NEWEGG offer jetBook for $169.99

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Thanks for your response, Kralik. Buying a reader which I know will be worthless down the road due to a dead battery is an idea I'm going to have to get my head around.

Does the company offer to change the battery for a price?

How long would you like the battery to last?

You could always try contacting Ectaco via their webpage or forum, but they aren't all that swift in responding. I do know that they've offered to upgrade the firmware for you (complimentary) if you want to send it it vs. doing it yourself. Not sure about the battery though (at least the parts would cost something).

If you're looking for the user-replaceable battery option, the upcoming Astak sounds pretty good. I've decided for various reasons that it's not for me, but it looks to be a decent device for the money (probably better than Sony 300).

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by Kralik

How long would you like the battery to last?...

If you're looking for the user-replaceable battery option, the upcoming Astak sounds pretty good. I've decided for various reasons that it's not for me, but it looks to be a decent device for the money (probably better than Sony 300).

Kralik, if something has a battery, whether it's a car or a flashlight or an eBook reader or an mp3 player, I think that I should be able to replace the battery myself, and not be required to return it to the manufacturer to have it fixed.

It is my opinion that requiring the consumer to send in the unit or chuck it when the battery dies is a design done for the benefit of the manufacturer rather than the consumer. I would prefer to stay away from such companies altogether.

I agree that the Astak Pocket Pro looks attractive, and I'm wondering if any competing products have the same user-replacing feature.

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Kralik, if something has a battery, whether it's a car or a flashlight or an eBook reader or an mp3 player, I think that I should be able to replace the battery myself, and not be required to return it to the manufacturer to have it fixed.

It is my opinion that requiring the consumer to send in the unit or chuck it when the battery dies is a design done for the benefit of the manufacturer rather than the consumer. I would prefer to stay away from such companies altogether.

I agree that the Astak Pocket Pro looks attractive, and I'm wondering if any competing products have the same user-replacing feature.

No worries. From another thread:

Originally Posted by HarryT

All Jinke and Netronix-based devices have user-replaceable battery, so that means:

BeBook
Hanlin V3
Aztak EZ-Reader
BeBook Pro and clones thereof
CyBook Opus and Gen3
Cool-ER

etc.

Sony and iRex devices have non-replaceable batteries, as does the Kindle 2.

[jgray]

Although I prefer any electronic device to have a removable battery, sometimes you just don't have a choice. In the quest to make devices thin, the removable battery is usually the first thing to go. How many iPod devices have been sold without removable batteries?

Having said that, I'm not too worried about the battery in my jetBook. Lithium Ion batteries are good for about 1000 charge cycles. If you did a full charge every night, that's almost three years. Since no one needs to charge an ereader that often, you're likely to get substantially more life than three years.

Even without recharge cycles, the batteries do degrade with age, but I'd guess that you're still good for 3+ years. By that time, most of us will want a different ereader. And if not, the pictures Kralik posted show that taking apart a jetBook isn't too difficult.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by Kris777

+ 1. I don't need Sony without SD slot and with integrated storage space - 440MB. I can accept when iPhone has no SD slot but has 16-32GB internal memory but Sony with 440MB for the library in ePub format sounds unacceptable to me.

The Sony 500, 505, 700, and 600 models all have memory card slots. ONLY the 300 doesn't.

But I don't even use a memory card. Right now I have about 120 novels on my Reader 505, and am using less than half of the internal memory. This is plenty of storage for books. Comparing to an iPhone memory capacity makes no sense.

Originally Posted by Kralik

Which I mentioned, hence the comparison to the EB-1150 LCD battery life.

I am talking about time between charges during normal use, not the overall lifetime of the battery itself. To address that also, more reading using less power (as the e-ink display allows) means fewer recharges and a longer battery/device lifetime for the same amount of reading.

Originally Posted by Kralik

If you read an hour a day 22 hours is 3 weeks.

That means you have to shut down and restart the Jetbook constantly. That would probably reduce battery life further, apart from the hassle of waiting. The Reader (and other e-ink devices) are instant-on, instant-off, and I can read a few hours per day for 3 weeks.

Originally Posted by Kralik

But anyway, to each his own. The upcoming Sony won't have an SD slot, which may be an issue for some. jetBook supports every major format and can expand up to 32GB with SDHC.

As noted above, only one of the 5 Sony Reader models (the 300) doesn't have a memory card slot. And even this model will have bigger internal memory. Enough for a few hundred novels.

