The Novel e-reader from Pandigital does look promising so that many even tagged it as the poor man’s iPad. The other good thing with the Pandigital Novel is that there is no waiting to be done for the e-reader to show up in stores near you, it’s already there to be picked up at the Kohl’s. But its not all smooth sailing for the Novel and as per the latest e-reader news, things aren’t working out the way it should be for the reading device.
So what exactly it is that is playing spoilsport. Well, those who have already bought the device are complaining of its slow response times and the lack of a consistent WiFi connection. Flexibility is another thing that is painfully lacking in the Novel.
Touching the 7-inch LCD touchscreen won’t evoke the response as promptly as you would like and if you thought calibrating the e-reader would set things right, you are in for a surprise as this turns things for the worse. WiFi won’t connect at all. The e-reader takes its own sweet time to turn pages and the same applies when it comes to navigating e-books. And a recent firmware update notwithstanding, things like the margins, line spacing or fonts still can be adjusted.
Another thing that is surprisingly missing from the Novel is the accelerometer which its makers had claimed is built into the device. So there is only the portrait orientation that one has to be contended with as of now. Build quality too is nothing to cry home about and leaves a lot to be desired.
So if you are one of many who were willing to fork out the $260 that the Novel costs, it would be better to put that on hold for a while. Instead a Kindle or a Nook would make for a far sensible choice as things stand now though both these lack color display and a touch sensitive screen.
We will be following on this to see how things pan out. So keep watching along with other e-reader news.
Also, you can now have the brand new issue of the Good E-Reader Magazine delivered right in your inbox if you have subscribed to the color mag that deals exclusively with Slate/Tablet devices and e-readers.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
