Orizon Just bought the Orizon. Dissapointed!

Mr Tinker · 10-15-2011, 04:45 AM

Yesterday I bought me an Orizon e-book reader. The Orizon model is marketed by Bookeen and on the label on the back of the Orizon unit it is written: "Designed in France assembled in China".

I bought it in Sweden for 2499 SEK (that is about 263 Euros) all taxes included. I think that is a bit overpriced. But I made a deal whit the shop so I can have it over the weekend and return it and get a full refund if I don't like the Orizon unit.

My first impression is dissapointment. The plastic casing of the unit is not of high quality. The plastic parts does not simply fit well together. When I press the on/off button the silver colored plastic frame snaps off in the corner.

It is very slow and the start up takes long. This might be taken care of in the newest firm ware but I am not allowed to install the new firmware if I will return the Orizon unit to the shop.

Another dissapointment is that it seems not to be possible to charge the battery and at the same time use it? If the unit is connected to USB power it is not responding to any input and sometimes a loading bar shows up which stucks at about 1/5 of the bar length.

But the most dissapointing is that Bookeen seems not very helpful at providing the source code for the units. My understanding is that when using the licence "GNU GPL" you are obligated to release the source. I have not been successful in finding the source for the Orizon unit. I know that for the other units from Bookeen the source is provided but I have heard from other users that the source is very hard to compile because important parts of the source is missing.

Are there any other e-readers available with greater support for Open Source developers? Right now it seems I will return this unit.

hidari · 10-15-2011, 05:04 AM

Try the Open Inkpot area in Mobil Read. You will need to buy another reader.. Bookeen is famous for having closed systems...

EowynCarter · 10-15-2011, 06:10 AM

Well, some e-reader have SKD. But save for that, I don't believe the cybooks are more closed than the other. There is just no one how seriously tried.

Quote:

But the most dissapointing is that Bookeen seems not very helpful at providing the source code for the units. My understanding is that when using the licence "GNU GPL" you are obligated to release the source.

To be precise, the gpl requires you to make available code under gpl that you have modified.
And there is still the problem of proprietary adobe SDK for drm...

sunnysmiles · 10-16-2011, 05:41 AM

I was slightly disappointed with the Bookeen. I find that you can not sort the books easily. The Battery life is not as good as what they claim . I know they all say that . I think it is greatly overpriced for what its worth .

EowynCarter · 10-16-2011, 03:42 PM

Personally I use folders, and the orizon works fine there. But it's true it's lacky for other sorting.

owly · 10-17-2011, 01:38 PM

Where did you buy it because Pixmania.se has it for 1309 Kr http://www.pixmania.se/se/se/7532878...-orizon-s.html

Mr Tinker · 10-18-2011, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by owly

Where did you buy it because Pixmania.se has it for 1309 Kr http://www.pixmania.se/se/se/7532878...-orizon-s.html

I bought it at the shop Teknikmagasinet:
http://teknikmagasinet.se/db.pl?tf=p...l&artnr=100641

Mr Tinker · 10-18-2011, 12:35 PM

I had enough of the Orizon unit. I returned it to the shop and got the full refund. In my opinion the Bookeen Orizon was just not useful and had a low quality apperance with ill fitting plastic parts. Maybe it would be OK for just reading text but the functions of bookmarking, highlighting text and adding notes was not useful.

I wan't a good handheld computer with e-paper screen now!

Jozo · 11-09-2011, 12:12 PM

There is an other bad thing about the Orizon if you are like me and have a huge collection of books and articles. It can't handle more than a few hundred files. The boot time gets longer the more books you have. With a few thousand it is painfully long. At about 12.000 files the boot time is longer than the battery lasts. So the memory card slot is rather wasted since it can't handle enough books to actually need extra space.

Also the support is rather useless, slow to respond and it seems like the best replies you can expect are "Please install the latest firmware", "Have you tried restarting it?" or "Would you like to send your cybook to our headquarters in Paris, so that we could have a look ?"

It is a shame that they can't fix their bugs before releasing new readers.
I liked the Opus even though it is has some bugs that causes it to freeze regularly, but at least it didn't limit the number of books. Unfortunatly the Orizon is rather worthless for my purposes due to that limit.

Godzil · 11-09-2011, 03:05 PM

Do you report this to bookeen?

edit: ok you did, but the answer "can you send it to bookeen to check the problem" seems not a bad solution, maybe you are the only one with this problem?

Jozo · 11-10-2011, 10:43 AM

In the discussion I had with them I linked to an other thread in this forum with the same problem. And since it was about the number of files it was very easily checked by the support on any Orizon. With such an easy thing to try I don't think they should suggest sending it in without even trying themselves first.

I suggested it to them and the reply I got was that it was universal.

Billi · 11-10-2011, 03:39 PM

Jozo, I guess the majority of devices will have problems with 12.000 files or books (yes, you're right, this is contradicting the size of the sd cards that can be used).
Have you tried folder mode, as suggested in the other threat?

Jozo · 11-14-2011, 04:39 PM

Yes with as many files as I have not using folder mode would be rather difficult...

I'm not sure how many devices that would have a problem with large numbers. The Opus worked just fine and iRiver Covers Story worked about 5 minutes at boot and then no problems. The devices that can use folders should be able to handle it. I can understand if the other ones struggle a bit with it.

