Hisense A5

[cartz]

Originally Posted by rowe

Anyone else noticing poor screen performance in strong sunlight?.

Have you tried playing with the contrast in setting? Does it still do this in clear mode? Of not, set your e-ink button to screen refresh and press that when the problem occurs.

[lowsense]

Originally Posted by orebmur

Followup replies by people who successfully managed to apply this rooting procedure are very promising. Only thing missing for cautious users to actually perform this step is to have a way to undo all this in case of unforeseen errors.

While, in theory, it is well known from where the current firmware could be downloaded from, in practice this requires to be registered on the chinese forum where it is available. Apparently this requires a mainland china phone number and is thus rather impossible.

Unfortunately nobody with proper access to these files has been able to make them available on any western download platform. In case someone here does have access and would be inclined to help with this, here is the URL of the relevant forum posting:

https://fans.hisense.com/thread-171079-1-1.html

https://translate.google.com/transla...71079-1-1.html

Anybody?

Someone posted the rom: https://forum.xda-developers.com/and...t4097951/page3

[milady133]

Originally Posted by turnwrite

Every time I go to Settings -> Lock screen, desktop, & wallpaper -> Lock Screen, the settings app crashes.

New user here also, and I'm experiencing the same crash. Maybe it's something of the Google Playstore ROM that is not liking that setting. I'm able to pin the picture I want, but it doesn't change.
Also, looking to change the lock screen picture I changed the normal wallpaper, which is messing with the icons of my apps, and now I'm not able to set it back to a white empty screen. Maybe it's time to look for an alternative launcher instead of the default POCO launcher.

Enviado desde mi HLTE202N mediante Tapatalk

[rowe]

'Have you tried playing with the contrast in setting?'
Yes

'Does it still do this in clear mode?'
Yes

'Of not, set your e-ink button to screen refresh and press that when the problem occurs.'
This does clear it up momentarily, but needs to be done often. This doesn't occur out of sunlight.

[Philju]

Here it's said that Hisense is supposedly " ... looking at a possible feature firmware update that will give Google Play, not only to this [A6] phone, but all of their devices running Android 9.0, but it will take around six months of testing."

Source:
https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews...rtphone-review

I myself will believe it when I see it.

[cartz]

Originally Posted by Philju

Here it's said that Hisense is supposedly " ... looking at a possible feature firmware update that will give Google Play, not only to this [A6] phone, but all of their devices running Android 9.0, but it will take around six months of testing."

Source:
https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews...rtphone-review

I myself will believe it when I see it.

You're right to be skeptical. There is no way Hisense have said that. The six months of testing time frame statement came from the CECT SHOP who will be looking to provide a hacked ROM with Google Play like they have for the A5.

The Good E Reader site is always a reliable source of misinformation.

[rowe]

Has any e-ink software ever spent 6 months in testing?

[Tar]

I have noticed a lack of subjective reports about using this device as an ereader.

Could someone with A5 and any other ereader experience write a bit how do you like Hisense A5 purely as an ereader? From these points of view (or your own):
1. Is the aspect ratio convenient for reading? "Normal" Ereaders seem to be more square is why I'm asking. Do you read horizontally or vertically? How does it compare to other ereaders? Does the aspect ratio make it seem smaller than it actually is? Is the screen just too small maybe?
2. How is the screen/text quality with it compared to other ereaders?
3. How convenient is it to hold/turn pages compared to other ereaders?
4. Do you enjoy scrolling PDF's with the device?

[rowe]

"1. Is the aspect ratio convenient for reading? "Normal" Ereaders seem to be more square is why I'm asking. Do you read horizontally or vertically? How does it compare to other ereaders? Does the aspect ratio make it seem smaller than it actually is? Is the screen just too small maybe?"
I read vertically, and I prefer it to the regular e-book aspect ratio for (mainly text) books. It has a similar feel to reading news columns. The reading speed is great for me, large e-readers need a big font for ideal legibility line lengths.

"2. How is the screen/text quality with it compared to other ereaders?"
Noticeably lower than the 300PPI screens on most modern premium e-readers. But it's not bad either, and it's not something that irritates me. But I use it so much (2/3 books a week), I'd replace it if they brought out a 300PPI version.

