Jetbook Lite Impressions

[novel]

After having owned the JBL for four days, here are my short-term impressions:

Pros

1. Great value-- generally half the price or less of other 5" e-readers
2. Lack of black screen between page turns
3. Support for an insane amount of formats
4. Good language support
5. Location of place in each book saved, even if you read a dozen other books afterward
6. Built-in dictionary
7. Reasonable book load times for internal memory
8. Outstanding screen performance in sunny environments and also in dimly lighted places
9. Multiple ways to turn page
10. Ability to rotate page-- good for pdfs that have wide lines
11. TXT file reflow support
12. Fits in my pocket!

Cons

1. Slow loading of books off SD card (benched at supporting 15MB/sec)-- likely culprit being the JBL SD reader
2. Large ebooks take forever to load, and 1MB is already large to the reader
3. Weird screen flicker problem (click for link to problem)
4. No PDF reflow support
5. Choice of only 2 fonts-- can't add own

Overall the JBL is an excellent reader unless you plan on using PDFs that you haven't formatted to fit the 5" screen and try to read large volumes without splitting them up beforehand. Using the plain-text format(TXT) works the best for me with dictionary support, reflow, and fast loading. Not all ebooks, especially those with DRM or pictures, can be converted to TXT though. Also my 16GB SD card with fast read times is hampered by the built-in SD reader on the JBL.

I bought the JBL as a stopgap reader to tide me over until the next-gen large screen readers come out later this year and early next year. For what the JBL promises to do, it does well and at a very compelling price. For those that don't want a kitchen sink, are tech-savvy, and want a reader that can fit in a pocket (even the jeans of a thin guy like me), I would highly recommend the JBL.

Click to view pictures of JBL and a comparison of its size with a phone and index cards:

Spoiler:

[Ken Maltby]

Great summary.

The solution for the SD loading issue is to use a faster SD reader/writer on your
computer, and not the slow interface built into the JBL. There are plenty of USB2
based SD media readers that are available for ~ $5.

It's not just a matter of size, for the slow loading issue. Large documents can load
very quickly on the JBL, if they are adjusted to meet the JBL's requirements. I have
a 25MB manual on mine, that loads normally.

One factor that can slow the loading of many books, can be the embedded graphic
images. The B&W display makes it necessary for the JBL to convert high resolution
RGB graphics into Grayscale for display. A book with a complex color cover image
can be made to load very quickly, just by converting the image to Grayscale and
replacing the image in the ebook.

I doubt that any 5" B&W display will be of much value for reading large image based
PDFs.

Yes, PDF reflow for, text based PDFs, would be a nice addition.

Luck;
Ken

[GhostHawk]

Agree with Ken. You can get a 3$ USB SD adapter that lets you plug your SD card right into your computer, using the modern USB 2.0 interface. The usb plug on the jetbook is USB 1.1, and for large files, or large numbers of files quite slow.

Folders single layer deep on SD card is also advised.

Avoid lots of books not in folders, as I have found that can have a significant effect on loading/page turn time.

[novel]

I transfer my files onto the SD card via the built in reader in my laptop which takes no time at all. What I meant was that the reader inside the JBL doesn't take full advantage of the SD card's speed and the books on it load slower than on the JBL's internal memory. And yes I have been diligently organizing my ebooks into many folders

[aagstn]

I've gotten kind of weird results opening books on the SD card with the Jetbook Lite. eReader DRM format so far is my favorite. Books (even large ones like the Maltin Movie Guide and complete Lord of the Rings) open quickly. You can start reading while the Jetbook does the page count and formats everything ahead of you. The text also looks the best by far with the eReader stuff and doesn't have the wide line spacing ePubs do.

ePub on the other hand is very strange. Most books open fairly quickly while other books take a minute or longer to open. One I have that takes forever to open is Kenneth Davis' Don't Know Much About Anything. It was a book I bought in Mobipocket DRM. I removed the DRM, but the JBL would still not open it. Said something about incompatible compression. I used Calibre to convert it to ePub and the formatting is exactly the same, but it takes the JBL ages to open. The reason might be the formatting. The book is broken down into tons of really small sections that all have page breaks. Almost like a book with hundreds of chapters. I'm assuming this is what is taking so long to load.
However, with eReader books the JBL remembers the formatting the next time you open the book and its very fast with the full page count. It seems with ePub the JBL has to do this formatting every time the book is opened and doesn't remember it when the book is closed. However, most of my books with only a few dozen chapters open quickly in ePub so this isn't a deal breaker. I just wish there was some way to get rid of the wide line spacing. I tried recreating the docs in Calibre, but they turn out the same.

The vast majority of my books are in eReader format though so it seems I have picked an ideal reader for my needs. These are really the only issues I have had. I sort everything on my SD card in folders by Author and it is quick and easy to navigate the 50 or so books I have on right now. I love the screen. I spent some time with a friends Nook and I think the JBL is just as good of a reading experience and I'm one of those people really bugged by the screen flash when turning pages and the overall slow and sluggish nature of the Nook. The JBL is vastly superior for my needs.

The only thing I need to do now is buy a case for it (guess there is just the one leather option) and finishing putting the rest of my books on it. Seems to be a top notch reader for $99. I don't think I would be any happier with a Nook.

[Seabound]

aagstn, I just got a JBL and my experience as far as book loading has been the same as yours. A ~1MB epub file on an SD card takes a long, long time to load. There also seems to be mobi/prc files which it cannot read even when the DRM is removed. But FBReader reproduces this problem with prc files, so that issue might not be unique to JBL.

