Likebook Alita

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by parkher

Exactly what I was saying. E-ink does not emit light so why put a light emitting layer on it. If you want a glowing screen, you can get a cheaper tablet instead.

But you are very wrong. This layer illuminates the EInk module and you can see what it reflects.
There is only one difference to external lighting that illuminates the reader and whose reflection you can see - namely that the frame is not illuminated.
But this is not noticeable when there is ambient light.
In one thing, however, you can be sure that good internal lighting is much more even than a small clip-on light like the one Sony used.
And with a tablet or other luminous screen, the light cells shine directly into the eyes.

[parkher]

Yes, I am aware of that argument, as far as I am concerted it is a marketing propaganda.
In fact we have a glowing screen and it shines directly into the eyes, it makes no difference what was the initial direction of the light.
Besides, the light really is not directed toward the e-ink screen. It spreads parallel to the screen, but the top is clear, so the whole screen glows in effect. It still glows into my eyes, as opposed to a reading light behind and above my head shining towards the reader.
Even with a clip-on light, the lighted area expands beyond the screen, so you are right, the frame is illuminated. But that reduces the unhealthy contrast between dark and light.

In any case, when we looked at the e-ink screen with the internal illumination, and then with a clip-on light, the difference was like night and day. With the clip-on light, the screen looked so much more like real paper, so much friendlier to the eyes. With the internal lighting - so much more like a lcd screen. You need to see both to experience the difference. Try it. But with a decent clip-on light. Clip-on lights are not all made equal, the evenness and width of the light spread is different and also the hue/warmth of the light.

And I especially hate that trick of Kindle Paperwhite to always use the internal lighting to make the screen look whiter, and without letting the buyers know it, at that.

With the newer crop of the internal lighting, where you can change the warmth of the light, at least you can make the screen look like a brownish paper of a cheap paperback, and therefore more natural than bluish-greenish something not quite paper. So that makes the emergency use more pleasurable, I guess. I give you that.

[ottischwenk]

I will only give a very short answer now.
A surface lit by a lamp also reflects back.
Your argument is wrong.
In terms of light there is 0 difference - and that is physically / optically proven and not a subjective impression.
It's very easy to check.
When the built-in light illuminates a black screen, just as much is reflected from it as when this (unlit) screen is illuminated by an external lamp.

[parkher]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

I will only give a very short answer now.
A surface lit by a lamp also reflects back.
Your argument is wrong.
In terms of light there is 0 difference - and that is physically / optically proven and not a subjective impression.

I don't deny that. If I use too much light behind me directed at the e-reader, my eyes hurt too. But there really is no real difference also between the effects of the lighting systems of e-readers and lcd screens - they both hurt eyes about equally, just like the light behind me, if it is too strong. It is not like the light beams of lcd backlighting are directly shining at the eyes. They hit the liquid crystal cells and get defused. And most of the lcd screens are edge lit anyway - the technology even more similar to the frontlight technology of e-ink readers.
The main difference is the presence of ambient light.
It is very unhealthy to have only the internal light of the e-reader and no other light. Or if the ambient light is too week. Actually, even a desk lamp is not enough.
In some countries it is forbidden to have only the desk light on with the ceiling lights off in workplaces and offices. The contrast is too unhealthy. And if only the screen is lighted, then that is true a million times more. If it is not an emergency, the ambient light perhaps should be even stronger that the light illuminating the screen, not weaker. And then only the ambient light might be enough. Or ambient light plus a dedicated reading light behind you.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by parkher

It is not like the light beams of lcd backlighting are directly shining at the eyes. They hit the liquid crystal cells and get defused. And most of the lcd screens are edge lit anyway - the technology even more similar to the frontlight technology of e-ink readers.

That's not true.
LCD light shines directly and RGB intensity is mixed and shines directly into the eyes - therefore such screens can only be viewed from a certain angle range.
With EInk lighting, the light not absorbed by the EInk surface is reflected back.
That is a huge energetic difference.

[-Nx-]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

change the app.

I found the reason of my problem : the pdf conversion of a .docx from onlyoffice has bugs, so when you use the device to annotate and want to export it in pdf : your annotations will be shifted.

So now I use libreoffice to export a .docx to pdf, and the problem is gone : The exported pdf displays correctly all annotation (there is just a bug on the header and footer written in chinese - but I don't care and I will report them).

