28 Jan
2011
28 Jan
'11
9:53 a.m.
On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 11:39 AM, Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com> wrote:
Instead of going the Kindle route, I purchased a
7" Android tablet through Merimobiles (mine is a "generation" old, but the
closest comparison is at
http://www.merimobiles.com/Moonse_APAD_E7001_Aluminium_Version_APP_Market_p…).
Based on Ian's experiences and recommendation, I purchased a successor
product from Merimobiles (a Haipad M701R, about $25 more than the
E7001, faster CPU, Android 2.1, double the RAM, HDMI out, IR remote
control for the media player...)
?It bears some of the limitations of the Kindle: small
screen, relatively slow rendering. ?But it does include a micro-SD slot, which makes it
easier to have a lot of content.
The micro-SD slot is a very nice feature. I've got 8GB dropped into
mine (came with the tablet for free as a promotional)
?The app Documents To Go (it's $5 or $10, and
definitely worth it) includes a pretty good PDF reader - it hasn't choked on anything
I've offered it, including scanned papers and large PDF engineering drawings. ?(It
reads *and writes* MS-Office docs, too.)
I haven't tried that PDF reader - I'm using the free one from Adobe.
I'm also using it to view *large* PDFs with mixed results.
?It does have a touchscreen, making panning easier. ?It
does WiFi, but not Bluetooth. ?And it's $145.
Mine was $169 plus postage from Shanghai.
Did I mention the screen is color! ?While I think the
eInk is well done and nice to look at, it's a plus to have the color screen,
especially when I'm reading the Sunday paper and get to the comics. ?(I don't buy
the newspaper anymore - there's an app for that.)
I'm still interested in ePaper as a technology, but the E702R is a
full-on tablet computer, not "merely" an eBook reader, so it naturally
has an LCD screen, and that means color (whether I wanted it or not).
I am not associated with Merimobiles other than as a
satisfied customer -- Ian
Ditto. My issues are with the limitations of an inexpensive device.
I am satisfied with my experiences with Merimobiles.
-ethan