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Archive for ectaco
New Jetbook Color Firmware Increases Page Turn Speeds
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Ectaco has just released new firmware for the Jetbook Color e-reader. This is a massive update that really allows for faster page turn speeds and a ton of new options for the e-ink refresh rate.
Page turning speed has been increased, which should be a boon to anyone that was irate with very slow performance. Now you can flip through ebooks faster, because the program performs caching of preceding and subsequent pages relative to the page you are reading.
Three new Refresh Page modes have been implemented: you can choose to fully refresh the screen after page turn on every page, every 3rd page, or every 5th page. Use the every page refresh mode to avoid seeing any traces from recently viewed pages. The other modes allow you to reduce screen flashing.
There are also some minor updates, like 9 new workbook templates for onscreen drawing (various chart papers and lined papers). You can use the text-to-speech engine to get the device to read a desired book aloud starting from the page you are viewing. It speaks the text clearly, with no stammer. Speech recognition has also undergone a significent revision. Finally the hardware keys are working on the fly now, with reduced response time.
The latest firmware update and full instructions on how to install are available HERE.
Ectaco Jetbook Color Full Hands on Review
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The Ectaco Jetbook Color is the first e-Reader in the world to use color e-Ink! This gives you a full color display to view a wide array of content and lets you experience e-paper like you never have before. How does this new technology developed by e-Ink Holdings stack up in a battery of real world tests? Is it truly the next step in evolution of e-Readers? We dive into the issue and find out all of the answers.
Hardware
The Ectaco Jetbook Color is a 9.7 inch e-ink Triton Display with a resolution of 1600×1200 Pixels. It truly gives you a vivid color e-paper that mimics real paper and really is a paradigm shift in the way people will experience reading on an e-Reader. If you have had the Amazon Kindle Touch, Kobo Touch, or Nook Simple Touch, you know from experience that it really does not strain your eyes during long reading sessions. The problem with devices such as the Apple iPad and other LCD based tablets is because of the bright backlit screen is not comfortable for long reading experiences and is more geared towards casual endeavors.
There is some controversy right now on the resolution of the Jetbook Color and it actually gives you a different experience depending on what kind of book, magazine, newspaper, or PDF file you are looking at. When you are using the color aspect of the device, it gives you 800×600 pixels. The reason for this is because of the RGB color filter they use to overlay the display. Each color pixel is formed with 4 dots which means it is halved from the initial 1600×1200. Keep in mind when you are reading a normal e-Book with no color displayed on the screen you will get a massive improvement on the text based experience. This really utilizes the 9.7 inch screen when you are reading technical documents or just a good eBook.
Diving underneath the hood is a Freescale i.MX508 800MHz with ARM Cortex A8 CPU processor. Unfortunately, this processor is woefully underpowered for what this device is intended to do. Navigating menus, turning page pages, or launching programs demands an exercise in patience. There is a solid 4 GB of internal memory, but with all of the student programs bundled on the device you have around 2 GB to work with, which is more than adequate. If you demand more space for your music, books, and other content you can expand it via Micro SD up to 32 GB.
Battery life with this device is fairly good with it lasting almost 10,000 page turns or about 2 months. With a recent firmware update it has the ability to use the WIFI browser and buy books, but there is no internet browser to actually surf the internet. We were promised by Ectaco that they would allow this functionality in a future firmware update.
The main aspect of interaction with the Jetbook Color is the Stylus Pen that comes bundled with it. It actually has a slot it fits into at the top of the unit so you don’t run the risk of misplacing it. On the bottom of the device is two stereo speakers that give you fairly reasonable sound quality. Music, Vocal Dictation, and more is possible with the built in microphone. There is also a 3.5 mm headphone jack so you won’t have to disturb people with your tunes or lecture notes. There is also a manual switch that you can use to turn the WIFI on or off, this might help save on battery life. Finally, there is a removable protective casing for the Mini USB, Micro SD, and full USB 2.0 port. The top of the unit and sides don’t really have anything of note, but most of the action occurs on the front of the unit. There is a settings, home, and back buttons and two manual page turns.
Hardware wise this machine feels fairly high quality but suffers from unresponsive behavior. This is mainly due to the slow 800 MHZ processor and the 256 MB of Ram. There is simply not enough power to really make this device as responsive as the kind you find in six inch e-readers. Certainly the Kindle Touch and Simple Touch Reader don’t suffer from much lag at all in almost everything you do.
Software
The Jetbook Color is mainly billed as an educational e-reader and they have attained certification in both Russia and the USA to give deals to educational institutions. It is built on a custom Linux interface and Ectaco makes different modules that you can install on the devices. Everything from 50 different dictionaries to more student apps are available to purchase.
This is one of the first e-readers in the world that is not aimed at the average consumer because of the fickle nature of the Western European and North American Markets. Everyone wants a device that costs less then $200 and it makes it hard for smaller companies to compete in the market. Ectaco decided to make a full color device that made textbooks and classroom work relevant on an e-reader instead of a tablet.
There are four main categories aimed directly at students and provide a number of very specific programs aimed at K12 schools. You have Classroom and Homework, Oxford Reading Support, Language and Games, and Science and Math. Each one of these genres has about six to twelve different applications that should greatly assist people. You have everything from SAT Preparation courses to an interactive periodic tablet of the elements.
