Sharper Image Literati

[amybobamy]

Originally Posted by Cgray

Holy hell. This thing is, IMO, borderline actionable in a legal sense. Functions promised on the package which not only don't work, but evidently *don't exist*. I got one for Christmas, and am going to be returning it. If I can't return it, I'll probably just throw it away. It's left that much of a bad taste in my mouth to the point where I'm seriously considering just sticking with dead tree and ignoring the ebook end of things unless I can read them on my desktop computer.

It's that bad.

So some questions.

1. has anyone-- *anyone* successfully loaded a pdf on it? I've done everyting the cheery manual says and no go. If someone can tell me how to do that, hopefully before monday, I might be tempted to keep it. Might.



Also, avoid the "Reset to factory defaults." Yes, it gets rid of your books. It also destroys the file structure and leaves the storage space unformatted, requiring you to reformat it using your desktop computer-- and I have no idea if that format works with the literati books, since, oh right, I haven't been able to LOAD any. (well, they're loaded, as far as the browser on my computer is concered, but not as far as the literati is concerned).

It crashes, freezes, on a fairly random basis.

I can safely say, having updated to the newest firmware, that this product is an utter dog. It is useless for anything other than the most basic ereading of what comes from the Kobo store. A nice color screen is no good, if it doesn't work-- sort of like the raciest looking car in the world is a lawn sculpture if you don't bother, I dunno, to install a working engine.

Hi there -- I'm trying to help out folks who have a Literati and are finding it confusing.

PDF books transferred to the Literati are in the DOCUMENMTS file/tab -- not under books. I don't know why, but I bet if you check there -- you'll find them.

I only found mine by accident. Apparently the Literati will recognize EPUB files as books, but thinks everything PDF is a "Document" -- They still transfer perfectly well to the "What I'm Reading" tab on my device.

Sure hope this helps y'all. Mine was a cheap device, and it took a lot of time to figure it out. But it's pretty well usable.

[bobfeland]

We bought one on black Friday since than we've bought 4 more. I also have a Nook Color. I'd recommend the Literati without reservation. Sure we've had some minor glitches and worked through all rapidly-we love it! My wife reads without eye strain-she loves it!

[bobfeland]

I have loaded pdf files, 256 k on original memory-I've transferred hundreds of epub books to the literati.

[eSheri]

Hello all!
So I just picked up a Literati at Khols for $69. I would have NEVER purchased this as it was SOOOOO visually unattractive! But I decided to give it a whirl.... and its very pretty! the photos on the box don't do it justice. Its white with a metallic bronze keyboard. The back of the unit is also metallic bronze & silver at the top. i am very pleased with how it looks! I read arsenal_fan's suggestion and was prepared to do so, but after turning it on, i see that it already has already been updated. (SW=Dec 3, 2010) I'm wondering if this was a return because it has an email address in it already. Hmmm?.... So far so good. The screen is bright.
(15 minutes later) I did a factory reset and WOW! this thing is great!! the side keys to turn the page are touch keys and they are VERY snappy! No delay at all!!! Its snappier than the Nook 3G i played with today, and faster than the Kindle 3g I played with also!
WI-FI ---- BOOM! I'm there first try! this thing is like lightening!!!
I'll be back later!!

[SCION]

I'm considering getting two of these for an 8 and 10 year old. Do you think it's too long and/or heavy for small hands?

[MrHatandClogs]

First of all, I'd like to say, I had similar problems to what everyone's saying, but after updates and the Factory reset(deletes everything even the free books already on there. You can get them back from the Kobo store for free. And you'll have to reformat the hdd from your computer, which sucks b/c it halves your memory?), it works great. I use adobe digital editions to transfer anything DRM protected. Manually add .pdfs. I've talked to Tech at literati, and they've told my that it isn't being recognized by the Kobo desktop application yet, but they are working on an update right now that will fix this. But you can just sync it by wifi. The subscriptions are awesome, I have a subscription to "The New York Times", everymorning I sync, and there's my new issue, it's awesome!! The .pdf reader is decent, but it's sluggishly slow, I hope they improve this. The landscape mode is great but scrolling is so slow, they need to fix that. I wish the screen was a little better resolution, only b/c I was planning reading Manga on it, but the screen size isn't optimal for this. In landscape manga is nice, but again, reading in landscape take forever b/c the scrolling is so slow, literally like at least a 1 sec delay between scrolls! But other than that I love it. Reading books is a cinch, the night reading mode is awesome! The color screen is beautiful. It has it's cons but for the price the literati is awesome!

[eSheri]

Scion, the Literati would be great for your young readers! its much lighter than the Nook Color and would be comfortable in their little hands.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by eSheri

Scion, the Literati would be great for your young readers! its much lighter than the Nook Color and would be comfortable in their little hands.

Thanks for the quick response! OK, I'll give it a go.

[Melonology]

Hello everybody. I recently purchased a Literati and was hoping someone could help me out with this device.
My first problem is charging. How can I tell if it is fully charged? Should it be turned on when charging?
My second problem is transferring books. I do not use Wi-Fi and planned on purchasing books on the computer from Kobo and putting them on my Ereader using the desktop application. When I connect my reader to the computer (I have Windows 7) the only option I have is to open a folder to view files, which doesn't do me any good. I can't transfer the books on the application to my Literati. The demo shows that there is a sync option, but I don't seem to have one.
I hope someone here can help me figure out how to enjoy my Ereader. Thanks.

