MobileRead exclusive : sneak preview of the Bookeen Opus

[brecklundin]

very nice Zelda!! great scoop for us here....thanks to all who were there to grill the Bookeen folk.

Question, I know ya did not get a lot of hands on time with the device so if ya dunno, eh, oh well, we will know soon enough. But I am a bit interested in two things. First the trend toward moving the nav control over to the right side of the device. It just "feels" weird to me for a couple reasons one is I hold books in my left hand and I also use my PDA's in my left hand so I am probably conditioned to it...my right hand is more problematic for me to use on a device such as thing. Anyway, how does it feel to you to use it in your right now left hand? Then again I forget if you mentioned over the past couple years if you were a left handed or right handed reader? And yeah, I realize there is the accelerometer which makes it almost, but not exactly, a moot point.

It is that accelerometer that forms the basis for my next question. In the brief time you had with it, if you tried it "upside down" with the controls on the top and logo on the bottom, was that arrangement at all distracting or did you find it transparent enough to sense you could adjust to it? Of course this may not be answerable if ya handle the device differently than I would.

These are the form factors I am looking forward to seeing in the next 4-5 months. If I could find a nice small grab-n-go device like this I would be very happy. But to be honest with this one, based purely visually observing the photos as well as the videos, the control layout is not to my liking. Purely personal in that regard and comes with knowing my needs and preferences/conditioning/physical limitations.

If ya din't have enough time with it to pass along the info or if I missed it reading in the thread...cool & d'oh!! respectively....


PS: ummmmm....I do not believe 'ergonomy' is actually a real word...ergonomics or ergonomic, yes, ergonomy, ummm...not as far as I know...please don't smack me too hard for asking that part? hehehehe....still I LIKE IT...it sounds so Rev. Jessie Jackson...

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

very nice Zelda!! great scoop for us here....thanks to all who were there to grill the Bookeen folk.

Question, I know ya did not get a lot of hands on time with the device so if ya dunno, eh, oh well, we will know soon enough. But I am a bit interested in two things. First the trend toward moving the nav control over to the right side of the device. It just "feels" weird to me for a couple reasons one is I hold books in my left hand and I also use my PDA's in my left hand so I am probably conditioned to it...my right hand is more problematic for me to use on a device such as thing. Anyway, how does it feel to you to use it in your right now left hand? Then again I forget if you mentioned over the past couple years if you were a left handed or right handed reader? And yeah, I realize there is the accelerometer which makes it almost, but not exactly, a moot point.

It is that accelerometer that forms the basis for my next question. In the brief time you had with it, if you tried it "upside down" with the controls on the top and logo on the bottom, was that arrangement at all distracting or did you find it transparent enough to sense you could adjust to it? Of course this may not be answerable if ya handle the device differently than I would.

These are the form factors I am looking forward to seeing in the next 4-5 months. If I could find a nice small grab-n-go device like this I would be very happy. But to be honest with this one, based purely visually observing the photos as well as the videos, the control layout is not to my liking. Purely personal in that regard and comes with knowing my needs and preferences/conditioning/physical limitations.

If ya din't have enough time with it to pass along the info or if I missed it reading in the thread...cool & d'oh!! respectively....


PS: ummmmm....I do not believe 'ergonomy' is actually a real word...ergonomics or ergonomic, yes, ergonomy, ummm...not as far as I know...please don't smack me too hard for asking that part? hehehehe....still I LIKE IT...it sounds so Rev. Jessie Jackson...

The passage from one device layout to an other could be distracting but negligeable compared to the switch from paper book to an ebook reader.

To manipulate a device for a comfortable reading experience, it needs to be used with two hands depending upon its physical position to gravity. The prehensile holding of a device precludes button activation at the same time. There could be ways around it but no one offers solutions so far. I would suggest the addition of a simple leather ring on a pivot under the device, leaving the thumb free. Just slip a finger through and the device can not slip and fall while the thumb activates controls. I found a way to do it on my old PRS 500.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

very nice Zelda!! great scoop for us here....thanks to all who were there to grill the Bookeen folk.

yes, it was a very interesting evening !

