[FreddyB]

As an owner of a Sony PRS-505 eReader and fan of ebook reader gadgets I decided on the luxury of also getting an Ectaco Jetbook.

I was attracted by the Jetbook's advertised speed, flexibilty and compactness. Since I am not interested in buying commercial ebooks and am content to use the device for personal and public domain txt / pdf documents, I thought the Jetbook would be a suitable alternative for my sluggish Sony eReader. However, on receiving my new Jetbook I found that it was faulty (the right arrow button did not work) and needed to be returned.

As a UK customer, I had purchased the item from Ectaco's UK website where it was advertised in UK currency. I assumed therefore that they had dealers in the UK. Alas, the faulty Jetbook was sent from, and ultimately had to be returned (at my expense) to, the States. Once I finally managed to get through to the US Ectaco phone support line (I await my phone bill with dread), the support guy suggested that a firmware upgrade would fix the problem. He emailed me a link to a firmware download. This link didn't work but the second link he sent me did. The upgrade instructions required me to copy the download to a SD card (which fortunately I had - no card is supplied with the device) and place it in the Jetbook. However, I was then required to kick off the upgrade process by simultaneously pressing the power and right arrow buttons, the latter being the very button that did not work. Doh! Anyhow, I was eventually instructed to return the product and informed that I should get some goodies with the replacement in order to compensate for the international shipping costs I have incurred.

My slightly protracted dealings with Ectatco support meant that I had the Jetbook for a couple of days and was therefore able to make a brief comparison with my Sony eReader before returning the faulty unit.

The Jetbook's build quality is significantly inferior to the Sony. The Sony has a robust, solid, metallic feel to it whereas the feel of the Jetbook is cheaper and more plastic like. The silver left-hand page-turn slider button on the Jetbook seems particularly yucky. Oh..., and all the buttons on the Sony do actually work.

The Jetbook's display quality was a very pleasant surprise. Whilst not quite as good as the Sony's e-ink display it was nevertheless very good. The Jetbook does have a greater selection of font sizes (six, if I remember correctly) to the Sony's three. The text was crisp and well defined except perhaps for the very smallest font size (which probably would not be used by most people anyway - that is, not without a magnifying glass). There is however a slightly shiny quality to the Jetbook's display which perhaps in strong lighting could become an issue.

The speed of the Jetbook was not quite what I expected. Yes, page turning is pretty much instant, unlike the Sony e-ink flicker. However, switching on the device and subsequently using the menu wasn't quite as fast as I had hoped. On the Sony though, deleting a single file (a feature only added in its recent firmware upgrade) does take 5 to 10 seconds! So any speed comparisons are definitely going to be in the Jetbook's favour.

Conveniently, the Jetbook does not need any special software application and just hooks up to a PC as a USB drive for file drag and drop use etc. There's also an internal file manager on the Jetbook for creating folders, renaming, deleting etc. There is therefore flexibilty in arranging documents - something sadly lacking on the Sony (although it makes an attempt at this with shortcut folders called 'Collections'). The Jetbook also comes with a dictionary and text search facility, something else also missing from the Sony.

All in all, I eagerly await the replacement of my somewhat expensive Jetbook. Whilst it seems slicker and more flexible than the Sony, I do however have reservations about its non e-ink display battery life and also concerns regarding the durabilty of its much to be used buttons.