Cool-er Readers: happy with product?

[DojoPat]

I know the Cool-er reader has been out a few months now, but I've never seen one. Are people who own one happy with the device?

(I'm a happy 505 owner, but if Sony keeps using touch-screens on their new models I may eventually switch to another brand that has a crisp 6" screen)

[stustaff]

Hi I have a Sony 505 and 300 and 2 cool-ER readers.

the Cooler readers are not as well made as the Sony, not as rigid and the button presses dont feel as nice.

but for reading and getting books on I have had no issues, The coolER readers are currently being used by my elderly parents who are fine with using them too.

[Americanchild]

I purchased the Cooler e-book reader in purple when it was the special value on QVC. First, they promised 10 free ebook downlods with purchase, what they didn't tell you was that you got to pick from 30 titles, all of which you have never heard of and can probably be purchased for 25cents and the used book store. Second, and most important, the quality is poor. The botton to change pages is very hard to press and response time is slow. It feels cheap and my fear was that it would not last long. The screen and print quality is, however, fine. Third, my Cooler froze every hour or so requiring a hard reset which takes several minutes. Also, when you turn on the cooler e-reader it takes you to your list of files, it does not return you to the page you left off on and it takes several minutes to drill down and open the book back up - very cumbersom. I ordered a Kindle 2 to compare and it took me about 5 minutes to decide to send the Cooler ebook reader back and stick with the Kindle 2, espcially since there was only a $30 price difference. Love the purple color of the cooler but the quality and features of the Kindle win hands down.

Addnedum:

Check out QVC. com, product got a 1 star rating and a lot of people are sending them back and are very angry with QVC for featuring this product.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by DojoPat

I know the Cool-er reader has been out a few months now, but I've never seen one. Are people who own one happy with the device?

(I'm a happy 505 owner, but if Sony keeps using touch-screens on their new models I may eventually switch to another brand that has a crisp 6" screen)

Dear DojoPat:

I work for Astak so I am biased and cannot say anything negative about other devices. However, the Cool-er was a Netronix product and was lacking the Epson Controller and 8 level grey scale and Adobe Digital Editions DRM, and a few other important improvements. The Astak Mentor Lite (www.astak.com) is the second generation device and has these improvements.

Astak has a Dedicated Astak Forum on MobileRead Forum. You can also read all the features of the 6 inch Mentor Lite on my blog: www.robertbEZ.blogspot.com

Yes, the Mentor Lite is an outstanding 6 inch eBook Reader taht does not have Touchscreen but has numerous great features in a fast and dependable E-Ink screen. It displays about 16 different formats.

[sassanik]

I have a Cool-er and I am very happy with mine. I pre-ordered mine and got it in July. I admit that orignally the firmware was having issues and mine had to be replaced, but Interead got an A+ on support and replacement of the device.

I have a newer version of the firmware but not the newest. The device is very stable, I have only had one hard crash on it where I had to reset the device, but normally it works fine. I am a very heavy reader and normally going through 3+ books a week.

I use Calibre with my Cool-er and it works very well.

The change they recently had with the newest firmware means that it no longer opens up to the page you were on. When you open the book again it will go right to the page, but not when you intially turn on the device. The speculation on the reason for this is to help prevent loops if the ebook you read has a corrupted file.

I do not buy my books from Cool-er's bookstore, so I am not sure on the formatting quality. There are tons of free books through Project Gutenberg, this is stuff that is public domain.

I buy most of my books through Fictionwise and Books on Board. I like that the Cool-er supports Adobe's secure epub format.

I am happy with my Cool-er. The page turning button could be better but I hardly notice the hard plastic around it anymore. The button its self is not hard to press, it is simply flush with the cover, this means that when you press it you generally have half of your finger also pressing on the plastic which is very firm. This has lead people to say that the button is hard to push, which is not entirely accurate.

There have been complaints that it feels "cheap". I think that is because it is made out of a very lightweight plastic. I don't feel like its cheap or flimsy, though its not as durable as my EB1150.

Hope this helps!


Amy

[dazcox]

I got my Cool-ER in October last year and despite a few initial problems I now wouldn't be without it.

I use the latest firmware, and have had no crashes/lockups or problems since installing it.

It Does work with Adobe DRM, and I purchase my books from Whsmith in the UK, or waterstones all in DRM epub.

I like that it's able to read a variety of formats, and the screen is great. Would be nice to have the nicer print fonts like the sony / kindle but thats a minor gripe.

It fits my needs well - I tried a sony PRS 300 last night and thought it had way too many buttons and seemed a bit unwieldy; likewise the qwerty on a kindle would bug me. The cooler is a nice clean design, and the case I got for it adds a nice soft feel.

