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bryanzs · 03-18-2010, 05:41 PM

Well, after several days of only reading about the device, my Delstar is finally here! I quickly unboxed it, and ran the upgrade on the firmware.

After the firmware upgrade, I created a folder named BOOKS on the Delstar, and moved a variety of document types into that folder (including a subfolder containing a PDF). The documents I loaded included TXT, PDF, MBP, and DOC.

The device starts up quickly enough for me, which (after my iRex iLiad) is a pleasure.

I started up the music player, which worked well (though I don't know how to turn it off, only pause it). I also changed the "color scheme" such as it is - I 'reversed' the video so I got light text on a dark background. I think it looked very nice.

I also set the date and time - I found the controls a little less than intuitive (I have a hard time knowing when to use the page up/down, versus the center scroll, versus the 'm' button). But that may just be me.

The Delstar was able to navigate my folders without a problem. I was able to successfully open the txt and (already included on the device) epub books, which contained no formatting (not surprisingly). PDFs are problematic - sometimes, once opened they aren't that responsive. One thing I've noticed, it seems like sometimes after I hit a key (like the zoom, or the power button to rotate), I have to hit another key before the zoom or rotate takes effect; but perhaps it's just a coincidence in the timing. But the biggest problem is that they are indeed rendered like images; there's no way to rotate them to landscape mode, and all you can do is zoom in and then scroll around on the page. It makes it impossible to actually read the PDF. When in non-zoomed, non-landscape mode, the PDF looks pretty enough, but it's way too tiny for me to read.

The .mbp extension was unrecognized.

The .doc extension was recognized, but when clicked on a blank screen was displayed for about 15 seconds before returning to the explorer or 'books' view, so it's still not working.

After attempting to open up the DOC, all my txt (and the included epub) files now open up with dark background and PURPLE text. It's...unusual.

So, there you have it. I like the look, and the size, and the hardware seems nice. The buttons and UI seem pretty responsive in general with the exceptions noted above (again, some of the choices about which button does what don't seem all that logical to me).

Hey! I just figured out how to make "page jump" work! When you're in an ebook, press the "m" button, and choose Page Jump. Then using the center scroll button (it's not a scroll wheel, but a 4 way clicky thing), press the right arrow until you're at the proper digits location for the page number you want to go to. That is, it normally displays "00000", with the left-most zero highlit. If you use the up/down arrows at that point, nothing happens. But let's say you've got a book with 200 pages - you have to use the right arrow key to get to the "hundreds" location, and then you can use the up and down arrows to change the 0 to a 1 or 2, say. So the "problem" is that the device is smart enough not to let you go beyond the end of the ebook, but it has a funny way of showing it

So far, I'm intrigued by its possibilities. IF Delstar can get a firmware upgrade in the next 3 weeks that allows me to rotate PDFs and treat them like books (where I can zoom and page through and, you know, actually READ them), AND the other supported formats improve so that they (a) load and (b) display the text in the proper fashion, I'll be happy.

03-18-2010, 05:41 PM	#312
bryanzs Zealot Posts: 119 Karma: 122 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Gilbert, AZ Device: Nook HD+, Nook ST Glow, PocketBook 360, Nook Color	It's Finally Here! Well, after several days of only reading about the device, my Delstar is finally here! I quickly unboxed it, and ran the upgrade on the firmware. After the firmware upgrade, I created a folder named BOOKS on the Delstar, and moved a variety of document types into that folder (including a subfolder containing a PDF). The documents I loaded included TXT, PDF, MBP, and DOC. The device starts up quickly enough for me, which (after my iRex iLiad) is a pleasure. I started up the music player, which worked well (though I don't know how to turn it off, only pause it). I also changed the "color scheme" such as it is - I 'reversed' the video so I got light text on a dark background. I think it looked very nice. I also set the date and time - I found the controls a little less than intuitive (I have a hard time knowing when to use the page up/down, versus the center scroll, versus the 'm' button). But that may just be me. The Delstar was able to navigate my folders without a problem. I was able to successfully open the txt and (already included on the device) epub books, which contained no formatting (not surprisingly). PDFs are problematic - sometimes, once opened they aren't that responsive. One thing I've noticed, it seems like sometimes after I hit a key (like the zoom, or the power button to rotate), I have to hit another key before the zoom or rotate takes effect; but perhaps it's just a coincidence in the timing. But the biggest problem is that they are indeed rendered like images; there's no way to rotate them to landscape mode, and all you can do is zoom in and then scroll around on the page. It makes it impossible to actually read the PDF. When in non-zoomed, non-landscape mode, the PDF looks pretty enough, but it's way too tiny for me to read. The .mbp extension was unrecognized. The .doc extension was recognized, but when clicked on a blank screen was displayed for about 15 seconds before returning to the explorer or 'books' view, so it's still not working. After attempting to open up the DOC, all my txt (and the included epub) files now open up with dark background and PURPLE text. It's...unusual. So, there you have it. I like the look, and the size, and the hardware seems nice. The buttons and UI seem pretty responsive in general with the exceptions noted above (again, some of the choices about which button does what don't seem all that logical to me). Hey! I just figured out how to make "page jump" work! When you're in an ebook, press the "m" button, and choose Page Jump. Then using the center scroll button (it's not a scroll wheel, but a 4 way clicky thing), press the right arrow until you're at the proper digits location for the page number you want to go to. That is, it normally displays "00000", with the left-most zero highlit. If you use the up/down arrows at that point, nothing happens. But let's say you've got a book with 200 pages - you have to use the right arrow key to get to the "hundreds" location, and then you can use the up and down arrows to change the 0 to a 1 or 2, say. So the "problem" is that the device is smart enough not to let you go beyond the end of the ebook, but it has a funny way of showing it So far, I'm intrigued by its possibilities. IF Delstar can get a firmware upgrade in the next 3 weeks that allows me to rotate PDFs and treat them like books (where I can zoom and page through and, you know, actually READ them), AND the other supported formats improve so that they (a) load and (b) display the text in the proper fashion, I'll be happy.