Question, I know ya did not get a lot of hands on time with the device so if ya dunno, eh, oh well, we will know soon enough. But I am a bit interested in two things. First the trend toward moving the nav control over to the right side of the device. It just "feels" weird to me for a couple reasons one is I hold books in my left hand and I also use my PDA's in my left hand so I am probably conditioned to it...my right hand is more problematic for me to use on a device such as thing. Anyway, how does it feel to you to use it in your right now left hand? Then again I forget if you mentioned over the past couple years if you were a left handed or right handed reader? And yeah, I realize there is the accelerometer which makes it almost, but not exactly, a moot point.

i am right handed but i like to switch back and forth when reading depending on my position. my first liseuse was an eb1150 with big buttons placed similarly to the opus page-turning buttons (although by default on the left) and the possibility to rotate the display so you could use it with either hand, and this to me is the most comfortable hardware configuration. so, using the opus in my right hand doesn't feel uncomfortable to me at all, and i think if you get the chance to try it you'll find the same. it's really a very comfortable position and the opus is so light (startlingly so ! it really weighs almost nothing) that i could easily imagine using it for hours at a time (obviously i didn't do that during the apéro ; it was mostly a case of "play with it a few minutes, then pass it to someone else so they can play with it a few minutes, then pass it on..."

It is that accelerometer that forms the basis for my next question. In the brief time you had with it, if you tried it "upside down" with the controls on the top and logo on the bottom, was that arrangement at all distracting or did you find it transparent enough to sense you could adjust to it? Of course this may not be answerable if ya handle the device differently than I would.

well, again, being used to the eb1150, that doesn't bother me at all. i think really you'll discover that while you're reading, you quickly forget about the control buttons, whether on the bottom or on the top.

These are the form factors I am looking forward to seeing in the next 4-5 months. If I could find a nice small grab-n-go device like this I would be very happy. But to be honest with this one, based purely visually observing the photos as well as the videos, the control layout is not to my liking. Purely personal in that regard and comes with knowing my needs and preferences/conditioning/physical limitations.

hm, i don't know what your needs are, of course, and you're right that to some degree these are personal preferences. but i am really impressed by the opus. it seems like just the kind of device you could have always with you ; very small, very light. and the button placement seems really good to me. but then, i have been waiting for someone to learn the lesson from the eb1150 for a long time now.

If ya din't have enough time with it to pass along the info or if I missed it reading in the thread...cool & d'oh!! respectively....

no worries !

PS: ummmmm....I do not believe 'ergonomy' is actually a real word...ergonomics or ergonomic, yes, ergonomy, ummm...not as far as I know...please don't smack me too hard for asking that part? hehehehe....still I LIKE IT...it sounds so Rev. Jessie Jackson...

ah, isn't it ? in french it's "ergonomie" i just thought it would translate with the typical modification of the ending... hm, my dictionary agrees with you and says i should say "ergonomics". i'll try to remember that in future.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

The passage from one device layout to an other could be distracting but negligeable compared to the switch from paper book to an ebook reader.

To manipulate a device for a comfortable reading experience, it needs to be used with two hands depending upon its physical position to gravity. The prehensile holding of a device precludes button activation at the same time. There could be ways around it but no one offers solutions so far. I would suggest the addition of a simple leather ring on a pivot under the device, leaving the thumb free. Just slip a finger through and the device can not slip and fall while the thumb activates controls. I found a way to do it on my old PRS 500.

huh, that is a really interesting idea. I will give it some thought for sure. For me I still really liked that, what was the name, Pocket 360 or something like that but from the Ukraine as I recall, it was as close as I have seen to the hand agnostic device which I am seeking.

And to be honest I actually do not mind the layout of the K1 I have that much, it is not ideal as I find the buttons somewhat weird and would prefer buttons where the thumb naturally rests. Problem is, it is as far from a hand agnostic design as you can get. I just rarely feel like using the K1 inside, out on the deck, sure, but indoors or in the shade it's not for me. Plus, apparently it never really was 'mine'...the better 2/3's stole it like the first day or so...

I am not as concerned with menu/library navigation needing two hands but for reading, I am going to insist on a single hand device. Astak's one device the "Pro something or other" did add a jog wheel but it's on the wrong side...sigh...it is a very nice addition!! But just not for me darn it!! I am beginning to suspect that Sony was the only company who understood the utility of their placement of the jog wheel on their Clie line of PDA's.

