The Good e-Reader Buyers Guide 2011 pptx

The Good e-Reader Buyers Guide 2011
Michael Kozlowski
Copyright 2011 by Good e-Reader
Smashwords Edition
The Good e-Reader – eReader Buyers Guide for 2011 attempts to explore the myriad of e-
readers in the market right now. Many devices have hit the market this year and it can be
overwhelming to make the decision on what device is right for you. We explore over 25 e-
readers that are widely available in the United States and Canada and give you a comprehensive
review on each device.
The Holidays are quickly approaching and you might be keen on upgrading your own e-reader or
maybe just buying one for the first time. You even might be considering a gift for that special
someone and want to make sure you are buying the right e-reader for them.
We at Good e-Reader consider ourselves the definitive source on e-readers, digital publishing,
ebooks and tablets. Our tech blog is visited by over 5 million people to get the latest industry
news and look at all of the new releases. We extensively review every new e-reader that hits the
market and often do a series of videos that give you tutorials on how to setup and manage your
device. If you are the type of person that loves to load in their own ebooks or borrow them from
the library, our videos also assist you in showing you how to do it, step by step.
If contests are your thing we do giveaways almost every few weeks for new e-readers and tablets
that companies send us for reviews. Entry is free and it’s our way of saying thanks for stopping
by our site.
During 2011 at Good e-Reader we started our eBook of the Week feature, so if you love to read,
it’s worth checking out. We have been doing a series of author interviews, giving you an
introspective on their writing process and give their book away for free, for one week. This is a
great way to discover new authors and even speak with them, during one of our live chat events.
Finally at Good e-Reader we visit all of the key events that happen every year to provide the best
news possible. We visit CES, Computex, the London Book Fair, Book Expo New York and
many other industry events. When things happen in the industry we are there and we want to
thank everyone for all of the love and support. You can visit our news site today and join in on
the fun at />Table of Contents
Aluratek Libre Air

Aluaratek Libre Color
Amazon Kindle with Special Offers
Amazon Kindle DX
Barnes and Noble Nook Color
Barnes and Noble Simple Touch Reader
Jetbook Lite
Kobo Touch
iRiver Story HD
Pandigital Nova
Pocketbook 360 Plus
Pocketbook 902
Sharper Image Literati
Sony 350 Pocket Edition
Sony 650 Touch Edition
Sony PRS-T1 Reader WIFI
Skytex Primer
The Book by Augen
V.Tech V-Reader
Aluratek Libre Air
Aluratek showed off two new e-readers at CES this year; the Libre Touch and the Libre Air. The
main question we are attempting to explore is whether or not the company is issuing relevant
products in 2011 to compete with other popular e-readers such as the Kobo Touch or Nook
Simple Touch?
The Hardware
The Aluratek Libre Air features a 5 inch reflective light LCD screen with a resolution of
640×480 pixels. It does not have a backlite screen like most LCD devices and feels like the full
e-ink experience. One of the benefits of going for an LCD based e-reader is that you do not have
the lingering flickering and refresh issues like you do on most entry level readers.
You have 200 MB of internal memory that will store your books, pictures, and music files. You
can expand on this via the MicroSD card up to 32 GB to store tons more.

You connect up to the internet via the built in WIFI and you can enter password protected
networks via the numbered keys on the side of the device. The numbered keys feel like a
smartphone in the respect that you have to press the 2 button 3 times to get the letter C. This
keyboard layout gets very tedious at times because any symbols involving periods or @ symbols
for emails require you to hit extra keys to call up different symbol lists. One of the more
unintuitive aspects of the keyboard layout on the side of the device is the unversial symbol key is
the number 0. There are no visual cues letting the user know that the number key is what you
need to press to call up symbols.
The Aluratek Libre Air has a Mini USB port in order to connect it up to your computer to copy
ebooks, music, or pictures to your device. It also comes with a wall charger with a USB port on
it, so you can use the cable that came with your device to also wall charge your unit. It seems
also you can charge your device via the Micro USB cable as well.
Since this is a device does not feature a touchscreen, it has many buttons for different functions.
On the left hand side of the unit it has a magnifying glass and page turn buttons. These buttons
do different things depending on what application you are viewing. For example, when you are
in the picture or music apps, they allow the user to perform different functions. On the bottom of
the e-reader is a D-Pad that has 4 different directions to move around the various menus. It has
has a mouse in the center which helps you scroll around the Kobo Book store. Underneath the
DPAD is a HOME, Back, and Settings button. These quickly help you access advanced settings
and feel like an Android device in terms of their overall functionality. There is also a power
button on the top of the unit and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the bottom.
There is an built in accelerometer with the Libre Air that gives you the ability to switch from
landscape to portrait mode. It order to switch perspectives you have to activate the function in
the settings menu.
This e-reader feels very light and you should get around 20 hours of use between charges or
about 2 weeks in standby mode. The device is made of a durable plastic shell and feels flimsy,
but the company does give you a carrying case to protect it.
Software
The Aluratek Libre Air is running a Linux based operating system and it really feels like there is
only 128 MB of RAM on it. Navigating menus and settings feels clunky and slow and internet

browsing is a harrowing experience.
There is an internet browser on the Libre Air, but you have no ability to visit various websites on
the internet. When you load up the browser it defaults you the Kobo bookstore in order to buy
books. The e-reader does not allow you to register your own Kobo account so you will need a PC
to do one first before you can download books. You have a wide selection of books via Kobo
and can buy books in EPUB format.
Navigating the Kobo store is intuitive, albeit very slow, menus and different pages take around
15 seconds. If you want to download free ebooks from Kobo you need to also register with
Adobe to get an account to read DRM content. It seriously took me 35 minutes to use the
abysmal keyboard with the symbol keys to type in my user name and password and then my
Adobe login name and password. The store experience with the hardware layout of the e-reader
was easily the worst experience reviewing this device.
Hopefully via the WFI and internet that the Libre Air has, it will support pushed updates. We
saw an update feature in the settings menu but there has been no firmware updates since the
company has released it.
Lets talk about ebooks, since that is the bread and butter of any electronic reader. This model
reads different formats such as ePub, RTF, TXT, PDF, MOB, FB2, and PRC. Different ebook
formats give you different options when you are reading a font. For example when you read TXT
books which come preloaded on the e-reader you can edit the font size and margins. If you load
up an EPUB book you cannot change the size of the font, instead you have a clunky ZOOM
function and no ability to edit margins. Also when you read EPUB there is no ability to make
your device switch from landscape to portrait mode but you can do it with TXT formats. It seems
reading TXT files gives you the most freedom in a solid ebook reading experience but EPUB
books and other established formats such as PDF and PRC do not.
When you open and close books they are accessible under a Recent Reading application that lists
the most recent 9 books you are reading and will put you right were you left off. To access them
you can hit one of the number keys on the side of the unit instead of tediously navigating with
the DPAD.
The Libre Air has added functionality such as a music player and picture app. You can load in
your own MP3, WAV and WMA into the music player and even setup a playlist. There are no

