Electronic Reading

Hanvon was one of the more interesting booth visits at BEA 2010. They had quite a few models on display, including their current 5″ ereaders, an 8″ ereader, the Touchpad (10′ Win7 tablet), and several 6″ ereaders that are just coming on the market.

I had the opportunity to interview the Liu Yingjian, the co-founder and chairman of Hanvon.

E-reader plans

Hanvon have a goal: to lower the price of their ereader to below $100 this year. (Given that Fry’s has repeatedly dropped the price of the N516, I think this is certainly possible.) Their new ereader, the N618, is going to be available in the US in September, with a retail of $269. It’s already being sold in China.

Hanvon aren’t intimidated by the iPad. They just released a 10” tablet called the Touchpad, and they are currently working on a smaller version with a 7” screen. They also a 9.7” model under development (which should be out by the end of the year).

The N800 has an8″ E-ink touchscreen, Wifi, microSDHC card slot, and it supports Adobe DE DRM. I was told it was on the market now in China, and it should be available in the US late in the fall.

A dummy model of the N800 was at CES2010, but I didn’t get a chance to touch it because they kept it under glass. This one wasn’t charged, unfortunately.

I spent the most time with the N618. It’s a 6″ model with touchscreen, Wifi, and a microSDHC card slot . It was quite pleasnat to use. I don’t want to slam Hanvon, but they really seem to be into the whole industrial chic. It’s not a problem for me; I like it. But most everyone else is going for a softer more smoothed out design in their ereaders.

Hanvon also had a N620 on display. This is one of their 3G/EVDO/CDMA models, and it’s currently on the market in China (partnered with China Mobile). They actually have 4 different models listed on their website (which is why I listed the 3 different technologies). Hanvon are looking to bring it to the US in September, but wouldn’t name the wireless partners they were considering (of course). This next picture is of one of the other N620 models.

Hanvon are currently selling over 100k devices each month in China, and they expect this to go up as they open more Hanvon branded retail stores.

Ebookstore Plans

I had the opportunity to interview the Liu Yingjian, the co-founder and chairman of Hanvon. Mr. Liu said (through his translator) that they have different plans for the Chinese and foreign markets. Hanvon is working to develop their own ebookstore in China, but outside of Chine they’re only planning to sell the hardware, or partner with a local distributor who might run an independent ebookstore.

The main problem Hanvon has in China is publisher stonewalling. Publishers are afraid to put their titles in the Hanvon ebookstore because they believe that they will be copied and shared immediately (Not to different from the US.) Interesting enough, digital collections in schools and libraries don’t share this stigma.

The Hanvon ebookstore has around 60k titles now, and this is expected to grow to 100k by August. Their goal is to have 200k by the end of the year. Around 150 of the titles are magazines and newspapers. There are about 500 publishers in China, and Hanvon is trying to sign them one by one.

Editor’s Note: This post is based on a booth visit and interview at BEA 2010. It’s psoted late becuase a couple weeks ago WordPress was eating posts, and this was one of them.

Update: This post is based on the original firmware. Much of what I say about the software is no longer valid.

This post is a collection of first impressions. I usually post this on the day I get a device, and then post a full review a coupe weeks later. If I were you, I wouldn’t decide for or against the Novel based on this post. At best, you might use this post to help you decide to wait.

I bought it at Kohl’s. Someone posted a comment yesterday and said that most stores now have it in stock. At my local store, it was behind the jewelry counter.

So what do I think? I’m  not happy with it, and here’s why:

• touchscreen is funky
• Wifi is broken buggy
  
• the Novel is slow to respond to input
• you can’t charge over USB
• few options in reader
• few organization options in library

Before you read further, I want to make it clear that I don’t slam an ereader without good reason. Everything in this post is written based on having the Novel in front of me. I didn’t say very many nice things about the Novel because I couldn’t find any. I actually went into this with high hopes, and I’m disappointed. The Novel is a rather unexceptional device.