I agree with Amy about the buttons - if you actualy press just the button they're quite easy to push - it's the case that is hard!

As for build quality - well, the plastic (back cover) on mine scratched quite easily, but now I have a case, and the printing on the d pad is wearing off, but I take that as a sign it's been well used! Yeah, the plastic is creaky, but now more than any device that is plastic!

In the UK I've seen a few of these about. Never seen a Kindle, and a couple of Sonys but seems to me that the average Joe in the street has never heard of an e-book - Heck, most store assistants haven't a clue about them either even though they're on the shelves.

I am tempted to get another device soon, but I don't think there's anything on the market at present that will justify the outlay with any new features that i'd use.

[Alcuith]

Mate, where did you get the case from? Still looking seen nothing that would be worth my while.

Originally Posted by dazcox

It fits my needs well - I tried a sony PRS 300 last night and thought it had way too many buttons and seemed a bit unwieldy; likewise the qwerty on a kindle would bug me. The cooler is a nice clean design, and the case I got for it adds a nice soft feel.

[sassanik]

Amazon had a few Cool-er cases for sale. I don't use a case with mine, so alas I fear I am not going to be terribly helpful. I just throw mine into my little bag and am careful to not crush it when I take it out, not the best solution but I have not broken it yet.


Amy

[Kisxela]

Originally Posted by Alcuith

Mate, where did you get the case from? Still looking seen nothing that would be worth my while.

I use Tuff-Luv Leather case cover (flip style) for Interead COOL-ER eReader / Cooler Reader (Black).

Amazon Tuff-Luv case cover

[panda53]

I got a free silicone cover with mine - and then I carry it around in a neoprene sleeve to protect it.

ebay now has sleeves for the cool-ers, but the kindle 2 ones work too. I bought a real cheap one on amazon.com - even with postage to the uk it was cheaper than the ebay ones!

[Alcuith]

Many thanks for that people, wonder what the postage will be to Oz? Might just get a neoprene one by the sounds.

[Loccy]

I would say my COOL-ER is "good enough" but I wouldn't say I'm entirely happy with it.

There are entirely too many quirks - e.g. occasional reboots when I plug it into my MacBook, sometimes the list of files refreshes when you insert an SD card, sometimes it doesn't and you have to restart the device to see the SD card's contents. I also don't like the fact that one can't change the margins and that font sizes are enforced by the ebook itself (most ebooks I have seem to go from minuscule text to "157pt Sun Headline" size) - thus requiring me to faff about in Calibre and play with font size to get a comfortable (for me) reading experience. The interface, when moving from book to book, is appallingly clunky (and I'd love to try other firmwares - they can't be any worse, surely).

All that said, though, once I'm in a book and reading it works reasonably well - hence the "good enough" comment - ultimately at the end of the day all you want it to do is display pages of text.

TL;DR: I wish I'd bought the smaller Sony for a few quid more. I was swayed by a bigger screen for less money. But at the end of the day it displays books well enough. It'll do until a killer device comes onto the market.

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by Robertb

I work for Astak so I am biased and cannot say anything negative about other devices. However, the Cool-er was a Netronix product and was lacking the Epson Controller and 8 level grey scale and Adobe Digital Editions DRM, and a few other important improvements. The Astak Mentor Lite (www.astak.com) is the second generation device and has these improvements.

This is incorrect.
The Cool-er DOES support Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) with both ePUB and PDF with or without DRM
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/COOL-ER

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by Robertb

I work for Astak so I am biased and cannot say anything negative about other devices.

The cool-er and the astak are virtually identical. So it would be rather unwise for an Astak rep to say anything negative about the cool-er, since it would reflect on his own device too!
But I am surprised at so much inaccuracy from a rep.

From our wiki:

The Cool-er is the first ebook reader from Interead ...
Both the hardware and the software (firmware) are generic Netronix EB-600, and so this is very similar to the Astak Mentor Lite, Inves-Book 600 and Elonex 600EB (sold by Borders UK).

[Godzil]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear DojoPat:

I work for Astak so I am biased and cannot say anything negative about other devices. However, the Cool-er was a Netronix product and was lacking the Epson Controller and 8 level grey scale and Adobe Digital Editions DRM, and a few other important improvements. The Astak Mentor Lite (www.astak.com) is the second generation device and has these improvements.

You are wrong, the Cool-er is an EB600EM that USE the S1D13521 display controler.

By the way, I was always thinking that astak was only a jinke reseller that only paint the astak logo on top of the Jinke devices...

(ie like Cooler where hardware, cases and software are © Netronix, All Astak Mentor are simple Netronix Software + Hardware + Case with astak logo, and Astak EZReader are simple Jinke cases, hardware and software with Astak logo on it, whatever RobertB can say)