speakers on the device but you can easily listen to audio books or music via the headphone jack.
If pictures are your thing you can load them in PNG, GIF, or BMP, but none of the pictures I
loaded looked crisp or well rendered at all.
In order to access any media on your e-reader you have to manage your device via Windows
Explorer. By default their are no folders other than the free books from Kobo. So I recommend
recreating separate ones for your music, pictures, and books or your device will be cluttered very
quickly.
Our Thoughts on the Aluratek Libre Air
What do you get when you cross the Jetbook Mini and the Augen Gentouch 78? The Aluratek
Libre Air. This is a woeful e-reader that certainly does not do the company any favors with
releasing a new product in 2011.
Firstly the company promotes the fact that you do not get any glare from being outside in the sun
and I dispute this evidence, I found it was near impossible to read on the beach. Even in the
studio under direct light it was horrible.
The entire Internet and Kobo store experience felt like a nightmare that would never end and
there was nobody to wake me up. The built in keys that allowed you to call up different letters
was tedious at best. If I only had to use the numbers it would not be so bad, but I had to
physically press 3 different buttons on the device to switch between lower case and capital
letters. If you want to delete letters if you mess up there are another 2 buttons you need to press,
but keep in mind one of them would magically erase everything.
Buying books with Kobo was a daunting experience, I hope never to repeat on this e-reader and
just thinking about it is making me cringe in utter and complete horror. The mouse wheel in the
center of the DPAD is fine, but navigating menus and load times between screens made me want
to fall asleep. Not only did it take forever to enter my Kobo ID, but then I had to enter an Adobe
ID, for FREE BOOKS! If the Libre Air had a virtual keyboard used by clicking on things via the
scroll wheel that would have been fine. They way they do it now feels like you are using a cell
phone from the early 90's to type things.
The core e-reading experience was not that bad, page turn speeds were fine for an LCD based
device. Since most ebooks on the internet are mainly available in EPUB and PDF formats, this
device did not support them very well. It seemed like most of the effort in making this gadget

shine from an ebook prospective went into making TXT files look great and everything else look
weak. I found it terrible I could not adjust font sizes in EPUB files or edit my margins or line
spacing. I could zoom sure, but all the text was centered and looked gruesome. I am sure if I
wanted to convert all of my EPUB books to TXT files, it would be the only way I could ever
seriously use this device to read anything. Finally when you read anything but TXT files you
cannot really switch the device from landscape to portrait mode.
In the end, if you see this device in the stores RUN AWAY! The nicest thing about this e-reader
is the box that it comes in and the carrying case. Once you take it out and load it up and spend
ten minutes with it, you are doomed. The only redeeming factors is that it plays audiobooks and
the TXT experience is decent. This e-reader felt like it could have done well in 2008 but in 2011
it already looks like a relic from the past.
Thank goodness Aluratek has better products then this such as the Aluratek CiniPad Android 2.3
Tablet due out soon. I would recommend a number of e-readers over this model for the price of
$139 such as the Kindle with Special Offers, Kobo Touch, Nook Simple Touch Reader, or even
the Jetbook Lite.
Finally what does Aluratek need to do to make this viable e-reader and not warrant our “head for
the hills” forecast on this device? They need to implement a virtual keyboard to type. Take a
look on how Pocketbook does this successfully with their e-readers. This unit needs a better,
dedicated web browser. There is one in it, but it defaults too fast to the Kobo bookstore. Allow
the users to check email and visit websites, this eventually can allow users to purchase
audiobooks or music. The Libre Air needs more support for the industry standard EPUB; this
unit NEEDS to get proper font changing, line spacing, margins, and the ability to increase the
font size without having to magnify it. Many of the Libre Air’s woes are software based and can
easily be fixed if management was serious about updating this e-reader to actually make it work.
It faces some hefty competition at this price point and needs to develop its own ecosystem and
build proper brand identity to make their budget e-readers succeed in the current market climate.
Aluratek needs to focus on their e-readers as community members and not a customer. There is
no Aluratek portal, no community, and no way for users to talk to each other. The social fabric
on these e-readers is nil.
This concludes our review of the Aluratek Libre Air! If you would like to see full video and

pictures of the device check out our website - />readers/review-of-the-aluratek-libre-air-e-reader/
Aluratek Libre Color
The Aluratek Libre Color is a full screen color device that gives you the advantages of being able
to read magazines, manga, kids books and other content that shines in full color. How does this
stack up against other rivals such as the Barnes and Noble Nook Color?
Hardware
The Aluratek Libre Color features 7 inch Color TFT active matrix display with a resolution of
480×800 pixels. The display itself is vibrant and the colors tend to pop out when the brightness
setting is turned up to the maximum.
You have around 2 GB of internal memory to store all of your videos, pictures, and ebooks. If
this is not enough, you can further enhance it via the SD card up to 32 GB.
One of the great aspects of the device is that it features a rear facing speaker and you can balance
the audio with some equalizer presets. If you want to keep things quiet you can plug your
headphones into the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
The Aluratek Libre comes with a Mini USB to USB cable to facilitate a data connection with
your computer. This is important to transfer ebooks you have purchased from other stores to your
device. This USB cable is also used in conjunction with the charger that comes with it to power
your unit. One of the drawbacks of this e-reader is that the battery indicicator is pure white and
it’s hard to gauge exactly how much battery life you have left. Speaking of battery life, you can
get a solid 8 hours of it before you have to recharge.
The build quality of the e-reader is not as solid as I would have liked. It seems to be comprised
of a hardened plastic that draws parallels to the Ectaco line of ebook readers. There are built in
page turn buttons on either side of the device. Many e-readers have both the forward and back
page turn keys above and below each other. This unit has the page turn forward on the right hand
side and the back button on the left hand side. It also has a D-PAD in order to select menus and
options, with a center button that functions as your enter key.
Finally, the Aluratek Libre Color switches orientation from landscape to portrait mode in a full
360 degree orientation. This is useful when you are reading books, watching videos, or looking
at pictures. You can even lock the orientation when you want to make sure you don’t
accidentally move the unit into a different position.