Many of the programs bundled on the JB Color have audio elements that will give you an audio definition of a specific word in the dictionary or an eBook you are reading. They even have translations to help you learn new languages such as Spanish, French, Russian, and many more! This should provide a boon for people who might say a word the wrong way because people are used to pronouncing things phonetically. The audio aspect really helps people ensure they way they speak is proper.
You can really tell Jetbook put a ton of effort into developing custom content for an e-reader and no other device on the market comes close in bringing a truly unique student experience to an e-ink based e-reader.
Most people will purchase the Jetbook Color for the ability to use it in their home and not even use the student elements and this is something the company is betting on.
e-Reading and eBook Experience
The Jetbook Color recognizes a wide array of formats that will allow people to load in their own books they either purchased from other online stores or have downloaded from the internet. It will read ePub, Mobi, PRC, PDB, RTF, TXT, HTML, PDF, FB2 formats and is fully compatible with Adobe Digital Editions.
Reading a Book on the Jetbook Color gives you the best experience out of all of the current generation 9.7 inch e-readers. The resolution of 1600×1200 is unmatched by any other device and provides tremendously crisp fonts when you are reading a normal book.
Where this device really shines is on comic books! Personally I love Marvel and Indie comics and buy a bunch online. The Jetbook Color really gives you the type of digital paper experience that is much akin to reading the real thing. The large 9.7 screen is basically the same size as your average comic book so there is hardly any degradation factors in the overall quality.
Newspapers and technical documents also really shine and give you options to reflow the text and zoom in on specific aspects. You can make highlights and annotations with the stylus if you want to keep track of your work. One of the great features is the ability to save your notes as independent files and then export them onto your Micro SD card.
The one drawback of the Jetbook Color as an e-reader is that there is no way to really augment the text, line spaces, or margins. You have a basic zoom option found in the settings to tailor the book or other item you are reading for optimal performance. It seems when you read the average eBook you don’t really have to do much to conform the text properly. You might want to make the font a little bigger, but there are no options to physically change the font to, for example, Ariel or Times New Roman.
PDF Viewing gives you a few new elements such as REFLOW and Zoom to help make whatever document you are reading a little bit better. I found most PDFs loaded properly right from the get-go, but comic books always warranted fiddling around with the settings to nail the sweet spot.
The only big drawback with the Jetbook Color is that you are relegated to the portrait only viewpoint. There is NO way currently to switch it to landscape mode, although it is always possible to do this with future firmware updates. The Kindle DX was much the same technology wise but had the software to make it display
Our Thoughts
The Jetbook Color is a quantum leap in e-Ink based technology in consumer electronics. It really is a game changer to display super high quality e-paper experience while giving you the option for vivid colors.
My main concern with this device is the hardware really hinders the ability for this to catch on with your average user. I found while reading a simple PDF it took a few seconds to turn the page, often ten seconds. The more extensive and graphic intensive a document was the longer it took to open the settings and make changes. It suffers greatly by the hardware that is underneath the hood and that fact alone will turn many people off.
The Jetbook Color is great in practice while you are reading but suffers from execution. The software is amazing and the student learning software is the best in the business. Reading comics and books on such a large screen is something I have been waiting for a long time. If the processor was doubled and had 1 GB of RAM, this would be the ultimate device.
In the end, the Jetbook Color has to really be seen to be appreciated. It is currently the best 9 inch e-reader on the market and destroys its competition, such as the Amazon Kindle DX and Pocketbook 912. The fact it displays full color e-ink will resonate well with people who can afford to pay the $500.00 it costs to purchase one.
I recommend this item to anyone that is a professional and needs a device for technical documentation and who is sick of all the tablets out there and wants a device they will have to charge maybe 5 times a year. I also recommend it to K12 students as a way to cut down on the weight of your backpack and load in your own books. Finally, anyone that wants to read comics should buy this device. It may not read CBZ and CBR formats but PDF viewing is not shabby at all and there are lots of free converter programs out there.
Rating: 7.5/10
Ectaco Jetbook Color now available via Shop e-Readers
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Shop e-Readers one of the leading international companies that carry the largest selections of e-readers in the world is now shipping the Ectaco Jetbook Color. This is the worlds first e-reader to have e-ink Triton which gives you tremendous resolution on its 9.7 inch screen.
The Jetbook Color has been a long time in waiting and its great to finally have it hit the market. Its an educational based reader with SAT Preparation course material and near 50 custom apps to get you going in the world of science, math, spelling and more. This is one of the best devices going if you demand an e-ink color experience. You can read magazines, newspapers, manga, graphic novels and even borrow books with Overdrive. If you are savvy you can easily load your own content in using Calibre or even Adobe Digital Editions.
The Jetbook Color is on sale at shopereaders.com and available at $499.99. It ships within Canada within a few days and the rest of the world within a week. They only have around six in stock so I would order now.
Ectaco Shows off Jetbook Color at CES
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Ectaco showed off their latest color touchscreen e-reader at CES this year with the Jetbook Color. This is one of the most highly anticipated e-readers to hit the market in a long time because of its ability to use full color via e-Ink Triton. This new device is not meant for the masses, we were told, and instead is aimed at the educational market.