Hardware

First, the Novel is  rather heavy. This isn’t going to be a one handed reader. It’s also not easy to hold; I wish they had included a case with a strap. The back is slippery and the device is just a little too wide for me to grip the edges. For full details on the hardware, check out the product page at Pandigital.net.

The touch screen is behaving funny. I’ve found that I have to press and hold for it to notice my request. Then I calibrated the screen, and its behavior got stranger. Whenever I tried to use the keyboard it kept returning the wrong key. The calibration really screwed something up. I think the Novel has a serious problem here. Update: Installing the new firmware and then forcing a reboot fixed the problem.

BTW, this screen sensitivity problem isn’t due to Android. I have other Android devices and they all behave about the same. This is a hardware or software problem on the Novel.

Main Menu

It’s divided into 3 parts.  The top is a bunch of shortcuts to various parts of the B&N ebookstore, the middle shows 10 ebooks from the Novel, and the bottom has app icons (like you might find on a Home screen). From what I can tell you cannot install third party apps.

Wifi is broken

The Novel can’t see my Wifi network. I tried all the normal troubleshooting and nothing worked.Two other devices are on that network, so there must be something wrong with the Novel.

Update: The Novel could see other networks, so there must be some technical detail about my home network the Novel doesn’t like.

Library

The library menu is done in the same style as iBooks (and the ones iBooks copied). You can see 20 thumbnails of ebook covers at a time. You can sort by date, title, or author, but you don’t have any option to display your ebooks differently (a list, for example). I have a huge collection, so this is going to be a serious problem. They do give you the option of building collections called bookshelves, but this is still piss-poor sorting options.

Response time is slow. I swipe to turn the page and see more titles and it takes a couple seconds to respond. That is unacceptable.

Do you know what bothers me the most? The fact that so many ereader companies didn’t do basic research about their customer base. The person who is most likely to get an ereader is one who reads a lot. Some one who reads a lot might want to take a lot of books with them at once. You can’t do that on a lot of ereaders because the library management is crap.

Reading

Speaking as someone who likes the old eReader Android app, the one on the Pandigital is deeply disappointing. You don’t have any options for margin, line spacing, font, justification. Actually, I can’t see that the Novel has any customization options at all (aside from font sizes and a night read option).

It has bookmarks highlighting, and you can add notes. I can’t click on internal links, and the Novel doesn’t appear to support the Epub table of contents. But at least it respects the margins set in the Epub file.

Page turns are slow (for an LCD). I’m also beginning to regret that the Novel doesn’t have page turn buttons. The only page turn option is swipe, and you don’t have the option of changing it to screen taps. Why did they do that, I wonder?

Apps

I can’t find a way to see the apps on my SD card, and with out Wifi I can’t try to download them. The Novel does come with a browser and other apps, but without the ability to add more I really can’t recommend this tablet.

Conclusion

The novel fits in my old Kindle cover (sorta), so I’ll be carrying it with me this week. I plan to have the full review up by Friday.

Reed College was one of the colleges and universities selected by Amazon to run a Kindle DX pilot program last fall. They released a report on the program back in February, but I didn’t come across it until just this week. I don’t think anyone else has written about it either.

The Reed College Kindle DX program covered 43 students in 3 upper level classes. Students agreed to fill out online surveys twice during the semester, join in group discussions, and respond to emails during the semester. The results reported by the students aren’t too surprising. There was quite a lot of detail in the 11 page report, and here are some of the highlights:

The Good:

• the Kindle has a legible screen (when comapred with LCD), even though it wasn’t as sharp as real paper
• battery life was long
• the students thought the DX was quite durable
• over the air distribution
• single function benefit. Not being able to check their email was a plus because it reduced distractions.

The Bad:

• PDFs couldn’t use the DX’s annotation features
• images & color
• the process of finding compatible content was hit or miss
• loading PDFs was difficult
• library functions were disappointing
• page refresh was slow enough that it hampered the students
• it was impossible to have multiple texts open at once
• highlighting and annotation features were diffcult to use

As I’ve said before, I don’t think an E-ink screen can be used for a textbook. I really feel that E-ink is mainly good for relatively straightforward reading like fiction. When your reading requires frequent page turns or having several books open at once, I think you’re better off using an LCD screen.

