Initial thoughts about my new PocketBook 302

[brainycat]

Two weeks ago, I purchased a new 302 via tvpupsik's ebay site. The box arrived exactly on schedule, and the product was exactly as described. I was very impressed with the care and quality that went into the packaging. I wish all "by the mail" retailers put this much effort into protecting their products during shipping. I would happily buy from tvpupsik again. My only regret is that ebay is not getting along with my browser and/or email provider, and I am unable to login and provide him with a positive recommendation.

I am very impressed with the device. I have been using a Sony PRS-600 for the last 8 months or so, and this absolutely feels like an upgrade. The speed of the device, the rich featurset and ergonomic buttons definitely make the 302 much nicer to use over long periods than the PRS-600. I think my favorite feature, so far, is the screen rotation.

The device mounts effortlessly in linux, and it was trivial to copy my books over. See another post about how I created categories on the device.

The screen is definitely shiny, but after the dull, vaguely fuzzy PRS-600 screen it's a welcome tradeoff. The text is crisp and the screen is responsive to the stylus. I have read on the device while sitting on my patio in the afternoon sun over my shoulder, and it was not difficult. I find it easy to read for extended periods of time without any fatigue. Being able to change the font size by scrolling is a very nice feature.

I was able to connect the device to my WLAN effortlessly. A nice feature, IMHO, is that if I want to connect, I have to initiate the device. I appreciate that it doesn't burn my battery while trying to connect unless I know it's in range. It appears the bluetooth connectivity is via modem only; I have not tried any bluetooth HID devices to see if they are recognized. Nor have I tried the USB host feature.

Being able to export my notes was definitely one of the main selling points for me. They show up on the device's filesystem in HTML format. I have not looked into the possibility of a script that would export notes directly to my blog, but that's on the list of things to do.

It's been mentioned before, but the options for customization are amazing. As a cardcarrying geek, having lots of options to twiddle with makes me very happy. I've gotten the device to a point where I feel comfortable with it, but I have yet to really start digging into it. I haven't installed any apps or customer pictures for it yet.

I have 4GB Kingston card, and so far I've only saved a configuration backup file to it. I have not seen any issues with rebooting.

Unfortunately, it's not a perfect device. I'm not sure if these are known issues, or I haven't found the fix for them yet:

• When I rotate the device, the button assignment changes - it seems the internal button pointers rotate along with the text orientation.
• Everytime I power up the device, it asks me to calibrate the screen. I have to click the round button to exit the calibration screen, which also takes me out of my book and back to the mainscreen.
• I cannot find a way to create a new note. (not a scribble, a note)

All in all, I am extremely satisfied with the device and feel it's a fair value.

[Kevin2960]

Originally Posted by brainycat

I am very impressed with the device. I have been using a Sony PRS-600 for the last 8 months or so, and this absolutely feels like an upgrade.

The screen is definitely shiny, but after the dull, vaguely fuzzy PRS-600 screen it's a welcome tradeoff.

The text is crisp and the screen is responsive to the stylus. I have read on the device while sitting on my patio in the afternoon sun over my shoulder, and it was not difficult. I find it easy to read for extended periods of time without any fatigue. Being able to change the font size by scrolling is a very nice feature.

It's been mentioned before, but the options for customization are amazing. As a cardcarrying geek, having lots of options to twiddle with makes me very happy. I've gotten the device to a point where I feel comfortable with it, but I have yet to really start digging into it. I haven't installed any apps or customer pictures for it yet.

Unfortunately, it's not a perfect device. I'm not sure if these are known issues, or I haven't found the fix for them yet:

• When I rotate the device, the button assignment changes - it seems the internal button pointers rotate along with the text orientation.
• Everytime I power up the device, it asks me to calibrate the screen. I have to click the round button to exit the calibration screen, which also takes me out of my book and back to the mainscreen.
• I cannot find a way to create a new note. (not a scribble, a note)

All in all, I am extremely satisfied with the device and feel it's a fair value.

Thnx,

You just put the 302 in my top two for a second Reader, though I doubt i'll be geting ANYTHING for quite a while yet, as my PRS-600 is till very new

[tvpupsik]

brainycat - thank you very much for the great feedback and your review of the PocketBook 302!


http://pocketbook.reader-ebook.org

[JimMcLaren]

I would have to agree with brainycat. I bought my PB 302 from tvpupsik two weeks ago and I am impressed, both with the 302 and with Tatiana's service. While the screen is shinier than the PRS 600 it's still easier to read on it. I bought a matte screen cover at protectionfilms24.com. They have one for the pocketbook 302 and it works great. I rarely notice any reflection.

I haven't noticed any problems like brainycat describes. My button assignments don't change and I don't have to calibrate the device. But I don't have it open up the book I was reading. I have it open to the menu instead. I have noticed that I can't page back in PDFs. I don't take notes but think I might experiment with that a little. Oh, and my screen does fade almost completely if I change the page in the sunlight. I understand that's fairly rare and is covered by warranty.