Software
The Libre Color runs a Linux based operating system and is more or less closed, so it ruins the
fun of trying to root the device. For an entry level e-reader this unit is brimming with many
options and features. It has a video, music, and dedicated ebook reading application. One of the
most exciting features is the wide array of formats that it reads.
Let’s talk about the e-book reading experience, since we at Good e-Reader do love our books.
The unit reads PDF, EPUB, TXT, and FB2. It also features the capability of being compatible
with Adobe Digital Editions. This is important because the e-reader cannot shop for books on the
unit and you need your PC in order to purchase books and then transfer them to your unit.
The eBook reading experience with the Libre Color was very solid compared to its other recent
e-reader, the Aluratek Libre Air. This gadget has all sorts of ways you can edit your reading
experience. You have around 6 different levels of magnification to make the fonts larger and
smaller. You can also change the color of the fonts and the background color. There are no
advanced options, though, that allow you to change the margins, line spacing, or fonts. One
aspect I liked was in the ebook library it tells you the formats of the books you have in a neat and
orderly fashion.
The Video player is the most advanced aspect of the Libre Color and it supports a multitude of
formats that are sure to impress even the most jaded. It can easily read MPEG-1, MPEG-2,
MPEG 4(Xvid), Divx, H.263, H.264, RM/RMVB, WMV7/9, MKV, MOV, VOB, and FLV
formats. You can change the video to play in fullscreen mode and video looks solid. Naturally, it
also supports landscape and portrait mode.
The last major aspect of the ebook reader is the audio player. It may not support as wide an array
of formats, but you should be able to get by. You can import MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, and
OGG formats, and it even displays the cover art of the albums you listen to. One feature I
enjoyed was the equalizer, which is lacking in most e-readers that have audio functionality. It has
over 6 different presets which will help with both audiobooks and music.
Finally as far as software goes you can view pictures in JPG, BMP, GIF, and PNG formats, and
create your own slideshows. So it can even function as a digital photo-frame if you can somehow
get it standing up correctly. It also has a File Explorer that allows you to navigate all of the
contents on your reader.

Our Thoughts
This device provides plenty of bang for your dollar in the respects that it easily does music,
videos, pictures, and ebooks. It lacks the advanced functions that most e-readers on this price
point enjoy, but it does provide a full color experience.
Some of the things I liked was the sheer amount of formats it supports, which means I do not
have to spend time converting content from one format to another. The e-reader is also fast and
does not lag very much. Programs open and close quickly and I never have to wait long for pages
to turn. It also does kids books! Being a full color e-reader means that full color books look
really great.
There are a number of drawbacks with the Libre Color that I found may be deal breakers. First of
all there is no way to purchase content on the device. It does not have WIFI and the box it comes
in is plastered with Kobo logos, giving you an indication that the company is providing you with
the content. In reality they are just giving you the ebooks that come with the device. There is also
no internet browser, which means you cannot surf the internet or do anything online. Partly the
absence of internet connectivity helps bring down the price to the end user and keeps Aluratek
competitive in an increasingly saturated market.
In the end, this e-reader is for the intermediate or advanced user. Many new users may not know
how to shop for ebooks on the PC and then transfer them to their ebook reader. It makes the
entire process of buying ebooks a little bit more trouble than its worth. Aluratek does deserve
some credit, though, they do package the reader with instructions on how to shop for books
online and then transfer them to the device. It would have gone a long way to film video tutorials
documenting the entire process. Speaking of video tutorials we have our own tutorials on how to
load ebooks onto the Libre Color, so make sure you check out our YOUTUBE Channel.
Be sure to check out our website for video, pictures and more content;
/>Amazon Kindle Special Offers Edition
The ubiquitous Amazon Kindle 3rd generation got repackaged with a device this year that
services advertisements to subsidize the cost. Many people are apprehensive on this new method
that company has taken and we give you our full review of this new device.
Hardware
The Amazon Kindle WIFI with Special Offers and Sponsored Screensavers is the new darling of

the Amazon e-reader portfolio. It gives you a six inch e-ink pearl display with 600 x 800 pixels
at 167 ppi. It is powered by a Freescale i.MX353 processor which quickly speeds up most tasks.
One of the best aspects of the device is that it has a full QWERTY keyboard to navigate the e-
reader. Your storage is limited to 4 GB of data and there is no expansion to increase it further.
The new Kindle with Special Offers slimmer and weighs less than previous iterations of the
Kindle e-reader. It also has a increased battery life, giving you about a solid month if WIFI is
turned off.
The Amazon Kindle with Special Offers has a Micro USB port in order to facilitate a data
connection with your computer. You can easily copy over music and ebooks using Windows
Explorer or Calibre to manage your collections. It also has two speakers on the device and a 3.5
mm headphone jack. This allows you to listen to music or audio books right on the device.
The Amazon Kindle with Special Offers has two different models right now a WIFI only and a
3G variant. Both models cost significantly less than their non-advertising brethren.
Software
The Amazon Kindle with Special Offers includes advertisements to make the device cheaper to
purchase. The only way you see the ads is if you are on the home screen or the screensaver,
that’s it. There are no adverts when you are reading books, surfing the internet, or browsing
various settings and menus in the device. Many people, when they initially heard of this more
cost effective e-reader, had some trepidation about intrusive advertisements. I was very happy
that the ads never permeated to the overall book experience.
The Advertisements are displayed when you initially configure your device and setup your
internet connection. The adds change over time thanks to various facets of the advertising
backbone. The term “Special Offers” is where customers can get access to weekly deals. Current
and future offers include; $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card, $6 for 6 Audible Books (normally
$68), $1 for an album in the Amazon MP3 Store, and more.
Amazon in the coming weeks will also be showing off their new program called “AdMash” – the
free Kindle app and website where customers choose the most attractive and engaging display
advertisements that will become Kindle sponsored screensavers. Kindle’s sponsored
screensavers are specially-designed display advertisements that take advantage of Kindle’s high-
contrast, no-glare electronic-ink display. Before these advertisements can be presented to Kindle

customers, they are first previewed by customers using AdMash. Users are presented with pairs
of sponsored screensaver candidates and asked to select which one they prefer. Screensavers
with the most preferred votes qualify to become sponsored screensavers.
This advertising project centered around the approving of screensavers from a community point
of view is the fruit of the recent Amazon purchase of coupon site Living Social. They spent 178
million on this Groupon competitor and the company hopes that the quality of the deals it offers
will end up being a welcome intrusion rather than a nuisance.
The Kindle is a closed ecosystem which means if you buy the Amazon Kindle with Special
Offers you are locked into buying books only from Amazon. They use a proprietary format
called AZW and a new encryption system called TOPAZ. These book formats are only
compatible with books purchased directly via Amazon. Although the Kindle will not let you
shop at other book stores and copy your books to your gadget you can download books that do
not have DRM (Digital Rights Management) and easily convert them to PRC or MOBI which is
a format the Kindle does read. We have made tutorial videos that show you how to do this if you
need assistance.
The Amazon bookstore currently has over 600,000 books, many of them bestsellers and quality
books. Their store is intuitively laid out and you can easily to buy books with one click. Many of
the books range in price from .99 to 12.99. Amazon also has an independent publishing program
that allows authors to write and submit books to the store, giving you a chance to discover new
indie authors.
Reading books on the Kindle is a great experience the Pearl e-Ink display makes the text very
vibrant. There are options to increase the font size 8 different levels and 3 different Fonts to
choose from. You can also change the line spacing, words per line and even text to speech. The
last option you can employ when reading a book is the screen rotation. You can switch it from
landscape to portrait mode. Regrettably there is no way to change the margins on this unit.
Finally, Amazon instituted a new program that allows you to share select books you have
purchased from their store with your friends and family with a lending program. Books can only
be lent out once and many websites have sprung up to connect users with each other. Amazon
also is planning a new library lending service soon that will allow you to borrow books from a
public library.

