[MustardOrMayo]

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

I recently decided to upgrade my e-reader, and ordered the Likebook Mimas from the Good-E-Reader website.

(I saw that you got the black model, but I'll leave this here)

I'm kinda curious as to if it's the first production run white model like I have (which I sometimes refer to as the "limited edition", even though they don't officially refer to it like that), or the current black model. Here's the most recent photo I took of my white model. If you were curious, the book shown on screen is "Mr. Wolf's Class".

For me, I picked the white model as I wanted to feel less of a boundary between the book and my hands. I have to use an e-reader as I don't have space for physical (and would've been preferably hardcover) books where I'm currently stuck living, and I'm also on the move most of the time due to that.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

The larger screen size, note taking feature, microSD slot, and the colour temperature glow-light, as well as the lower price when compared to the BOOX equivalents were the main selling points.

I primarily chose the Mimas because of the white shell, but I'm guessing yours is from a newer production run and has a black shell and different pen as a result.

What I can mention about the black pen, is that it appears to be identical to what is being shipped with the BOOX Note and Max series.

The Likebook software doesn't take advantage of the pen button, but certain third-party apps like "Squid" do. No, Squid's "low latency ink" feature doesn't support Android-based e-readers, but someone has suggested it on their feedback website.

For me, I had a Kindle 5th gen Paperwhite back in around 2013-2014, but stopped using it after a number of months (and sold it off) because it turned out to not fit my needs. Long story short: I found that I couldn't properly read novels, which is what the first-party Kindle/Kobo/Tolino/(etc) e-readers seem to be designed with in mind. I think that inability may be attributed to the ASD I have. but after pre-ordering and receving my Mimas years later, after seeing the Good e-Reader review.

Eventually, I started building up a Calibre library over many months, and one thing became apparent over those few months, that being that I seem to primarly read comics on mine.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

I will also be posting on Reddit in r/eReader.

Never heard of that sub. I just subscribed, my username there is "MustardOrMayo404" due to the username I wanted (which is the same one I use here) having been taken and subsequently abandoned, though. I think I'll also post a link to this over there.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

1) Given the known grammar issues with Likebook's default epub reader (eg: inconsistent spacing between sentences) I most likely will need to use a third-party app for epubs, at least in the short term. I spent several hours trying to look this up on-line, but I have yet to find a decent comparison between the various third-party e-reader apps. Am I better off using KO Reader, Cool Reader, Moon+ Reader, etc.?

I do have trouble selecting text in PDFs in the built-in reader, but can do without it as I (again) primarily read comics, where only the introduction, etc, is selectable as text. not the actual comics, due to how text in PDFs seem to work. This doesn't seem to be a problem for me with EPUB, though.

I don't have a lot of EPUBs in my Calibre library*, but the only one I have does seem to come out fine in the built-in reader. I had tried KOReader, but its controls feel too unintuitive to me, and Moon+ Reader Pro, which I already use on my tablet (but only for content in my e-book libraries that are in colour), but it's very much not optimised for e-readers whatsoever. I do like its woodgrain background that reminds me of the origina version of Apple Books, though. That same file seems to be reproduced correctly in the built-in reade, no grammar issues or anything of that nature that I can see, so it may have been fixed through

*(but am planning to get some of the public-domain content I used to read, this time directly from Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive, rather then indirectly through Apple Books, Kindle, and Kobo, which I had done for my first and second attempts at getting into e-books.)

The Likebook software also has a number of annoying character limits that only seem to work for Chinese and probably also Japanese, but not any other language. These character limits can be seen when adding quotes to the quotes widget, and when naming collections (which Likebook calls "folders").

Speaking of widgets, the usage widget on the home screen only accounts for the built-in reader, nothing else.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

3) Will the Mimas treat CBR/CBZ files like PDFs or will I need to use a third-party app for this? If the latter is the case what are people's thoughts on the Tachiyomi app I see in some reviews of Likebook devices?

Oh! i think you may be referring to my post in a different thread!

Unfortunately, I can't show you if it supports any of the Comic Book Archive formats, as all my comics are in either PDF, Kindle Comic, or Kindle Text, but not that. My Tachiyomi app is only set up for reading Webtoon and Tapas content.

I may eventually see about ripping webcomics that are split into chapters into cb7 files, but not at the moment as I'm too busy for that.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

for your input into these questions. I look forward to posting more once my Likebook Mimas has been delivered.

Originally Posted by pazos

3) Default reader is based on MuPDF (maybe stolen, I don't know). That means that CBZ should be supported. CBR it is not on official sources but maybe they implemented it. 3rd party apps should work ok for reading but as bad as you can imagine for taking notes.

Disassembly of the APK for the home shell seems to reveal that the reader seems to be based on the FBReader engine, but it could be possible that the PDF portion could be based on MuPDF.

Originally Posted by StuartJ

I have a Likebook Mimas and am pretty happy with it, though it has to be said I'm hardly using any of the stock apps!

For me, here are the names of the stock apps and why I don't use them:

Music: No notification panel controls. It looks like a reskin of the Android 2.2 music player.
Wi-Fi book transfer: PC side is entirely in Chinese, and "primitive ftpd" lets me do way more.
Browser: This is based on the AOSP Android 4.0 web browser, and has a forced A2 mode. I primarily use a web browser on this to read news and webcomics, so I don't want that. I instead use Fennec F-Droid, which is a modified version of Firefox for Android that removes some of the Mozilla annoyances I don't want, and added some additional extensions, most of which were recommended here.

On a side note, I recommend getting the Google "Android System WebView" from the Play Store if you have Play Services enabled, as its more up-to-date than the built-in version which is based on Chrome 52, rather than the latest version. After installing, restart, and it should take over, then you can disable the built-in version

I also would like to mention "Language Changer", as Boyue didn't seem to know that the Android language settings also affect regional formats, so I had to get this in order to change the language settings to "English (Australia}" which gets the correct date format and things like that for me.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

It was nice of Good-E-Reader to ship the device as a gift to avoid tariffs / taxes. The tracking website used by Japan Post was not as real-time as the tracking websites used by other shipping companies, because when I checked on my package location earlier this morning my Mimas was still in customs at Pearson International Airport inToronto (and I live in Ottawa).

As I live in Asia, I ordered mine directly from the official store on AliExpress. They told me to tell them what value to declare, so I quoted a thing from the local customs website to them, and they obliged. Mine arrived pretty fast too, as (I think) they used FedEx.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

The Likebook Mimas itself is bigger than I expected, mostly due to the bezels. I got the black version even though the Good-E-Reader store only had the white version as a purchasing option (which is OK by me because if I had a choice then I would have gotten the black version). The screen is not flush with the bezels, but the indentation is not as deep as the indentation that was typical of e-readers from several years ago. The buttons on the device do not stick-out as much as photos and videos of the device makes it look like. Also, there is no branding on the front of the device (another plus for me.)

If you want, I could try taking a photo in order to try showing how far the face buttons protrude on mine.

I do actually like not having branding on the front, as it can get distracting.

Originally Posted by SJC-Caron

The stylus that comes with the device feels light, cheep, and plasticly, but at the same time feels durable. The same can be said for the spare nibs as well. The case is as expected, and I have not experienced the too-tight issue that some reviewers had with it.

I'm assuming you're referring to the white triangular pen, which I don't have.

Also, looks like the post hit the character limit, so I'm going to have to split my reply in two.