[-Nx-]

To enhance my writing experience, I have made a change on the nib. I have a samsung galaxy note 8 as a smartphone and it turns out that soft nibs for note 8 stylus fit the alita stylus. Now the writing experience is smoother and very confortable (less friction).

To all people complaining about cloud integration of the Alita, I have now a workflow based on syncthing which is a very good, a reliable solution to sync your folders and files (I also support the project by maintaining a syncthing relay/node). Now when I create a note, or annotation a pdf, everything is stored on my nas when I open the syncthing app (see F-Droid).

Remember this : "There is no cloud, it is someone else computer"

This device is very great

[-Nx-]

Originally Posted by parkher

Well, Boyue Ares weights what, 268 g?
Still light enough to hold in one hand. Not 195 g, of course, but at least a real e-reader with 512 GB card and with enough RAM.
I cannot imagine what I could do with 6 GB of available storage.
I can survive with a rooted 6" Sony PRS-T2 (167 g) in landscape orientation and with 32 GB card in it. It allows to install at least the most needed for reading dictionaries and encyclopedias.
BTW, in landscape orientation, it is possible to use the folded back cover as a hook, so that the reader just hangs on your finger and cannot slip from your hand. A big advantage if the book you are reading turns out to be boring and makes you sleep

How do you handle the 512 micro sd card : is it formatted as internal or external ?

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by -Nx-

How do you handle the 512 micro sd card : is it formatted as internal or external ?

I formatted my 512 GB internally under Android 6 - with the update to Android 8.1 I reconsidered it and came to the conclusion that for "MLC Flash" technical reasons it makes sense to use a maximum of 128 GB SD cards as "internal" to use.
For more storage, there is USB-OTG and the Likebook devices can handle this excellently.

[-Nx-]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

I formatted my 512 GB internally under Android 6 - with the update to Android 8.1 I reconsidered it and came to the conclusion that for "MLC Flash" technical reasons it makes sense to use a maximum of 128 GB SD cards as "internal" to use.
For more storage, there is USB-OTG and the Likebook devices can handle this excellently.

I have a 128 samsung evo plus in my Alita like you. When I format it as external under storage menu it shows 128 GB used of 256 GB (bug ?)

In Android settings it shows 53% used - 136 GB free instead (seems good)

And in termux (df -h) : /dev/block/dm-3 shows the SD card mounted on /mnt/expand/.. with a size of 119G (seems good too)

Do you have the same bug ? (I am under Android 8.1)
Therefore can I consider that the 128 GB sd card is correctly set ?

Screenshots :

https://imgur.com/Tt31509
https://imgur.com/qdb9dmb
https://imgur.com/mkymXvm

[viceant]

A question: after Alita's upgrade to Android 8.1, have they added A2 mode?

Enviado desde mi Mi Max mediante Tapatalk

[-Nx-]

Originally Posted by viceant

A question: after Alita's upgrade to Android 8.1, have they added A2 mode?

Enviado desde mi Mi Max mediante Tapatalk

Yes there is A2 mode available on the top bar.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by -Nx-

I have a 128 samsung evo plus in my Alita like you. When I format it as external under storage menu it shows 128 GB used of 256 GB (bug ?)

In Android settings it shows 53% used - 136 GB free instead (seems good)

And in termux (df -h) : /dev/block/dm-3 shows the SD card mounted on /mnt/expand/.. with a size of 119G (seems good too)

Do you have the same bug ? (I am under Android 8.1)
Therefore can I consider that the 128 GB sd card is correctly set ?

Screenshots :

https://imgur.com/Tt31509
https://imgur.com/qdb9dmb
https://imgur.com/mkymXvm

I have already reported this peculiarity with Samsung cards to Boyue and therefore use Sandisk Exreme 128 GB internally.
Everything is displayed correctly.
Something similar happens with all cards over 128 GB that I have tested.

[-Nx-]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

I have already reported this peculiarity with Samsung cards to Boyue and therefore use Sandisk Exreme 128 GB internally.
Everything is displayed correctly.
Something similar happens with all cards over 128 GB that I have tested.

Okay I will try with a Sandisk Extreme Pro 128 GB then

[parkher]

I never was able to use a card as internal.
Every time I tried it - it just became invisible, no more storage added. At least looking from the connected to Alita PC side.
So I use a 512 MB card as external, everything is perfect then. I did not have such a need to have lots of internal storage space. My dictionaries and books are accessible on the external card. Therefore, no need to switch to 128 GB either.