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Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Instead of fussing with bulky paperbacks while you're traveling, you can download books through the Internet and then read them at your convenience with the Rocket eBook. This hand-held device stores the equivalent of 10 novels. The Franklin Rocket eBook presents a worthy and fun alternative to the printed medium. You control the unit with three buttons and four icons on its touch-sensitive screen, which let you select a stored title, navigate the title's chapters and pages, and decide how you... read more
Customer Reviews
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I love it
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Reviewer:
An electronics fan
from Wilmington, Delaware
January 1, 2000
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THE BAD STUFF: It's heavy. I sometimes flip pages when I don't mean to (although that it just because I always keep my thumb on the button). The screen shows fingerprints and it's really difficult to wipe off, about as hard as getting PAM off a pan. It's thicker than I expected (and one half is thicker than the other). The text is a little grainy. THE GOOD STUFF: It does everything I could dream of. It let me put my ENTIRE family tree (over 1,300 webpages) on it so I can take it to the National Archives. It let me make a collection of essays to put on it. There are thousands of books to download FREE. The backlight is fantastic. The text is changable. The thing holds about 100 books (mine has the 32 mg upgrade, which I recommend). The battery charges swiftly. The thing takes about five minutes to install and set up. The touch screen is awesome, especially when you use the pen. Allergo, the handwriting-recognizing software, actually works. The dictionary is handy, since you can set it up to touch one button, then touch a word to get the definition. I love the feature that lets you search the whole book for a term. I love carrying around Josephus and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle along with everything else I want to read. CONCLUSION: I love it.
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7
people
found this review helpful.
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Mac Owners Beware
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Reviewer:
I. Craig Henderson
from San Francisco, CA.
December 28, 1999
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My wife purchased a Rocket ebook for me for Christmas. She started here at Amazon. She carefully checked the Rocket web site as well, and spoke to the folks that make the Rocket. She was assured that everything required to use the Rocket with a Mac was included. Wrong! Any Mac currently being made or made during the past year or so requires a Keyspan connector between the e-book and the Mac USB slot. This costs $80. It is not mentioned in any documentation that comes with the ebook. It took me more than an hour to get through to the company. At first they responded by saying it was at their Website and/or in the FAQ section, but we "went to their Web site together" while I was on the phone, and they reluctantly conceded that they had mislead the public. The company does literature. Guide provided on the ebook. Regardless of how much I may eventually enjoy this toy, I'll never develop a high regard for NuvoMedia, which makes the Rocket ebook.
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10
people
found this review helpful.
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Pick one up!
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Reviewer:
Eric Nanneman
from Phoenix, AZ
December 17, 1999
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I used to hate the fact that I couldn't read as much as Iwanted to. There just wasn't enough time in the day. The Rocket eBook really changed that. I just throw it in my satchel and can turn it on and pick up reading right where I left off. I know this sounds trite, but I rather read a book on the Rocket than in its paper version. It is a great crutch to my laziness--I can sit or lie in any position and with a flick of my thumb, turn the 'page.' And, whenever I have some down-time, I can spend it reading. The backlit screen makes reading in bed without disturbing my companion realistic. And, the screen is beautiful. It has a great clarity and I suffer from no eyestrain, of course, if YOU do, you can bump up the font a few points. The fact I can get many books loaded on the thing is incredible and allows me to select any reading material I'm in the mood for. Just a few clicks on a book seller's web site and I can download the book in a couple minutes. I've read where some people complain that the books are a lot more expensive than they should be. However, ebooks are on average 20% less than the normal paper version, and when you consider there is no tax or shipping charges AND get instant gratification of receiving the books immediately, the savings really add up. You can also often download a portion of the book to read, free of charge, so you can see if you'll like it before paying for it. I'd also definitely recommend the 'Pro' version. It's more $$ than the basic version but has 12 more megs of memory and can hold upwards of 50 or 60 books. It's well worth it. Pick one up!
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21
people
found this review helpful.
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This thing is great!
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Reviewer:
An electronics fan
from silicon valley
November 9, 1999
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I've had a Rocket eBook since they were first available and canpersonally attest to the fact that most of the negative information posted about this product is flat out wrong. The 22 oz. device is a library, not "just a book". What else would you call something that lets you carry around 100 books? The idea of carrying around a bunch of flash cards is old world thinking. I can download to my Rocket at will, so why would I spend a bunch of money on flash cards that I could easily lose? Yeah, sending the Rocket in to get the memory upgrade was a bummer, but last time I checked, it was 9 day turn around, not 3 or 4 weeks. I'd love to know where you can get 80mb of flash for well under a hundred dollars. Every on-line source I've seen wants $100 or more for 48mb. And if you think you have a problem if your son deletes titles from your ebook, what about when one of those expensive flash cards disappears? To imply that the Rocket's designers didn't think about human factors flies in the face of reality. Compared to other handhelds out there, the Rocket is way up there on the ergonomics scale. Maybe they could have done more, but they clearly spent more than a couple of hours on the task. The Rocket isn't perfect. At 22 oz., it's still too heavy, the proprietary memory is a pain, and a USB interface would be cool. I'm sure that next generation ebooks will improve on a lot of things. Find someone who has one and play with it, and you'll see what I mean! You'll be logging back onto Amazon to get one for yourself soon after.
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90
people
found this review helpful.
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