Our Thoughts on the Amazon Kindle Special Offers Edition
The Amazon Kindle line of e-reader continues to be overall the most popular e-reader in the
world due to its high availability in most countries. It is easy enough to order a Kindle online in
most major countries and to buy content. The Kindle has come under fire recently with higher
quality touchscreen e-readers issued by Kobo and Barnes and Noble. The Kobo Touch enjoys a
wide availability as well, but Barnes and Noble only works in the USA.
The advertisements that the Kindle serves are not as intrusive as I originally thought when I first
heard about this new e-reader. Since they are only limited to the homescreen and the screensaver
they are easy to manage. Most of the adverts are relevant as well if you are locked into the
Amazon ecosystem. You get a chance to buy some audiobooks and save some money and
ebooks too.
I highly recommend the Amazon Kindle Special Offers edition to anyone looking to buy a new
e-reader. Page turns are very fast, the internet browser is well refined, and buying books is very
easy. It retails in the USA for around $114.00 and is not available online outside the USA. So if
you want to get your hands on this new gadget you will have to buy it from our retail partner
www.shopereaders.com. Also be sure to check out our website for video and a photo gallery of
the e-reader; />special-offers/
Amazon Kindle DX 3rd Generation
Welcome to another Good e-Reader Review! Today we take a look at the new Amazon Kindle 3
Graphite DX E-Reader! This little guy has a 9.7 inch screen, full keyboard and tons of features
for all of your e-reading adventures.
The Amazon Kindle DX Graphite edition continues the trend of being Amazons largest e-reader
to date. Featuring a 9.7 inch screen and 50% better contrast and resolution from previous models,
it is certainly worth the $379 pricetag. Its screen displays a 1200 x 824 pixel resolution at 150
ppi, features 16-level gray scale, and a new 10:1 contrast ratio.
The Page turns on this device are lightning fast and only increase with some of the latest
firmware updates. There is no lag turning the pages, and even accessing some of the menu
functions is quick and easy.
This e-reader towers over the competition. Most electronic readers are only 6 inches or so,
having a 9.7 inch e-reader is like reading a magazine, it is also as slim as one. It currently reads

e-ink with greyscale which means you get a complete e-reading experience, with no eye strain.
Maintaining the tradition of e-ink, means there is no glare in the direct sunlight. For a great
comparison of the Amazon Kindle DX VS. the Apple iPad in direct sunlight, click here.
Menu Features
Now lets talk menu features, the Amazon Kindle DX has tons of menu features that allow you to
access a dictionary, highlight and bookmark pages. There are also many options to adjust the size
of the font, and even change it altogether. There are many stand alone options such as a web
browser, to visit websites such as Facebook, Twitter and others. You have the entire internet
available to you. Other menu features include being able to register your device with Amazon, so
you can start purchasing books right away. The menu system is intuitive and robust, it is one of
the most stable, in terms of refresh rates out of most e-readers.
Connectivity
Menu Features are all quite well enough, but what about the Connectivity? You can access 3G
from any AT&T hotspot and offers global WI-FI coverage. HSDPA modem (3G) with a fallback
to EDGE/GPRS; utilizes Amazon Whispernet to provide wireless coverage via AT&T’s 3G
high-speed data network in the U.S. and partner networks outside of the U.S. See Wireless
Terms and Conditions
Battery Life
The Battery life on the DX is great, dispite the fact that it uses 3G and WIFI you can litterary
leave this unit on for 2 to 3 weeks, with WIFI turned off, if you leave the WI-FI turned on, you
get about 1 week of constant use.
eBooks and Reading
The Amazon DX has a built in PDF reader, traditionally PDFS are meant to be read on large
screen displays, such as netbooks and computers. Most e-readers only have a six inch screen and
do not have the ability to show PDF’s out properly. With the 9.7 inch screen, you get the full
PDF experience being able to read ebooks. It will also read Kindle (AZW), PDF, TXT, Audible
(formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC,
RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion. If you are looking for audio books or to listen
to MP3's you can certainly copy your own to the device, or purchase it from other stores. The
device itself has 4 GB of internal memory, so its enough to store thousands of books. If you

choose to buy your eBooks or Audio Books from other stores, other then Amazon, you have to
use Adobe Digital Editions to copy it to your device. If the content you bought does not have
DRM (Digital Rights Management) You can simply just copy and paste it directly to your E-
Reader, using Windows Explorer. If you are having trouble with copying eBooks to your device,
check out our Amazon DX eBook Video Tutorial.
It also has the Read to Me function, this is basically a text to speech function. It will read blogs,
newspapers, ebooks, and more out loud to you. You can switch back and forth between reading
and listening, and your spot is automatically saved. Pages automatically turn while the content is
being read, so you can listen hands-free. You can speed up or slow down the reading speeds or
choose a male or female voice. In the middle of a great book or article but have to jump in the
car? Simply turn on Text-to-Speech and listen on the go.
Other Features
Some of the other hardware features the Amazon Kindle DX has is, a mini USB port, Stereo
Speakers, and a headphone jack. The Kindle DX also features a Accelerometer, which means
you can switch it between horizontal and landscape mode.
Our Experience
We have played with MANY different e-readers, and this one is a giant Mount Smurfs. It takes a
few days getting used to such a large screen display. We have played with the Barnes and Noble
Nook, Amazon Kindle 2, Kobo E-Reader and many more. This one is big, but after awhile it
does not feel that big, and really feels natural. With such a large display, more words fit on any
given page, and you can get through books a lot faster. Because this unit is the lightest Kindle
DX, it weighs hardly anything and you can easily hold it in one hand for marathon reading
sessions.
Many people compare the Kindle DX to the Apple iPad. I would say, the Amazon Kindle 3 DX
Graphite is currently the large screen e-reader to beat. Amazon has been making e-readers for 4
or 5 years now. They really have the science down pat. Buying books is a breeze, and so is
shopping for ebooks on other stores. If you know how to convert ebooks from one format to
another, you can literally shop anywhere for ebooks and then load them on your Kindle. If you
have trouble converting ebooks, check out our Video tutorial.
It’s our estimation that although the price is a little bit more expensive at $395, it is worth the

