault of the Kindle app, not the Mars itself. The Kindle app, which was designed for LCD devices like the Fire, includes animated page turns, which are slow and jerky on an e-ink screen. But if you read books with Moon+ Reader on the Mars, you can get seamless, instantaneous page turns.
Its screen size is good for reading. It's less cramped than a six-inch reader, and it's not so large that my eyes wander and make me lose my place. Also, its aspect ratio is more book-like than movie-like. It has the advantage of being cheaper than other ones of the same size that you could buy. If you just want an ereader and don't need it for note-taking, it will work fine for that. Unlike some of its competitors, it has an audio port and a micro SD card slot. Onyx devices are supposed to have better software, but they are more expensive, and they lack some of the hardware advantages of the Mars.