Update: eVrit e-book Reader

[Amichai Rotman]

Hi all,

Just wanted to share my experience with this little device...

As some of you know, I asked which one should I buy: Amazon Kindle or this
one. I am glad I have bought this one. It's all I need!

I have 130 books on the internal 1.2GB memory and I still have lots of
space.

I bought it so I can carry around all those 1000+ pages technical books.

Pros:


Runs Linux!
Small size.
Light weight.
Lots of space (can work with an MicroSD card, up to 32GB).
Supports Hebrew (none of the other readers out there do).
Long battery life.

Cons:

e-vrit eshop:
Very uncomfortable to browse the e-vrit website and shop for books (Both
from the desktop and from the device). While browsing from the device, it
opens a page on the local FS that asks you to follow a link to enter the
online shop. This page comes up after connecting to the WiFi network, so
they could easily take you there directly after the connection was made...
You cannot search for books by author, and if you find an author you like,
it is not possible to "click the name to access all the books available by
that author. This is true for both the device and the desktop sites.
Note: The site accessible from the device is maintained by Newpan and the
site accessible from the desktop is maintained by Steimazky....
A small number of books are available on the shop. No Sci-Fi books at all.
No old books (those books I bought as a kid and are out of print are great
candidates for this format).

When listening to MP3 files - even with the volume all the way up, it was
too low to hear in a noisy environment. Granted - I only tested Podcasts,
not music.

Slow response while switching between books and display modes (full screen,
back to the main menu). flipping pages work fast, though.

Terrible for photos / pictures. Too dark, no colors and slow. The books'
covers and in-book diagrams and line art look great!

User Experience:

As I mentioned, I am very happy with the device. It is very light and under
the right lighting conditions it is very clear and fun to read from. Using
it under the sun was even better than under florescent light.
I downloaded a sample book from the Barns & Noble site (what they call a
'NookBook) and transfered it to the device directly (an .epub file) - and
begun reading immediately! no DRM, no conversion - out of the download! I
called their Customer Support (voice - I needed to hear it) and asked if it
is because it's a sample. the representative said the sample is technically
the same as the full book!

Over the course of the last three years I've read very few books, mostly
technical books by the computer, but since I've bought this device I have
read more than 70 pages of a Hebrew thriller, and a few pages of some
technical books and got the epub version of a 1500 page book I was wondering
how to carry around with me...

Conclusion:

Very good buy for those of you who need the Hebrew support. Not very
expensive. No dual display. No color display - but perfect for reading
books!

I hope I helped someone out there to reach a decision...

Amichai.
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