James Murdoch attacked the British Library’s plans to digitize their several hundred year old, 40m page archive in a speech yesterday. The archive will be available online, but only as a for pay service.  Here is an excerpt the Guardian:

"This is not simply being done for posterity, nor to make free access for library users easier, but also for commercial gain via a paid for website. The move is strongly opposed by major publishers. If it goes ahead, free content would not only be a justification for more funding, but actually become a source of funds for a public body."

Speaking after the speech Murdoch said he was not planning any immediate action against the British Library but stressed "from the publishing industry’s point of view we are very, very concerned about some of the approaches that they seem to be taking. But at the same time there is a dialogue with the library about it."

"The copyright holder needs to be part and parcel of determining how further exploitation digitally is conducted and that really has to be the centre of this," he said. The worry for News International, of course, is that the British Library’s move could undermine its paid-for content model. "It’s not to say that there is a big fight here: what there is, is a question right now is: they are looking at those assets and asking 'how do I do these things' and they would like to reach as many people as possible, and rights holders are saying 'hang on a minute'."

He has a point, but I disagree about the real problem. As I see it, the real issue is that in the UK you’ve created these vast taxpayer funded, quasi governmental, non-for-profit organizations who then go out and compete with commercial enterprises. Take the BBC, for example. Do you remember how some were upset when the BBC announced the free news apps? This is more of the same.

You might recall that last week Dymocks announced they were adding support for Epub and DNL formats.  One comment I made was that I was surprised (at this late date) Dymocks was still selling the Iliad as their only ereader. It turns out I was wrong.

Dymocks sent a PDF to Gizmodo AU that shows the other 6 ereaders that they sell. Guess what? They’re not listed on Dymocks' website. I’m not surprised, really. The Iliad isn’t there either!

No, wait. I just found some pages through Google. The pages for the Eco Reader, Irex DR1000s, Bookeen Cybook, Hanlin V3, and Bebook One exist, but they appear to be orphans. I can’t find any link to those pages on the Dymocks site itself. (and searching Dymocks for variations of "ereader" doesn’t work.) And I just discovered that Dymocks has been selling the Bebook Neo since mid-March. But they’re only sold at the one store in Sydney. WTF?!?

And do you know what’s really strange (I’m talking Dymocksian level of nuttiness)? The Bookeen Cybook, Irex DR1000s, and Hanlin V3 aren’t listed on the PDF, and I only accidentally found through Google. Not only does Dymocks hide the product pages on their website, these 3 models aren’t carried in that one store!

I can take this one step further into the Dymocks Zone. If you look at the PDF, you’ll see that none of the devices support Mobipocket DRM, Adobe Reader DRM or MSReader DRM, which were the only DRM formats sold by Dymocks before last week.  My point: Dymocks were selling ereaders that cannot work with the ebooks Dymocks were selling.

I have to stop here. My brain just melted.

Dymocks_Selection_eReaders (PDF)

Update: Someone pointed out the the Bebook One originally supported Mobipocket DRM. Yes, it did. But it’s listed as supporting Adobe DE DRM, so my statement is still mostly correct.  The DRM support changed with a firmware update, and there is no sign that Dymocks sold the Bebook with the older firmware.

I just sold an ereader from my collection today.

If you know me from MobileRead, then you also know that I have a rather large collection of ereaders. As part of my collection, I have 5 of the Sony Data Discman. If you’re wondering WTH I’m talking about, I don’t blame you. I didn’t know these devices existed until I happened to come across one on Ebay.

You might recall that before the Sony Reader PRS-500, Sony  also had an ereader called the Sony Librie. It was only sold in Japan, and it was a horrendous failure largely because Sony couldn’t provide enough content (and wouldn’t let you create your own). But the Librie isn’t Sony’s first ereader. That honor goes to the Data Discman.