price if you want the best of the best. Although this will not fit in your pocket or purse as easily
as a 6 inch e-reader will, if you are reading in the home, cafe, beach, or on vacation, pick this
up. Reserve your Kindle 3 DX Graphite 3G today at our retail partner Shop E-Readers. With
every e-reader they sell, you get 100 free ebooks, will ship anywhere in the world for a low cost,
and you even get a free DVD Video Tutorial disk, that walks you through the entire process of
setting up your e-reader. This is perfect if you are buying it from someone who is new to
technology or e-readers and needs a helping hand! You also get 24/7 technical support via our
own Good e-Reader Forum.
Be sure to visit our website for videos, pictures and bonus content - />electronic-readers/review-of-the-kindle-3-dx-graphite-wifi3g-e-reader/
Barnes and Noble Nook Color
We just got our hands on the latest offering from Barnes and Noble just in time for the holidays,
the new Barnes and Noble Nook Color e-Reader. Is LCD worth it, when until now the company
has only offered e-ink ebook readers?
Hardware
The Barnes and Noble Nook Color is a 7 inch capacitive color touchscreen with a resolution of
1024×600. It has a built in accelerometer that will switch the screen between landscape and
portrait mode. One of the things we noticed straight off is how some ebooks will open in
landscape mode, such as children books, and most adult ebooks will only open in portrait mode.
The Nook Color comes with around 8 GB of internal memory, but you only really have 5 GB to
work with, because the operating system and key programs take up a fair amount of space.
This device comes with WI-FI but no 3G, but it does allow you to connect up to open networks
and closed networks. While online, you can surf the internet, send email and more in full color.
Like previous iterations of the Nook e-Reader, this model supports both DRM ePub and PDF and
NON-DRM. Which means you can load ebooks onto the device that you download from the
internet, if you do not just want to do business with Barnes and Noble. It also supports Microsoft
Office formats such as XLS, DOC, DOE, PPT, PPS, TXT and more.
This model supports lots of multi-media content, audio, video, images and more. Audio formats
are relegated to AAC and MP3, you can either listen to music through the built in Stereo
speakers, or you can plug in headphones o the jack on the top of the unit. If images are your
thing, you can load in JPG, BMP, PNG, and GIF, you can also use these images to customize

your wallpaper. Video formats are lacking, and only plays MP4 formats, which means you will
have to do a fair amount of converting using 3rd party tools in order to convert your existing
videos to an accepted format.
The unit weighs as about as much as the Barnes and Noble Nook, around 449 grams. The
dimensions of the unit is around 8.1 inches x 5 inches x 0.48 inches and the battery life lasts
around 8 hours of moderate use. It does have a standby feature though that allows you to put the
unit into stasis to get more life when you are not using it.
Software
The Barnes and Noble Nook Color runs on Google Android 2.0, but do not expect to get any
access to the Android Market. You can expect more games and applications to be released in
future firmware updates that are normally done over the air via WI-FI, but you can also manually
load them in as well.
The Nook Color comes with a fair amount of applications right out of the box, you get access to
Pandora, but only if you live in the USA, or register your device with a USA based address.
Speaking of such, that is the only way non-USA based customers can get access to ebooks,
magazines, newspapers and more, dispite the fact you can register the device in MANY
countries, you cannot actually buy any content on it.
Along with Pandora, you get a media player, contacts list, a picture gallery, as well as games
such as Chess, Crossword, and Sudoku.
The Nook Color takes advantage of the new Barnes and Noble “Lendme” feature that’s been out
the last four months, that allows you to share bought ebooks from Barnes and Noble with friends,
and family. When you share your books with other people, it disappears from your device during
the two week lending period, to prevent users from sharing the same book with many different
people.
Many new software and menu systems have undergone a radical shift from people who have
used the original Nook 3G or Nook WI FI e-reader. First of all, all options are interactive via
touching icons. Many programs are new and unique to the Nook Color.
First of all, let’s look at the Shelves, it allows you to customize different book shelves and name
them. So if you share your device with other people, each person can customize their own shelf,
from wallpaper, to the books that appear. So if you have a small child, you can populate their

shelf, with rich colors and just have their own ebooks there. For the more adult reader, or people
who share you can have your books visible on your shelf, and theirs on other. This is a great
feature because although your device may have MANY books on it, they are not visible unless
you manually add them to your shelf. They do show up though on the main shelf, along with all
of your other content.
The main Library allows you to sort content more effectively than ever before, vs. B&N previous
offerings. They have sortable tabs that allow you to segregate Magazines, Newspapers, Shelves,
personal files and Lendme books.
You also have access to a whole ton of different device settings, some great new features include
security and being about to share across social media platforms.
Let’s look at the new Security settings, they allow you to block waking up the unit with a
password, or allow you to just password lock access to the Barnes and Noble Store, to prevent
other people from making purchases on your device.
Social Media is very evident in this device; it allows you to share book passages, via Facebook,
Twitter and Google. This is a great feature to promote books and getting more people inspired to
read.
Other settings you can configure of note is locking portrait and landscape mode, changing WI-FI
on the fly, and dimming your screen depending on your environment.
Finally, when you power the device on for the first time, there is a multi-step process to get you
familiar with the Nook Color. It allows you to watch a bunch of getting started Video Tutorials
that walk you through most common steps of getting your device setup for the first time.
Content Distribution and eBooks
The Nook Color main focus is Barnes and Noble own eBook store. The store itself loads
lightning quick, and has access to a ton of content.
You can easily browse between New Releases, Bestsellers, New York Times Bestsellers, kids’
books, newspapers and magazines. This new version of the store is only available via the Nook
Color.
Say you have a child and you are interested in kids books. There are allot available and most
have the options to have the book read aloud to them, or they can read it by themselves.
Newspapers are magazines are available in a subscription; the price depends on the publication.

For example, Popular Science monthly subscription is only $2.99 and to buy just one issue costs
around $4.99. You can take out free trials on magazines, but you need an active Barnes and
Noble account with a USA based address. We found so far, they have lots of tabs when you are
looking at the magazine for reviews, editorial reviews and so on, but most of it has no content at
all. If newspapers are your thing, you can for example take out a subscription to USA Today, for
$11.99 a month, or one issue for $.75, free trials exist for that as well.
Most of this content such as Kids Books, Newspapers and Magazines are exclusively available to
the Nook Color, and are oozing full color goodness. We really like how you can view kids books
in full color and swipe for the next page. One of the draw backs that we noticed with the kids
books, is if you are zoomed in, on a specific picture or bit of text, you cannot turn the next page
unless you zoom out. Hopefully this problem will be addressed in a future firmware update.
Although the Nook Color is in essence tailored to the Barnes and Noble store, you can load
ebooks you get from other sources, or have downloaded from the internet. The Nook Color
supports Adobe and ePub DRM, which means you can purchase books from Kobo or
Smashwords and then load them onto your device via Adobe Digital Editions. If you download
ebooks that do not have DRM you can load the ePub books directly on your e-reader via
plugging it into your computer via USB cable.
The Nook Color, offers users to really self-manage their content really well, the directory
structure offered by Windows Explorer, makes it so everything is neatly in its own independent
directory. It makes it very intuitive right out of the box to be able to manage your content. They
have directories for audio, pictures, music, video, and ebooks. When you load content into your
device, you actually on the Nook Color have an Explorer based Tab called “My Files” you
basically have a graphical view of all of the folders on your device, so you can create your own
folders, and they will show up under My Files. When browsing content you have uploaded to
your device, via My Files you can tap on say a video, or a music file and it will automatically
load, which is very good.
Our take on the Nook Color
The Nook color is one of the best LCD based e-readers we have seen to date. We have played
around with many, including the Sharper Image Literati e-reader, but the Nook Color is the best
of the lot currently.