If you caught our review a few months ago of the Jetbook K12, the new Jetbook color uses the exact same firmware to give you access to many of its modules that make it a must have for any student. It features a 9.7 inch touchscreen, although you can only interact with it via the accompanying stylus. We were told by the rep that the company is working on a next generation model of the Jetbook Color that will not rely on said stylus and instead will be interactive through your fingers.
The main menu of the Jetbook Color is really your nexus point for the classroom. It is broken down into the ebooks you are currently reading, library, apps, audio, and educational software. There are many dictionaries and learning games on this device, but none are really that exciting. Some of the more interesting features found on this device are the SAT preparation courses and various science and math applications. One of the things I liked was the interactive periodic table.
Extaco is currently accepting pre-orders for the device for end users and we were told it would ship within a month or two. The company is trying to refine the firmware to make it compatible with the digital pen that was bundled with the Jetbook K12. This gives you the ability to basically scan text in physical books and then digitize all of the information and save it to your device. Really, the K12 initially was hyped as a great e-ink based reader that would allow users to read comics, books, and textbooks in full color. The company is really not even bothering with the end-user market anymore, we were told. Instead they are focused in Russia and landing lucrative contracts. Finally, they revealed that they are starting a pilot project with the New York educational system to bring their devices into various K12 classrooms in the next few months. Check out the full specs on this device HERE.
Ectaco Jetbook K12 Video Review
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Welcome to another Exclusive Good e-Reader Video Review! Today we take a look at the newest educational e-reader on the block, the Jetbook K12.
The Jetbook K12 e-Reader sports a 5 inch TFT LCD screen with a resolution of 640×540 and 16 levels of greyscale. You have 150 MB of built in memory and you can further enhance it up to 16 GB via the Micro USB card. The RAM is enough for what the unit is at 64MB SDRAM and seems to load programs fairly quickly with the SamSung S3C2450 533MHz Processor.
It is bundled with tons of software, such as SAT PREP courses and math/spelling applications. One of the most exciting features is that it has twin speakers, a built in mic and a digital pen to capture notes from textbooks.
Jetbook K12 Educational e-Reader Review
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The Jetbook K12 is the first educational reader put out by Ectaco! It is loaded with software that should benefit a diligent young scholar to learn about everything from the Periodic Table to S.A.T. Prep Courses. Is the K12 really justifiable at the $399 price-tag to be a relevant piece of technology for the modern student?
Hardware
The Jetbook K12 e-Reader sports a 5 inch TFT LCD screen with a resolution of 640×540 and 16 levels of greyscale. You have 150 MB of built in memory and you can further enhance it up to 16 GB via the Micro USB card. The RAM is enough for what the unit is at 64MB SDRAM and seems to load programs fairly quickly with the SamSung S3C2450 533MHz Processor.
The K12 is powered via the Mini USB cable that comes with the device and has a portable dock that can also be powered. The cables are really weird with this device because the cable to power your unit has a built in splitter to power the accompanied virtual pen. The pen is one of the most interesting pieces of technology we have ever seen shipped with an e-reader. You can think of the pen as a virtual scanner that allows you to highlight notes or passages in physical books and the text is imported automatically into the Jetbook K12. You can then save the notes in a TXT format and saves it to the memory. This should be a very good way to easily highlight the most relevant passages in a textbook. This is quaint because of instead of reading the chapter for a upcoming text you can just turn on your reader and see the notes you scanned. The Pen seems to capture the information fairly effectively but you have to be meticulous and take your time.
The K12 has the ability to display sound and also record it with the built in hardware. There are two speakers on the front of the reader and a microphone on the right hand side. I dug the fact they had all of these on the front instead of the back or top. This ensures sound is coming right at you and not behind. There is a trackball that is much akin to the Blackberry line of phones that you can scroll and then click on it to launch specific programs. Their is two other buttons used for varied tasks within the main interface or individual applications.
The overall design of the K12 is fairly unique because it seems to be surrounded by these different rubber grips for you to hold it in either landscape or portrait mode. I honestly liked different patterns and it felted like a more artistic design then something that is simple and minimalist. The back of the unit allows for the easy removal of the battery if ever locks up and you need to do a reboot. I found that the battery last about a day of constant use and does not have WIFI to drain the battery.
In the end I liked the free case that comes with the K12 in order to hold the device, base and digital pen. The inclusion of the docking station is great and allows you to power it while you are placing it on your desk. I think this device is perfect for a student that does not want the distractions of a e-reader with internet capabilities or a tablet that you will end up looking at Facebook or play Angry Birds.
Software
The Jetbook K12 runs on the Linux operating system and overall it is geared towards of installed educational modules. These programs are the essence of the device towards learning tasks. There are six main categories that comprise the home screen and they are launched by scrolling on the trackball. You have; My Library, Oxford Reading, Language and Games, Science and Math, Audiobooks and Music, and Help.
The K12 comes preloaded with 100′s of free books in the English language and schools have the options to order the devices in over 30 different ones. FB2 and PDF books seem to be the format that many of the dictionaries and open source books bundled on it. You do have the option of loading in your own and it supports a wide array of different formats. You can load in EPUB, TXT, FB2, PDF, MOBI, PRC and RTF. Next to the books is the actual format listed so you can organize your books a little bit more effectively. Once you connect the K12 into your PC with the Mini USB cable you can create directories in the ebook section and make collections.