Sony first released the Data Discman in Japan in the year 1990. They were later introduced into the USA in 1992 (and at least one model was sold in Europe). Several dozen different models were produced, and they were priced around $600 and up. Here’s a picture of one of the first:

The screen is monochrome, and rather low in resolution. As you cann see, there is a keyboard, d-pad, and several more buttons. Do you want to know what media it used (I hope you’re sitting down)? CDs. Yes, the Sony Data Discman used a 3.5″ CD. Here is a different shot of the same model:

Earlier this week, I found someone who is still using his DD-20. At least, he was using it until it died a few months ago at the age of 18 (in gadget years, which is ~googol human years). I have one, and even though it’s not fully functional, it works well enough that he can use it.

Wikipedia (Data Discman)

So my Alex arrived last week, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it. I have to say that this was an easy review to write. I’ve found very few things wrong with the Alex, and in general, I like it.

You might also want to read my other posts on the Alex. They cover my first and second impressions of the device, and that’s where you’ll find my opinion on the hardware.  I also found an unboxing video yesterday.

Browsing

You can browse with just the LCD screen, and it will feel much like your standard, vanilla, Android browsing experience. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) But then there is something that the Alex can do that no one else can. You can display a web page on both the LCD and epaper screen. You can’t interact with the page as shown on the epaper screen, though; it’s just there for display.

I do like browsing with the epaper screen. Learning how to do it was easy, and I rarely made mistakes. If I wasn’t wedded to my laptop, I’d probably use the Alex for some of my browsing (RSS feeds, blogs, forums).

Email

I had high hopes for this. didn’t work for me. All of my email is tied into my Gmail account, and the Alex refused to accept the security certificates from Google. And do you know what’s really odd? I can still log in to Gmail with the browser. This was a waste of time. The email client isn’t very good, and it only works on the LCD screen. I much prefer using the browser to access Gmail. That way I can use the epaper screen as well as the LCD.

BTW, I’d had trouble before because the time and date were wrong on my Alex. I didn’t realize that would cause  problem.

Apps

Yes, you can install third party apps on the Alex. Some will not work, and you can’t use any of them on the epaper screen. When you use an app, it will feel like you’re using it on an Android phone. It’s too small for me.

But it’s still a nice feature. I’ve installed the eReader Android app, and I like that I can have 2 ebooks open at once. Another good use would be to have Twitter (or some other social networking app) open while reading an ebook. You could tweet while reading. Again, it’s not for me, but I can see the value in it.

The Reading Experience

If you’ve looked at pictures of the Alex, I’m sure you’ve noticed that it’s longer than most other 6′ ereaders. If you’re concerned that it might be awkward to use, don’t be. I think the page turn buttons are just right for holding the Alex in my right hand. I can’t hold it in my left, true, but that’s fine by me. It’s quite good as an ereader. I think that will satisfy almost everyone.

BTW, you can hold it in your left hand if you leave the LCD screen on. There’s a white icon on the screen that’s labeled “ePUB”. It acts as a right page turn button.

The in-book menu takes a little getting used to. There’s the white icon on the left, and on the right is the book title and author and a slider bar that shows your current location in the book. There is a row of 12 icons along the bottom: Library, table of contents,the annotation options, dictionary, font size, go to page, and ad to collection.

The row of icons turned out to be a better idea than I originally thought. I could tell at a glance what each icon did, and even though they’re not all on the screen at once, it was easy to scroll the row to find the one I wanted.

The Alex has quite a lot of annotation options: bookmark, highlight, text note, voice memo, and you can link to external files (audio, video, PDF) as well as linking to web pages. At first I was concerned about the in book menu; the icons are small and I thought I’d have trouble selecting the right one. I was wrong. It was surprisingly easy to use, and very rarely did I mess up.

