MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

gamba66 · 07-01-2013, 03:37 PM

Thanks for the pictures aandreimr! Could you post a fullscreen picture of the color scale .pdf on the JBC 2? Sadly you only photographed the lower part.

It seems from your explanations the only good thing about the JBC2 is the Black and White Resolution of 1600x1200. The weak colors wouldn't distract me as much as the pattern of the color filter which kind of kills the high resolution from the E-Ink Pearl layer. If you want to read smaller text on the JBC2 you would always notice the 800x600 Color filter pattern when reading up-close

What kills the Jetbook Color 2 for me are the following factors though ordered in descending order from most major:

1. Ectaco has one of the worst customer services I have seen (doesn't accept returns, rarely answers e-mails and if then only if its in their interest) I also have first-hand experience with them so I am not just referring to the unhappy customers I have read about on amazon and such! It looks like they even had people on this forum to push the Jetbook sales!

2. The Display of the JBC 2 seems to have improved color rendering (about 20% ectaco says) but the background is still the same extreme gray plus they are now using a Glare screen instead of a matte one, probably to improve color rendering. Another minus is the pattern of the low-resolution color filter, this makes the Display only readable from certain distances.

3. The Jetbook Color 2 has a horrible and slow Firmware as it seems. PDF options are very limited, Zooming can only be done through trial and error (choosing from 100%, 150% etc.) Also annotating is an urban myth from Ectaco. Users have even reported that the landscape mode isn't working.. Besides that, ebook formats such as .epub aren't supported at all or with nearly no options. These are only examples, long-term Users probably find a million more non-working or missing options. Usability would get an F or at highest, E- probably

Also referring to your comparisons you say the Jetbook Color 2 has a darker black than the three devices you compared it to (Irex DR800, Sony PRS 300 and 900). As a matter of fact all of the devices have the first generation E-Ink Vizplex screen which makes a comparison pretty unrealistic. The jetbook color 2 actually has a second generation E-Ink Pearl display(beneath the third gen. triton 2 filter), such as the Onyx M92 which would be a realistic comparison. Plus you even mention the Vizplex Displays having a whiter background.

If you would compare the Onyx M92 with the Jetbook Color 2 Display the blacks would be the same but the background of the M92 alot whiter So actually the higher resolution and the good readibility from the pearl layer become worse with the color filter because of 2 Reasons:

1. The Background is alot grayer than even on the 1st Gen. Vizplex E-Ink Display.

2. The 800x600 rough pattern of the triton 2 layer overshadows the high resolution of the Pearl 1600x1200 layer, killing the readibility from up-close for example, when reading small-texts.

So after comparing all these factors it seems that the Jetbook Color 2 only advantage is Color, which is kind of killed by the fact that the Colors are extremely washed out plus the Color Filter has a very bad resolution for 9.7" resulting in a very rough pattern..

Why spend so much money on something so undeveloped with very limited options, slow and bad usability and mediocre readibility resulting from the color filter? I nearly bought this device myself, after extensive research, I decided it against it. Even if you have an unlimited budget this device wouldn't make any sense at all, do to the hardware and software being at a prototype level or worse.. And if you consider the Price of 500 Euro (or even 400 or 350 Euro) it doesn't make any sense at all!

Why not just get an Ipad 3/4 (which has a perfect 4:3 aspect ratio for PDFs, a high quality IPS-Display with good color representation and very good PDF Software) if you are into reading some technical PDFs with colors and for the rest use an Onyx M92 or something similiar? And if the glare distracts you use a matte screen protector, even the JBC 2 has glare though^^ A high resolution Tablet such as the Ipad 3/4 or Nexus 10 would probably be even better for the eyes.. And why use a stylus if its unresponsive and annotating isnt even really possible?

07-01-2013, 03:37 PM	#45
gamba66 Zealot Posts: 114 Karma: 1200000 Join Date: May 2013 Device: Hanvon E920	Thanks for the pictures aandreimr! Could you post a fullscreen picture of the color scale .pdf on the JBC 2? Sadly you only photographed the lower part. It seems from your explanations the only good thing about the JBC2 is the Black and White Resolution of 1600x1200. The weak colors wouldn't distract me as much as the pattern of the color filter which kind of kills the high resolution from the E-Ink Pearl layer. If you want to read smaller text on the JBC2 you would always notice the 800x600 Color filter pattern when reading up-close What kills the Jetbook Color 2 for me are the following factors though ordered in descending order from most major: 1. Ectaco has one of the worst customer services I have seen (doesn't accept returns, rarely answers e-mails and if then only if its in their interest) I also have first-hand experience with them so I am not just referring to the unhappy customers I have read about on amazon and such! It looks like they even had people on this forum to push the Jetbook sales! 2. The Display of the JBC 2 seems to have improved color rendering (about 20% ectaco says) but the background is still the same extreme gray plus they are now using a Glare screen instead of a matte one, probably to improve color rendering. Another minus is the pattern of the low-resolution color filter, this makes the Display only readable from certain distances. 3. The Jetbook Color 2 has a horrible and slow Firmware as it seems. PDF options are very limited, Zooming can only be done through trial and error (choosing from 100%, 150% etc.) Also annotating is an urban myth from Ectaco. Users have even reported that the landscape mode isn't working.. Besides that, ebook formats such as .epub aren't supported at all or with nearly no options. These are only examples, long-term Users probably find a million more non-working or missing options. Usability would get an F or at highest, E- probably Also referring to your comparisons you say the Jetbook Color 2 has a darker black than the three devices you compared it to (Irex DR800, Sony PRS 300 and 900). As a matter of fact all of the devices have the first generation E-Ink Vizplex screen which makes a comparison pretty unrealistic. The jetbook color 2 actually has a second generation E-Ink Pearl display(beneath the third gen. triton 2 filter), such as the Onyx M92 which would be a realistic comparison. Plus you even mention the Vizplex Displays having a whiter background. If you would compare the Onyx M92 with the Jetbook Color 2 Display the blacks would be the same but the background of the M92 alot whiter So actually the higher resolution and the good readibility from the pearl layer become worse with the color filter because of 2 Reasons: 1. The Background is alot grayer than even on the 1st Gen. Vizplex E-Ink Display. 2. The 800x600 rough pattern of the triton 2 layer overshadows the high resolution of the Pearl 1600x1200 layer, killing the readibility from up-close for example, when reading small-texts. So after comparing all these factors it seems that the Jetbook Color 2 only advantage is Color, which is kind of killed by the fact that the Colors are extremely washed out plus the Color Filter has a very bad resolution for 9.7" resulting in a very rough pattern.. Why spend so much money on something so undeveloped with very limited options, slow and bad usability and mediocre readibility resulting from the color filter? I nearly bought this device myself, after extensive research, I decided it against it. Even if you have an unlimited budget this device wouldn't make any sense at all, do to the hardware and software being at a prototype level or worse.. And if you consider the Price of 500 Euro (or even 400 or 350 Euro) it doesn't make any sense at all! Why not just get an Ipad 3/4 (which has a perfect 4:3 aspect ratio for PDFs, a high quality IPS-Display with good color representation and very good PDF Software) if you are into reading some technical PDFs with colors and for the rest use an Onyx M92 or something similiar? And if the glare distracts you use a matte screen protector, even the JBC 2 has glare though^^ A high resolution Tablet such as the Ipad 3/4 or Nexus 10 would probably be even better for the eyes.. And why use a stylus if its unresponsive and annotating isnt even really possible? Last edited by gamba66; 07-01-2013 at 03:39 PM.