Talk me into or out of a Jetbook

[LDBoblo]

I started looking into the JetBook not long after getting my PRS-505. Since I live in Taiwan, most of these devices aren't available locally and need to be imported. After what I paid for the Sony, I had to admit being slightly put off by the limited contrast and clarity of the screen. I don't think the JetBook will totally resolve that dissatisfaction, but the TFT screen seems to be a potential step in the right direction. I hope the next few product generations show more development in screen clarity and contrast, and not just more tagged-on functions and features. Market-driven innovation being what it is though...

Were I starting from scratch though, and knowing I'd be making my own custom PDFs the way I am for most of my books, I'd probably have gone with the JetBook rather than the Sony, even if the JetBook has the aesthetics of a 1980s boombox. I find my Sony ugly enough as it is, the JetBook takes it to a new level of potential distraction.

[richman]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

I started looking into the JetBook not long after getting my PRS-505. Since I live in Taiwan, most of these devices aren't available locally and need to be imported. After what I paid for the Sony, I had to admit being slightly put off by the limited contrast and clarity of the screen. I don't think the JetBook will totally resolve that dissatisfaction, but the TFT screen seems to be a potential step in the right direction. I hope the next few product generations show more development in screen clarity and contrast, and not just more tagged-on functions and features. Market-driven innovation being what it is though...

Were I starting from scratch though, and knowing I'd be making my own custom PDFs the way I am for most of my books, I'd probably have gone with the JetBook rather than the Sony, even if the JetBook has the aesthetics of a 1980s boombox. I find my Sony ugly enough as it is, the JetBook takes it to a new level of potential distraction.

I guess it's relative, I don't know how much you payed for it , since you had to have it imported, but I got the 505 from sony deal for 150 , so for that price it's a good product , but if you paid double that, then yeah, probably the jetbook would be cheaper. As to contrast and clarity, the 505 and kindle 2 have the same contrast and clarity, so you didn't make bad decision to get the 505, compared to other models that are out there at this time. You could try font hacks like I did and get the ones people on this site recommend, it does make it clearer and bolder. Also, I loaded on BOLD fonts so I have no problem reading on mine. If you have tiny-tinnie font, it would be harder for me to read stuff, in pdf format. I don't use anything in pdf format on my 505, I just convert my pdf's to epub or sony format, if you are going by how pdf's in pdf formats look on 505, I don't like it. But converting them makes them COOL for me. I'm sure you have read in the forums about calibre and other conversion programs, because just putting unconverted pdf's on my 505 would SUCK big time for me.
I guess you are just hoping the next generation of eink stuff will be better and I agree.
The jetbook looks good at 169 , and I would love to hear more from people that have both the jetbook and 505 , so I can hear more how they stack up against each other. And which one you take with you the most.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by richman

I guess it's relative, I don't know how much you payed for it , since you had to have it imported, but I got the 505 from sony deal for 150 , so for that price it's a good product , but if you paid double that, then yeah, probably the jetbook would be cheaper. As to contrast and clarity, the 505 and kindle 2 have the same contrast and clarity, so you didn't make bad decision to get the 505, compared to other models that are out there at this time. You could try font hacks like I did and get the ones people on this site recommend, it does make it clearer and bolder. Also, I loaded on BOLD fonts so I have no problem reading on mine. If you have tiny-tinnie font, it would be harder for me to read stuff, in pdf format. I don't use anything in pdf format on my 505, I just convert my pdf's to epub or sony format, if you are going by how pdf's in pdf formats look on 505, I don't like it. But converting them makes them COOL for me. I'm sure you have read in the forums about calibre and other conversion programs, because just putting unconverted pdf's on my 505 would SUCK big time for me.
I guess you are just hoping the next generation of eink stuff will be better and I agree.
The jetbook looks good at 169 , and I would love to hear more from people that have both the jetbook and 505 , so I can hear more how they stack up against each other. And which one you take with you the most.

I make custom-sized PDFs with the fonts I like, which to me is superior to LRF and EPUB. It allows me to control the justification, hyphenation, spacing, indentation, multiple fonts, REAL italics, and all the trimmings much more conveniently, and my resultant ebooks are much more finished and refined than if I slap them through Calibre like the stuff that can be downloaded from this site (no offense intended to the good folks who do conversions, but I'd much rather take the source files and make a set up a good pdf. I only download the LRFs of books that are low on my reading priorities list, that I don't want to spend the time reformatting).