I’ve read several ebooks on the Alex, and I’ve tried out all the annotation options. In general, I like it both as a basic reader and for its annotation abilities. I did find one problem, though. This is a small niggle, but I quickly learned to turn off the LCD screen when not in use. The brightness of the LCD really bugged me when I was trying to read off the epaper screen.

Reading Addendum

I discovered last night that the Alex has a second fully functional reading mode. I went to see a movie last night, and of course I brought the Alex with  me so I could read during the trailers. When the lights dimmed, I turned on the LCD screen and kept reading during the opening credits.  I synced the LCD screen so it showed the same contents as the epaper (scrolling was required). I tapped the screen to turn the page.

This second mode isn’t going to win out over the epaper screen, but it’s nice that Spring Design gave us the option.

A Second Reading Addendum

Someone pointed out that I forgot to discuss specific format support. Epub support is great, PDF not so much. You cannot use all the neat annotation features with PDFs. Also, the Alex does not reflow PDFs.

Library

The Alex doesn’t have the best library interface, but it’s pretty good. There are 5 menu options: recent downloads, my collections, titles, authors, and latest read. You can sort the title list by author, title, or date. The author list is an actual index of authors, not just another list of the titles. I’m glad it’s there because that’s how I like to organize my library ebooks. You can also search the contents of the library by title or author.

On the downside, I did find a quirk with the library: it can’t see folders. It’s not just that you can’t use a folder inside the library; it’s that the software can’t see folders at all. If you copy a folder full of ebooks on to the Alex, they will not be seen and added to by the library. Weird, huh?

But the library works well, so it’s not a big deal.

Bookstore

As you probably know, the Alex has Wifi and you can download ebooks from the web. In order to make this easier, Spring Design put a bookstore on the Alex. Now, I expected to see the bookstore. But I didn’t expect that it lists multiple ebook sources, including several that only carry free ebooks: Feedbooks, Google Books, and Project Gutenberg. Yes, all those sites are available online, but this makes it a lot easier for the average user to find ebooks. This was a pleasant surprise.

BTW, the bookstore isn’t an app. Clicking on one of the stores takes you to the website. The bookstore experience is web browsing, basically.

Conclusion

I do like the Alex. It has a solid hardware design and it’s both easy to use and very capable. If you buy one, I bet you’ll be very happy with it. On the other hand, it costs $400 and I’m not sure it’s worth the money.

I found this over on the L.A. Times blog. It’s true, by the way. The LCD screen is like looking into a flashlight, and it can mess up your sleep pattern. You really should set the iPad aside an hour or more before going to sleep.

…But staring at the screen before bed could leave you lying awake. That’s because direct exposure to such abnormal light sources inhibits the body’s secretion of melatonin, say several sleep experts.

If you’ve watched any late-night TV, you’ve no doubt heard the term thrown around in commercials for sleeping pills. Melatonin signals are sent through the brain as a response to darkness, telling the body to prepare to shut down for the night.

Light-emitting devices, including cellphones and yep, the iPad, tell the brain to stay alert. Because users hold those devices so close to their face, staring directly into the light, the effect is amplified compared with, say, a TV across the room or a bedside lamp, said Frisca Yan-Go, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center in Santa Monica.

I so wish I could keep the loaner unit. I think that if I owned the Edge, it would quickly replace my laptop in its role as my external brain. (Don’t laugh; that is how I see my laptop.)

I think that the Reader, the Annotator, and the Journal are well designed both as parts and as a whole. The Edge is very good at taking an existing document and adding to it.

But it isn’t so good at creating a document from scratch. I’d like to be able to start a blank document and then open it in the Reader so I can annotate it. The Edge comes with Docs2Go (which includes support for MS Word). Unfortunately, you can’t open that Word file in the Reader. It was good that Entourage decided to include this app; it fills a need. But I wish they’d put more work into integrating it with the other parts of the Edge.

I like that you can attach all sorts of files to an ebook, but I’m disappointed that I can’t attach a web page. I was told back in December that you could attach pages, not links. It may not seem like a big deal, but I thought the whole idea of the Edge was to gather all your resources on one device. Not attaching web pages would seem to go against that principle.

