New "Mars" device from Likebook?

[crane3]

Total commander, Moon+Reader Pro, Calibre Companion & Hacker's Keyboard installed on Likebook Mars. Calibre Companion library populated from Calibre using the "wireless device" connection onto a 128 gb sd card. Selected a book from CC & used Moon+Reader Pro to read the book; also set preferred font (for now) & font size in MR Pro.

The apps were installed from my tablet copies using TC; believe that file explorer uses the same method & it may be universal(?). At the "installed apps" select the app to bring up the file manager & copy it to folder of choice. The copy is labeled *.apk.

So far, no auto landscape/portrait mode; in fact no landscape.
The notification disables access to the brightness control as it shows up each time the status bar is touched at the right side; solution is to clear the notification by touching the "broom" icon to clear the notifications.

The shipping box has 2 boxes, Mars & a cover case. On 1st boot, after connecting to my lan, got notified of an update which I did. Still no Google Play store yet!. My use for Mars is read books & have a device that will do good book management for me.

[jkrzok]

Originally Posted by crane3

The shipping box has 2 boxes, Mars & a cover case.

Can you tell us where you bought it from? I'm wondering if the Amazon seller includes the case.

[crane3]

Originally Posted by jkrzok

Can you tell us where you bought it from? I'm wondering if the Amazon seller includes the case.

Got mine from the Amazon seller which was shipped from Hong Kong using DHL.

[crane3]

WARNING!! Huge problem with the os update!!!! After the timeout auto power off & powering on Likebook mars, the system language reverts back to Chinese!!

Have not found a way to reset the language other than a factory reset if I can even find the item. If already have the Mars, set it to never power off for now.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by crane3

WARNING!! Huge problem with the os update!!!! After the timeout auto power off & powering on Likebook mars, the system language reverts back to Chinese!!

Have not found a way to reset the language other than a factory reset if I can even find the item. If already have the Mars, set it to never power off for now.

I did a factory reset on my Bouye T62 and it reverted to Chinese, so a reset might not help. Maybe you can contact the seller and they could tell you how to get to the language and input setting. When my T62 reverted to Chinese, I searched through all the settings and was able to figure out how to change it back. When I found the language setting and scrolled through it English language was in English.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by crane3

WARNING!! Huge problem with the os update!!!! After the timeout auto power off & powering on Likebook mars, the system language reverts back to Chinese!!

Have not found a way to reset the language other than a factory reset if I can even find the item. If already have the Mars, set it to never power off for now.

I have ordered a Likebook Mars, and I expect it to arrive via USPS on Thursday. I will make a note of how to access the language settings then, and pass that on to you - unless you've solved your issue by then.

[crane3]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

I have ordered a Likebook Mars, and I expect it to arrive via USPS on Thursday. I will make a note of how to access the language settings then, and pass that on to you - unless you've solved your issue by then.

Thanks, but got my English language back a couple of minutes ago.

The setting is in the "language & input" as in android; never paid attention to it before as just use that category just to set the Hacker's keyboard (or another for testing) as the keyboard to use.

Didn't get it until I looked at my tablet to see where a language might appear. When I saw Hacker's keyboard on the list, I tried a couple of things on the list & bingo!

All this did not affect Moon+Reader pro nor the books listed by Calibre Companion...

[jkrzok]

My thanks to crane3. I now have one coming from the Amazon seller. I was going tro wait to order a Mars but was waiting to get a cover. Knowing that it comes with a cover let me buy now.

To all those that have used Moon Reader on Mars (give me a moment to come up with a better pun), how does the page refresh work on Moon Reader? I have an older eink android device and Moon wouldn't refresh the screen by itself, one had to hit a refresh button for the reader to refresh.

[crane3]

page turns on MR is "quick". There are 2 'settings' apps: BySetting & Setting.

The BySetting has reader settings & user settings; I forgot which has the page turn setting. There is also a "fast page turn" setting which does not apply to PDFs; there is also a setting for refresh rate where the default is 20 pages. The page refresh rate can be set from 1 to never.

No idea now on whether it also apply to MR will be checking as I see that using the default reader on the Youtube video, one can set the contrast & want it to apply to everything(?).