The Reading Experience is rather spartan and only allows you to zoom in on the text and in PDF files allows you to adjust the Reflow. There is not much you can do to augment your experience like adjusting line-spacing or margins. It does have the cool feature to read specific words with the built in narrator and look them up in the built in dictionary.
The K12 learning modules are the bread and butter of the K12 is the bundled programs that come with and allow students to acomplish a ton of learning. The Languages and Games feature has a ton of options to expand your knowledge of verse and prose. There are spelling games and pictured dictionaries to Audio Phrasebooks and crossword puzzles.
The Oxford Reading Support area is geared towards not only your standard dictionary but a number of other options such as an audio version. You can look up a word and then have the built in narrator give you exact pronunciation. This is very positive because many students learn certain words and end up saying them wrong later on in life. There is also English To Spanish audio functionality to type in words and then hear the corresponding phrase in a different language.
One of the most prevalent programs in this section is the SAT Preparation Course and is sure to be VERY popular with students interested in pursing higher learning at college. It grades you in real time and gives you a varied amount of options for check-marking boxes to answering spedcific questions.
There is also a nifty Science and Math area with the standard calculators you would find but challenge you with interactive programs. One of my favorites was an interactive Periodic Table that you can click on each one and get a very detailed description on what it means and all of the numerical values.
Our Thoughts
The K12 in bundled with over 60 different learning modules that is bundled with the reader. It is small and portable with the five inch screen and can easily be stored and even fit in your pocket.
One of the ways this may discourage people from purchasing this is the entry level price point. It costs $399 to buy it from Ectaco and this may be a barrier for students to buy directly. The company does have a program in place to provide discounts for the education system and ways for them to save money.
I think this device is solid value for your money because of the sheer amount of content that is loaded on it. The digital pen is super fine because of the ability to highlight words on your physical books and instantly digitize them.
Should you buy this? You can get more value for your money with an entry level tablet or a Nook Tablet/Kindle Fire.
Rating 6.5/10
Hanvon Ready to Unleash Its New Technology
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The purpose of electronics trade shows is to give manufacturers a chance to show off a little, to bring the best that they’ve got and sometimes, to bring the best that they don’t have just yet. At the January 2011 CES expo in Las Vegas, Chinese e-reader and tablet developer Hanvon teasingly announced the upcoming release of their color e-ink reader; ditto their presence at BEA in late May, but those devices, originally slated to launch in China in March and release to North America later this year, are as of yet still unavailable to consumers eagerly awaiting the opportunity to use the technology that they got to experiment with briefly at those events.
“Hanvon is currently working on several new e-reader models, including the world’s first monochromatic 200 dpi e-ink reader and the world’s first color e-ink reader. The Hanvon E920 monochromatic 200 dpi e-reader will be released first in the domestic Chinese market towards the end of July. Chinese consumers can anticipate the Hanvon C9 color e-ink model shortly thereafter in the fall. Both models, showed at CES in January, are nearing completion and will be available soon,” comments Billy Hanafee, Marketing Manager for Hanvon’s International Business Department. And the anticipated E920 will certainly live up to the hype, as it supports seven different file types, utilizes the Opera web browser, supports Hanvon’s handwriting capabilities, and features a micro SD card slot for more storage, all encased in a 9.7” screen and weighs in at just over 500 grams.
Hanvon has enjoyed a dynamic working relationship with Ectaco, manufacturer of the jetBook series of e-readers which were also showcased at this year’s BookExpo. While Ectaco has worked to develop the firmware for the Hanvon devices, the two companies have collaborated on a number of educationally-designed e-readers for elementary through secondary educational settings. These devices, notably the jetBook Color and the jetBook K-12, are already in place in some markets and should be available for schools in the U.S., China, and Eastern Europe for the upcoming school year.
“The jetBook K-12 will have certain hardware and software features designed for students, whereas the C9 will be intended for consumer e-reader,” adds Hanafee. By focusing on the specific needs of its users in all markets, Hanvon is able to design its devices around the features its readers will use most, unlike developers who market one-size-fits-all devices to consumers.
Pocketbook 360 Plus VS. the Ectaco Jetbook Mini
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Welcome to an exclusive Good e-Reader Video comparison! Today we take a look at the old and the new, a battle of the 5 inch e-readers. This is a battle with the Pocketbook 360 Plus and the Ectaco Jetbook Mini.
In this video we show you how the menu system works on both devices and show off the e-reading experience. We compare built in abilities and eventually only one e-reader comes out on top! See today the battle of 2011, the Jetbook Mini VS the Pocketbook 360 Plus!
Ectaco Shows off the Jetbook K12 and K12 Color at Book Expo
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During Book Expo America 2011 we managed to get a brief look at the new Jetbook K12 and K12 Color from Ectaco. The Jetbook K12 is billed as an educational e-reader with tons more functionality than previous models released by Ectaco. They were also showing off the massively interesting K12 Color. Sadly, right now it is only available in Russia and the Ukraine.
The Jetbook K12 is a total student device aimed at the highschool crowd. It comes with all sorts of SAT and ACT prep course material, crossword puzzles, math and science reference books, and an interactive course in US history and facts. It also has built-in books from 50 State Reading Lists.
