Exclusive: STAReBOOK Review Part I

CommanderROR · 01-22-2007, 07:33 AM

Good news everyone! My STAReBOOK arrived just now. I can't give you a big review yet of course, but I'll just put up a few pictures of this pretty little device. A few things I can say so far:

Booting up is about 4x faster than the iRex iLiad. The device is very small and light, it's easy to hold with two fingers (!!!) and it comes with a nice set of accessories. There is even a 512MB SD card in the box.
It also has a user replaceable battery (!!!) (as you can see in the pics) and it's recognized as a mass-storage device in Windows, showing up as two devices, one for the main storage and one for the SD card.

The device has some of the style of an Apple iPod and feels nice in the hand because the back is slightly rubberized. I have not transferred any books onto it yet, but I'll do that this afternoon and try my best to give you a short pre-review this evening (German time).

For now, enjoy the pictures! (sorry for the bad quality in some, I was in a hurry...)

CommanderROR · 01-22-2007, 07:35 AM

And here some more:

CommanderROR · 01-22-2007, 07:36 AM

And the last one for now...I'm off for lunch...

raevyn1 · 01-22-2007, 07:59 AM

Thanks for the photos. Nice looking device. I'm impressed by the replaceable battery with such ease of access. Looking forward to your review tonight.

tribble · 01-22-2007, 08:26 AM

Looks nice and small. Cant wait for your complete review.

nekokami · 01-22-2007, 08:47 AM

Wow. I only wish it had pen input... not needed for a one-purpose reader, I know, but I need to interact with my reading material more.

scotty1024 · 01-22-2007, 09:11 AM

What I'm waiting to hear is how it feels to turn pages with it.

I like the simple/clean UI but one of the things I like about the Sony is having 3 different ways to flip pages. Depending upon where I am I manage to use all three of them regularly.

The user replaceable battery is definitely a plus.

CommanderROR · 01-22-2007, 09:22 AM

Well, as far as I can tell right now, there is only one way to turn pages and that is pressing the "right" key on the directional pad. Page-turning seepd is very fast, even better than on the Iliad with the latest firmware and your enhanced PDF viewer...or at least it feels that way. I'll do a more exact comparison later.

While it's a pity that there is no page-bar like the Iliad has and that there is no way (I have found) to turn pages with the left hand, I most certainly don't miss the "click" sound the Iliad pagebar makes when turning pages.

I have also discovered the bookmark features (working fine) and the "jump to page-number" feature that also works just fine.
Enlarging fonts also seems to be fully functional.
Only trouble so far...the font looks ugly and I have a hard time formatting the books properly with the eRead 3.0 software build 614. I'll ask Ivan about that.

I'll give you more details and in a longer version later on. Please feel free to post questions here then I can check things out for you.

TadW · 01-22-2007, 09:33 AM

So you got the Starebook, that's excellent news, Roland!!

I'd be very much interested in:
- page flipping speed
- booting time / time needed to turn on the device and to continue reading a book
- PDF support?

Hadrien · 01-22-2007, 09:43 AM

If there's PDF support and you can give me the screen size, I'll add a template for it on Feedbooks today.

CommanderROR · 01-22-2007, 09:53 AM

There is no PDF support. It only does the .stk format and I'm not sure whether there is any plan to change that.

The screensize is the normal 6" in 9cmx12cm

eimert · 01-22-2007, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

Good news everyone! My STAReBOOK arrived just now. I can't give you a big review yet of course, but I'll just put up a few pictures of this pretty little device. A few things I can say so far:

Booting up is about 4x faster than the iRex iLiad. The device is very small and light, it's easy to hold with two fingers (!!!) and it comes with a nice set of accessories. There is even a 512MB SD card in the box.
It also has a user replaceable battery (!!!) (as you can see in the pics) and it's recognized as a mass-storage device in Windows, showing up as two devices, one for the main storage and one for the SD card.

The device has some of the style of an Apple iPod and feels nice in the hand because the back is slightly rubberized. I have not transferred any books onto it yet, but I'll do that this afternoon and try my best to give you a short pre-review this evening (German time).

For now, enjoy the pictures! (sorry for the bad quality in some, I was in a hurry...)

That looks good - I am drooling!
Would you mind to tell where you bought it and for what price? Did you have to pay import tax?
Now, if I just could think of a way to get my wife's approval for a device like that :-)

Klaus

CommanderROR · 01-22-2007, 10:05 AM

well, that's the nice bit...^^

I did not buy it...I got it for this review...one of the advantages of being a Mobileread.com Editor...and I did not have to pay any VAT or import Tax because the price the company put on the customs paper was 5$...very clever of them and of course good for me...

The device is normally 420$ and you would have to order from China/Taiwan. You could probably ask them to pull the same stunt as they did with my unit (cheating customs), but you'd have to pay shipping of course.

I'll try to get omse info about international shipping from Ivan at Staretek later on. I'd also recommend everyone to wait a bit until I have had some more time to play witht he device and see where it's strengths and weaknesses lie.

I have just switched off the "auto powerdown" feature of the device so that I can see about battery life. I'll give it a full charge now and then try to keep it from recharging by transferring media only via the SD card.

branko · 01-22-2007, 02:46 PM

Ducky! You saved the photos from Imageready??! Now how am I going to find out if your camera supports macro mode and video?

