Review of ECO reader

[Solicitous]

Thanks for the link to the video of the Eco Reader, it does look very nice.

I've been doing a little more comparison between the Eco Reader and the Hanlin V5. Now I've caused myself to try and make another decision

If someone could help me out with these questions I would be greatly appreciative.
- The Hanlin supports 5 levels of zoom vs 3 of the Eco Reader?
- 8 levels of greyscale, is this noticable over the 4 of the Eco Reader with ordinary book reading (I'm not a comic book reader).
- Does the 400mhz processor have that much of an impact on the reader vs the 200mhz in the Eco Reader?
- How usable is the 5" screen? I did some measurements on paper of both the 6" and the 5" comparing to an ordinary paperback and the 6" seems very close to the same size page of the paperback (bit of a difference in the 5").

The other differences such as the Text-To-Speech and support for 16gb SD card isn't an issue for me, and lack of mobi support - well I havent bought any books yet so that isn't a worry (I think). Very curious as there is a 'reasonable' price difference in the two, and with 5" readers really hitting the market of late...is this the way things are going or just a fad like the recent fad of small netbooks vs laptops?

Thanks for your help, sorry for the number of my questions but I'm new to the ebook technology.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by cbell

There's a video of the ECO Reader in action at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DAInfoServ

I'm the left-hander in the purple shirt

Well, if you're left handed you can't be all bad

That's a well produced video, but a commentary would have made it even better.

I still think that the video shows that the upper levels of the zoom make the font size too big to be useful for both mobi and ePub, and that the smallest font size on the ePub reader is uncomfortably small.

Regards, Alex

[JSWolf]

The Eco Reader is yet another V3 clone.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Eco Reader is yet another V3 clone.

And so it is, as the distributors pointed out in the initial announcement and as HarryT has already stated.

But it has the tremendous advantage that the distributor is Australian based and provides excellent customer support.

Regards, Alex

[cur3n4]

I agree, the customer support is amazing.
Cheers

[cbell]

Thanks, cur3n4! I'm sending you a PM in a sec (you and I've exchanged a lot of emails!)
(see the notification at the top right of your screen, near Welcome).

Originally Posted by AlexBell

That's a well produced video, but a commentary would have made it even better.

Thanks, Alex! I did talk all through the demo (see my hands waving around - that's when I'm talking fast), but I was laughing and swearing too much (oops), so we had to remove the commentary. No time to do one separately! We're still working on the zoom levels for ePub, but I think they're really good for Mobipocket.

Originally Posted by Solicitous

- The Hanlin supports 5 levels of zoom vs 3 of the Eco Reader?

No, the levels of zoom depends on the type of ebook you're reading. e.g. ePub and PDF have 5 levels of zoom in both the HanLin V5 and the ECO Reader. The ECO Reader has 3 levels of zoom for Mobipocket, but Mobipocket is not supported on the HanLin V5 at all.

Originally Posted by Solicitous

- 8 levels of greyscale, is this noticable over the 4 of the Eco Reader with ordinary book reading (I'm not a comic book reader).

For reading a text ebook, with a V5 and ECO Reader side by side you'll see no difference in the greyscale. The text is crisp and clear. If you're looking at photos, diagrams, comics - the V5 is generally clearer.

Originally Posted by Solicitous

- Does the 400mhz processor have that much of an impact on the reader vs the 200mhz in the Eco Reader?

The V5 has faster page turns, as there's less text on screen and the processor is faster. Books open faster on the V5, but I consider the speed difference is negligible.

Originally Posted by Solicitous

- How usable is the 5" screen? I did some measurements on paper of both the 6" and the 5" comparing to an ordinary paperback and the 6" seems very close to the same size page of the paperback (bit of a difference in the 5").

Side by side, to me, the V5 screen looks a lot smaller. Reading on a V5 is a great experience, though. Once I'm lost in a book, the screen size just doesn't matter that much to me. I still read ebooks on my smartphone, although I hate the backlight. I've been spoiled by e-Ink. And yes, you can definitely get lost in an ebook, just like a paper book

Originally Posted by Solicitous

The other differences such as the Text-To-Speech and support for 16gb SD card isn't an issue for me, and lack of mobi support - well I havent bought any books yet so that isn't a worry (I think). Very curious as there is a 'reasonable' price difference in the two, and with 5" readers really hitting the market of late...is this the way things are going or just a fad like the recent fad of small netbooks vs laptops?

Well, 16GB holds about 32,000 books, so it's larger than most people would need. I prefer to read, rather than be read to by a computer voice, but TTS is an interesting feature and I've played with it.

As you haven't purchased any Mobi books, you can choose ePub in future (it's a more international format than Mobi and ePub is definitely the way we're heading in Australia and New Zealand).

All the ebooks in DA's new ebook store will be readable on both the ECO Reader and the HanLin V5. There's a big future for e-Ink devices in Australia and there's a lot of enhancements coming in the next few years (colour, plastic screens, rollable displays, 3G, bluetooth...)

[frozennorth]

rollable displays

Sounds intriguing. Is this a very flexible display you can roll up like a newspaper?

[cbell]

Sure, flexible e-Ink displays have been around for a while.

http://www.eink.com/technology/flexible.html

Whether the attached prototype of a rollable display with RadioPaper will ever be mass-produced, I don't know. But if it is, I'll be lining up for one!

[Solicitous]

Thanks for your answers cbell. Both you and AlexBell have been great in helping me and now I've made a decision. I just have to wait for a couple more pay days I wont say which I have decided on in case my mind changes *again*. Thanks again all.

[cbell]

No problem, Solicitous, I change my mind all the time

cur3n4, thank you for your order! Your new reader will be on its way shortly. I hope you'll do a review for us, as you've seen how helpful info from experienced MR users is.

[traceylb]

Thank you for this review! luckily I come across this before I ordered the Hanlin V3 from overseas which I was reluctant to do. An Australian supported Eco Reader sounds appealing as it meets my criteria of supporting the LIT format that 80% of my books are in and that I currently read on my laptop.

This will be my first eReader so hopefully I am making the right choice as I will be placing my order for one of these shortly!

Does anyone know if this is recognised by Calibre since this is a clone of the Hanlin V3 as I manage my books with this application?

[cbell]

Hi traceylb, I see your online order, thank you! We have ECO Readers in stock in Melbourne, so yours will be on its way shortly.

AlexBell is a calibre user, so I expect he'll be able to answer your question.

[traceylb]

Thanks cbell! Good to know they are in stock!

I'm quite excited now that I've made a decision to buy the ECO device and looking forward to loading it up with my library of eBooks as I'm tired of lugging my laptop around to read on. At least I will be able to pull the ECO out and read whenever I want to.

It will be great if Calibre will see the device as I have spent so much time setting it out how I want it.

[sianon]

Tracey, Calibre does recognize these devices. I don't use Calibre to transfer books as I really don't like the way it does so, seems to put them into individual folders.

[traceylb]

Originally Posted by sianon

Tracey, Calibre does recognize these devices. I don't use Calibre to transfer books as I really don't like the way it does so, seems to put them into individual folders.

Ok thanks for confirming!
and yes you are right that Calibre puts them into individual folders and that has not been a problem for me so far since I read them on my laptop. I''m not sure what this means for an eReader device though so I will have to wait and see. I may end up using the software provided to manage and transfer my books if that is the best solution.