Ectaco also briefly introduced the K12 Color e-reader, which looks much akin to the Hanvon 9.7 inch color e-reader we saw at CES. This one is a student’s device on crack! It logs you in and out of the school as you are in the specific geo-location. It will have notes and dictionary functions, and is being billed as a more advanced device. Unfortunately, it is only available in Russia.
What Brand e-Reader do you have? Top 10 Poll Results
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We ran a poll in December 2010 and January 2011 on what brand of e-reader proved to be the most popular with the regular visitors of Good e-Reader. This poll was run during the crucial holiday season and the month afterwords. We did not ask what e-reader in particular people had, but only what brand they decided to go with. We had 647 votes total cast in two months and the results for the top two are rather surprising.
Barnes and Noble came in first place with 167 of the total vote cast. The company has far reaching accessibility in the retail setting which propelled the company into 1st place. The big sellers during the poll was the new Barnes and Noble Nook Color e-reader and the Barnes and Noble Nook WIFI.
Amazon came in second place with 144 votes in our poll. It is no surprise that Amazon is ranking in the top two due to the success of marketing their Kindle line of e-readers online and in a retail setting. One of the huge factors that limited Amazon from top position was the fact that most of December 2010 they suffered from an inventory shortage. After Dec 12th all online orders were shipped in January. This does show that Amazon is remaining relevant. Their big step forward in 2010 was the fact they migrated from being purely available online to establishing relationships with Target, Bestbuy, Staples and others.
Kobo came in third place with 111 votes. This company remains very successful in other markets besides the USA. Kobo does well in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where retail accessibility for other e-readers is virtually nonexistent. The main e-Reader people seem to have is the Kobo Wireless which allows you to tap into 1.3 million ebooks that Kobo has in their library.
Pandigital came in fourth place with 90 votes and 14% of the overall vote. This is the only company in the top 5 that does not have their own ebook store. The company makes money only selling its Novel line of Tablets thinly veiled as e-readers. A recently filed report by business intelligence group IDC mentioned that Pandigital was the 2nd most popular e-reader company in all of 2010 from a sales point of view, barely overtaking Barnes and Noble. The most popular Pandigital e-Readers is the Pandigital Novel and Pandigital Novel 9 inch.
Rounding off the top five is Sony with 88 votes from the overall poll respondents. Most of Sony’s success came from the two of the three new e-readers launched in 2010 the PRS-650 and the PRS-350. Sony is also big time into retail settings in non-USA markets. Although it does very brisk sales in America it is the international division that reports a large number of sales. In late 2010 Sony entered the notoriously fickle Japanese market for the second time and made many new local partnerships for magazines, ebooks, and newspapers. This also contributed to the global supply problems we reported on recently.
Capturing 69 votes were respondents that said they had e-readers not listed in the poll. Rounding off the top 10 was Beebook with 2% through 13 votes. Next came in Ectaco with 2% and 11 votes and Astak with 1% and 9 votes. Finally we had 2 votes for iRex and 1 vote for Elonex.
What this poll clearly showed is the tech savvy people that visit our blog clearly are not all Amazon loyal, but have their preferred device spread out by the top companies. The fact Barnes and Noble came in 1st place was a telltale sign that people really bought into the Nook Color and the Nook WFI last year. The Nook Color is not only a tremendous tablet for your money but is one of the only companies in the world that offer full color kids books, textbooks, newspapers, magazines, and all of the latest bestsellers. Also Barnes and Noble make it very easy to shop with bookstores other than Barnes and Noble. You can purchase ePub books from Kobo, Borders, Smashwords, and most others to import onto your device via Adobe Digital Editions.
Amazon coming in 2nd place was a clinch. You can never discount the relevancy of the largest eBook store in the world. In 2010 we saw the 3rd generation Kindle Graphite line of e-readers. The company also slashed prices bringing down the entry level costs to $139 for the WIFI only and $189 for the 3G variant.
I was very surprised that Kobo ranked 3rd, but in essence it does make sense. Kobo leads all of the top 5 with its reader application having the farthest reach out of all of the others. They have their app on iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone 7, besides having an exclusive relationship with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. In 2011 things should remain consistant with their app expansions, inking new agreements with the Playbook by RIM, the HTC Tablet, and many more. It really helps Kobo to have their app come pre-bundled on a ton of devices, such as the Sharper Image Literati. Although their core e-reader lacks some features that Sony, Amazon and Barnes and Noble offer, it makes up for being very easy to get and return.
The other top positions were expected, neither Sony nor Pandigital have any kind of pull. You cannot buy ebooks on a Sony device, you have to use your computer to buy books then transfer them to your device over USB. Pandigital does not even have their own book store. Both of these e-readers continue to be popular due to the fact that Sony rides with the Sony brand name and actually has SOLID technology. I personally love the build quality of the Sony PRS-650 and Pandigital is merely an average tablet.
The most telling feature is the gulf between the top 5 and everything else. The top 5 accounted for most of the top percentile of all votes cast, with only a combines 69 votes for the others. It really shows that people are attracted to e-readers that are available in a retail setting and have a low price. People also mentioned that having a dedicated ebook store builds better brand identity.
Hands on with the Jetbook Lite e-Reader
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Welcome to another Good e-Reader Video Review! In this video we extensively give a hands on review of the Ectaco Jetbook Lite! This currently is the premier e-reader from Ectaco and has many features that lack in the original Jetbook and the Jetbook Mini.