You can tell that they put a ton of time into the development of this little dandy and it looks
really polished. The unit itself is sleek and black and all of the buttons are almost sunken into the
frame, so nothing needlessly sticks out. Ascetically it’s a very well designed unit, and the
Vividview LCD screen really makes it a viable e-reader to read out in the sun, or under direct
light without getting the glare as you would on an iPad.
What we really like about the unit, is that its head to toe almost one giant touch screen, all of the
icons and menu items are easily clicked one, with rarely any accidental clicking. Even the small
tabs built into the GUI of the Nook Color, respond to touches very well. The one drawback with
clicking is browsing the internet. There is only one degree of zooming, so when you double tap
the screen to zoom, it often does not really zoom all that much. The device constantly implores
you to visit the B&N website to configure your Nook Color, and it’s an arduous endeavor to say
the least. This is mainly due to the fact, that internet browsing is not really indicative to the Nook
Color, especially if there are user fields for you to enter, we missed clicking fields many times,
because even when we were totally zoomed in, they seemed small and feeble. We almost were
wishing they included a Stylus to be able to interact with the device while internet browsing.
Although some websites that mainly written content, such as our own Good e-Reader Blog, were
easy to navigate while surfing the internet, websites that had lots of fields, or complex websites
did not look so good, and were a nightmare to navigate.
From beginning to end, this device is great! The one feature I would say is going to create a ton
of controversy is the LCD aspect of it. Many e-ink purists may knock this device, saying LCD is
not conducive to a proper e-reading experience. E-Ink shows things in sharper contrast, and
shows between 16 and 24+ levels of greyscale. It comes down to a matter of preference. Some
peoples prospective, is LCD is actually better, mainly because how saturated we are with LCD
based devices. From Televisions, to MP3 Players, to Smartphones and computer screens LCD
dominates our lives; some people find adapting to e-ink this late in the game is something they
are not willing to do. Most people, who find themselves reading in lowlight conditions or reading
at night, find e-Ink is not the best option for their environment. With LCD it does offer a back-
lite screen so you can read in most circumstances, and with Vividview the new proprietary anti-
glare system Barnes and Noble is employing, it actually reads better outdoors. It will be
interesting to compare Pixel-QI screens with VividView technology to see how they both rate.

When it comes down to it, this unit is not as expensive as an Apple iPad, which is the device of
choice for LCD based e-reading, if sales numbers do all the talking. Both screens are made with
the same IPS screen technology, minus the Vividview, which allows for 178 degree viewing
angles of the screen. Also both devices fail to play Adobe Flash content, where as Apple never
will do it, maybe a firmware update will allow the Nook Color to do it, it would certainly give it
a LARGE edge over the iPad. Also the unit plays Youtube videos, although the resolution over
WI-FI is not that great, it makes up for it when you load your own videos into it.
I think Barnes and Noble scored a total win with the Nook Color. After a few days of playing
with it, it has been stable and easy to manage. I have encountered a few bugs and drawbacks of
it, but nothing huge.
For example, if you are on a website that has image bases Google Adds, they do not display well,
it seems like the Nook Color has a hard time loading the animations that are built into them.
While browsing Youtube videos we have had some troubles getting higher quality, even with
1080P videos. Also, there is an ongoing problem with the USB cable and various versions of
windows. Apparently some of the cables that have shipped with the Nook Color are defective,
and I had to use my Blackberry cable in order to even work the device. Other users report
troubles with 64 bits of Windows 7 and Windows Vista and recognizing the device as a valid
USB device. I also had this problem, and had to use my Laptop which only has Windows 7 32,
and it had no problem recognizing the device with my Blackeberry USB cord, but the one
supplied from Barnes and Noble did not work at all.
In the end, the pros outweigh the cons, and if you are looking for an e-reader to give to someone
for the holidays, I cannot recommend this unit enough! I have reviewed over 30 e-readers just
this year, and this one is at the top of my list for color based electronic ebook readers. I would
even say, for its price, it is the most viable device you can get with your money, followed by the
iPad, and there is a huge gulf in price between the Nook Color and even the lowest end iPad.
I can really see this device catching on, if they lower the price a bit, it retails from $254 to $299.
You can purchase this device if you live outside the USA, since Barnes and Noble does not ship
e-readers outside of the USA from our retail partner Shop e-Readers. They currently have the
Nook WI-FI, Nook 3G and Nook Colors in stock.
If you would to check out bonus video content and tons of pictures to see how this device

performs in real world tests check out our website - />readers/review-of-the-barnes-and-noble-nook-color-e-reader
Barnes and Noble Simple Touch Reader
Today we give you a comprehensive review on the newest e-reader from bookstore giant Barnes
and Noble. The Simple Touch Reader, or the Nook 2, is the first touchscreen e-ink reader the
company has released. We first saw this new gadget when we were at Book Expo in New York
and got a spontaneous invite to the big unveil at Union Square. We were one of the first sites to
give you a preview on the new device and now that it is officially released we give you the highs
and lows of this brand new e-reader.
Hardware
The Barnes and Noble Simple Touch Reader features a six inch e-ink Pearl display. The new
display that the Nook 2 uses is similar to the Amazon Kindle 3rd generation, Kobo Touch and
Sony PRS-650. The screen gives you a solid resolution of 800×600 pixels and displays 16 levels
of greyscale. One of the benefits of the new screen they use is that it has 50% sharper contrast
than previous versions of the Nook WIFI or Nook 3G.
Underneath the hood is a 800 MHZ CPU processor and 2 GB of internal storage. The storage is
where all of your ebooks and pictures are housed and if that is not enough you can increase it via
MicroSD up to 32 GB.
The Nook 2 employs WIFI in order to surf the internet and has a built in web browser in order to
visit webpages. It has the ability to display your password as you are typing in, but we found it
does not have support for wireless N routers.
When you look at the hardware in general, the e-reader is smaller and lighter than the Amazon
Kindle and other competing devices. This is partly because the keyboard and all of your buttons
are virtual and not built into the device. Another reason is because there is no audio functionality
which makes it lighter to carry around and helps reduce the cost to the end user.
On the device is a simple “N” which is your homescreen button that can be pressed from any
menu or while reading a book. It also has a power button and MicroUSB. The USB port is used
to facilitate a data connection to your computer to transfer content to your device or to charge it.
In the end, the Simple Touch Reader is lighter and is a tremendous upgrade from previous
iterations of the Nook e-ink based e-readers. One of the drawbacks is the lack of audio, which
may be a deal breaker for some people. There is also no accelerometer or gyroscope so you