[MrHatandClogs]

Originally Posted by Melonology

Hello everybody. I recently purchased a Literati and was hoping someone could help me out with this device.
My first problem is charging. How can I tell if it is fully charged? Should it be turned on when charging?
My second problem is transferring books. I do not use Wi-Fi and planned on purchasing books on the computer from Kobo and putting them on my Ereader using the desktop application. When I connect my reader to the computer (I have Windows 7) the only option I have is to open a folder to view files, which doesn't do me any good. I can't transfer the books on the application to my Literati. The demo shows that there is a sync option, but I don't seem to have one.
I hope someone here can help me figure out how to enjoy my Ereader. Thanks.

Hello, I'm not really sure on the charging question, as there really is no way to tell if it's fully charged. Other than the fact that the battery symbol is full on the device.

With transferring, I've talked a tech support person at literati. They told me that as of the Dec 3 2010 update(1.9 version) the Literati does not connect to the Kobo desktop application. But, the are working on it, and it will be included in the next update. But, there is a way to get the books on there without using it.....

1.) If you haven't already, you'll need to download Adobe Digital Editions. (You can get it free from the Adobe website, just google it )

You'll need to first authorize the program to your computer, by entering your Adobe ID, you'll need to register with Adobe if you don't have one.

You'll then need to authorize your Literati to the Adobe program, if you've updated to the 1.9 firmware, then the first time you connect the Literati to the computer while you have Adobe Digital Editions open, it you should ask you to do this automatically.

2.) Whether buying a book from the Kobo store, another ebook store, borrowing from your local library, etc....

After you purchase a book it will be in your "purchased" books area on the actual Kobo website, next to it should be a button that says "Adobe DRM EPUB".

Click this button to bring up the dialog box, and select "open with: Adobe Digital Editions".

After doing so Adobe Digital Editions should be automatically opened, and it will start downloading the book onto your "library" shelf.

You then just need to "drag and drop" the book from the "library" shelf to the "literati" shelf in the program(this shelf will only be in the program when you have the literati connected to the computer), disconnect your Literati from the computer(Always eject it from the computer before disconnecting), and the literati should automatically update and then show the new book on your device.

Hope this helps

[MrHatandClogs]

P.S. And when trying to authorize the Literati to the Adobe Digital Editions program, it is imperative that you have update to the newest firmware. When I tried to do it out of the box(before updating), the Adobe Digital Editions didn't recognize the literati. Not until I updated to 1.9 did it recognize.

And, using this method, you won't be able to utilize the "News and Mags" subscriptions. The only way to get the issues to your device is either by syncing wirelessly or syncing with the Kobo desktop application. And since the Kobo desktop app doesn't recognize the Literati, this option is impossible until they fix this.

So in short, to use the "News and Mags" subscriptions on the Literati, you have to be able to sync wirelessly until they fix this problem with a new update.

[hokiepokie30]

Originally Posted by zz2003

I am wondering about recharging the unit as well. It says don't overcharge. But it doesn't say what a 'normal charge' would be.

The normal charging time is 6 hrs. but i find that it is usually done charging in about 4. but the battery does die quickly if you have it in wireless mode.

[clittle]

Hi,

I know this is a minor point but it's only been a couple of weeks and my next page key is impossible to see in subdued light.

I'm looking for ideas to rectify this.

Some of my thoughts:

-A dab of dayglo nail polish (if I can find such a thing)

-A notebook hole reinforcement patch (do they still make them?)

-A dab of touch-up paint from my car (which is white).

If anyone has a better idea I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks.

Update...
I used a notebook ring reinforcement patch and sealed it with a bit of clear nail polish. So far it's working nicely. Don't know if it will wear off; but it's easy to replace.

[threebeers]

Here's my experience with the Literati device. It is better than the reviews state, because the reviewers either used old firmware or didn't mess with input. At around $50 it is worth a purchase.

After installing the 1.9 firmware it is pretty fast, page turns are good, display is grainy but readable. Best on mid-brightness setting. The serif font is the better of the two.

Night mode is good. Because it is narrow, out of the case you can hold it with one hand, wrapped around. If you have large hands, you can even turn the page with your wrapped-around fingers.

At a table, viewing angles are limited, setting it up on a reading stand (like for cookbooks) helps.

I can't figure out how to remove the 25 free books. I installed the desktop and set up a Kobo account and synced but they don't show up on the PC. I added a book to the PC account and on sync it appeared on the Literati, so I know that sync works. Help! Maybe they are stuck in ROM. If so the kindly people who program this should give an option to sync them out in v 2.0.

This works best with Calibre. It is recognized as a device.

The internal article hyperlinks show up on the device screen, but you can't click them. You have to go to Menu/Table of Contents to pull up a list.

Standard sideloaded epubs leave too large a margin. There must be an easy epub editor to fix this? Looked around the forums and the editors don't seem simple.

Instead, I converted a couple of Mobis and Lits to Epub with 0 margins on Calibre, and these do display well.

This runs on linux. Since it has a wifi card, a keyboard, and a pointer that could act as a mouse, it would seem to be a good candidate for a custom firmware that introduces a browser, etc. Or if Kobo wants to keep it dedicated Kobo should make a simple web or RSS browser available through the dedicated line (it isn't like they have to pay for the bandwidth, it is wifi). Then they can have something to offer when they sell the thousands of refurbs that will show up in a couple of months as the Christmas returns roll back out.

[clittle]

Good recap. Thanks.

Just curious, but how do you know it runs on linux? Just because it has wifi, a pointer, etc. doesn't mean it's linux.