The biggest reason I bought the PB 302 instead of the Onyx Boox is that I don't have to use a stylus. I can do almost everything I want to with just my fingertip. I only need to use the stylus when I am drawing or setting the font style. There are probably other things I will need to use the stylus for but for day to day use (opening books, reading, bookmarking, etc.) I only use my fingertip. The Boox has a few more features but I'm confident the guys in Kiev will close that gap soon.

I have installed the fbreader that's listed in a sticky post at the top of this forum. That makes a huge difference in the reading experience. Just having 20 font sizes to choose from made a world of difference. It has very many more new features. You can install it side by side with the old fbreader and you'll see what I mean. Kudos to the guys who have been developing it.

[Schnitzelbrain]

Unfortunately, it's not a perfect device. I'm not sure if these are known issues, or I haven't found the fix for them yet:

When I rotate the device, the button assignment changes - it seems the internal button pointers rotate along with the text orientation

In think this is a feature not a bug, always the Top pointing Button i.e. changes the Font size. When u rotate the Reader its still the now Top pointing Button.

[Homsa]

Interesting... I don't have described problems with my PB302:

PDFs can be paged through forward and back without any problems - with assigned buttons or fingers,

rotating devices doesn't change button assignment - tried with auto screen orientation and manual.

[Schnitzelbrain]

Originally Posted by Homsa

Interesting... I don't have described problems with my PB302:

PDFs can be paged through forward and back without any problems - with assigned buttons or fingers,

rotating devices doesn't change button assignment - tried with auto screen orientation and manual.

Strange, maybe its a firmware version issue.

[luqmaninbmore]

It depends on which program you are using to view PDFs: Adobe Reader has an issue with paging back while PDF Viewer works fine.

[Homsa]

Firmware ver. 15.1 ( I think it's only version for PB 302).

Just opened PDF with AdobeViewer instead of Pdf viewer: back paging works fine with buttons and fingers.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Homsa

Firmware ver. 15.1 ( I think it's only version for PB 302).

Just opened PDF with AdobeViewer instead of Pdf viewer: back paging works fine with buttons and fingers.

That's odd. I know I am not the only one with this problem with Adobe Viewer. Then again, some people are able to use the RSS Feed Reader, so there may be some slight variations in either hardware or firmware that account for the difference.

Luqman

[Kameli]

Originally Posted by Schnitzelbrain

In think this is a feature not a bug, always the Top pointing Button i.e. changes the Font size. When u rotate the Reader its still the now Top pointing Button.

At least There should be option to switch this off. Of course ideal would be way to exactly configure which buttons change and how but that would be so complicated it probably won't be worth implementing. But simple option to keep buttons from changing should be easy.

[tvpupsik]

Originally Posted by JimMcLaren

I would have to agree with brainycat. I bought my PB 302 from tvpupsik two weeks ago and I am impressed, both with the 302 and with Tatiana's service.

Jim - thank you very much for the feedback!


http://pocketbook.reader-ebook.org/

[brainycat]

A quick update: While I was working on my calibre -> PB script, I powercycled the PB302 and left it. It eventually moved past the stylus calibration screen on it's own. Since then, I can power the device off/on without seeing the calibration screen again. The stylus has maintained it's calibration to the best of my ability to determine; I almost always use a fingernail, which is not as accurate as the stylus.

In other news, perhaps because of my button mapping, I am unable to bring up the list of "last open books" when mapped to either of the power button keys (short/double). The busy light comes on for ~1 second, the screen blinks, but no menu comes up.

Using graynm's excellent fbreader build, the button pointers do not rotate with the screen. The same buttons keep the same functionality no matter the screen orientation. This makes me very, very happy.

I built poterm (make=arm), and I got an executable out of the build process with no errors from gcc, but when I install the binary into the same directory I put the new fbreader, it does not show up in the Applications menu.

This is software w302.15.1

[JimMcLaren]

Originally Posted by brainycat

Using graynm's excellent fbreader build, the button pointers do not rotate with the screen. The same buttons keep the same functionality no matter the screen orientation. This makes me very, very happy.

Using the graynm's reader, the bottom two of my button mappings change but not the top two. Weird.

Originally Posted by brainycat

I built poterm (make=arm), and I got an executable out of the build process with no errors from gcc, but when I install the binary into the same directory I put the new fbreader, it does not show up in the Applications menu.

This is software w302.15.1

Try putting the .app file in the games directory. I downloaded poterm (I don't recall where) and installed it. I can't seem to figure out how to get the keyboard to come up.

[Schnitzelbrain]

Not really shure but afaik poterm is for 301/360 ONLY.
Can someone state this correct, if not just forget my post.