I don't mean to rant, but I have been checking out the JetBook website and their misleading/slanted comparisons and descriptions of "features"are almost criminal.

[jgray]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

That means you have to shut down and restart the Jetbook constantly. That would probably reduce battery life further, apart from the hassle of waiting. The Reader (and other e-ink devices) are instant-on, instant-off, and I can read a few hours per day for 3 weeks.

As I stated in another thread, I read about 1-4 hours per day and only have to charge my jetBook about once per week. I don't think this is excessive. After all, I have to charge my cell phone every night. As for the hassle factor, I charge my jetBook at night, while I'm sleeping. No hassle at all.

EDIT: The jetBook is just as "instant-on, instant-off" as the Sony PRS505 that I tried. I have the auto-off timeout set to 10 minutes, but this is adjustable. I just timed it, and it takes two seconds for the reader to wake up and display where I was reading last, when I push the power button.

Kralik - You can disable the auto-off feature entirely. On the main "Settings" menu, look for "Auto Power Off". The choices are "Never" and 3, 5, 10, 15 and 30 minutes.

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

That means you have to shut down and restart the Jetbook constantly. That would probably reduce battery life further, apart from the hassle of waiting. The Reader (and other e-ink devices) are instant-on, instant-off, and I can read a few hours per day for 3 weeks.

I'm not sure what you are referring to here with "the hassle of waiting." It takes about 2-3 seconds to come out of standby and you can have it auto standby with no activity in 3, 5, 10, 15, or 30 minutes (or never). You are right back where you left it. An e-ink device is still consuming a small amount of power in between page turns and is essentially in "standby" when not in use. The convenience of having it stay on the page without turning the screen off would be nice, but it's not a show-stopper for me. I can wait two seconds to resume (better than waiting 2 seconds for each page turn <-- lighthearted poke)

Anyway, since this thread is to let people know about the jetBook who might want it, why spoil it for people who think it's the right device for them? There are many jetBook users on MR who are perfectly happy with their purchase.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

As noted above, only one of the 5 Sony Reader models (the 300) doesn't have a memory card slot. And even this model will have bigger internal memory. Enough for a few hundred novels.

jetBook has 5" screen so I think it will be more correct to compare it with Sony 300 that has the same screen size and probably the sampe price range.
I have no idea why Sony decided that 440MB is enough space for users. I have almost 8GB of ebooks on my jetBook. Some illustated books in ePub format have size up to 10MB...

[LuBiB]

Originally Posted by Les Hall

I went for one. Looking forward to the UPS guy getting here tuesday. Odd that there is a no refund policy, just exchange...

i checked that out and everything on Newegg is like that. But they have SOOOOO many products that you can always find something

[LuBiB]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

Yes, but it is an LCD display. Uses a LOT more power than e-ink. (And, the display isn't e-ink, another minus imo!) The advertised battery life is "up to 22 hours." I'll take the 3 weeks or so of my e-ink device any day. I already have enough gadgets that need to be constantly recharged.

IMO, waiting a couple of weeks for the Sony 300, for an extra $30, would eb well worth it. Same size display (5"), much better quality (800x600 e-ink vs. 640x480 lcd), supports many formats, and FAR superior battery life in a smaller form factor.

its a common misconception with eBook readers.

generally LCD uses more power on products but if you do a side by side comparison TFT (jetBook LCD) and e-ink have virtually the same battery life.

[LuBiB]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Kralik, if something has a battery, whether it's a car or a flashlight or an eBook reader or an mp3 player, I think that I should be able to replace the battery myself, and not be required to return it to the manufacturer to have it fixed.

It is my opinion that requiring the consumer to send in the unit or chuck it when the battery dies is a design done for the benefit of the manufacturer rather than the consumer. I would prefer to stay away from such companies altogether.

I agree that the Astak Pocket Pro looks attractive, and I'm wondering if any competing products have the same user-replacing feature.

i think it's really helpful and done well for the consumer to have a rechargeable battery. it just means that i dont have to go through the problem of going to the store each time i need a new set of double A's.

the re-chargeable batteries (now on almost any product you can think of lol) are very convenient and only require an outlet. they last for a long time nowadays and i've had my jetBook for about 5 months now and i still read 3 hours a day and charge it every Sunday even though the battery monitor says it has 2/3 left.

all in all, if you ever feel like you would want an extra rechargeable battery, Kralik literally explained and showed in one of his threads how to take the jetBook apart...and color it too