I've read all the bad press on this item but it's mostly by those wanting desktop performance in a handheld. First as the other reviewer said it is mainly an ereader meaning it won't do Adobe Photoshop CS5. It's a little weighty at 19oz but most books I read tend to be heavy as well. The web surfing is perfectly fine if the wifi connection is a good one. The screen resolution and color is better than most tablets at this price and size, 800x600. I do a lot of photography and just love that I can set it in the stand on a shelf or table and watch a slide show or just display my latest to friends. Just load your jpegs on an SD card and put it in the card slot. If you have a wifi network at home make sure the SSID, that is the name of your network, is set to broadcast the Pandigital won't be able to connect if it is hidden. It's a great piece of equipment just make sure you have the latest firmware installed to get the most out of it. After doing the calibration using my finger on the screen works fine. Had a Kindle but the Pandigital is years beyond except for the 3G connection (always need a wifi connection to access the Web). I would recommend this item. Pandigital Novel - eBook reader - Android - 1 GB - 7" color TFT ( 600 x 800 ) - touchscreen - white
This is not an ipad. Out of the box wifi works well, nice color screen. Email (imap used but pop also works) allows multiple accounts. Also comes with a nice card game.
Books read well, and I can read at night, which I cannot do nicely with the Kindle. Set up for Barnes and Noble. Note for those who are adventurous you can hack it to support the Android market.
So, it is a nice reader that can do web and email. If you have Kohls charge you can sometimes get 30% off and $20 in coupons, so it is very reasonable.
I was fairly impressed, it worked pretty well overall. My biggest complaint was it was rather heavy for reading in bed (not terrible and could be corrected with a proper case). As an ereader, it works well, the page turns were smooth and it does have the options for font size and night reading and that type of thing. Wifi works reasonably well, but it does drop sometimes for no apparent reason and then will come back...minor annoyance. Downloading books from BN pretty seamless and easy. Touch screen is fine if you use the tip of your finger or fingernail...it takes a bit of getting used to, but once you figure it out, it pretty simple. The keyboard is a bit trickier, I found myself typing the wrong letters frequently, I think a stylus is the way to go with the keyboard. The web browser works pretty well - it's not super fast, but it's not bad. Battery life isn't great, it takes about 4 hours to charge and you get about 2 hours or less out of it, depending on what you're doing, you might be able to eek out more with just reading and no wifi. The bars went down pretty quick when I was setting it up and playing around with it. I didn't test the videos or mp3.
Ultimately I returned it though....not because it was bad, but because I decided I'm not an ereader person, I like "regular" books and I decided to just go for a straight up android tablet instead, that might be a litle lighter and play you tube and flash. If you want a reader to lightly surf the web this is perfect.
Finding the Pandigital Novel sub-forum on the Slatedroid forum turned my PDN into a powerhouse. Members there upload their hacks (revised firmware) that completely make this e-reader shine! They also post links to apps that can be added to the PDN that make in into WAY more than just an e-reader. Mine can now run Kindle, Nook, Kobo and other e-readers, has a ton of apps, great games and includes a very nice web browser, plus you can add you email accounts and access Android market, if you're into that. Bottom line, it becomes more of an Android tablet than an e-reader.
I use Calibre (Google it) on my desktop computer to keep my library and sync with the PDN (similar to iTunes and iPods). I can't say enough how GREAT the 2 work together. There are numerous websites with FREE e-books available for download, so you aren't stuck with B&N, Amazon Kindle, Borders, etc.
You do need to have your wireless router broadcast its SSID when you set up your PDN for wireless, but once you've done that and the PDN hooks up, you can switch back to hidden for your SSID, if that's your preference.
I didn't buy mine from Amazon, but I give it 5 stars!
Pandigital has actually released a firmware update to make these just an android tablet. The black ones have a matte screen, are lighter, but less responsive to touch. The white models are completely different hardware, Samsung processor, better touch screen, but heavier and slightly larger.
Pandigital supports Android 1.6 for both models, white and black.
If you want to fully hack it with custom firmware, only the white one is fully supported up to Android 2.0, and installs google marketplace, which you can use to make this a Kindle! You can read all your Kindle stuff, plus search the web, watch movies, load pics, etc, etc. Web browser is nice.
One downside, if you are going to use this as a tablet, remember its only a 500MHZ processor and a 600x800 screen, so it's no iPad killer, but it sure makes a great book reader! - Affordable Ebook Reader - Android Tablet - Pandigital - Ebook'
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