The Jetbook Lite features a 5 inch TFT LCD screen with a resolution of 640×480. Although it is not E-Ink it does use a monochrome based technology allowing it to be read in various lighting conditions. One of the great aspects of the screen they use is that there is no flicker as pages turn. Entry level e-readers are well known for the delay in page refreshing when you turn pages or access different menus. The Jetbook Lite fairs very solid in the respects of its screen.
The Jetbook Lite has 100 MB of internal memory to read books and can be further increased via SD card, up to 32 GB. This is a great upgrade compared to the Jetbook Mini, which has a paltry 1.4 MB of internal storage. Literary you can store thousands of books on your electronic reader.
Most Electronic Readers have an internal battery used to power it, not so with the Ectaco Jetbook Lite. It runs on 4 AA batteries that gives you around 20 hours of constant usage. The one great thing about using tangible batteries is that it brings the cost down significantly, although in the long term your end cost is increased having to buy batteries. We recommend buying some rechargeable batteries to make this device a viable way of charging it. Another great benefit is how accessible batteries are worldwide. Many different countries use different voltages for charging devices, where as a AA battery anywhere in the world would be compatible with your e-reader.
There is a Mini USB port on the device that you use in order to hook it up to your computer and directly copy pictures and ebooks. This also serves as copying Jetbook Lite firmware update files which greatly enhance your e-reader. Some benefits of loading in the firmware updates include the ability to load in DRM-EPUB content.
The design elements of the Lite make it very slick and intutive to use. There is a D-PAD that you use to scroll up and down in menus. There are also other buttons devoted to turning a page forwards and backwards. Also, there are numerical buttons on the side, these are used to launch programs and settings. For example, some setting menus have six or seven options, instead of having to scroll all the way down, each option has a numerical value. If the option you want to hit is near the bottom, instead of scrolling on the D-PAD, you can simply hit the number key and launch the setting. We found this very convenient and something entirely unique to the Jetbook Lite, against any of its competition.
This e-reader has the ability to flip between landscape and portrait mode, unlike many of its direct competition.
Finally, the Jetbook Lite does not have WIFI or 3G, so there is no way to connect up to the internet. Ectaco does not have an eBook store, so they leave it in your hands to be able to locate and download the books yourself.
Make sure to check out our full written review of the Ectaco Jetbook Lite.
Ectaco Jetbook Lite e-Reader Review
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Welcome to another Good e-Reader review! Today we take a look at one of the best e-reader offerings from Ectaco, the Jetbook Lite! How does the Jetbook Lite compare with the companies other offerings and against other e-readers on the market? We shall soon find out.
Hardware
The Jetbook Lite features a 5 inch TFT LCD screen with a resolution of 640×480. Although it is not E-Ink it does use a monochrome based technology allowing it to be read in various lighting conditions. One of the great aspects of the screen they use is that there is no flicker as pages turn. Entry level e-readers are well known for the delay in page refreshing when you turn pages or access different menus. The Jetbook Lite fairs very solid in the respects of its screen.
The Jetbook Lite has 100 MB of internal memory to read books and can be further increased via SD card, up to 32 GB. This is a great upgrade compared to the Jetbook Mini, which has a paltry 1.4 MB of internal storage. Literary you can store thousands of books on your electronic reader.
Most Electronic Readers have an internal battery used to power it, not so with the Ectaco Jetbook Lite. It runs on 4 AA batteries that gives you around 20 hours of constant usage. The one great thing about using tangible batteries is that it brings the cost down significantly, although in the long term your end cost is increased having to buy batteries. We recommend buying some rechargeable batteries to make this device a viable way of charging it. Another great benefit is how accessible batteries are worldwide. Many different countries use different voltages for charging devices, where as a AA battery anywhere in the world would be compatible with your e-reader.
There is a Mini USB port on the device that you use in order to hook it up to your computer and directly copy pictures and ebooks. This also serves as copying Jetbook Lite firmware update files which greatly enhance your e-reader. Some benefits of loading in the firmware updates include the ability to load in DRM-EPUB content.
The design elements of the Lite make it very slick and intutive to use. There is a D-PAD that you use to scroll up and down in menus. There are also other buttons devoted to turning a page forwards and backwards. Also, there are numerical buttons on the side, these are used to launch programs and settings. For example, some setting menus have six or seven options, instead of having to scroll all the way down, each option has a numerical value. If the option you want to hit is near the bottom, instead of scrolling on the D-PAD, you can simply hit the number key and launch the setting. We found this very convenient and something entirely unique to the Jetbook Lite, against any of its competition.
This e-reader has the ability to flip between landscape and portrait mode, unlike many of its direct competition.
Finally, the Jetbook Lite does not have WIFI or 3G, so there is no way to connect up to the internet. Ectaco does not have an eBook store, so they leave it in your hands to be able to locate and download the books yourself.
Software
The Ectaco Jetbook Lite runs a Linux based operating system, which is very stable and has yet to hang or crash. The main main has three main options, to view pictures, settings and read books.
The Ectaco Jetbook Lite is a great e-reader in the respects of its ability to read many types of ebook formats. It has direct support for ePub, Mobi, PRC, RTF, txt, pdf, and FB2. It also is one of the few Ectaco readers that are able to display pictures, it supports jpg, gif, png and bmp formats.