CommanderROR · 01-22-2007, 03:16 PM

Photoshop actually...^^

The camera does not support Video (it's a DSLR) and macro mode is a question of the lens...so in this case...no...

01-22-2007, 07:33 AM	#1
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	Exclusive: STAReBOOK Review Part I Good news everyone! My STAReBOOK arrived just now. I can't give you a big review yet of course, but I'll just put up a few pictures of this pretty little device. A few things I can say so far: Booting up is about 4x faster than the iRex iLiad. The device is very small and light, it's easy to hold with two fingers (!!!) and it comes with a nice set of accessories. There is even a 512MB SD card in the box. It also has a user replaceable battery (!!!) (as you can see in the pics) and it's recognized as a mass-storage device in Windows, showing up as two devices, one for the main storage and one for the SD card. The device has some of the style of an Apple iPod and feels nice in the hand because the back is slightly rubberized. I have not transferred any books onto it yet, but I'll do that this afternoon and try my best to give you a short pre-review this evening (German time). For now, enjoy the pictures! (sorry for the bad quality in some, I was in a hurry...) Attached Thumbnails

01-22-2007, 07:35 AM	#2
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	And here some more: Attached Thumbnails

01-22-2007, 07:36 AM	#3
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	And the last one for now...I'm off for lunch... Attached Thumbnails

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01-22-2007, 07:59 AM	#4
raevyn1 Connoisseur Posts: 56 Karma: 148 Join Date: Jul 2006 Device: iLiad, Sony Reader, Treo 755p, Palm T\|X	Thanks for the photos. Nice looking device. I'm impressed by the replaceable battery with such ease of access. Looking forward to your review tonight.

01-22-2007, 08:26 AM	#5
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,382 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: Bookeen Opus (i love that thing) and iPad (what an irony)	Looks nice and small. Cant wait for your complete review.

01-22-2007, 08:47 AM	#6
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	Wow. I only wish it had pen input... not needed for a one-purpose reader, I know, but I need to interact with my reading material more.

01-22-2007, 09:11 AM	#7
scotty1024 Banned Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1479 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Peoples Republic of Washington Device: Reader / iPhone / Librie / Kindle	What I'm waiting to hear is how it feels to turn pages with it. I like the simple/clean UI but one of the things I like about the Sony is having 3 different ways to flip pages. Depending upon where I am I manage to use all three of them regularly. The user replaceable battery is definitely a plus.

01-22-2007, 09:22 AM	#8
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	Well, as far as I can tell right now, there is only one way to turn pages and that is pressing the "right" key on the directional pad. Page-turning seepd is very fast, even better than on the Iliad with the latest firmware and your enhanced PDF viewer...or at least it feels that way. I'll do a more exact comparison later. While it's a pity that there is no page-bar like the Iliad has and that there is no way (I have found) to turn pages with the left hand, I most certainly don't miss the "click" sound the Iliad pagebar makes when turning pages. I have also discovered the bookmark features (working fine) and the "jump to page-number" feature that also works just fine. Enlarging fonts also seems to be fully functional. Only trouble so far...the font looks ugly and I have a hard time formatting the books properly with the eRead 3.0 software build 614. I'll ask Ivan about that. I'll give you more details and in a longer version later on. Please feel free to post questions here then I can check things out for you.

01-22-2007, 09:33 AM	#9
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	So you got the Starebook, that's excellent news, Roland!! I'd be very much interested in: - page flipping speed - booting time / time needed to turn on the device and to continue reading a book - PDF support?

01-22-2007, 09:43 AM	#10
Hadrien Feedbooks.com Co-Founder Posts: 2,263 Karma: 145123 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Paris, France Device: Sony PRS-t-1/350/300/500/505/600/700, Nexus S, iPad	If there's PDF support and you can give me the screen size, I'll add a template for it on Feedbooks today.

01-22-2007, 09:53 AM	#11
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	There is no PDF support. It only does the .stk format and I'm not sure whether there is any plan to change that. The screensize is the normal 6" in 9cmx12cm

01-22-2007, 10:05 AM	#13
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	well, that's the nice bit...^^ I did not buy it...I got it for this review...one of the advantages of being a Mobileread.com Editor...and I did not have to pay any VAT or import Tax because the price the company put on the customs paper was 5$...very clever of them and of course good for me... The device is normally 420$ and you would have to order from China/Taiwan. You could probably ask them to pull the same stunt as they did with my unit (cheating customs), but you'd have to pay shipping of course. I'll try to get omse info about international shipping from Ivan at Staretek later on. I'd also recommend everyone to wait a bit until I have had some more time to play witht he device and see where it's strengths and weaknesses lie. I have just switched off the "auto powerdown" feature of the device so that I can see about battery life. I'll give it a full charge now and then try to keep it from recharging by transferring media only via the SD card.

01-22-2007, 02:46 PM	#14
branko Connoisseur Posts: 93 Karma: 549 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Amsterdam Device: Palm Zire	Ducky! You saved the photos from Imageready??! Now how am I going to find out if your camera supports macro mode and video?

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01-22-2007, 03:16 PM	#15
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	Photoshop actually...^^ The camera does not support Video (it's a DSLR) and macro mode is a question of the lens...so in this case...no...