Marketing Edge Will Not Last Forever

Ectaco's JetBook marketing strength lies in 3 areas that could be quickly lost:

* High visibility LCD screen with rapid page transitions
* Standard AA batteries
* Low price

But it has negatives that Ectaco is glacially slow to address (at a time when the economy would make it easy for them to hire additional development help):

* Limited font selection
* No provisions for adjusting margins
* No provisions for adjusting line spacing
* No connectivity to a decent after-market dictionary

If I was running any of the other companies making competetive (and often more attractive) products that have all and more of these features, I would take one of my existing readers, remove the visiplex screen, replace it with the Hitachi LCD, come up with a better battery solution (both items reducing the price), and beat Ectaco at their own game.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 01/26/2010 19:09:05

ronouel wrote:* High visibility LCD screen with rapid page transitions

This is what I mean when I say eInk displays have drastically _lowered_ our expectations of screen performance. Is the JetBook's screen faster than, say, the Kindle? Yes. Is it "rapid"? Definitely not. For an LCD, the page turns are glacial.

I expected a lot better - especially with a Linux based OS. It just takes too long to access files, navigate menus, and turn pages. Again, is it better than the Kindle or nook? Yes, miles better - but that doesn't say much - they are so slow _ANYTHING_ would be better.

Robert and I have mentioned this before - 10 years ago the Rocket Reader did everything you are asking for along with an instant response screen. Maybe Ectaco or someone else should contact RCA to license the REB technology and add eReader support. Now THAT would be a good ereader.

Panagiotis

I must be in the minority, I think the functionality of the JBL is adequate for my needs. So far I've read a bit more than a half dozen books on it since the latest patch came out fixing the page format problem. Works great now IMO.

Don't get me wrong. Of the dedicated devices _currently_ available, the JBL is near the top. There are just a few things about it that could be much better - especially for heavy readers.

One thing very positive I can say about the JBL is that it supports a directory structure on the storage. I have over 4,000 books loaded on the device right now. If I couldn't organize them into directories by author and subs for series, I'd go stark raving mad.

That is one of the main reasons why I kept the device in hopes that Ectaco will continue to make intelligent upgrades like this to the device.

Panagiotis

For my needs, what needs to be addressed most, in order, are:
Memory access & page turning sped up (this should take an OS tweak - the LCD can certainly support it)
A search function available in all formats
Some way to use links embedded in documents
Ability to use third part dictionaries
Additional (user settable) font sizes
Additional (user settable) fonts
Margin and leading control

The .15 update addressed 2 major bugs in eReader support. That made the device practical. The rest would make it a great device and relegate the Rocket Reader to a bathroom book and the PDA to a backup.

Panagiotis

My guess is that the current version of the JBL is all that it will be... and that any major changes to the hardware / cpu / OS functionality will be addressed in the form of the next generation device - the JBL 2.0 (or whatever they call it).

I don't know why some or all of these changes, and those suggested by others, couldn't be accomplished relatively easy and quickly through a firmware update. If Ectaco wants to remain relevant in the ereader market, they have to move quickly to keep their current product in top form.

With the impending release of the iPad and increasing penetration of inferior eInk devices, it's going to be harder than ever for other devices to succeed. The JBL has a lot of things going for it and a lot of potential. I especially like seeing another device supporting the eReader DRM - IMO the best available because it depends on personal, unlikely to share info and does NOT depend on any validation service that could disappear anytime.

I hope the JBL continues to improve and hang in there. I think there is room for one more ereader.

Panagiotis

pgovotsos- you are right, by "rapid" I meant compared to e-ink. Also, I moved ALL my books to the SD volume (just leaving the top level Books and Pictures folders on the device memory) and my page transitions seem much faster- almost instant for txt and epub documents.

Open source is key. No one is going to STEAL anything from them because their software model is not all that capable or sophisticated to begin with. There are many capable people frequenting these forums that would gladly make significant improvements- just for the fun of it. And I would happily try someone else's tweaked firmware version if I could get the capability to have my device present a page that LOOKS like a book, which is supposed to be what it is emulating to begin with.

Besides, isn't the Jetbook a Linux device, and are they not REQUIRED by the Linux license agreement to open their code to the community? I think Pavel needs a little help.

Dear Customer

ECTACO plans to update Jetbook-Lite according to Customer’s comments, but does not plan to create another device so far.

All Customer’s suggestions and comments will be concerned.

Best Regards,

Pavel - technical support

Ectaco INC,

Regarding page transition speed. Besides putting all my books on the SD card, I failed to mention I use a Kingston 133x SD card. I don't know if the reader can actually utilize the extra speed since I have not tested it side by side with a regular SD card. I do know the USB reader bus is the ancient version 1 instead of 2, which affects book loading speed (that's why I use a USB 2 card reader instead). But whether the bus between the reader processor and SD card can take advantage of 133x, I cannot yet say. Does anyone know?