5 ghz doesn't work yet? Have not seen anything official about dual wifi, just from the youtube video pic.

Interesting when I had the Chinese language, one of the items I touched somewhere listed all the files as in bin, etc, so & inc! Can't seem to find the place in English! It was like a search listing from the root thru the entire installed OS.

[Sonofrobot]

Originally Posted by crane3

page turns on MR is "quick". There are 2 'settings' apps: BySetting & Setting.

The BySetting has reader settings & user settings; I forgot which has the page turn setting. There is also a "fast page turn" setting which does not apply to PDFs; there is also a setting for refresh rate where the default is 20 pages. The page refresh rate can be set from 1 to never.

No idea now on whether it also apply to MR will be checking as I see that using the default reader on the Youtube video, one can set the contrast & want it to apply to everything(?).

I don't think that these refresh settings apply to Moon+ Reader unfortunately. The only way I have found to refresh the page when it starts getting pretty ghosty is to set the refresh in Boyue Settings to 1 and click in the middle to bring up the nav bar, which will refresh the page. It doesn't always refresh on the first try either. Sometimes I have to bring it up multiple times to initiate a refresh.

I wish (and have requested) that the M+R dev would add refresh settings to the app but have not heard anything back in that regard.

Perhaps there is a way to associate M+R as the default reader, which might allow the system refresh settings to take effect even in M+R, but I haven't found a way to do that as of yet.

[downeaster59]

My Mars arrived this afternoon.

Some quick impressions: superior hardware, but the firmware needs a little more fine tuning, mainly with the ghosting in some apps, as others have mentioned. Mainly in apps that are not designed with eInk use in mind.

I recommend either KOReader, Librera, or AlReader. KOReader has its own refresh settings. No ghosting or artifacts. Didn't notice ghosting in Librera. Haven't tried AlReader yet. Moon used to be my go-to reader app, but I now prefer any of the above three - with a slight overall preference for KO.

If you long press a book in Calibre Companion, a pop-up window will ask you which reader you want to open the book with, and if you want that reader app to be the default one for that eBook format.

A2 mode is definitely the way to go if reading on third-party apps that are not designed with eInk in mind. It matters less if you use an eInk-friendly app.

I like the ability to change from 'normal' to 'soft' light. The 'soft' is like the Nook Glowlight 3, which I like very much.

I have side loaded the apps I want to use, so having Google Play, etc., isn't a big deal for me. It simply makes updating apps easier if Play Store is there. Then again, there's always the Amazon app store...

I may do a fuller review later, but this will do for now!

PS: For you landscape lovers, Librera does landscape within the app! Or, try Rotation Control (root not needed).

[jkrzok]

I found this on Youtube; it's a video of the different settings on the LM. It might be helpful in getting English back if an update gives you Chinese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AYqKabP7Yc

[downeaster59]

I emailed Likebook (Boyue) using the email on Amazon. I mentioned the ghosting and the lack of auto-refresh on third party apps. They replied that they have passed this on to their R&D department and that an update to fix this should be out in mid-October.

We'll see if that happens by then. However, I am impressed by how quickly they respond to customer emails and that they seem to be trying hard to make their products as good as possible. It's a hopeful sign.

[crane3]

For MoonReader users, one might try the "more operations" selection & checkout the "brightness" line item.

I have my Mars checked 'fast page' & refresh rate at '5' pages.

In MR, I fiddled & lowered the brightness somewhat from the system(?) setting which is/was high; then lowed the 'opacity' down to around 10%. Surprised me that MR page turns are snappy without flashing(?). Think that it is the opacity value that made thing different but don't know why.

So far, I quite happy with the settings now even tho the whit on grey leaves a lot to be desired; wish that the grey can be a bit darker but a dark theme do not work well on e-ink.

[downeaster59]

Now you have me curious about how Moon Reader is on the Mars. I might have to try it!

When I used MR, I liked the Outdoor theme on E-Ink. I then tweaked the font to get it as I wanted.

Speaking of fonts, I noticed that the stock Boyue reader has only one English font. I was able to create a Fonts folder on my Mars, and then added a font to it as a test. That font then showed up as an option in the stock reader. However, the words seemed crunched together. Changing the typeset solved that issue. The new font was also available in Librera but not KOReader.