"3. How convenient is it to hold/turn pages compared to other ereaders?"
Far better than most. It's light, and the volume/page rocker switch is in a more ergonomic position than many e-reader page turn buttons. It's a shame even dedicated e-readers don't usually have page turning buttons anymore.

4. Do you enjoy scrolling PDF's with the device?
This device really isn't suitable for people wanting to read a lot of PDFs. I prefer the A5 for reading text heavy books, and an 8" Onyx Nova 2 for PDFs/manga/graphic novels. Much cheaper and smaller, but the A5 is the better book reader IMO.

[orebmur]

Originally Posted by Tar

1. Is the aspect ratio convenient for reading?

Yes. To each his own, though.

Originally Posted by Tar

2. How is the screen/text quality with it compared to other ereaders?

Good enough for this user's purposes.

Originally Posted by Tar

3. How convenient is it to hold/turn pages compared to other ereaders?

Same as any other reader i tried.

Originally Posted by Tar

4. Do you enjoy scrolling PDF's with the device?

The A5 is good for reading epubs or similar free flowing formats. Page oriented formats like PDF or DJVU are better served by using a dedicated reader with sufficient screen area.

[milady133]

Originally Posted by Tar

1. Is the aspect ratio convenient for reading?

I prefer the aspect ratio of normal eReaders, I also set the text size to a rather big size and prefer reading in vertical mode, which makes it worse, but I've bought the phone for portability, so I can live with it. Reading in portrait puts the volume keys in an inconvenient place, so not an option for me.

Originally Posted by Tar

2. How is the screen/text quality with it compared to other ereaders?

As others have stated, is worse. I have a Kobo Forma for reading at home, and at first is noticeable, but once I start reading, I don't notice it.

Originally Posted by Tar

3. How convenient is it to hold/turn pages compared to other ereaders?

I like using the volume keys to turn pages, more accurate than my fingers, and it's convenient for me.

Originally Posted by Tar

4. Do you enjoy scrolling PDF's with the device?

The screen is too small for PDFs, I wouldn't use it for that, unless for a quick check.

In sum, I bought it to read on the go, so I'm happy with it, but at home I'm using my Kobo Forma, it has better screen and form factor. I'm not interested in using it as a phone either.
Due to this lock down situation I haven't used it much either, I'm working at home, so the first week I played with it testing some apps I don't have in my normal phone and transferring my library, but afterwards I'm only using it about 30/45 minutes while exercising in my cross trainer and once a week when I go for groceries.

[orebmur]

I have added a section about 'Rooting and firmware availability' to the wiki article about the Hisense A5.

[Question Mark]

For reading in a second language, which accounts for a lot of the reading that I do, the A5 is far superior to my Kobo devices because you have the ability to install a lot more dictionaries and use a variety of dictionary apps.

I prefer it to my Onyx devices for second language reading because it is a lot easier to select words and phrases to look up than on the Onyx devices. Sometimes, it can take me a few attempts to select the specific characters I want on my Onyx devices whereas I can usually do this on my first attempt on my A5.

For casual reading, as others have mentioned, I like the aspect ration of the A5 as it is very similar to reading a column in a magazine or a newspaper.

For PDfs, I much prefer the greater screen real estate offered by my Onyx devices.

These days, I virtually never use my Kobo devices. Just charge them up every so often to keep the battery healthy.

[rowe]

Now with a picture to show this issue. The clear square is due to a diagram on the page before...



'Anyone else noticing poor screen performance in strong sunlight?

My A5 screen becomes very mottled only with bright direct sunshine. Like heavy ghosting. It disappears if I change app, then back again (which I imagine triggers a full refresh).

I haven't had this on any of my previous readers (Kindle/Pocketbook/Onyx). Googling around, early e-readers had this issue and it's been a problem on the new Onyx Nova 2 which they've fixed via a software update.'

[orebmur]

Originally Posted by rowe

'Anyone else noticing poor screen performance in strong sunlight?

Never tried this in direct sunlight as i much prefer staying in the shadows to avoid excessive exposure to the sun's radiation.

Ghosting usually happens to a certain degree, as is to be expected with e-ink, thus i wouldn't consider this 'poor screen performance' for what i am concerned. Usually, pressing the e-ink button once in a while quickly restores screen contents. Has never been intensive enough to ever bother me, though.