Still I have managed to find a workaround that reduces boot time from infinity to 12 minutes.
I have posted that in the thread about boot time.

http://https://www.mobileread.com/for...d.php?t=148223

10-15-2011, 04:45 AM	#1
Mr Tinker Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: bookeen cybook orizon	Just bought the Orizon. Dissapointed! Yesterday I bought me an Orizon e-book reader. The Orizon model is marketed by Bookeen and on the label on the back of the Orizon unit it is written: "Designed in France assembled in China". I bought it in Sweden for 2499 SEK (that is about 263 Euros) all taxes included. I think that is a bit overpriced. But I made a deal whit the shop so I can have it over the weekend and return it and get a full refund if I don't like the Orizon unit. My first impression is dissapointment. The plastic casing of the unit is not of high quality. The plastic parts does not simply fit well together. When I press the on/off button the silver colored plastic frame snaps off in the corner. It is very slow and the start up takes long. This might be taken care of in the newest firm ware but I am not allowed to install the new firmware if I will return the Orizon unit to the shop. Another dissapointment is that it seems not to be possible to charge the battery and at the same time use it? If the unit is connected to USB power it is not responding to any input and sometimes a loading bar shows up which stucks at about 1/5 of the bar length. But the most dissapointing is that Bookeen seems not very helpful at providing the source code for the units. My understanding is that when using the licence "GNU GPL" you are obligated to release the source. I have not been successful in finding the source for the Orizon unit. I know that for the other units from Bookeen the source is provided but I have heard from other users that the source is very hard to compile because important parts of the source is missing. Are there any other e-readers available with greater support for Open Source developers? Right now it seems I will return this unit.

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10-15-2011, 05:04 AM	#2
hidari MR Drone Posts: 1,613 Karma: 15612282 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: DRONEZONE Device: PB360+, Huawei MP5, Libra H20	Try the Open Inkpot area in Mobil Read. You will need to buy another reader.. Bookeen is famous for having closed systems...

10-16-2011, 05:41 AM	#4
sunnysmiles Addict Posts: 279 Karma: 1188010 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: London Device: I pad air, kindle pw2 and kindle touch , kindle had fire Nook pad nook	I was slightly disappointed with the Bookeen. I find that you can not sort the books easily. The Battery life is not as good as what they claim . I know they all say that . I think it is greatly overpriced for what its worth .

10-16-2011, 03:42 PM	#5
EowynCarter Wizard Posts: 4,332 Karma: 4000000 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Paris Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1	Personally I use folders, and the orizon works fine there. But it's true it's lacky for other sorting.

10-17-2011, 01:38 PM	#6
owly Guru Posts: 729 Karma: 3822612 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sweden Device: Paperwhite 2, Kobo Aura H2O	Where did you buy it because Pixmania.se has it for 1309 Kr http://www.pixmania.se/se/se/7532878...-orizon-s.html

10-18-2011, 12:35 PM	#8
Mr Tinker Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: bookeen cybook orizon	I had enough of the Orizon unit. I returned it to the shop and got the full refund. In my opinion the Bookeen Orizon was just not useful and had a low quality apperance with ill fitting plastic parts. Maybe it would be OK for just reading text but the functions of bookmarking, highlighting text and adding notes was not useful. I wan't a good handheld computer with e-paper screen now!

11-09-2011, 12:12 PM	#9
Jozo Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Sweden Device: iRiver Cover Story, Opus(broken screen), Orizon	There is an other bad thing about the Orizon if you are like me and have a huge collection of books and articles. It can't handle more than a few hundred files. The boot time gets longer the more books you have. With a few thousand it is painfully long. At about 12.000 files the boot time is longer than the battery lasts. So the memory card slot is rather wasted since it can't handle enough books to actually need extra space. Also the support is rather useless, slow to respond and it seems like the best replies you can expect are "Please install the latest firmware", "Have you tried restarting it?" or "Would you like to send your cybook to our headquarters in Paris, so that we could have a look ?" It is a shame that they can't fix their bugs before releasing new readers. I liked the Opus even though it is has some bugs that causes it to freeze regularly, but at least it didn't limit the number of books. Unfortunatly the Orizon is rather worthless for my purposes due to that limit.

11-09-2011, 03:05 PM	#10
Godzil a pthread?? where? where? Posts: 1,763 Karma: 30462 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Somewhere in EU Device: Newton MessagePad 2100, and only this	Do you report this to bookeen? edit: ok you did, but the answer "can you send it to bookeen to check the problem" seems not a bad solution, maybe you are the only one with this problem?

11-10-2011, 10:43 AM	#11
Jozo Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Sweden Device: iRiver Cover Story, Opus(broken screen), Orizon	In the discussion I had with them I linked to an other thread in this forum with the same problem. And since it was about the number of files it was very easily checked by the support on any Orizon. With such an easy thing to try I don't think they should suggest sending it in without even trying themselves first. I suggested it to them and the reply I got was that it was universal.

11-10-2011, 03:39 PM	#12
Billi Wizard Posts: 3,388 Karma: 14190103 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Berlin Device: Cybook, iRex, PB, Onyx	Jozo, I guess the majority of devices will have problems with 12.000 files or books (yes, you're right, this is contradicting the size of the sd cards that can be used). Have you tried folder mode, as suggested in the other threat?

11-14-2011, 04:39 PM	#13
Jozo Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Sweden Device: iRiver Cover Story, Opus(broken screen), Orizon	Yes with as many files as I have not using folder mode would be rather difficult... I'm not sure how many devices that would have a problem with large numbers. The Opus worked just fine and iRiver Covers Story worked about 5 minutes at boot and then no problems. The devices that can use folders should be able to handle it. I can understand if the other ones struggle a bit with it. Still I have managed to find a workaround that reduces boot time from infinity to 12 minutes. I have posted that in the thread about boot time. http://https://www.mobileread.com/for...d.php?t=148223

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