Inkpad2 Some inquires about this device...

[pluma]

hallo,

I see that this device is larger than the kobo AURA ONE. Inkpad2 seems like an interesting device due to the 8" screen size but what about some other areas?

So I'd would like to ask here what are user experience with the Inkpad2 in respect to a few things:

- is the screen resolution high enough to be crisp at 8"?
- how's the battery life? (kobo AURA ONE is pathetic)
- Is hack friendly? (sideloading, custom dictionaries, koreader, extra apps, customization, etc)
- How's the turn page e-ink? (AURA ONE is pretty smooth)
- What about build quality? (AURA ONE back cover is bulging and I can run my finger between the front glass and plastic edge [so much for waterproof claims])
Some points in favor that I see reading the specs that KOBO AURA ONE lacks is microSD, audio jack, PRICE!!

Any inkpad2 user reccomend it?

danke!

[pluma]

nobody??

[joepie]

Hi, I have an Inkpad 840, not the 2. Hardware wise I think they are a bit similar, the screen on the 2 is said to be a bit better. I can only comment on the version 1, but maybe it helps.

- The screen res is no problem for me. The fonts aren't blocky or something. Pictures are nice.
- Battery life is awesome. I get 3 to 4 weeks on a single charge. Moderate reading with backlight on low.
- You don't need to hack it to sideload dictionaries and extra apps. I use only CR3 as a reader, which is sideloaded. The reader is formidable.
- Pageturn is smooth, but I contribute that to CR3. The stock reader is slower and consumes more power too.
- Build quality has never been a problem to me. Though I have read some stories about screens that get cracked during transport. I take care to put the 840 in a sturdy sleeve or just take a lot of care so that it won't get torqued or squeezed in any way. The Inkpads aren't waterproof, I just take care that it doesn't come in contact with water/sand etc.

[moose9]

Originally Posted by pluma

- is the screen resolution high enough to be crisp at 8"?
- how's the battery life? (kobo AURA ONE is pathetic)
- Is hack friendly? (sideloading, custom dictionaries, koreader, extra apps, customization, etc)
- How's the turn page e-ink? (AURA ONE is pretty smooth)
- What about build quality? (AURA ONE back cover is bulging and I can run my finger between the front glass and plastic edge [so much for waterproof claims])
Some points in favor that I see reading the specs that KOBO AURA ONE lacks is microSD, audio jack, PRICE!!

Any inkpad2 user reccomend it?

danke!

I am using CoolReader 3 on the Inkpad 2. The only other ereader I have owned is the Kindle with keyboard and Kindle Touch. I have also borrowed a Kindle Paperwhite for a few days.

- Screen resolution is nice for me. I have attached some screenshots. Don't pay much attention to the image in The Economist as it is a stretched low res image (to keep the file size low). It is the first reader I own that is front lit, so when the light is on, the blacks are not as solid compared to when it is off (Not sure if this is the same as other front lit readers). However the text is probably a bit more grey than other carta screens.

- Battery life is not as great as my Kindle Touch but still pretty good IMO. I read sporadically so can't quite accurately judge.

When I first got it I played with it the whole day zipping through entire books and playing with settings and constantly downloading stuff through wifi with "send to pocketbook" and dropbox with auto sync and WiFi constantly on. That day it got to about 15%.

Normal use (ranging from 1 to 3 hours a day) and after 2.5 weeks the battery is around 75%. WiFi and Auto sync is constantly on and news articles are automatically syncing and downloading with Dropbox once per day. The front light is also constantly on at about 15% of the bar.

- Not sure about "hacking" but third party apps (like CoolReader3, PBImageViewer if you want to read comics) is as simple as drag and drop and editing a few lines in NotePad to set the default programs. Dictionaries you just drag and drop the file into the Dictionary folder. Same with fonts.

CoolReader3 is highly customizable. You can customize the style of (if you switch off Document embedded styles)
Title,
Subtitle,
Default Paragraph,
preformatted text,
links,
Cite,
Epigraph,
Poem,
footnote,
footnote link,
footnote title,
annotations.

Within all these you can change the,
Text alignment,
First Line Indent,
Font Face,
Font Size,
Font Weight,
Font Style,
Interline Space,
Letter spacing,
Text decroation,
Text vertical alignment,
Text Color,
Background Color,
Margin before,
Margin after,
Margin Left,
Margin Right,

You can change the general font settings like,
Font weight,
Font antialaising,
Font hinting,
Font kerning,
Font ebolding,
Tracking,
Font gamma,

Other setttings also include hyphenation, image scaling (can't pinch and zoom though), customize tap and long tap actions for 9 sections of the screen, page margins, inverse display (change background to black and font to white) and other small things I don't really mess with.

-Page turning isn't the best. Takes maybe about 0.3 seconds (however I have page refresh on every turn) and sometimes the physical buttons might not respond (quite an uncommon occurrence, and happens when you first open the book, but just press the button again and it will 100% always turn on the second try.)

-I wasn't expecting great build quality so maybe that's why I was impressed when it arrived. It has a nice rubbery/plastic texture. It is a lot lighter than I expected. It is not completely solid and can flex a tiny bit. If i pryed hard enough maybe I could get my fingernail between the gap edges but it would take a lot of intentional effort and damage my nails in the process. The bottom of the screen has some light leaking but it doesn't bother me at all.

I am personally very happy with it. I chose this over the Kobo because of the customization of CoolReader3, physical turn buttons, very easy to sync with dropbox automatically and easy to email books. Obviously the screen could be better (it is not a carta 300dpi) but I was more than happy with my old kindles anyway and this is an improvement over those.

If I lost it/broke it somehow I would be happy to buy it again.

[mobama]

Those who get Coolreader to work on Inkpad 2 are lucky. I wish I were that lucky.

Probably the most important and noticeable difference between Inkpad 2 and the earlier Inkpad is in their build: The newer Inkpad 2 has better hardware keys. Another thing I have noticed is that the internal storage has been upgraded silently on Inkpad 2 to 8GB. The first shipment of Inkpad 2 had 4GB internal storage. So different shipments of Inkpad 2 have differences.

The screen resolution, about 250 ppi, is okay. 300ppi (such as Kobo Aura One) would always be better, but there is nothing wrong with 250 ppi. 150ppi would be too bad.

To protect the screen, the cover is a must. The bezels around the screen of Inkpad 2 are thin plastic, so applying (very) hard pressure on the bezel may affect the screen. This is different in for example Touch HD which has thick bezels around the screen, plus rubber buffer between the bezel and the screen. Still, the cover must be obtained to any e-reader device you buy.