Just got my Cybook Opus - Page 2

tompe · 07-31-2009, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Boot time:
From standby, it's 15s.

Does it really have a standby mode? I thought it was totally switched off like the Gen 3.

mgmueller · 07-31-2009, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tompe

Does it really have a standby mode? I thought it was totally switched off like the Gen 3.

Honestly, I'm not sure yet.
There's no menu, so you just can push the on/off button.
But my guess would be, it doesn't really entirely switch off but goes into standby.
Anyway, that's the only mode I've found so far (will read the user guide tonight), so it takes 15s to start, whether it boots up or just resumes from standby.
(Would the units really switch off, they shouldn't drain the batteries that fast. That's why I assume, that most of the units only go into standby.)

JSWolf · 07-31-2009, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

The form of the device isn't really suited for a cover. It has those nicely curved corners and such.

And why would you start a class action suit?

Without a proper cover, the Opus is at more risk of damage from being dropped. So I'm just waiting for people to get an Opus and drop it and break it because it has no cover and thus possible could damage more easily.

And the class action suit was not meant to be serious. But the way people are today, it's not totally unlikely.

mgmueller · 07-31-2009, 07:21 PM

Well...it's official.
I don't like it. Not at all:
- The jogdial (select) is extremely flimsy.
- The design is mediocre = "plasticky".
- It hung itself when connecting to my UMPC at least 5 times. Doesn't happen with Sony and the others.
- ADE still doesn't show any of the Micro SD cards I've been using. Sony 505 and 700 still show internal memory AND both memory cards, so it can't be my UMPC.
- Display quality is at the lower end, maybe even to Sony 700. The cover graphics and smaller fonts are kind of faded out.
I'll retry in a few days. But if my momentary feeling remains, I won't use it. So far, it feels like a beta release...
And my iMac doesn't even recognise it, so I can't test ADE on MacOS...

UPDATE:

With Micro SD card inserted, it's not recognised on iMac. WITHOUT SD card, it's working. Obviously, instability and low performance is because of Micro SD card.
I've tried a few ones, so it can't be a specific defective one.
Of course it would be helpful, if the manual would specify the limitations of SD cards.
Proactively, I've tried an old 1GB card, though. No difference.
So I might have a defective unit or a buggy firmware.....

BUT: I ABSOLUTELY WANT TO LOVE IT. So I won't give up that easily...
5" definitely has its charm...

FINAL UPDATE:
Usually, I'm one of the few who doesn't like reflow and ePUB and surprisingly enough is okay with PDF.
Here it's totally different. As described before: In PDFs, I don't find the "right" zooming level. Either it's still too big or it's "fading out".
"Fading", which I didn't recognise at first, as it doesn't reflow PDFs but simply zooms them.

ePUBs have way better results. I'd expected a bit more, given the smaller screen/same resolution = higher dpi scenario.
When forgetting about my (too) high expectations and looking at it neutrally, for ePUBs it's a very nice and convenient unit.

tompe · 07-31-2009, 07:56 PM

I suppose th 1G card was non-SDHC so you have tested both SDHC and non-SDHC card?

richman · 07-31-2009, 08:01 PM

Yeah, if it sucks so bad, since you got it today, maybe you should just send it back. If the screen is as bad as 700 and you rate the 700 screen the worse of the bunch, use the money for one of the other ones that seems more promising . Bro, you are good sport and all, and it's not like you return everything , you have 8 of them, it's close to 300 dollars , I'd return it and say it's defective and too flimsy for you.
You can keep it and stuff it in draw or maybe wait for update, check your return policy!
You are our resident ereader tester!

mgmueller · 07-31-2009, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tompe

I suppose th 1G card was non-SDHC so you have tested both SDHC and non-SDHC card?

Yes.
Status: With 8GB, it's not recognised.
With 1GB and 2GB it's recognised.
Obviously, SDHC isn't working at all and there's a 2GB limit.
I can live with that. 2GB should be plenty and you always can carry a 2nd card.
BUT: It's visible on iMac and PC, but not in ADE.
I manually can copy to the SD card, but that's no solution of course.

UPDATE: Just checked the ePUB user guide: No SDHC support...

mgmueller · 07-31-2009, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richman

Yeah, if it sucks so bad, since you got it today, maybe you should just send it back. If the screen is as bad as 700 and you rate the 700 screen the worse of the bunch. Bro, you are good sport and all, and it's not like you return everything , you have 8 of them, it's close to 300 dollars , I'd return it and say it's defect and too flimsy for you.
You can keep it and stuff it in draw or maybe wait for update, check your return policy!
You are our resident ereader tester!

I won't give up, yet.
I'll try for the rest of the night. If I'm still not successful, I'll try again in a few days.
Concerning the display quality, I have to check more material. Maybe it's just PDFs. But for checking material, I'd like to solve the SD card issue...
Cybook Gen3 is an okay unit, so I just don't want to believe, that their new model should really suck...

And: It's probably a bad comparison, to rank Opus with Sony 700.
Sony 700 I'd describe as "washed out". It's like looking through "milky glass", which we kind of do because of the touchscreen layer.
Cybook Opus I'd describe as "faded out". Maybe similar to an inkjet printer which is out of ink (or at least short of ink).
Meaning: It's as "bad" as Sony 700 (which still is good, in standalone comparison to Notebooks for example), but it's "another kind of bad"...

tompe · 07-31-2009, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Cybook Opus I'd describe as "faded out". Maybe similar to an inkjet printer which is out of ink (or at least short of ink).

