4.3 UMPC - Hey Nate the Great!

[ColdSun]

Nate,

I know you collect lots of gizmos and I've read many of your excellent threads about them. So I was surfing around ebay and I found this. It looks like the exact form factor I'm looking for to read and do other useful tasks on.

http://www.electronicsmass.com/vip/sort330.html

Have you seen this device before? I'm thinking of buying one from here:

http://www.favordeals.com/computer-a...i-gps-619.html

Do you think it will run ebook reading software that works on WinCE 5.0? Which software do you think would work on this thing? FBReader? Mobipocket? UBook? Microsoft Reader?

Anyhow, this looks pretty inexpensive and I love LCD devices. Maybe you can shed some light on this. I saw some on ebay too, but the price above looks like the best one. Oh and I was also thinking I could try some game emulators on it. Not sure how well that would work though. Would rather have linux OS for emulators I think.

[ColdSun]

Well, I took a risk and purchased one. The price was very good considering the features it claims to have. The same units on ebay (that I could find) were going for over $229. I'll reply to this post when I get the device and learn more.

I found some videos of it:

http://www.lightinthebox.com/print-page_p37669

[Nate the great]

Boy, do you have my number.

You can probably run Mobipocket MSReader, and uBook. But there isn't an FBReader for WinCE. I also doubt that you will be able to run Windows Mobile software on it; most of the software requires DLL support that this PDA can't provide.

You might not like the screen resolution. It will probably be 480 by 272. In comparison, the Nokia 770 has a resolution of 800 by 480.

[ColdSun]

It is definately 480x272. What is the ebookwise? If its that good I'll be happy. The screen on the 770 is very clear, but I think this should suffice. At least I hope so. I'm somewhat of a collector myself, so hopefully this gadget is something I will use.

I currently have: Sony PRS-505, Ebookwise-1150, HP Hx4700, DT-375 Tablet PC, and a Jornada 720. The clarity of my Sony 505 is amazing, but I hate not having a backlight as I do a ton of reading in bed. I have the lens thingy for my 505 that is a piece of glass that lights up that sits on the screen but its just not the same. In fact, when that lit glass sits on the screen it becomes harder to read than a backlit LCD (in my opinion). I'm not big into attaching items to my screen like an LED light either. So I'm always scoping out the best LCD solutions.

The hx4700 would be perfect but the direction pad on the thing is horrible and I often just hit it by accident and it throws my page back or forward, sometimes two or three pages. Also, sometimes it registers more than a single press when I go forward on purpose. In any event, it just wasn't comfortable - but the screen sure is pretty.

The DT-375 Tablet was pretty good at first - and I really like Ubook. The problem is that its a bit too big, the battery runs out too quickly, and the OS is so old that the web browser just stinks. Still, its a pretty nifty device I picked up for like $90. The Jorada 720 suffers from the same "oldness" as the tablet but I couldn't get into the form factor the device has for reading in bed and holding/turning pages.

My Ebookwise-1150 power adapter female-end actually "fell into" my device when I plugged it in one day. So I took it apart and soldered the piece back on the board (that was a chore!). In the process, I must have done something to the screen's ribbon cable and now it glitches and goes out once in a while. It really is a shame, because of all (yes even my 505), I enjoy reading on my good old ebookwise the most...

[ColdSun]

Also, have you seen the Pandora Project?

http://www.openpandora.org/

My 770 is also very nice. In fact, its right up there with my ebookwise now that I think about it. I don't like the browser it uses, due to some limitations it has. The text resolution is pure win though. My guess is that browsing on this thing will be slightly better as far as rendering flash and stuff, except that unlike the 770, the lower resolution will not allow me to view a full web page as well as the 770 does.

I thought about one of those Airpanel or Viewpad's that you purchased. It seemed I would have similar issues as my DT-375 tablet so I wanted to try something more the size of my 770. It might have been wise just to purchase a Nokia 810. I guess we'll see.

[ColdSun]

Well Nate, I cancelled my order. After looking into it more, all the specs look good for the price, but I can't stand Win CE 5.0 on it. I want something with opensource development I think.