WikiReader - first impressions

Torfinn Ingolfsen tingox at gmail.com
Mon Nov 9 22:48:01 CET 2009


Hello,

After a few days with the WikiReader, here are my first impressions:
The obvious things:
- good size: this device is small enough to drag along (ok, it won't fit in
my trouser pockets), but has a big enough screen to read on comfortably
- use in places: I knew about the "missing" backlight. I can read the
WikiReader while commuting (most tram's have good lighting), but on the
other hand it is difficult in a "cosy" cafe, because the lighting is not s
good there.
- scrolling: this works great, even better than I thought. One friend asked:
how do I get to the next page, but was happy with scrolling after I told him
to use that instead.
- history: it's there when I turn on the device - and I like that.
- the search button removes the on screen keyboard so I can scroll on the
search screen. Yes! I like that.

The questions:
- search screen: where is the "delete word and start over" button? (this was
the first question I got from two friends trying the device)
- why isn't there a back button? Sure, I can use the history button and
select from the list (and that works quite well), but a back button would
save one keypress

Annoyances:
- it is impossible (for me at least) to take out the microSD card without
using a tool (pliers or something). Why do I want to take it out? To
actually show people the small size of a Wikipedia database. :-)
- the buttons on the on screen keyboard is a bit small for my fingers (it is
easy to press the character left or right of the one I want). I don't know
how to solve this yet.
- sometimes, the history screen is unresponsible, I have to press the other
two buttons a couple of times before I can select anything on the history
screen

small annoyances:
- the moment it takes to display an article (after selecting it, either from
the search screen or from a link) is just long enough that the device feels
a bit slow sometimes.

Some things I haven't figured out yet:
- how do I get another Wikipedia (for example the Norwegian one) onto a
MicroSD card?
- how do I convert an e-book and put it onto a microSD card for the device?

All in all - I really like this device.
-- 
Regards,
Torfinn Ingolfsen
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