I also regret the lack of collaboration features. I think it would be great if 2 or more students could share their annotations. Entourage also think this would be a great feature, and collaboration is on their to-do list.

Conclusion

The Edge isn’t for everyone. (No product is, for that matter.) But I do think the Edge is the best device in its niche. The goal was to come up with a practical digital textbook device, and I think Entourage succeeded.

Back to Pt 2

Sorry about the delay; I had technical issues and then got distracted (my Spring Design Alex arrived on Wednesday). I would think that most people are familiar with the Edge, but just in case you’re not, here’s a brief description.

The Edge is an unique dual screen device the Edge is about the size and shape of a netbook. It has 2 screens, one is a 9.7” E-ink screen and the other a 10”LCD screen. (Obviously it does not have a keyboard.) Both screens are touchscreens; the E-ink has a Wacom screen and the LCD touchscreen is capacitive (fingertip friendly). It weighs 3lbs, and the weight is fairly evenly split between the 2 halves.

The LCD is on the right. There is a webcam above it, and 4 buttons and a jogdial next to it. There is a slot behind and below the LCD screen for a Wacom stylus; you' need that stylus for the Wacom touchscreen.

All the ports, card slots, and battery are on the left half of the Edge. There are 4 buttons immediately to the left of the E-ink screen. The battery is on the lower edge, and there is a sim card slot, SD card slot, mini USB port, and a Wifi switch on the upper edge. On the left edge of the Edge are 2 USB Host ports, volume buttons, microphone & headphone jacks, and the power button.

I came up with a list of questions when I started this review, but I’m not going to answer all of them. Now that I’ve used the Edge, I don’t think some of the questions are worth answering because they’re redundant or invalid.

How is the Edge and a laptop used in comparison to the same laptop and textbooks?

I could not comfortably use the Edge with my laptop. I did try, but it seemed to me that the Edge and my laptop both needed to occupy the exact same position on my desk. Shifting one to the side, or propping one on the other, was just too awkward.

But that’s okay. I think that the Edge by itself is a reasonably good replacement for a laptop & a paper textbook. It worked (for most things). Sometimes I need to type, and the onscreen keyboard just doesn’t cut it.

BTW, while I think the Edge can replace a laptop+textbook, the same does not apply when you add a second, third, or fourth book and use them all at the same time. I think you’re going to want to keep those extra books separate from the Edge. But, I did find I could use the Edge with the extra books, and it worked well.

Could the Edge be a complete replacement for a netbook?

Maybe, but it would depend on how you’re going to use it. If you want to use the netbook as a smaller version of a laptop then the Edge won’t suit you. The Edge is intended to complement a laptop, not replace a netbook. You use the Edge in ways that you can’t use a netbook. Also, I think you’d be better off with a laptop+Edge than a laptop+netbook because of how the Edge complements a laptop. I think it would be more productive.

Back to Pt 1

On to Pt 3

I don’t normally do a second impressions post, but a couple people have requested one.

I bet some of you would like pictures. I’m only now starting to take some; I’ll post the pictures and a short video tomorrow. I regret that I haven’t posted them yet, but I honestly expected that at least one of the major tech blogs would get an Alex and take pictures. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any yet.

If there is a point that you would like me to elaborate on, please ask in the comments.

Edge vs Alex

I’m really tempted to give the Alex a nickname: Edge Jr. That’s what it feels like.  The Alex doesn’t have the Edge Journal or Annotator, but it does have all the attachment abilities. I can create links to files, webpages, other books, or other locations in the book. I can create and link to a voice memo. I can also highlight, bookmark, and type in a note.

I wonder who developed the attachments originally. Obviously it’s not Entourage or Spring Design.

I’d say that the menus on the Alex aren’t quite as well designed as on the Edge. But  the Edge has so much more screen real estate that might not be a  fair comparison.

Nook vs Alex

UPDATE from 25 April: I just downloaded the Nook firmware update, and I’ve changed my mind. The Nook has improved significantly.

