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1) I am so glad someone finally managed to write their own firmware for Sony. That gives a great hope for more future software.
2) I think the ability to run alongside a standard firmware (even PRS Plus-ed one) is a major success and a major feature, since it allows to easily switch between the two firmwares as needed.
3) I was rather horrified by the "speed" of the menu system, though. Subjectively, it seems much slower than the Sony firmware.
4) The new formats seem to be little more than demos, for now. I tried DOC, HTML and PDB:
- DOC: displays fine, but the formating seems very limited. Not a major problem for me.
- HTML: rendering is atrocious. I intentionally tried a formatting-heavy e-book and was disappointed that no formatting made it through - no chapter headings, no emphasis, no CSS, no fonts, no intra-document links... If I had to guess, I would say the HTML was converted to plaintext and then displayed. This is a major problem for me.
- PDB: displays fine, but needs an ability to select codepage in the menu.
5) Controls need a lot of work. For example, when browsing the filesystem, ENTER should open a file. The decision to use the joypad for page-turning is a serious problem, since it gives no alternative to the original behavior of selecting links (up/down) and navigating history (left/right); this problem is somewhat reduced by the fact that eA doesn't support links at all so there is nothing to navigate, but that is only a temporary solution.
6) All in all, as it is now, I consider eA a proof of concept, not a usable firmware. But I will definitely follow its development with interest, because it has a great potential.
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