Quote:
Originally Posted by hike_gc
I think I need to step away from my keyboard (and this forum) and let all this information slosh around in my brain for awhile.
A couple more questions first though.
I like to listen to audio books and see all these devices offer audio. Is it good quality audio or should I stick with my MP3 player for the audio books?
My other question is regarding the grayscale levels. I see everything from 4 to 16. How good are the 4 level devices, really? The material I will likely read won't have many pictures, mostly just text.
I'm now looking at the Astak EZ Reader. Somebody please talk me into(or out) of it. I haven't found any user reviews of this model, so it must just now be shipping.
I really appreciate all your feedback!  |
I'm traveling, so very briefly for now:
Astak EZ Reader = Hanlin V3 (6" unit) or Hanlin V5 (5" unit).
You'll find plenty of reviews for those.
Hanlin is the original manufacturer from China. There are various versions with slightly different firmwares: Astak EZ Reader, BeBook and at least 2 others.
I've got the BeBook and personally by far rank it last of my readers. I don't like the design and have posted some links to similar reviews ("cheap", "underwhelming", ...). But all those versions clearly have their fans and enthusiasts and with OpenInkpot there's a community firmware with some interesting features.
Concerning
audiobooks: Quality, in my opinion, would be okay. But all the user interfaces I've seen are far from convenient. I'd never trade my iPod or MP3 player for that.
Usually, I don't hear music while reading. And as a standalone audioplayer, I don't see any problem in taking one of those tiny mediaplayers with me.
Regarding
greyscale levels: In text, I don't see the difference. In comics, it's sometimes quite obvious.
But there are various aspects concerning quality: Quality of your source file, file format, rendering engine, display quality, maybe even reflection because of the color of the housing, ....
There are intense discussions about contrast, readabilty and display quality in various threads. Many claim: Same manufacturer of display = same contrast = same readability. To me, this sounds a bit like: Same processor in a PC = same performance.....