I actually did change fonts on my reader, and I started a thread back in the 505 forum here regarding font choices. I'm satisfied with the readability of my fonts, but more than $200 for a specialized text viewer that can't produce sharp, clear text is a bit of a letdown no matter how you slice it. I'm into typography, and ebook readers just can't make beautiful text yet. That's one of the big things I'm hoping will be resolved. It's why I can't bear to read the ebook version of any book I have a hard copy of, unless the hard copy is falling apart...the text quality of ebook readers is so much lower than that of even the most cheaply printed mass market paperbacks and print-on-demand setups that I don't even particularly enjoy reading with my Sony that much. It's just a compromise that I tolerate so that my cramped apartment can continue to sustain life, not much better than my EEE PC.

But yeah, in a few years, who knows? Perhaps the display technologies will improve enough to satisfy those of us who are not content to stop at "readable". TFTs seem to have promise in that regard...e-ink I'm not so sure about.

[richman]

gee, you know your stuff. I didn't know you were formatting the pdf's in such a cool way. And you knew all about the other stuff. I'm just happy I can read books again without my glasses on, so I increase font size so I can read again. You love the ART of reading and the font types and all the other stuff. You need a much more advanced ereader. I'm so happy I can read on this thing, so what makes me happy is very basic for these devices.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by richman

gee, you know your stuff. I didn't know you were formatting the pdf's in such a cool way. And you knew all about the other stuff. I'm just happy I can read books again without my glasses on, so I increase font size so I can read again. You love the ART of reading and the font types and all the other stuff. You need a much more advanced ereader. I'm so happy I can read on this thing, so what makes me happy is very basic for these devices.

I don't mean to come off too negatively about viewers. I obviously was willing to fork over a substantial amount of money (to me at least) for one, knowing that it wouldn't be completely satisfying. I enjoy setting and formatting my files, though at times it's frustrating with many errors that eventually need to be rectified after the fact. That can taint the experience of typesetting and reading a bit, as well as the fact that many wonderful fonts (Bembo, Arnhem, Garamond, Caslon, Minion, etc. etc. etc.) just don't view well on the reader.

I do hope the technology points in the direction of improving the viewing experience, rather than giving the device more complex and bloated software and functions to make it a poor PDA/netbook substitute. Convergence may be inevitable, but my hope is that refinement of pre-existing technology will come sooner.

The JetBook is a nice way of showing that some alternative techs can reach the market...hopefully it paves the way for more advanced mono TFT options. Hopefully it takes some lessons from competitors though in terms of design.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

I make custom-sized PDFs with the fonts I like, which to me is superior to LRF and EPUB. It allows me to control the justification, hyphenation, spacing, indentation, multiple fonts, REAL italics, and all the trimmings much more conveniently, and my resultant ebooks are much more finished and refined than if I slap them through Calibre like the stuff that can be downloaded from this site (no offense intended to the good folks who do conversions, but I'd much rather take the source files and make a set up a good pdf. I only download the LRFs of books that are low on my reading priorities list, that I don't want to spend the time reformatting).

I didn't realize you were a fellow heretic!

I have figured out a superb XeTeX (XeLaTeX, actually) setup for CJK characters, using a freely available font that supports over 70,000 CJK characters and looks great on the Sony Reader.

Drop me a PM if you are interested in getting your hands on that.

- Ahi

[Kralik]

First post, on topic of the original thread:

I have been researching a replacement eBook reader for my EB-1150 for some time now, and had almost bought a PRS-505 before I found this site. After checking out several different readers that I hadn't yet heard of, I finally settled on the jetBook. Number of formats/features, no backlight, and the price ($170 from NewEgg) made it an easy choice. $100 less than Sony! (more or less)

Using it for a few hours, I love it already. I have a couple wishes (such as having the down scroll turn the page at the bottom of a PDF), but it's working well so far. Looking forward to firmware updates (I hear HTML support is coming along with some "killer" feature?) I adapt PDF's with PDFill's tools to cut out headers and some whitespace (jetBook takes care of the rest). I don't care about the DRM issue - I want to read mostly classics and don't have much of a program removing DRM from a book I BOUGHT to use on MY OWN DEVICE. :P But I'm not too likely to buy many contemporary books anyway (I wouldn't pirate, FYI)

Anyways, I wanted to point out that although JSWolf has been bashing ECTACO and the jetBook comparison chart, he missed a crucial point: If you look closely at the picture of the Sony, it is the PRS-500 shown, NOT the PRS-505. Wouldn't that make the comparison much more valid and not a heap of lies as JSWolf claims? For example, the 500 does indeed have problems with leftovers after page refresh. Take it with a grain of salt.

