Pandigital Novel Personal 6" $20 at Big Lots!

[skware1]

I just bought a Pandigital Novel Personal 6" eInk reader at my local Big Lots store for TWENTY DOLLARS. Ok, it was remanufactured, and OK, it has a SiPix electrophoretic screen instead of the name brand, but...

A six-inch touchscreen reader with WiFi, touchscreen, 2 Gb internal memory, reads EPUB, PDF, TXT, (I find out later it also reads RTF and HTML, reads JPG, PNG, BMP pictures, plays music from a variety of music files, has an accelerometer
shift from Portrait to Landscape when you rotate the device, a primitive web browser, takes a micro-SD card up 16 Gb, a clock, a calendar...

How could you NOT buy that for Twenty Bucks?

It had a $69.99 sticker on it, but there was a hand-lettered show card that said $19.95. It could simply be an isolated sale, but you might want to check your local Big Lots store to see.

[BisonMami]

I had just placed an order for the same ereader with Newegg for $35 for my son. I promptly cancelled and will check the stores in my area to see if they have any in stock. They have it listed on the website, so I guess it is just a matter of finding a store that has them.

[smallhagrid]

Fixed up 2 of my friends with the Biglots deal for this - easiest reader to side-load I've yet seen - and for $20 if it lasts even 6 months it's a good deal.
(Aside of this cheap price I found Pandigital stuff to be...junk, and would NEVER pay any significant amount for their stuff.)

[gweeks]

Our local Big Lots didn't have the pandigital, but did have the polaroid one for $40.

[smallhagrid]

They sold out of the $20 one just about instantly as they only got a couple/store.

I got a Polaroid one knowing I'd return it as I've no further use for that screen type or the poor battery life of that sort - but it was WORSE than I thought it would be !!!

1.
It has a very odd screen geometry (long/skinny...7" ? Maybe.)

2.
It is uncomfortably made & heavy.

3.
It was 100% inoperative !!!

Returned as defective, phew.

[jbcohen]

I had a pandigital novel some years ago which got stollen. Did not like the reader much not really worth what Pandigital is asking for the reader, I am not real sure that it was worth $20.

[exscentric]

The white pandigital tablets can be updated to android if the new ones don't already have it on them.

Go to their website to see if updates age available.

Some of the colored ones weren't as good as the white.

There are some good pandigital forums for upgrades/helps.

http://www.slatedroid.com/index.php?board=43.0
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/pandigital-novel/
http://www.pandigital.net

Have two white ones in the house, wife reads on one and the other is backup for now.

[smallhagrid]

Some while back I picked up an older version by them with the same name on the box as the $20 one from Biglots has=> that older one was 100% touch-screen operated and was just plain old NASTY !!!
I tried using it for a bit but it was so awful that it soon went back.

The ones my friends got are much easier to operate and don't depend 100% on such a low-quality touch screen; though they do have a touch screen, but also buttons.
They are also not colour LCD screens like that older one was and have much better battery life from what I could see of them.

I would say they were a great deal at $20, but most likely they're all long gone by now.

[ApK]

Got one today at a Big Lots in Maryland that I happened to pass by. I've been looking for an inexpensive reader for a friend, and at $20, this sure fit the bill. They had a bunch, and low prices on several low end Android tablets as well.
I'm charging the battery now, so I haven't powered it on, but spec-wise it seems fine. Hopefully the screen will be decent...and hopefully it will work at all....

[hard-boiled pat]

i love my pandigital... battery life is rough if you don't turn off wi-fi but other than that its 10/10

[ApK]

OK, got two quick questions before I break down and read the manual, and I know you good folk can give me a better answer anyway:
1. Other than from the B&N store, can books be downloaded to the device via wifi?
Can I download books from MR for example?

2, and this is the big one, why, when I look at the built-in books, is the text so muddy grey? I see the device CAN display darker text...the battery charge symbol is dark, and if I click the page refresh button, the text turns bold and nicely dark for a moment, but it seems in the regular reading view, the text is grey...surely I'm missing something here?

[hard-boiled pat]

Originally Posted by ApK

OK, got two quick questions before I break down and read the manual, and I know you good folk can give me a better answer anyway:
1. Other than from the B&N store, can books be downloaded to the device via wifi?
Can I download books from MR for example?

2, and this is the big one, why, when I look at the built-in books, is the text so muddy grey? I see the device CAN display darker text...the battery charge symbol is dark, and if I click the page refresh button, the text turns bold and nicely dark for a moment, but it seems in the regular reading view, the text is grey...surely I'm missing something here?

1 mine has a kindle component, wifi works great

2 there ared three different displays, white, sepia and black plus lots of brightness settings.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by hard-boiled pat

1 mine has a kindle component, wifi works great

2 there ared three different displays, white, sepia and black plus lots of brightness settings.

Sounds like you are referring to the 7" color Pandigital Novel device.
The $20 device under discussion is the epaper-based 6" Pandigital Novel Personal e-reader.
No color, no android, no updates from the manufacturer.

[twowheels]

In exchange for a promise to actually use it, I bought my son the very last one at our local Big Lots on Saturday. I'm not sure if it was a return or whether their refurbishing process is rather short, but it had obviously been used at least briefly (books were midway through, the manual was crumpled, etc), but otherwise looked brand new and was just fine functionally.

He's very happy with it, and I couldn't get him to look up from it all day. He kept bragging to his sister that he has a touchscreen and hers doesn't (she has a Kindle 3, but she's a very serious reader and has had it for quite some time). I was very happy to learn that the SiPix screen has a plastic substrate rather than glass, so it's likely to actually last a little while!

Here's my quick review for anybody else who might have a chance to grab one:

Pro:
Feels very solidly built, plastic substrate means that it is probably very durable! Easy to side-load. ePub support (not sure how complete or well implemented, didn't try anything complex). Generally easy to use. SiPix screen is great outdoors. I personally like the combination of physical buttons w/ touchscreen.


Con:
Screen has notably lower contrast than modern Pearl eInk, not so good in low light, similar to first generation Kindle/Nook. UI is a little clunky, though has a lot of potential and could be great with a few minor changes and a slightly faster processor. The integrated dictionary is the worst UI aspect. Yes, you touch to define, but AFTER you've hit the menu button, then click on the dictionary icon, then (if the word is still on the screen) click on the word to define. Hard to find accessories (case).

[ApK]

I've given mine to my friend on spec. That is, I told him to try it for a while and see if he likes it. If he thinks he'll use it, he can consider it a gift. If not, I asked him to give it back so I can find it a good home.

I was disappointed at the text contrast. The screen can obviously do deeper blacks, so it's got to be an implementation issue, not a limitation of the screen.

With the device being so widely OEMed I'm suprised there isn't some hacked firmware for it. None that I could find anyway.

And there is no representation in a device subforum here on MR.

Maybe that says something, actually.

Oh well. If my friend likes it, great. If not, I'll probably offer it up to some forumite who wasn't able to find one locally.