MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - jetBook feature suggestions (and feedback)

10basetom · 07-15-2009, 07:54 AM

Hi Dr. Drib,

Thank you for the comments and for welcoming me.

I'm trying really hard to like the jetBook ($180 + S&H at frys.com), but the more I use it on a day-to-day basis the more I'm considering to return it, mainly because of the poor text input system. Here's a summary of the little things that irk me:

T9 doesn't work the same as it does on the mobile phone. To see what I'm talking about, try searching for "robber" by using the T9 input method; after spelling this word out the only word you see in the list is "soccer". If T9 is a trademarked name, I wonder if Ectaco should even be marketing their input method as T9 because it's obviously not true T9. In fact, it is giving T9 a bad name because their implementation is much more user-unfriendly than the T9 used on mobile phones.
The regular text input input method is also not the same as it is on your mobile phone. For example, instead of pressing 7 three times to input "r", you have to press 7 once and then press the number 3 (this requires looking at the screen to see what number "r" is mapped to). This makes text input a chore no matter which text input method you choose.
As mentioned above, the built-in dictionary just doesn't cut it for me. But in all fairness, I don't think any ebook reader's built-in dictionary would satisfy me, so I'll end up dragging along my Oxford dictionary no matter which device I purchase.
To make the word lookup experience worse, every time I look up a word I have to re-select the English dictionary. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but my dictionary selection setting isn't saved across sessions.
The jetBook has a nice screen with good contrast and clarity that I found easier to read than the ezReader's screen when I put the two side by side. HOWEVER, there is still a perceivable .5- to 1-second lag whenever I turn pages, especially in large books and when panning in PDF documents. Many people have praised the jetBook's LCD screen latency as compared to an e-ink screen, and they would be correct, but the page turns and PDF panning are still a bit too slow for me. Am I expecting too much when I want near instantaneous page turns? I'd like to be able to hold down the next/previous page buttons and have the pages turn as fast as I could flip through a physical book.

There are some other quibbles with the user experience as well, but these are the main ones I can think of off the top of my head at 4:45am. Since I've had a Fictionwise account for a long time, I may end up getting one of the EBookwise-1150 ebook readers that are going for under $100 on eBay. The Kindle1 is also going for about the same price as a new jetBook on eBay.

Tom

07-15-2009, 07:54 AM	#3
10basetom Member Posts: 17 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Hi Dr. Drib, Thank you for the comments and for welcoming me. I'm trying really hard to like the jetBook ($180 + S&H at frys.com), but the more I use it on a day-to-day basis the more I'm considering to return it, mainly because of the poor text input system. Here's a summary of the little things that irk me: T9 doesn't work the same as it does on the mobile phone. To see what I'm talking about, try searching for "robber" by using the T9 input method; after spelling this word out the only word you see in the list is "soccer". If T9 is a trademarked name, I wonder if Ectaco should even be marketing their input method as T9 because it's obviously not true T9. In fact, it is giving T9 a bad name because their implementation is much more user-unfriendly than the T9 used on mobile phones. The regular text input input method is also not the same as it is on your mobile phone. For example, instead of pressing 7 three times to input "r", you have to press 7 once and then press the number 3 (this requires looking at the screen to see what number "r" is mapped to). This makes text input a chore no matter which text input method you choose. As mentioned above, the built-in dictionary just doesn't cut it for me. But in all fairness, I don't think any ebook reader's built-in dictionary would satisfy me, so I'll end up dragging along my Oxford dictionary no matter which device I purchase. To make the word lookup experience worse, every time I look up a word I have to re-select the English dictionary. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but my dictionary selection setting isn't saved across sessions. The jetBook has a nice screen with good contrast and clarity that I found easier to read than the ezReader's screen when I put the two side by side. HOWEVER, there is still a perceivable .5- to 1-second lag whenever I turn pages, especially in large books and when panning in PDF documents. Many people have praised the jetBook's LCD screen latency as compared to an e-ink screen, and they would be correct, but the page turns and PDF panning are still a bit too slow for me. Am I expecting too much when I want near instantaneous page turns? I'd like to be able to hold down the next/previous page buttons and have the pages turn as fast as I could flip through a physical book. There are some other quibbles with the user experience as well, but these are the main ones I can think of off the top of my head at 4:45am. Since I've had a Fictionwise account for a long time, I may end up getting one of the EBookwise-1150 ebook readers that are going for under $100 on eBay. The Kindle1 is also going for about the same price as a new jetBook on eBay. Tom Last edited by 10basetom; 07-15-2009 at 07:58 AM.