DR800 MAIN DEFECTS OF THE DR800S/SG DEVICE

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Too much fire in your belly! Happened to me only 3 times since I have the device.

I've seen something like that, but only about once every couple of hundred pages. When it does it to me, it turns 2 pages, not the 5 that a "long" press would do. I've just chalked it up to user error and maybe I didn't hit the flip bar right. IE, maybe I didn't push it solidly enough and it wiggled back and forth over whatever threshold of movement registers a press. Sometimes I'll press it and it won't turn at all, which I figure it also probably user error.

[nikkie]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I've seen something like that, but only about once every couple of hundred pages. When it does it to me, it turns 2 pages, not the 5 that a "long" press would do. I've just chalked it up to user error and maybe I didn't hit the flip bar right. IE, maybe I didn't push it solidly enough and it wiggled back and forth over whatever threshold of movement registers a press. Sometimes I'll press it and it won't turn at all, which I figure it also probably user error.

It's not user error. I've noticed "no turn" happens more if you have let it idle for a while. There's definitely something weird, but I kind of suspect the hardware behind the flipbar itself is flakey. That's why I haven't bothered to bring it up to them- I doubt they could do anything about it short of giving me a newly designed device without this flaw.

[jm35]

Originally Posted by nikkie

x.) The flip bar kind of stinks. I like it in theory, but in practice, it turns more than one page about 20% of the time. ...

That's how mine acts, too. It jumps ahead 5 pages occasionally, even when I didn't intend to make a long-press.

Also, pressing my flip bar to the left is much less reliable than to the right. The top section of the flip bar won't register a left-press at all. It has a sweet spot just below the middle of the bar that works best for a left-press. The entire bar works much easier pressing to the right.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by jm35

That's how mine acts, too. It jumps ahead 5 pages occasionally, even when I didn't intend to make a long-press.

Also, pressing my flip bar to the left is much less reliable than to the right. The top section of the flip bar won't register a left-press at all. It has a sweet spot just below the middle of the bar that works best for a left-press. The entire bar works much easier pressing to the right.

I set mine up so that page turns are a left press, which probably explains some of the issues I had. I prefer it that way, so don't mind the occasional "issue" with it.

It sounds like the "5 page jump" is a different problem. Some iLiads were susceptible to that as well, where the flip bar would occasionally register as a long press even when you didn't do one. It didn't happen on all iLiads, just some of them. They put out a patch eventually that would disable the long page jump for people that had this problem. Maybe something similar is happening with a few DR800?

[Dellaster]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Maybe something similar is happening with a few DR800?

Hm, not on mine. When I get an extra jump from the flipbar it's usually two pages. I've become extra careful and just give the bar a minimal quick nudge, but I still have it happen about once per thirty pages. Often enough that I glance down at the page number after going to a new page to make sure it's right.

mine is fine to, but after installing the beta version, he is getting slower and slower. it went that far, that i took of the beta version again. now its working fine again..

[X. Trapnel]

I'm only irked by three things with the DR800, really--the wacom pen calibration, which seems *much* worse than on the iLiad; the fact that there's no way to just click "enter" without using the pen (long press on the menu button, perhaps? please?); the lack of a full-screen (no status bar) mode. The latter two, at least, I can hope will be fixed in software--is the pen calibration a hardware issue? Near the edges, especially, it's near-unusable (as far as writing goes, anyway).

[bokjeid]

Please fix stylus pen calibration problem at final 2.0!! Always it's not accurate seriously so I can hardly do scribble or note with it.

[Mickey330]

Originally Posted by X. Trapnel

I'm only irked by three things with the DR800, really--the wacom pen calibration, which seems *much* worse than on the iLiad; the fact that there's no way to just click "enter" without using the pen (long press on the menu button, perhaps? please?); the lack of a full-screen (no status bar) mode. The latter two, at least, I can hope will be fixed in software--is the pen calibration a hardware issue? Near the edges, especially, it's near-unusable (as far as writing goes, anyway).

X. Trapnel: I am a bit confused by your note that you can't "just click 'enter' without using the pen." A press on the flip bar is "enter." For example, you can press the small "Home" button, use the flip bar to navigate the menu and then press the flip bar to select. Is yours not doing that?

Marilyn

[dynamike]

Originally Posted by jm35

Also, pressing my flip bar to the left is much less reliable than to the right. The top section of the flip bar won't register a left-press at all. It has a sweet spot just below the middle of the bar that works best for a left-press. The entire bar works much easier pressing to the right.

You are not alone. My DR800SG has almost exactly the same problem. While the right-press works just fine anywhere on the bar I first thought left-press was entirely broken. Like you wrote the sweet spot is just below the middle of the bar. But I still have to press very hard to make the press register.

Irex Support recommended to re-seat the flip-bar by removing and reinserting it again. It can be pulled out quite easily with your fingernails. This did not help, however. Support then told me to contact Best Buy to have the unit exchanged.

[X. Trapnel]

Wow, I'm stupid. This is what happens from not reading manuals. *headdesk* Thanks for telling me this!

I still want a full-screen mode without status bar, though. =)

Originally Posted by Mickey330

X. Trapnel: I am a bit confused by your note that you can't "just click 'enter' without using the pen." A press on the flip bar is "enter." For example, you can press the small "Home" button, use the flip bar to navigate the menu and then press the flip bar to select. Is yours not doing that?

Marilyn

[Dellaster]

Originally Posted by X. Trapnel

Wow, I'm stupid. This is what happens from not reading manuals. *headdesk* Thanks for telling me this!

Don't be hard on yourself. Apparently it's not intuitive. I recall one (professional?) reviewer who bashed the DR800 because it didn't have a "Home" button like the Kindle. Obviously missing the fact that a mere two button presses navigates to Home: press the menu button then the flipbar. Is that really so tremendously more difficult than the Kindle?

Originally Posted by X. Trapnel

I still want a full-screen mode without status bar, though. =)

Me too. A toggle on/off for the status bar would be excellent.

[Haqqax]

Well, for me THE BIGGEST disadvantage is lack of djvu support.

I used to have BeBook before, and was reading on it constantly. My user experience was great until the screen broke. I mean it - I was very, very, very happy user.

I thought that iRex was better.

But with iRex, although I keep the device handy in my bag (for the time being), I am reading less and less on it. The most interesting books are unreadable, or will weigh 50 - 80 MB after conversion to PDF (and will not fit all on the memory card). I do try to read some historical books in epub format, but this is boring. This reader was supposed to be my study tool, and it became a useless expensive piece of junk in my bag. Last week I did not read anything on it. I find myself again carying paper books or printing lessons to take them with me.

I am sooo much disappointed just because of lack of support for this format, the more so that I know that adding support for it with dvjulibre would be easy.

Evince is unusable because of screen clutter, luite's plugin is not available for DR800, and iRex does not seem to plan adding support for djvu.

I simply made a stupid buying decision and regret it very much. What use is a big screen if it can not display my books?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Haqqax

luite's plugin is not available for DR800

From what I've seen (admittedly haven't followed it very closely), luite is just waiting for the final 2.0 firmware release before updating his dejavu plugin. It should be fairly simple at that point to get it working on the DR800 too, since both have the same firmware base starting with the 2.0 release.