It’s not fair to compare the 2 because the Nook is just an ereader. (But it’s also $180 cheaper.)  Now that I have an Alex, I think the lawsuit Spring Design filed against B&N is ridiculous. Surely B&N would have done a better job if they had tried to make an Alex knockoff. It’s just not possible for someone to sit through a product demo for the Alex and then design the Nook. There are too many poor decisions in the hardware design (when compared to the Alex).

Reading

I’ve been playing around some more with the Reader. I’ve noticed that the you can bring a page down from the epaper screen to the LCD screen by pressing the little button between the 2 screens. The formatting is preserved when you go to the second screen, and there’s a zoom mode on the LCD screen. It’s going to be really useful for zooming in on PDFs.

Browsing

I’ve logged in to my Gmail account. It worked fine, but I don’t like thumb typing emails.  So I opened Google Reader instead. I really like that I can read the feeds on the E-ink screen. I said before that the Alex was a web tablet; this is why. Also, I like the Alex enough that I think I could get used to thumb typing the emails.

A couple of the feeds I follow are podcasts. It was easy to download one and play it. This is something I hadn’t thought of, actually. It’s probably not going to win out over an MP3 player, but it is nice.  (I’m listening while I type.) But I can’t do anything else while it’s playing, and I think it’s actually streaming the podcast. (I need to look in the )

Bookstore

The Alex is tied into Borders/Kobo, of course. But you’re also prompted with the option of downloading free ebooks from Feedbooks, PG, Smashwords, Google Books, etc. This is the first time I’ve seen an ereader promote free ebooks alongside the paid.

BTW, there are separate icons for the Library, Bookstore, and Reader. I like that.

What doesn’t work

• I can install some apps , but not all. (Appslib didn’t work.) And I can’t open Android apps on the epaper screen, darnit.
• The Alex has trouble with certain Wifi hotspots (Edge has the exact same problem).
• The keyboard has a noticeable lag (ditto for the Edge).
• There is a default setting which blocks apps that didn’t come from the Android Market. Guess what? The Alex can’t access the Android Market.
• There is no landscape mode. I wasn’t really expecting it, so I’m not disappointed.

Apps

There is an email client. Unfortunately, the Alex won’t accept the security certificates from Google so I can’t test it.

I have the eReader app working, and I downloaded a few ebooks from Fictionwise. Even though it can’t use the epaper screen it’s still useful. I look at it this way: I can have 2 ebooks open at once.

There is a Youtube app, and it has the same problem as the one on the Edge. It can’t play everything, unfortunately.

So my unit arrived today, and I’m going to post my first impressions. My battery died fairly quickly even though it said it was fully charged, so this psot won’t be that complete. I used it for about 10 minutes before I realized:

The Alex is not an E-reader.

No, seriously, it’s not. The Alex is a dual screen web tablet. It does so much more than read ebooks.

hardware

The Alex has a 6″ epaper screen and a 3.5″ LCD screen. There are 2 buttons on either side of the LCD screen. I’ve heard a couple complaints about the fact both page turn buttons are not on the same side. Now that I’ve used it, I understand why they did that. I think you’re supposed to hold the Alex in both hands, or they don’t expect you to need it that much.

I can comfortably hold the Alex in either hand with my thumb between the screens, 4 fingers behind, and the Alex’s corner in the palm of my hand. I’d feel safe carrying it one handed on a commute.

Reading

I didn’t get to use it very long(battery), but I’m really impressed with the annotation abilities.  I didn’t have time to see everything but there were a lot of options and I successfully attached a voice note. Yes, the Alex has a microphone.

Browsing

Once again, I’m impressed. I could display a webpage on both screens at once. Note: the same page was shown twice, not shown split between the 2 screens. Again, not enough time to really get into it.

It also comes with a Youtube app.

key shortcuts

I haven’t read the manual, but I think there are some shortcuts that can jump you out of the browser. I was pressing stuff in random pairs and at least one worked. Shiny.