[zelda_pinwheel]

i agree with you completely about the "hand agnostic" design !! and also about being able to use a liseuse with one hand only. these are important criteria for me too. that is what i appreciate about the opus ; to me, it's a huge jump ahead for hardware design precisely becomes it takes these criteria into account much better than, for instance, the gen3 design and all the similar devices.

i don't think the reading position should be imposed by the device, but chosen by the reader (i mean the person reading ) for their own comfort.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i agree with you completely about the "hand agnostic" design !! and also about being able to use a liseuse with one hand only. these are important criteria for me too. that is what i appreciate about the opus ; to me, it's a huge jump ahead for hardware design precisely becomes it takes these criteria into account much better than, for instance, the gen3 design and all the similar devices.

i don't think the reading position should be imposed by the device, but chosen by the reader (i mean the person reading ) for their own comfort.

Yes, that's why I like the accelerometer centered design of the Opus too.

[zelda_pinwheel]

new video : fast advance page turning !
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance...er-screen_tech

[Sweetpea]

Wow, that's really fast! But it looks like it does that black-out thing once in a while still

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Wow, that's really fast! But it looks like it does that black-out thing once in a while still

i'm pretty sure it only does it when you release the button. since the guy was moving the thing around to display also the display rotation, it's possible he didn't keep a good hold on the page button so interrupted the advance for a second now and then. nice feature, isn't it ?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i'm pretty sure it only does it when you release the button. since the guy was moving the thing around to display also the display rotation, it's possible he didn't keep a good hold on the page button so interrupted the advance for a second now and then. nice feature, isn't it ?

Yep. If only that blackout thingie didn't occur at all (I know why, but that doesn't mean I have to like it!)... It's one of the few doubts I have about buying an e-ink device...

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Yep. If only that blackout thingie didn't occur at all (I know why, but that doesn't mean I have to like it!)... It's one of the few doubts I have about buying an e-ink device...

i seem to remember you can also disactivate it on the opus, like on the cybook. so if it really bothers you, you could turn it off for a while, then turn it back on when the remanence gets too bad to clear the screen, then turn it off again... seems like a lot of trouble, but it depends how much you hate it ! but you might find you stop noticing it really quickly, just like you don't really notice the full sweep of the physical page turn when reading a paper book (at least, that is my case).

[Gaurnim]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

but you might find you stop noticing it really quickly, just like you don't really notice the full sweep of the physical page turn when reading a paper book (at least, that is my case).

Yep, most of the people forget it pretty quickly and no longer notice it after a few pages.
I wouldn't worry much about it.

But if you think you might have trouble with it, the best test would be handling a real device for a few minutes to see how you react.
Sadly, it can be hard to find a device to make this test depending on where you live.

[zelda_pinwheel]

now embedding videos from youtube in the first post. same videos, but better quality.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

The passage from one device layout to an other could be distracting but negligeable compared to the switch from paper book to an ebook reader.

To manipulate a device for a comfortable reading experience, it needs to be used with two hands depending upon its physical position to gravity. The prehensile holding of a device precludes button activation at the same time. There could be ways around it but no one offers solutions so far. I would suggest the addition of a simple leather ring on a pivot under the device, leaving the thumb free. Just slip a finger through and the device can not slip and fall while the thumb activates controls. I found a way to do it on my old PRS 500.

Since I built a box for the reader, I took the original jacket and tore off the clip that held it in place, then I fixed a leather strap to it with a rivet and voilà! It could be done with a double sided velcro strap affixed with double sided tape.

I have to advise anyone trying this modification that the clip part on the reader itself is fragile. Last year while experimenting, I broke mine off. Epoxy helped setting it back in place.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Since I built a box for the reader, I took the original jacket and tore off the clip that held it in place, the I fixed a leather strap to it with a rivet and voilà! It could be done with a double sided velcro strap affixed with double sided tape.

I have to advise anyone trying this modification that the clip part on the reader itself is fragile. Last year while experimenting, I broke mine off. Epoxy helped setting it back in place.

i think that might be true for some of the larger devices, but for the opus and other 5" devices i think you can comfortably and securely use them with one hand. i use my 700 with one hand unless i'm in a situation where i am being jostled (métro). however a ring like you suggest could be a very good way to add security for people reading in public transport or the like ; but it would need to be affixed very securely to the device, and i am not sure velcro is good enough for anything other than minor stability needs.