Last weekend, I posted that I’d bought a new Pandigital Novel for $130 ($170 – coupon – mail-in-rebate), then hacked it to run Kindle for Android. Although I was excited by the prospect of a cheap full color Kindle tablet, I complained about the somewhat glitchy software and performance.
And now I don’t own it anymore because I took it back.
In that earlier post, I cursed Pandigital for not making a better product. It’s naive of me to lay any blame at Pandigital’s feet, though. The fact is, they’re delivering a lot of features and hardware for the price point: a decently sized color LCD screen, a touchscreen interface, a robust and open operating system, access to a major bookseller right out of the box, Wi-Fi access, a decent battery, and a durable shell, all for significantly less than $200.
On paper, that is a pretty awesome kit.
The reality, however, is that to reach that low price point, you have to cut corners. The technology just isn’t there yet to put top-of-the-line tech into such a cheap device. So the default ereader isn’t very polished or visually appealing, the touchscreen is the old-fashioned resistive kind, the processor stutters during bigger transitions or animations, ebook files take a long time to open, apps freeze and require a reboot.
And the thing is heavy. This is partly a psychological effect, a consequence of what you expect something that size to weigh. I’ve held both the iPad and the Novel, and although the Novel is significantly lighter than the iPad, oddly the iPad feels “less heavy” in the hand (not lighter–it’s a perception thing), because its larger size primes your brain to anticipate some heft.
You can see from the video demo below that I managed to get the Novel customized to my satisfaction. It was pretty easy; with the exception of a software hack that remapped the volume buttons so that they’d function as menu buttons, it was just a matter of installing programs that I wanted to run (the default interface is still there, but it doesn’t appear unless I want it to.)
(Also, my apologies for the low quality of the video. I’d already returned the Novel before reviewing this footage and didn’t realize how blown out the screens looked.)
It wasn’t all disappointment. I spent the weekend reading books and comics on it, and for the most part, I liked the screen and the size of the Novel.
For books, it’s a perfect screen size, and I loved reading on it. I think for casual reading the Kindle 2 eInk screen is too gray, and the iPad in general is too big; the Novel’s screen is what I want an ereader screen to be. For comics, it’s almost perfect, but just a little bit smaller than I like. Because I want to be able to view comics at full size, I’ll probably end up going with something iPad-sized (assuming I can afford it some day).
I had a lot of trouble deciding whether or not to keep the Pandigital Novel. For the first three days of ownership, the underlying firmware was annoyingly buggy: the keyboard was almost unusable, Wi-Fi connectivity was spotty at best, and it sometimes froze. Apple has raised the bar so high on “it just works” user experiences that I couldn’t see myself wasting time in the coming months constantly tinkering with a device when all I wanted was to turn it on and start reading.
Then the day before I returned it, Pandigital released a firmware update. I installed it and was happy to see it fixed the keyboard issue and improved overall speed, and the Wi-Fi spottiness seemed at least slightly better. This makes me optimistic that if you buy a Pandigital Novel in three months, you’ll find the overall experience much more user-friendly than I did. (But of course, remember that you’ll need some basic geek skills to install Kindle for Android on it; otherwise you’ll be stuck with only Barnes & Noble books.)
In the end, what finally convinced me to take it back was my iPhone. Every time I put down the Novel and picked up my iPhone, I was struck by the vast difference in user experiences between the two. It was like riding a pogo stick, then getting on a bicycle, then going back to a pogo stick.
Let’s be realistic, though. There’s no <$200 iPad out there in the marketplace. If you want a cheap but functional tablet, this is pretty much your only choice–and I’m not sure another company would be able to come out with anything better at the same price point. If you’re a hobbyist or gadget geek who is used to coddling/customizing devices, it’s really not a bad value. If you’re just looking for a really smooth ereader experience, I’d suggest you keep waiting. The technology is only going to get better.
By Mike Cane July 23, 2010 - 12:18 PM
I expected that conclusion, but I’m probably the only person in the world without an iPhone or iPod Touch, still using a resistive screen (LifeDrive), so how “bad” the PDN is would actually fit in well and be an improvement(!). Until I get an iPad. I then expect the shock.
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By Nick Meyer July 24, 2010 - 2:10 PM
I am still in the process of deciding, but your article rings true. I have an iPod Touch and it is so much more stable and somewhat quicker display wise. What the Touch doesn’t have though is a 7″ screen, so it is kind of a pain to be “turning pages” every few seconds. I actually found your post b/c I am considering a Kindle, but I don’t think I am going to like the eInk screen and the fact the only connection to the Web is Whispernet (ie slower than I would like).
The main reason I am waffling on the return is the fact that Pandigital has been updating the firmware and making the device better. I even read that the Pandigital CEO stated that they plan on supporting the Android Marketplace, which would negate the need to have to “hack” the device.
Time will tell but as you said you aren’t going to find another color tablet for less than $150 in the short term.
BTW which Launcher did you use? I found PandaHome problematic and changed to LauncherPro which seems better, but still has some issues.
