Review LBook V3 Extended

Introduction

I greet you, O habralyudi! I will support the wave of interest in e-books with an article and video review of the LBook V3 . I became interested in the acquisition and use of such devices a couple of months ago. Working for half a day at the Apple Cinema Display , I began to feel that when reading bulk materials, the colorful elements of the sites and the OS interface were partially distracting. A temporary choice fell on the iPhone paired with the useful ruBooks program , but the interest in the ability to perceive information “like from a white sheet” was reinforced by chance. The success of buying a used LBook V3 for a much smaller amount than the counter resolved all doubts in favor of electronic ink technology.

Theoretical background

Electronic paper has been developed as an alternative to LCD displays. The main difference is that electronic paper forms an image in reflected light, like a normal printed sheet, without creating additional voltage for the eyes, and consumes energy only to update the image, which makes it possible to significantly increase the battery life. In recent years, technology has become widespread due to the popularization of electronic books.

Real state of affairs

The Internet is good in that it allows you to quickly find and absorb the necessary information. But there is one big “but” - in addition to what is needed on the screen of our monitors, there is such a raging stream of pixels that a fairly large part of the information is scattered or acquired not to the extent that we wanted.
Figuratively speaking, we feed our [under] consciousness not just a candy, but a candy together with a candy wrapper.
The thirst for information leads to the fact that often, in different places, a person who grabs information, cannot create a complete and harmonious image of it in his mind.
The main advantage of the book is the way it is perceived. Reading a book, we remain face to face with her. Nothing prevents the perception of information.
I can relate the above to myself because I do not have the opportunity to enjoy reading, holding on to the railing of the bus / trolley / metro car with one hand. I try to read exclusively in silence and solitude - this is the best way.

New technologies

A paper book is good for everyone, but what if there is a need to read several books at the same time, occasionally making movements in space? Carrying at least a few books is quite expensive.
It was for these reasons that my attention turned to e-books.

Electronic books

The direction of devices using e-ink technology is relatively young. This factor determines a fairly small number of models and their prevalence. Despite this, in the circles of users have already formed their favorites and hermits.
I will try to briefly characterize most of them.

Sony PRS-505

+ Aluminum case, good screen, Memory Stick and SD / MMC .
+ It's a Sony .
- Dislike for the popular fb2 format makes users use converters. Officially not shipped to Russia.
Sony PRS-505 review

Sony PRS-700

+ New model. One of a kind - has a touch screen and backlight.
- Judging by the first reviews, innovations for the worse affected the screen contrast.

PocketBook 301 Plus

+ Full Russification.
+ Control of one multi-position key (can be considered as a virtue, and as a disadvantage). + Direct support for PDF , DjVU and fb2 formats , the most popular among the people.
- Awful quality cover standard. You can buy a complete set of " Premium ", but this does not solve the essence of the problem.
- Problems with memory cards. According to user reviews, the file system crashes and the map is not detected by the device.

LBook V3 Extended

+ Cost lower than competitors.
+ Full Russification. Reads all popular formats.
+ It works on a standard Nokia battery ( BL-5 ).
+ Good equipment - quality cover, headphones.
- On the old firmware there were hangs. Periodically, you need to update the firmware.

Orsio b731 +

+ Full Russification. Reads all popular formats.
+ Control of one multi-position key (can be considered as a virtue, and as a disadvantage).
+ Good equipment - quality cover, headphones.
- High cost.
I recommend reading a review of Comrade Boomburum .

Explay TXT Book

+ Low price - from 8700 rubles.
- Mediocre quality of the screen and the device itself.
- Numerous breakdowns - just read the reviews.
- Problems understanding many popular formats.

The objectivity of the overlying reflections is due to visiting the sites reeed.ru , the-ebook.org , as well as studying the reviews in the Yandex.Market section devoted to these devices.

Ebook price

The average price of such devices is about 12,000 rubles . In my opinion, it is somewhat overpriced, due to the modest size of their market.
Price is the only factor holding me back from acquiring an e-book in recent times.
My joy knew no bounds when, when I visited the popular virtual Petersburg flea market , I found an advertisement for the sale of a used Lbook V3 .
The man selling the book was very close. Doubts tormented me until he uncovered the LBook V3 . At that moment, when I was given the opportunity to see the device with my own eyes, they disappeared.
The first impression was surprisingly funny. I recalled the dummies of cell phones with colored pieces of paper instead of screens that have a place to live on the shelves of provincial cellular stores.