[Seabound]

I timed how long the JBL opened my Don Quixote ePub file (~1.3MB, about 1400 pages, no graphics)---it took about half an hour from an SD card (2GB, class-2). I got the same result when I used an 8GB, class-4 SDHC card. I'm guessing this long loading time is specific to the ePub format (maybe because the entire file has to be read before it can be unzipped?).

The font on the JBL can use a little smoothing, but overall I like my new JBL!

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Seabound

I timed how long the JBL opened my Don Quixote ePub file (~1.3MB, about 1400 pages, no graphics)---it took about half an hour from an SD card (2GB, class-2). I got the same result when I used an 8GB, class-4 SDHC card. I'm guessing this long loading time is specific to the ePub format (maybe because the entire file has to be read before it can be unzipped?).

The font on the JBL can use a little smoothing, but overall I like my new JBL!

This is not anything like what I am experiencing.

Have you tried using Calibre with it set to output as JetBook 5-inch ?
The epub it creates for me has always loaded fairly well, especially with
uncomplicated text source files.

Even more complicated epubs with problematic graphics such as the
OZ Ominbus took only ~6min. to load and loads normally with the 3
graphics fixed. If you have any document taking a 1/2 hour to load
there is something wrong.

Luck;
Ken

[Seabound]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

This is not anything like what I am experiencing.

Have you tried using Calibre with it set to output as JetBook 5-inch ?
The epub it creates for me has always loaded fairly well, especially with
uncomplicated text source files.

Even more complicated epubs with problematic graphics such as the
OZ Ominbus took only ~6min. to load and loads normally with the 3
graphics fixed. If you have any document taking a 1/2 hour to load
there is something wrong.

Luck;
Ken

The file was generated using calibre from a prc file a while back. I probably had the output option set to a Sony 505, since that's my other main reader. I'll try the Jetbook option, but I'm curious to know what optimization is done differently for Jetbook for an ePub file. I mean, it's essentially an html file.

[aagstn]

I've tried different formatting options in Calibre, but epubs with lots of chapter breaks still take a few minutes to load compared to a few seconds for most other books. I've also had issues with the JBL being able to open eReader format docs at all with lots of chapter breaks. I had the Complete Sherlock Holmes as an eReader DRM file and had to convert it to epub to use it on the JBL. The eReader version gave an error when trying to open and I've ran into that with a couple of other eReader format files.

The JBL opens most of my books, but I do run into the odd problem now and then.

[jblitereader]

Originally Posted by novel

Cons

1. Slow loading of books off SD card (benched at supporting 15MB/sec)-- likely culprit being the JBL SD reader
2. Large ebooks take forever to load, and 1MB is already large to the reader
3. Weird screen flicker problem (click for link to problem)

Well, I've been playing around to solve some weaknesses of the JBL and I actually found a solution for loading very large ebook files. You need to create a text file that contains only about a few words. Just type a sentence in a text file and save it in your JBL. Everytime you've reseted your jbl or changed batteries, open up that small text file first. And then open your larger ebook file. Will only take like 2 seconds after you've opened up a small file first.

4. No PDF reflow support

Stay away from pdf, dude.

5. Choice of only 2 fonts-- can't add own[/LIST]

What is this with people complaining about font options? If you buy a paper book, you will only have 1 font option.

I mean, is it that important to people to have multiple fonts to choose from?

But if it's that important to people, be my guess in spending hundreds of dollars on an ebook reader that offers you more font choices.

[Seabound]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

This is not anything like what I am experiencing.

Have you tried using Calibre with it set to output as JetBook 5-inch ?
The epub it creates for me has always loaded fairly well, especially with
uncomplicated text source files.

Even more complicated epubs with problematic graphics such as the
OZ Ominbus took only ~6min. to load and loads normally with the 3
graphics fixed. If you have any document taking a 1/2 hour to load
there is something wrong.

Luck;
Ken

Update! I finally re-generated my Don Quixote epub from the original prc using the latest calibre version 0.7.0. It now takes only ~6 minutes to load (1477 pages). I'll take it!

.

[jblitereader]

Originally Posted by Seabound

Update! I finally re-generated my Don Quixote epub from the original prc using the latest calibre version 0.7.0. It now takes only ~6 minutes to load (1477 pages). I'll take it!

.

If you make a small file that's like only a page long and open that first and then open your really large file, it will only take a couple seconds to open that very large file.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by livingenzyme

If you make a small file that's like only a page long and open that first and then open your really large file, it will only take a couple seconds to open that very large file.

If this works this is a great tip, Thanks.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Seabound

Update! I finally re-generated my Don Quixote epub from the original prc using the latest calibre version 0.7.0. It now takes only ~6 minutes to load (1477 pages). I'll take it!

.

If you want to try a little experiment, you might find the results interesting.

Try:

1. Un-Zipping the .epub into a folder.

2. Find any graphic image files. The book covers and any maps or charts,
as well as any other embedded images.

3. Use a graphic editor, like the free GIMP2, to convert the images into
grayscale black and white images and scale them to fit the display dimensions
of the JBL, at the resolution of the JBL's display.

4. Replace the original image files in the un-zipped folder, with the ones you
have made.

5. Re-Zip the folder into a .zip file.

6. Load the new .zip file into Calibre and convert it into a new .epub ebook.
( Remember to use the "Jetbook 5-inch" output profile.)

Now see how fast it loads.

Luck;
Ken