By Chris Walters July 24, 2010 - 4:10 PM
@Nick Meyer: I started with PandaHome, but switched to Launcher Pro and was happy with that. It crashed every time I rotated the PDN with the charging port facing down, but I think that bug affected PandaHome as well.
I’m sure you already know about the PDN forum over at SlateDroid, but just in case:
http://www.slatedroid.com/pandigital-novel-android-tablet-discussion/
By Bill July 29, 2010 - 5:40 PM
OK I get it. It’s not a an iPad. You bought it for a $130.00, the cost of 3g on an iPad. Your rant is like buying a compact car and comparing it to a more expensive car, like 4 times more expensive. It’s an internet device. It’s like buying a coffee maker and getting home and complaining it won’t allow you to set the timer, because it doesn’t have a timer. It’s like buying an iPad and then complaining it doesn’t have a built in camera. Do you get it? You got what you paid for. I have enjoyed my Novel so much I’m going to buy another for my children.
By Chris Walters July 30, 2010 - 8:17 AM
@Bill:
Not a rant. I pointed out several good things about the PDN. I wrote that its screen size was better for ebooks than a Kindle or an iPad. I said I had a lot of trouble deciding whether to return it. I acknowledged that for its price range, it actually provides a lot of features. And I also pointed out that the firmware seems to be evolving in the right direction.
But my comparison to Apple products had to do with usability, specifically user interface and ease of use which is where iOS excels. (Btw I was specifically comparing it to my iPhone, not an iPad; to make the fight fairer,you could choose a $200 iPod Touch since it has the same OS.) As a veteran user of Symbian, Maemo, (old) Windows Mobile, (old) Palm, Android, and iOS, I can confidently say that iOS blows everyone but Android away on usability. With Android, the final user experience all depends on the hardware; I think the PDN’s hardware is okay but not awesome.
I’m glad you’re enjoying yours. I don’t think it’s a bad device, just limited due to obvious restrictions based on cost.
By Tom July 31, 2010 - 11:00 PM
Around 7/27/2010, SlateDroid.com, including PDN forums referred to above (7-24), moved to new servers; the new address is:
http://www.slatedroid.com/forumdisplay.php/43-Pandigital-Novel-Android-Tablet-Discussionhttp://www.slatedroid.com/pandigital-novel-android-tablet-discussion/
By senanito August 24, 2010 - 5:09 PM
i’m gonna buy it. and all i worry about is the battery… is it ok? like how long you can use it with one charge?
Thank you.
By Chris Walters August 24, 2010 - 5:37 PM
@senanito: I think you’ll get more accurate answers re. battery life if you ask the members of the forum that Tom links to in the comment above yours. I only had the tablet for a
monthweek on an older version of the firmware, so the battery life may be completely different now.By senanito August 25, 2010 - 4:09 AM
@Chris Walters: I’ll do, but want to ask you too. I think if you use it for a month you can give me any recommendations, or any information about your device, how long is you battery’s life. And are you satisfied with the device? Coz i think i’ll got it with the old firmware too
By Chris Walters August 25, 2010 - 7:31 PM
@senanito: I only had it for a week (sorry, I wrote “month” by accident above), and the firmware I was running was an older one that no longer applies. I can say that under that firmware, there was some sort of bug that would drain the battery even when the device was in sleep mode, but hopefully that’s been fixed.
During the week I had it, I didn’t feel that the battery was too bad. But I am used to dealing with an iPhone, which sucks up battery life like crazy, so I constantly kept it plugged in and charging when I wasn’t reading on it.
If possible, you should update your firmware most likely. I haven’t been following the Pandigital forum since I returned mine but in general those updates improve the device. (I know that’s the pattern that always happened on my old Nokia N-Series phones.) Good luck!
By Nick Meyer August 30, 2010 - 9:33 PM
Hi Chris.
Just wanted to update that I also returned my Novel. I did “like” it, but since it is still in a “development” state (updates in firmware every 2 weeks it seems) I decided to wait and see what else the market will bring.
Of course, the Kindle 3 is out now as well (albeit with about a month lag b/w order and receipt) and a WiFi only version may be all I need. Outdoor readability maybe the swing vote for me since I can’t do that with my iPod Touch and couldn’t with the Novel either.
In both cases I guess I need patience, so for now I have to continue my constant page turning on my Touch.
As far as the battery life question the other person asked about I would say it is on the order of 5-6 hours of “reading” and probably 4-5 if using WiFi and browsing. I watched a little video, but not enough to determine a runtime. I had problems with the unit freezing up when I exited a video playing from the external card.
By Chris Walters September 6, 2010 - 3:47 PM
Yeah, I think for outdoor reading the Kindle Wi-Fi is the best/cheapest way to go. It’s small enough and lightweight enough that it won’t be a pain to carry around, and for multimedia consumption you’ve always got the iPod Touch. What’s missing from that combo is large-screen web browsing, but I find I can deal with the iPhone for websites usually.
I agree with you, though. I really wanted to like the Novel, but I just couldn’t find enough uses to justify keeping it.