Using LBook V3

The device went to me in very good condition. All that was left to do was transfer all that I wanted to read to the memory card.
Over the past year, quite a lot of literature has accumulated in electronic form, which I really wanted to study - books on web development, web design, web technologies, video editing and much more.
I did not allow this to be done only by one fact - I work at a computer. Dispersion considerations read above. Writing code and reading articles is great. Perceiving large amounts of information is troublesome.
There is no limit to the joy of how useful the purchase has become. I read a lot, every day, those books that I have long wanted to read - as if I were repaying debts to myself.
The book understands all the formats I need - PDF ,fb2 , DjVU , html , chm .
Moreover, fb2 , for example, reads easily from archives.

Design and interface

The design is simple, but at the same time attractive. The buttons are exactly as many as you need. On one screen of the main menu, 8 items (folders and files) are simultaneously displayed - they correspond to the number keys. 9 and 10 , duplicating navigation, allow you to navigate through the menu screens.
You can choose the source of information - SD - card ( SD / MMC / SDHC up to 16GB ) or internal memory ( 512MB ).
The impressions of the device and the work with it are the same - simple, easy and convenient.
Different programs are responsible for different types of files. For example, fb2 reads one, and PDF reads another.



When reading formats such as fb2You can select the font size, as well as call up the contents of the book and navigate using it. There are functions of screen rotation ( 360 degrees in increments of 90 ), transition to next / previous chapters, page turning 10 pages, bookmark management.

Comparison with iPhone

The first noticeable difference when switching from iPhone to LBook V3 is the reduction in eye strain.
Easy to read. I also thought about the iPhone , but, having passed, I felt the difference. Whatever you say, the backlight strains the eye.



The surface area of ​​the 6 " ( 800x600 pixels) e-book screen is almost three times that of the iPhone .

Offline work

When working with any mobile device, the question of battery life always arose a lot. For example, the MacBook Air lives on a single charge for about 3 hours , and with an iPhone, you can read about 6 hours without recharging .
In this regard, the e-book is the first mobile device that is very pleased.
5000-6000 page turns declared by the manufacturer, judging by the reviews, are overpriced, but the resource of one charge is more than sufficient. If you read every day and a lot, the battery life of the Nokia BL-5 (you can buy a spare for a couple of hundred rubles) is enough for several weeks.
If you make a simple proportion of the ratio of the information received to the battery life, then the electronic book leads with a huge margin compared to laptops, PDAs and other gadgets.

conclusions

Over the past year, even several years, I read very little literature.
The Internet was filled the entire channel of my information perception, but always it was accompanied by the feeling that something was missing.
Working at a computer is micro-stress for the body. In addition to the brain, eyes tighten and blood flow slows down. In this case, as you know, the work is divided into productive and unproductive.
Having filled the shining vacuum void inside of itself with the help of measured and calm reading, stabilizing the ratio of absorption (reading, studying) of information and its compilation (work, search for new sources), I decided to reduce the level of unproductiveness to zero.

Photo

Afterword

Before I give you a video review of the LBook V3 , I’ll share a secret with you.
More than a year ago, a movement of habraclones appeared - engines preaching the ideology of Habr.
BigStreet was the first.
Many people remember a post about my similar engine, published about ten months ago.
This was my first experience, which taught and emphasized in the right directions.
Since November last year, I have been relentlessly developing a new site management system.
In April, there was a need to take a break - the beloved took a vacation. Until recently, he could not return to the engine. The engine site was almost ready, but there was no energy inside for the last step.
There were two events that allowed me to get back to work - a meeting with Anton Isaikin ( oowl ) and reading the book Getting Real with LBook V3 .
Very soon a blog will be opened on Habré, and a series of articles will begin to be published devoted to my vision of a site management system.

Update: moved video review to kat. I hope that in this way more people will be interested in the article.