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.
Markus lives in San Francisco, California and is the video game and audio expert on Good e-Reader! He has a huge interest in new e-readers and tablets, and gaming.
