First thoughts but I wanted to get something posted tonight. I haven't had a chance to spend quality time with it yet!
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It finally arrived today! It came in a really nice box and includes the cover (in white, unfortunately) USB cable, AC charger and earbuds. The instructions are just a single sheet of paper but the reader itself is so simple it doesn't require much more.
The buttons are simple - on/off, zoom (3 levels), center button (4-way toggle), M (enter), and back. Four side buttons turn pages as does the center button. The back of the device is brushed metal which was a surprise.
It was fully charged when I turned it on. My first impression was that the screen is pretty dark though I was able to brighten it up in settings. The background is not bright white, it's a beige color. The screen is backlit and plenty bright enough to read in the dark. After looking at it for some time, I actually like that the screen is the color it is.
Now to the reader itself. It's basic. By that I mean BASIC. No jumping to a specific page, no table of contents, no bookmarking. Basic. It's also fast - well, some books can take a short time to open but page turns are immediate. I did have the screen scramble a couple times and the reader rebooted itself when that happened. I haven't been able to force it to happen again but it may be a quirk of the reader. Time will tell.
The menus are nice, easy to navigate and simple. And the reader supports folders. The reading font is a san serif font and there is no other option which is too bad because it's probably the worst thing about the reader. Well, that and the huge right-side margin on all books I've opened. It's tolerable but I'll use this reader until the expensive reader I'm waiting for is released. It's better than using my IPhone all the time.
I tested epub, FB2 and html and they all look the same. Same layout, margins, etc. The three font sizes are tiny, medium I see pic of a page below, and very large. No cover art made it to the reader. I'll have to check further to determine if that an issue for every book but so far, I've had no cover art.
Bottom line after only a very short evening of looking over the reader - this is not for everyone. It is a very, very inexpensive device that allows you to read non-DRM books. I'll use it and eventually give it to a niece or nephew. It is probably fine for a young teenager or someone who really wants an ebook reader but can't afford to spend more.
You can play music on it as well, but since that isn't something I care to do, I only tested that it worked and nothing more.
I couldn't find my digital camera so these we taken with my IPhone so the close-ups are a bit blurry.
In the dark
Sorry for the blurriness!