cannot switch the device from landscape to portrait mode.
Software
The Nook 2 – Simple Touch Reader runs Google Android 2.1 as the backbone to the device.
Barnes and Noble was the first company offer a pure e-ink based reader running this OS.
Normally, most readers run Linux. Additionally, past iterations of the Nook, such as the 3G and
WIFI, both ran Android 1.5.
The ability for the Simple Touch Reader to run an updated version of Google Android gives
advanced users a little bit more flexibility in “rooting” or adding alternative apps and games.
Older versions of Android do not have the type of support to run modern day games and
applications, but the new version allows it. We have even seen Angry Birds ported on the STR,
although it suffers from some frame-rate issues.
One of the features on this new device that did not officially get announced, but is available for
the e-reader, is the web browser. The browser is only available via the Search button, but then
you can access webpages if you write a proper website address in the search field. For example
you can write and you will open the internet browser to our website.
Once you visit a few websites you can really tell the app is unrefined and lags while you scroll
up and down a website. It also does not render the entire website when you load one up, instead
only loading a certain area, such as the top right hand corner. Whereas the Kindle e-reader will
render the entire website customized to the six inch display. Hopefully in the future they will fix
the internet browser and make it more stable for regular use. The fact that they did not announce
it as an official feature of the STR is probably a result of its tremendously sub-par performance.
The Barnes and Noble Store is a very solid content delivery network and there is no shortage of
new books to read. When you load up the store application you get a small home screen that
shows you the current New York Times Bestsellers, Magazines, and Newspapers. You can also
expand these listings for a more comprehensive listings, such as book genres and so on. The nice
thing is that you never need to really go beyond 2 sub menus to find anything that you want. You
can also preview books for the first chapter or two to get a sense of what the book is about before
you buy it. Although newspapers and magazines look way better on the Barnes and Noble Nook
Color, they are indeed readable on this e-reader.
Reading ebooks on the Nook 2 is a great experience and I liked it better than then the Amazon

Kindle. The device has manual page turn buttons sunk right into the unit, but I found it was
easier to just tap on the left or right hand side of the screen to flip forward or back. Page turn
speeds are also tremendously robust and suffered from no e-ink refresh problems that plague
other ebook readers.
When you read books you have a ton of customizing options! You can choose between six
different fonts and they change in real time. You can also scale the font size up or down, which
is handy if you need bigger fonts to read. The ability to change line-spaces and margins is also
tremendously handy and something most other e-readers lack.
I love the ebook reading experience with the Nook 2. Making notes and highlights was super
easy! All you have to do is tap a specific word with your finger and you are good to go! If you
make a ton of highlights and notes on specific words and passages you can hit the menu button
and get a uniform list of all your edits on the book. This is perfect if you are in a bookclub or
reading a textbook.
One thing that the Simple Touch Reader does very well is allow you to load in ebooks you have
purchased from other stores via Adobe Digital Editions. Since the new Nook reads EPUB and
PDF files you can easily shop at other bookstores such as Borders, Kobo, Smashwords, and
Bookbaby, and then load those books into your e-reader.
The new Nook 2 has a feature called “Nook Friends” that allows you to share recommendations
for books and also sends the books you dig to Facebook and Twitter. They also have developed a
new website called “mynook.com,” giving customers a new and unique experience to buy and
download ebooks online.
In the end, the software side of things with the Nook felt very refined for a new product.
Considering there is hardly any firmware updates available, everything just seems to work. The
only problems I have is the web browser being tremendously sub-par and the settings menu does
not have many options to configure your device. There is also no current integration of popular
Barnes and Noble programs such as “Lendme.”
Our Take on the Nook 2 – Simple Touch Reader
This new device from Barnes and Noble certainly is an upgrade from previous iterations of their
pure e-ink line of readers. Not only are page turn speeds better, but the entire navigation and
simplicity of use is a boon.

There are some flaws on this e-reader, such as the web browser not rendering the full page and
the lack of options to customize your online experience. I also do not like the lack of support for
wireless N networks. The fact that it didn’t offer any audio capabilities was, for me, another big
disappointment. This means audiobooks and listening to songs will never be a part of the Nook 2
experience, but since many people only buy e-readers for a pure reading experience and do not
care about the bells and whistles, lack of audio doesn’t have to be considered a flaw. I found the
absence of Lendme and other pivitol B&N experiences to be unfortunate, and hope that in future
firmware updates they will rectify that. Right now there is no comparison between Barnes and
Noble STR and the Kobo Touch with their much elevated “Reading Life” social media
application.
The benefits include the entire touchscreen experience! Although in our side by side tests the
Amazon Kindle was faster in page turns and other things, it ended up proving itself to be slow at
times due to the requirement of manually scrolling to highlight words and access settings. The
Nook 2 makes your everyday tasks more robust and efficient and you will ultimately save more
time, which means you will get to do more reading.
I think Barnes and Noble did the right thing with the implementation of the touchscreen and they
sure needed it. Many of their competitors, such as Kobo, Sony, and Hanvon, have all released
touchscreen readers and B&N needed to keep pace. They are presenting a very slick device that
weighs next to nothing and is one of the best e-readers we have reviewed all year. The build
quality is not as high on this device as the Kobo Touch, but fundamentally it is a superior e-
reader.
The Nook Simple Touch is a solid e-reader and many people have it on their lists of things to
buy this year. If you would like to check out videos and pictures visit our website -
/>Jetbook Lite
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. Also if
you want the latest video and pictures of the Jetbook Lite visit our website review -
/>Kobo Touch
The Kobo Touch e-reader just came out today and we have been fiendishly playing around with

the first touchscreen device from Kobo. How does it stack up against the previous iterations of
the Kobo e-Reader family?
Hardware
The Kobo Touch has a full touchscreen e-ink Pearl display that has a full six inches of screen
real estate. It features an Infrared Touch or IR touch that drastically enhances the touchscreen
sensitivity and makes interacting with the screen a pure delight. Part of the reason why the unit is
so responsive is due to the Freescale 508 Processor.
You have by default 2 GB of internal storage, which should be enough for around 1000 ebooks.
If this is not enough for you, it can be enhanced via the MicroSD card up to 32 GB. Keep in
mind the SD card slot does not have a flap or any kind of protection, so you might want to make
sure water does not get into the device.
Unlike the Kindle e-reader there is no QWERTY keyboard on the device, instead everything is
touchscreen. I was pleasantly surprised with the virtual keyboard the Kobo Touch employs.
There is little to no screen lag when you type in characters. My first experience with the
keyboard was to setup the WIFI. The alpha-numeric keys went very fast and I was happy with a
show-password option to make sure you did not make any mistakes.
The Kobo Touch was designed very minimalistic in comparison to previous models. There is a
single home button and a power button, and that’s it. Previous models had a DPAD to navigate
the menus and page turn buttons. It also had buttons for shopping, menus, and various other
functions. This new model is VERY intuitive and makes navigating a breeze. There is a single
port for a Micro USB connection which allows you to connect it up to your computer. This is
how you charge your e-reader and facilitate a data connection to transfer ebooks.
One of the drawbacks with the Kobo hardware is that there are no speakers, headphone jacks, or
audio functions. I would have liked the ability to listen to audio books. Battery life is solid thus
far and is said to last around 2 full weeks.
The Kobo Touch is designed very well and really brings the company into 2011 with a solid
product.
Software
The Kobo Touch runs on a Linux based operating system which makes the unit very snappy.
When I plugged the Kobo into the computer for the first time it kept prompting me to install the