Not only does the Jetbook Lite support many type of ebook formats, but has direct support for many different languages as well. It has direct support for eBook contents in Albanian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Faeroese, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian and other European languages. It also has menu and settings languges to be able to be localized, including; English, German, Spanish, Polish, and Russian.
There are 100 free classic ebooks that come with the device, along with the user manual and CIA World Factbook. So there is enough on the e-reader to get you reading as soon as you buy it.
You have the ability with this device to be able to look up words using the built in dictionary. The dictionary itself is available in many different languages, so if English is not your main spoken tongue, you do have options. The one great feature about the built in dictionary is that it gives you the bare essentials to know what the word means. It does not over-complicate the feature used to give you the meanings. There is the direct pronunciation and 3 quick half sentences that tell you the different meanings.
There is a number of font selections you can employ on this particular e-reader. The Ectaco e-Book Reader provides multiple choice of sizes and types to suit your reading preference.
We mentioned prior that Jetbook does not have a content distrubution system, but does read a ton of different formatrs for ebooks. This is a mixed blessing, for people new to e-readers they might have a complicated time finding ebooks to download. If you want to buy an eBook from another store, you have to make sure its only in ePub format. A ton of stores sell books in this format including Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Smashwords and iBooks.
Our Take on the Jetbook Lite
Compared to the prior offerings of Ectaco the Jetbook Mini and the original Jetbook this is the most superior device they have launched to date.
Some of the factors that led us to arrive at this conclusion was the fact that it has very solid organizational structure. The main menu has three options, Books, Pictures and Settings. When you select Books you see your current library of books, with the book title and authors name. Pictures are very basic just showing you the title of them. The settings menu was our pleasant surprise. All of the main settings are broken into main categories and then launch corresponding sub categories. This serves not to overwhelm you with the sheer amount of options to select, like the Jetbook Mini does.
We also really liked its ability to read every major ebook format that is easily downloaded from the internet. The internet is rich in being able to download a ton of free content. Project Gutenberg and Google Books has a ton of classics that you can spend your entire life reading. There is also plenty of websites that sell ebooks in ePub format that you can easily load into your e-reader via Adobe Digital Editions. If you are a person that loves their torrents or private sites, you won’t have to do tons of formatting and conversion to be able to read the books.
All in all, the Jetbook Lite is a worthwhile investing if you live outside of North America. We are blessed in Canada and the USA to have such an extensive selection of e-readers at our hands, both in stores and online. Outside of North America the pickings get very slim and prices dramatically increase. To give you an idea, the Kobo e-Reader sold in the USA retails for around $99.00, in Canada it retails for $149 and in Australia $220.00. You can see the dramatic gulf in price and allot of e-readers do not even ship outside of the USA, such as Barnes and Noble.
The Jetbook Lite retails anywhere between $99 and $170 and if you decide to pick one up you are getting a solid device for your money. We recommend this one to people who are independent and tech savvy enough to be able to locate books on your own, without being locked into a specific ebook store. If you are interested in purchasing the Jetbook Lite, check out our retail partner Shop e-Readers! They ship all over the world at cheap affordable prices.
The Battle of e-Readers in the Russian School System
Posted by: Michael Kozlowski | Comments (7)There is a battle brewing in the e-ink technology sphere and it is not in the American market, where over 75% of global e-reader sales take place. Instead, the newest version of reading is happening in the Russian Educational system.
During our discussions with executives at e-Ink and Plastic Logic over the weekend at the first E-Readers Conference in San Francisco, we talked in detail on the war being waged. Away from prying eyes two major companies are vying for market position and trying to land lucrative contracts in Russia.
The Russian educational system is providing an old west style free for all, that is encouraging many tech companies to vie with important contracts. Recently a top level decision was made to digitize the Russian educational school system. This has promoted companies to vie for contracts to be one of the technologies used in thousands of schools. This obviously means it’s a very important race to be the one to garner over a hundred million in sales.
Right now in Russia many pilot programs are being launched with competing devices to find the right solution. Different tablets and e-readers who have firmware geared towards schools are jockeying for position.
The two most important companies who have the best chance in being selected have a tremendous amount of experience and a solid management team to make it happen. Both Plastic Logic and Ectaco are considered the front runners so far.
After 4 years of trials and tribulations, Plastic Logic cranked out their first official device that is aimed at the Russian educational school system. Plastic Logic CEO Indro Mukerjee officially debuted the electronic textbook at an event held at the Moscow Planetarium during a visit by British Trade Minister Lord Green. The event, organized by RUSNANO and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), highlighted Plastic Logic as an example of the joint technology cooperation between the UK and Russia.
Plastic Logic had a major investment partner earlier on in the year from a Russian company looking to make a play at the educational market. Currently Plastic Logic has a Research and Development business in California, an office in Cambridge, a manufacturing plant in Dresdon Germany and an upcoming major factory in Russia. It is the plant in Russia that warranted the investment to create jobs, but more importantly to play an important role in why Plastic Logic should be selected. After all, it is an compelling case during negotiations that the device is made in Russia, for Russia.
The new Plastic Logic 100 is the new device they are testing right now and feels very polished. It uses a new technology that is neither LCD or eInk, it uses patented PlasticPaper. Because the base is not glass, the Plastic Logic 100 display is large, thin, lightweight and is uniquely shatterproof and rugged, which is especially important given constant use by students.
