Imagin IMEB-5 colour e-book reader When so much of the cheap, no-brand electronics kit coming out of China is junk, it's nice to find something that, for once, works better than you expect it to. Imagin IMEB-5 Imagin IMEB-5: right size for an e-book reader Case in point: the Imagin IMEB-5 colour e-book reader, produced by that household name Tivolli which …
Does the XXg mean you're running a guess the weight competition?
Also very important, what's the battery life? One of the best things about E-Ink readers is that with any wireless radios turned off they run for a month of normal use.
Seriously though, this thing looks junk to me. The only thing it has going for it is a colour screen but from your review the screen is useless for video and photographs. The device is underpowered so page turns take an age. All the advantages of a colour LCD over e-ink are lost and you're just left with the disadvantages.
£65 is pretty cheap though.
The battery life - which you don't specify, is three hours for e-books only, and it's supposed to be charged for 12 hours at a time the first few times it's charged.
It's not worth buying, even for 65 quid. E-ink on the Kindle is so much better than any other display you care to mention it's not funny (with the minor pointless exception of trying to read it in the dark; there the soothing turquoise backlight of my ancient mono Handera 330 palm handheld is better)
I was sceptical about the Kindle, and thought I might want an Android tablet. After actually trying the Sony e-book readers, the Kindle and the Samsung Galaxy Tab my opinion is : Android tablets are currently too immature - wait a while. The Kindle is a lovely device, the e-ink is stunning. The only things the Kindle is missing are a touch screen, an Interactive Fiction interpreter, more format support and possibly a reading light. Plus of course reasonable e-book pricing..
It's one of those parasitic products that only exists so people like my mum can pick them up as presents thinking she's got a bargain compared to the wasteful brand people actually asked for, thus guaranteeing a slightly awkward christmas morning of faked 'thanks' followed by the frustrating sound of still-quite-a-lot-of-money hitting landfill come boxing day.
Stuff this unfit for purpose should be banned both for environmental reasons and because, just once, I'd like to have christmas lunch without everyone having to uncomfortably feign enthusiasm for crap
I'll just join the chorus...
Battery life will be short, especially if you turn up the brightness to cope with bright ambient life. Wouldn't fancy using it on a long journey. Using LCD screens in an ebook reader is a double whammy of awfulness. They draw more current than eInk even in dim conditions, but the only solution to bright ambient light is to turn the brighness way up which draws even more current. And even then they are not as readable as eInk displays.
These things are being somewhat cynically punted at people who just don't get the difference between eInk and LCD displays. They think they're getting a bargain when they see it's something like half the price of a Kindle. Then they'll use it for a while get totally pissed off with it and probably end up thinking all eBook readers are crap.
I'm not a huge fan of eBooks because of the price of the media, the readers themselves are great as long as they have eInk displays. Crap like this will only harm the image of eBook readers.
There's two reasons for this device to be useless. First of all it's LCD and not electronic ink. Having used electronic ink for 30 months, and LCD/CRT for most of my life I would never, ever go back. But the battery life is horrific too.
If you took the Amazon Kindle removed wifi and put an LCD rather than a Pearl eInk screen in then you would expect it to come out cheaper than this device.
The Kindle is as cheap as it goes right now, that's the bottom of the market. A no name Chinese manufacturer can't churn out anthing cheaper than Amazon is doing with the Kindle without crippling the device. Which is what they've done here.
In addition to what everyone else said about how a *bad* LCD on an e-reader is the only thing more stupid than a good one, have you seen the bezel on that thing? I didn't catch exact dimensions in the review, but with a 5 inch screen and that ridiculous bezel I suspect it's bigger than the 6" Sony reader. Hell, it might be bigger than the 6" Kindle, and that's got a freakin' keyboard. It may be a good size for an e-reader, but the 5" screen sure isn't a good size for the unit.
For a lot of the target market, an e-reader is going to be a long-term purchase: for someone who really just wants to read books, I can see a current-gen e-reader satisfying for a decade, or at least five years till the battery dies. Is a 60 quid purchase time saving really worth it stacked against the crapness of the hardware? Really?
well, I just bought one, and initial impressions were pretty good. (I also own a Kingle 3G+Wifi model ,the Kindle browser over wifi/3G isn't great as it just can't cope except with the simplest websites..then it is an experimental feature - it is THE BEST ereader I've used, and a Sony PRS-300...which is OK too, but sluggish compared to the new 350 model).
After using this for a couple of days, the Imagin ereader does what is says on the box, and being an LCD model you cannot expect great battery life, if you do you are very naive! However using it for a couple of hours before sticking it on the USB works ok. It's managed to handle all the epub books that I have thrown at it, you can save bookmarks and jump to pages. Adding books is simplicity itself.
The touch buttons work well, though I am not so sure about the positioning as the device is very small in the hand, smaller than the Sony, and touching 2 buttons at once results in nothing happening. It is easy to touch a button without realising. The screen is narrower and longer than the Sony, more 16:9 I guess.
I have found the fonts used extremely clear to read. It's hard to believe it's such a low resolution screen. yes it's LCD, but it is CLEAR and easy on the eyes with the chosen fonts.
I did download the PDF manual and stick it on the device, again very clear, even the smallest of fonts, but when I got to the last page, the PDF reader crashed and reset the device. Nothing is lost though. I need to check whether it's a problem with that PDF or a 'feature' of the software.
To sum up, for 65 quid, give it a go! You won't be disappointed with a Kindle Wifi model at 109 pounds though. To me, this offers the extra option of colour at a low price. you can view photos in color, watch movie files, and play music....it's OK...not perfect, but what do you expect for such a low price.
There are plenty of free book libraries out there and this device is a great low cost introduction to them.
Real books are nicer and you can donate them to charity, lend them to friends, read them on the beach, in the bath, anywhere really, and they have nor need any batteries. They cannot play games or access the internet over wifi, but then neither can this device, so what is the point? "Utterly pointless and terrible in all respects" - yes.
I will just visit the cloakroom and re-acquire my outer clothing as it's rather chilly out tonight.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