Kobo Desktop software, which I already had on my system. It seems that Kobo issued a new
version of the Desktop manager that you will need to install in order to work your device.
The Kobo Desktop Manager is completely necessary in order to use your device at all. You
cannot setup your WIFI, Web browser, or anything else until you do this. The new Kobo
Desktop Manager actually updates your Touch with new firmware which solves many problems
before the unit was officially released.
There are 3 main components to the Kobo Touch that really make this e-reader shine. The first is
Reading Life (a social media add-on), the Kobo Store, and your Book Library.
The Kobo Library is the source from which you can intuitively access your ebooks and other
content. It is divided into various sub-menus such as Books, Newspapers and Magazines,
Previews, and Shortlist. The Library is your main bookshelf where all of your ebooks are
located. It lists everything in alphabetical order and has arrows to go forward and backward. You
can also access all of the newspapers and magazines you purchase via the Kobo store. Since I
purchased my device from Canada, most of my newspaper options are all of the major
newspapers, and same with magazines. The previews menu gives you a short introduction to
various bestselling books. Finally, the Shortlist function allows you to basically create your own
shelf. This is a handy function to make your short term reading list a little bit more manageable.
One of the most important aspects that differentiates Kobo from its competition is the store. They
currently have over 2.3 million titles, so everyone should find something they want to read. The
store allows you to browse by bestsellers, categories, recommended reading, and free books. The
free books section mainly contains public domain books, but there are some short stories as well.
The last major component of the Kobo Touch is “Reading Life.” This is an application that got
its start with the Apple iPad, where it became the best of the reading applications on the Apple
Appstore. Reading life allows you to Tweet and Facebook passages from books and has
advanced functionality for special books. These books allow you to tweet from the perspective of
the hero or villain, which is very unique. It also gives you statistics of your reading patterns, how
much you read, how often, and how many books you have read. Finally it gives you awards
based on certain criteria; think of it as Xbox achievements for books.
Reading on the Kobo Touch is a great experience and compared to past models the page turn rate
is very fast. To move forward and back a page you simply tap on the right or left hand side of the

screen. You can also highlight words or look them up in the built-in dictionary. You do this by
long-pressing on a word or randomly on the page and it will bring up a prompt for you to expand
a dialog box to either look up or highlight a single word or a complete sentence.
Kobo makes editing your fonts on the fly easy. You have to tap in the center of the screen while
reading a book and it will give you a menu prompt. In this menu you have the option to switch
between two different fonts, Georgia or Avenir. You can also increase the font size, giving you
16 different levels of making the text larger or smaller.
Finally, the one standout feature on the Kobo Touch e-reader is the built-in web browser. Web
pages load very fast and are very responsive when on a WIFI network. There are no FLASH or
crazy internet experiences with it, but the web browser is faster and more robust than the
Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook 2 – A Simple Touch Reader.
Our Thoughts on the Kobo Touch
Kobo hit a home-run with the Kobo Touch due to the quality build design and the robust
functionality! I had the original Kobo e-Reader and the Kobo Wireless. This model seriously
puts those two to shame! The touchscreen display should be easier for your average user to wrap
their heads around, since almost all hand held mobile devices are touch screen. I found the older
Kobo models to have flimsy design and the DPAD was awful, not to mention you would hit a
key and 12 seconds later the command would go through. I hardly experienced ANY LAG at all
when using this e-reader extensively.
This new Kobo Touch gets everything right and is an upgrade in every way from previous
models. The two great functions are the inclusion of a web browser to surf the internet, check
your email, and even buy books from other stores directly. Also Reading Life is a very unique
program that currently no other e-reader company has sought to implement. Sure some
companies, like Amazon, have Facebook and Twitter integration, but they do not give you
statistics, graphics, bars, achievements, or other cool things.
Another great thing about the Kobo Touch is the slim design; it weighs less and is slimmer than
previous models. It maintains the matted back design so it will not slip out of your hands and
provides a good grip.
If you are a fan of loading in your own ebooks you are in luck! The Kobo Touch displays EPUB
and PDF books. It also has support for Adobe Digital Editions. So if you have purchased books

from other bookstores such as Barnes and Noble, Borders, Smashwords, or others, you can easily
transport the books via Adobe Digital Editions.
One of the downsides is that there is not more Font flexibility. There are only two built in fonts
with no instructions on how to add additional ones. Kobo has told us that via a firmware update
new fonts will be added in the future. Many of the advanced options require you to tap the screen
in weird areas to call up different functions. Quick taps, long taps, and other actions make all of
the difference in the world. Another downside is the mandatory usage of the Kobo Desktop
manager, there is simply NO way to get around registering your Kobo by yourself on the device.
You have to use your PC or MAC to register. Finally, one of the largest flaws with this e-reader
is the fact that you cannot highlight or look words up in the dictionary with books you manually
load on your Kobo Touch. The long-tap function does not work with side-loaded content.
We have just completed a new video review of the Kobo Touch so make sure to check it out. Be
sure to also visit our website for a full review including pictures, audio, video and even an
interview with the CEO of Kobo at the New York Book Expo -
/>iRiver Story HD
Today we finally got our hands on the Target exclusive iRiver Story HD e-Reader! This is the
first e-reader in the world to tap into the Google Books ecosystem for content. How does this
new device rate against the competition and what does the HD mean?
Hardware
The iRiver Story HD e-reader features a six inch e-ink display with a tremendous resolution of
1024×768 pixels. It certainly packs a punch and you can see where they fit the HD into the
selling point. Pictures and comic books look wonderful and very vibrant in comparison to other
e-readers on the marketplace.
The screen itself features the latest generation e-ink PEARL technology and displays 213 DPI.
You can see other examples of e-readers that use a PEARL screen, if you go check out the
Amazon Kindle 3rd generation, Sony PRS-650, and Nook Simple Touch.
The e-Reader does have a Freescale i.MX508 800 MHZ CPU processor, which should make the
device snappy, but sadly it does not. The page turn speeds are on par with the lightning quick