The new device sports a 10.7 inch shatter proof screen that reads like paper. The resolution is 1280×960 and has 150 PPI! It has a capacitive IR touchscreen interface that makes interacting with it easier then most touchscreen e-ink devices. This is the same tech found in the new Kobo Touch Reader. It has a 800 MHZ processor and 4 GB of internal storage. Battery life will last about a week of constant use, which is fairly solid.
The operating system and firmware is designed to be a students guide. It has all of the features of note taking, highlights, book reading and study guides to assist in this. The firmware is obviously evolving due to the constant feedback from the trial programs and is being polished.
Ectaco has been making e-readers for a number of years normally aimed at the end user. Due to the competition in the retail sphere the company is changing their business model to be more education based. This has prompted the company to launch their own Jetbook K12 e-reader that is aimed specifically at the education market. It is meant to be used by students from Grade 1 to 12 and has a myriad of options to make it student friendly. It has many books and firmware to maximize the effectiveness of a device made for schools. They have also purchased the rights to the Hanvon Color e-ink reader to distribute it in Russia. This is the new breed of e-ink Triton which mimics paper and gives thousands of colors and offers high resolution for books and images.
Ectaco is making a play with a color and non-color device aimed at various levels of the educational system. The K12 is for highschool and middle school while the Jetbook Color is aimed at higher learning environments.
I have had the pleasure of having hands on time with both of these devices and Ectaco has a more refined operating system and firmware enhancements directed at students. In retrospect, I see Plastic Logic as having better quality technology and their devices feel more polished and hightech.
What about the international market such as the USA, Canada, and the UK? Where do they fall into the plans to get their hands on Color e-ink technology? Both Plastic Logic and Ectaco stress that Russia is the critical market and will determine whether they have enough resources to penetrate markets that have more money to spend but are harder to break into.
Daren Benzi, an Executive Director at Plastic Logic, mentioned that the reason why they are focusing on Russia and not other markets is because of the “Top Down” approach. Russia on the highest level of government mandated that they want to digitize the school system with tablets or e-readers to conserve on money in the longer term. This means there is lots of money, set in stone, to be allocated to the companies who win the bids. When you look at the American educational market it is not “top down.” You have specific schools wanting to make the change, and maybe specific districts, but never entire states or the country wanting to update.
A few months ago, Mercy Pilkington interviewed Governor Rick Scott of Florida about his proposition to implement e-readers and tablets in all of the classsrooms in Florida. “The decision on what devices to use will be left to school districts, with advice and technical assistance from the Florida Department of Education,” says Press Secretary Lane Wright. “The law allows districts to decide how they’re going to use the money required for digital learning materials, starting in 2015-2016. Districts will decide on which subjects and grade levels. Initially, school districts will only be required to begin buying digital instructional materials using 50% of the funds allocated by the state for instructional materials in the 2015-2016 fiscal year.”
Although specific states in the USA might be making moves to gravitate towards a digital experience, it is not a sure bet. If Rick Scott does not make it into another term in office, this bill can be shot dead. Until digital readers are decided upon, on a Federal level, most companies will focus on markets that already have these things decided from the higher reaches of government.
If Color e-ink by way of Ectaco and new tech from Plastic Logic are not in the cards anytime soon, where does that leave the market that wants color in their e-reading experience? When we met with executives from Liquavista and Mirasol over the last few days, they told me that we will see devices by the end of the year using their technology. Although both use different types of technology that is not e-ink, remember e-ink Holdings is a company offering screen technology found in the Kindle, Kobo, and Sony e-readers of the world. It is popular, of course, but there are other avenues available that been in development for quite some time and could eat away at e-Ink’s market share if marketed correctly.
Samsung recently acquired Liquavista earlier this year and this is why we have not seen their new Electrowetting technology in any products to date. I was told that “anytime you are acquired there is a always a long delay in manufacturing and management changes.” Obviously Samsung has perhaps one of the strongest companies in the world in terms of “the total package.” They make their own screens and components, and sell their items under their own banner. We could prospectively see some mighty new products from Liquavista that give us better resolution than e-ink and draw even less power, giving us longer battery life.
Mirasol based technology is another alternative that is coming soon and is developed in conjunction with Qualcomm. You might have heard a while back that Mirasol and Freescale had teamed up for an e-reader which was all over the news. When we spoke with Cheryl Goodman, who is in charge of Publisher Relations at Mirasol, she said that the e-reader was just proof of a concept to test the new chipset in their designs. It was never meant to be marketed.
The specialty of the Mirasol display technology is that the display does not depend on backlight, but instead uses the ambient lighting for it to show text on screen. In this respect, the Mirasol display can be considered similar to e-ink screens, though that’s where the similarity ends. While e-ink screens have the advantage of low power requirements, they suffer from the disadvantage of being unable to render color displays or support moving pictures. This is not so with the Mirasol screens, which can handle both.
The e-Reader space is too competitive for Plastic Logic and Ectaco to make a play for the Western European and North American Markets. So many companies have tried and failed to make an impress on a fickle market that is obsessed with Nooks, Kindles, and iPads. Many people wonder why color e-ink or color displays on e-readers are not a reality here at home. Hopefully this article has shared some insight on why the two companies are not ready to bring it over here yet on a commercial level.