The Digital Reader

I got the Jetbook Mini just over a week ago, and I have to say it was a lot of fun.  I was ready to write the review after only a few days (it’s basic e-reader), but I held it because Ectaco promised a firmware update (it came with a pre-release firmware). I’m not sure I should have waited; it’s still missing key features.

The video is at the end of the post.

Upside

• long battery life
• smart battery design (runs on 2 AAA)
• lots of user selected formatting options

Downside

• limited ebook format support (only FB2)
• does not support any DRMed ebook format
• no image, links, CSS support

Ectaco are a company that should be known to anyone who follows e-reader news. They launched the Jetbook, their first e-reader, in early 2008. The Jetbook Lite (same e-reader but running on AA batteries) was released in 2009. And now the Jetbook Mini will be coming out in October 2010.

The Jetbook Mini is actually the first e-reader designed just for Ectaco. The previous 2 models were originally developed for the Chinese markets by JCNIP. You can buy them in China under the brand name Dr.Yi (with a different firmware, of course).

Hardware

The Mini is a very basic e-reader. It lost almost all the buttons that were on its predecessor as well as the internal storage and MP3 player. It shares just one hardware detail with its predecessors: the screen. The 5″ LCD screen is a low power, grayscale entry into the epaper market that was originally developed by Toshiba. The Mini has an SD card slot on the upper edge, a USB port on the lower edge, and 5 buttons to one side of the screen. The buttons from top to bottom are: Menu, up, Enter, down, and Exit/Power.

The battery compartment is behind the buttons. It holds 4 AAA, and the Mini only needs 2 AAA to run. This will let you swap out a pair without losing your settings. I like that. I also like the way the batteries are placed so you can grip the thickest part of the e-reader.

The Mini is pleasant and light, but it’s clearly been designed for hands smaller that mine.

Games

The Mini shipped with Sudoku and a tetris clone. They’re not easy to play, unfortunately;  it’s really not obvious what each button did. But you won’t buy this for the games, so it doesn’t matter.

Reading Experience

It was a lot like reading on my Jetbook, and that’s not a good thing. It took a long time for a book to load. Page turns were slow; I compared it to my K3 and the K3 was faster. Images and links were missing, as was most of the CSS formatting.

On the up side you do have a lot of formatting options to pick from. You can set the justification, line spacing, font size, text encoding, and paragraph break behavior. All 4 screen rotations are supported, so this e-reader should please a lefty.

Opinion

As I reach the end of the review, I have to ask myself this: Would I recommend an e-reader that makes its users go through extra work (conversion) for a poorer experience (no images, TOC, or links)? The answer should be obvious.

I really think Ectaco should either improve FB2 support or replace it with Epub. I wouldn’t get the Mini until that happens. I also want them to improve the page turn speed.

Pricing Footnote

Right now, the Mini is listed for $99. You can get the Aluratek Libre for that price. If you have limited funds I would recommend the Libre.

Video