For the price, I think the jetBook is the way to go! Probably would have taken the Sony for $150 if I had got on that deal, but on the other hand... I don't need to open more credit.

Also: after I bought from NewEgg, I noticed that Bed Bath and Beyond has the jetBook for a scant $200 on their website. With a 20% off coupon, you could get black for $160! White isn't my first choice, but it's growing on me.

[rgeorg]

So many of the jetBook-bashing comments just didn't make any kind of sense to me either. I strongly suspect it was more of an eink-vs-LCD bias than any real issues with the jetBook. The more I use jetBook (I've had mine about 6 weeks now) the more I enjoy it! IMHO, if you can strip DRM or live without DRMed books, it's a wonderful, cost-effective, portable ebook reader solution. And I am pleasantly surprised - I am always surprised when a manufacturer provides after-purchase service and upgrades for free! - at the new firmware releases that continue to come out.

[richman]

I guess this forum room "which ereader should I buy" is where jetbook people meet to discuss the jetbook.

I would like to see a jetbook dedicated forum room , like we have a 505 room and kindle room.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Thanks for the advice guys. Let's not get into a discussion about what Ectaco does or doesn't post on their website because to be perfectly honest, that has absolutely no influence on my buying. I don't like some of the "claims" they've made but as long as their product is quality and does what I want it to do then I'm not going to worry about it.

What's this about LCD's "swimming" in sunlight?

What do you mean that the Jetbook can't do "complex EPUB's"?

Many other 5" e-readers are coming out in the next 3-6 months? Can you post some links for those? Will they be significantly improved compared to the Jetbook or as cheap as the Jetbook currently is now?

People have stated that you get used to the screen flash. That may or may not be true. All I know is that from what I've seen on YouTube is that I don't like it right now! The Sony 700's delay seems to be minimal but the 505's is pretty significant.

I'm not terribly worried about battery power. Jetbooks website states that the battery lasts for 20 hours. They actually say that it lasts for about 2000 page turns more than the e-ink books! I think they're being less than honest here. I'm sure you can get more page turns than an e-ink book but that's only if you keep hitting the page turn button and don't actually spend any time reading the text! But as I said, I'm not too worried about the battery. As long as it can get me through a day's worth of reading that is fine. I have no problem plugging it in when I go to bed.

I've ordered Cybook Opus, another 5" unit, on Monday. 260 Euro, including logistics.
I'll hope to have it end of this week and will post about my experience.

[richman]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I've ordered Cybook Opus, another 5" unit, on Monday.
I'll hope to have it end of this week and will post about my experience.

The only problem is NOW you will have to go back to your 8 ereader threads and UPDATE to 9 ereaders!

Why you are at it , any chance you are gonna buy the jetbook too , you are one of the only guys on this site that practically has them all.

It is great to have a onsite ereader reviewer like you that practically has all of them, I look forward to your review of the opus.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by richman

The only problem is NOW you will have to go back to your 8 ereader threads and UPDATE to 9 ereaders!

Why you are at it , any chance you are gonna buy the jetbook too , you are one of the only guys on this site that practically has them all.

It is great to have a onsite ereader reviewer like you that practically has all of them, I look forward to your review of the opus.

I'm not yet sure about the Jetbook. I still don't use my BeBook (I've described the "cheapness" I experience) and based on the pictures of Jetbook are worried I might feel the same. Whereas I'm pretty sure about Cybook Opus. Cybook Gen 3 isn't my favorite unit, but I clearly prefer it over BeBook.

I thought about Foxit's ESlick for a second or two...But I guess it doesn't have any real advantage over my existing readers.

Rumor has it, Sony might release a new reader, containing WiFi and G3. I'm pretty sure I'll buy that one.

I probably won't purchase the Hanlin V5 or BeBook, based on my experience with the existing BeBook (depends on the design - "plasticy" or not).

Whatever I choose, I'll update my thread accordingly.