What’s in the Box

The Alex was shipped in a UPS envelope (in its retail box, of course), not a shipping box. I’m not pleased. Besides the device, the box also contained a charger, USB cable, a paper manual, and a case, which is crap. It looks like it cost about $1.50 to make, and it’s so flimsy that it can only protect against scuff marks. I don’t think it would be enough to protect the Alex if I dropped it.

Nook vs Alex

UPDATE from 25 April: I just downloaded the Nook firmware update, and I’ve changed my mind. The Nook has improved significantly.

If you own a Nook, I’d sell it and get an Alex. Do it today so you beat the rush. The Alex is that much better. I’m actually not joking. The Alex feels like Spring Design put a lot of thought into it.

Yesterday I mentioned the Pocketbook 901. Rather than rehash old information,  I decided to dig up the following post on when I saw the PB901 at CES 2010 and repost it.

Note: The information in this post was current as of January 2010. It might be out of date now.

Update: Charbax shot a hands on video of the PB901 at Computex in June 2010. Surprisingly, they haven’t changed the design much (but they are quoting a lower price):

Pocketbook had a prototype 9.7″ ebook reader with the new flexible screen in its booth at CES. You might not be able to see it in the photos, but when I held it in my hands I could see the screen wasn’t flat. There was a slight bulge behind the screen from one of the circuit boards.

I asked, and I was told that there will be 2 models. The basic model (PB901) is projected to cost around $450 and be available in September. The PB902 will have Wifi and a touchscreen, and will be available later. Note that the one in the photos is not the production model. It’s a prototype that was thrown together quickly in time for a demo for the Russian Education Minister.

BTW, this isn’t the first mention of the Pocketbook 901. There was a couple pictures posted in MobileRead’s Deutsches Forum. But I do believe these are the first shots in the wild.

This post was originally titled “How does the Edge compare to a netbook?”, but it seems to have gone sideways in a couple different directions.

When I first phrased the question, I was thinking of a laptop, not a netbook. But that was mainly because my main computer is a 12″ laptop, which is just barely too large to qualify as a netbook. (Netbooks are a subset of laptops, anyway).

BTW, I also wrote a post about how the Edge can export annotations. You can find it over here.

Two common complaints with netbooks are that the screen and keyboard are too small. This doesn’t apply to the Edge, and the reason why is rather interesting: The Edge is used differently than a netbook.

A netbook is used with the screen in landscape, and you input data on the keyboard and see that data on the screen. Since you don’t actually manipulate the data on the screen, there is a disconnect between what you type and what you see. I didn’t really notice this until I started using the Edge.

On the other hand, when I use the Edge, it is usually propped in a position similar to that of a textbook. It might be half in my lap and propped on a  table, or it might be on a table and propped up by my backpack. (BTW, I normally don’t lay it flat; it just didn’t seem to work.*)

So what was my point about the disconnect? It has to do with the editing process. The best way to edit a piece of writing is to print it out and go over it with a pen. (Ask any writer over 30.) Marking the paper directly is a different mental process than typing on the screen. I’ve known this for some time, but I didn’t really understand it until I got the Edge. On the Edge, you directly manipulate the data on the screen.

I think that the experience of using the Edge has more in common with a book or ereader than a netbook, and this is where the Edge excels. I also feel that the Edge was inside my personal space and that a netbook is at arm’s length.

Unfortunately, the Edge falls short when it comes to creating work instead of adding or editing it. The onscreen keyboard is barely usable. It works, but I’d much prefer a physical keyboard. In fact, I highly recommend that you get a compact keyboard to carry with the Edge. This would help fix the one way that a netbook is better than the Edge.

So there you have it. For some people, and for some purposes, the Edge is a serious alternative to a netbook. But could it replace the netbook? I don’t know.

*I didn’t like to lay it flat because it forced me to physically shift my body whenever I needed to switch screens. When the Edge was propped like a book, all I needed to do was turn my head. At least, that’s what it feels like to me.