Do you have the embolden feature?

It sound like the font is to thin for the size of the letters.

emellaich · 07-31-2009, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Boot time:
From standby, it's 15s.

With how many books? One issue with the Gen3 is that it took forever to start up with hundreds of books, but it wasn't so bad if you only had a few.

mgmueller · 07-31-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emellaich

With how many books? One issue with the Gen3 is that it took forever to start up with hundreds of books, but it wasn't so bad if you only had a few.

150 ePUBs and PDFs.

mgmueller · 07-31-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tompe

Do you have the embolden feature?

It sound like the font is tothin for the size of the letters.

Embolden feature? I don't think so. Does Cybook Gen3 have such a feature?
It's exactly as you describe. The 5 smallest fonts "fade out". There's no feature to embolden the font or change in any other way. At least I wouldn't know where to find that...

tompe · 07-31-2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Embolden feature? I don't think so. Does Cybook Gen3 have such a feature?

Yes, it is in the layout menu I think. It is very useful when the light is bad.

JSWolf · 07-31-2009, 10:04 PM

Can you get a photo of the screen of the Opus so we can see how it looks?

mgmueller · 07-31-2009, 10:10 PM

PDF does NOT reflow, it uses zoom levels:
Fit page, fit width, fit height, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% 100%.
If you zoom bigger than the actual screen, you can pan with the select key.
Actually, I prefer zoom over reflow, for keeping the layout intact.
On iRex iLiad, I can zoom any area I want.
Here I only can zoom the entire page.

EPUB DOES reflow.

For a unit that small and given the fixed zoom levels, I prefer reflow and will focus on EPUB.

And: About 90% of the cover's thumbnails in PDFs are defect, look kind of "distorted".

07-31-2009, 07:21 PM	#19
mgmueller Member Retired Posts: 3,308 Karma: 13024950 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets	Well...it's official. I don't like it. Not at all: - The jogdial (select) is extremely flimsy. - The design is mediocre = "plasticky". - It hung itself when connecting to my UMPC at least 5 times. Doesn't happen with Sony and the others. - ADE still doesn't show any of the Micro SD cards I've been using. Sony 505 and 700 still show internal memory AND both memory cards, so it can't be my UMPC. - Display quality is at the lower end, maybe even to Sony 700. The cover graphics and smaller fonts are kind of faded out. I'll retry in a few days. But if my momentary feeling remains, I won't use it. So far, it feels like a beta release... And my iMac doesn't even recognise it, so I can't test ADE on MacOS... *UPDATE:* With Micro SD card inserted, it's not recognised on iMac. WITHOUT SD card, it's working. Obviously, instability and low performance is because of Micro SD card. I've tried a few ones, so it can't be a specific defective one. Of course it would be helpful, if the manual would specify the limitations of SD cards. Proactively, I've tried an old 1GB card, though. No difference. So I might have a defective unit or a buggy firmware..... BUT: I ABSOLUTELY WANT TO LOVE IT. So I won't give up that easily... 5" definitely has its charm... *FINAL UPDATE:* Usually, I'm one of the few who doesn't like reflow and ePUB and surprisingly enough is okay with PDF. Here it's totally different. As described before: In PDFs, I don't find the "right" zooming level. Either it's still too big or it's "fading out". "Fading", which I didn't recognise at first, as it doesn't reflow PDFs but simply zooms them. ePUBs have way better results. I'd expected a bit more, given the smaller screen/same resolution = higher dpi scenario. When forgetting about my (too) high expectations and looking at it neutrally, *for ePUBs it's a very nice and convenient unit. Last edited by mgmueller; 07-31-2009 at 11:48 PM.*

07-31-2009, 08:01 PM	#21
richman Addict Posts: 269 Karma: 58 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: sony prs-505 BLUE,itouch,netbook	Yeah, if it sucks so bad, since you got it today, maybe you should just send it back. If the screen is as bad as 700 and you rate the 700 screen the worse of the bunch, use the money for one of the other ones that seems more promising . Bro, you are good sport and all, and it's not like you return everything , you have 8 of them, it's close to 300 dollars , I'd return it and say it's defective and too flimsy for you. You can keep it and stuff it in draw or maybe wait for update, check your return policy! You are our resident ereader tester! Last edited by richman; 07-31-2009 at 08:04 PM.

07-31-2009, 10:10 PM	#30
mgmueller Member Retired Posts: 3,308 Karma: 13024950 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets	PDF and EPUB PDF does NOT reflow, it uses zoom levels: Fit page, fit width, fit height, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% 100%. If you zoom bigger than the actual screen, you can pan with the select key. Actually, I prefer zoom over reflow, for keeping the layout intact. On iRex iLiad, I can zoom any area I want. Here I only can zoom the entire page. EPUB DOES reflow. For a unit that small and given the fixed zoom levels, I prefer reflow and will focus on EPUB. And: About 90% of the cover's thumbnails in PDFs are defect, look kind of "distorted". Last edited by mgmueller; 07-31-2009 at 10:53 PM.

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07-31-2009, 07:56 PM	#20
tompe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,452 Karma: 7185064 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Linköpng, Sweden Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW	I suppose th 1G card was non-SDHC so you have tested both SDHC and non-SDHC card?

07-31-2009, 10:04 PM	#29
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,887 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Can you get a photo of the screen of the Opus so we can see how it looks?