WikiReader Pocket Wikipedia

To have so much knowledge in such a small package is marvellous. I love that it switches on in less than half a second, with its' keyboard ready and waiting for you to expand your knowledge. There's no "connecting, please wait" no digging around in sub menus, it's just; Go!The screen has excellent clarity in good light [and I wholeheartedly endorse the lack of a backlight - battery life (and simplicity?) is paramount here], you don't expect a book to be self illuminating, right?The glass screen helps both the quality-product feel for a device that is so low-cost and it aids intuitive touch-screen scrolling and typing.Of the three(!) buttons, the "History" is the one I use most; as I read through an entry I keep finding new links I want to refer back to, which you can "collect" with just a tap of the new link (which takes you immediately to it). I switch back to the original topic (using "History") at exactly the place I left it, but now with a pile of "new" and related topics awaiting further exploration once I'm finished!I could go on, but suffice to say....in brief; speedy, small, robust, beautiful, FUN!It has not left my side since Christmas - it's always ready with fascinating reading material and fresh knowledge. As a bloke in his thirties should I be getting this hooked on something this small and shiny..? Yes!

The WikiReader Pocket Wikipedia is a great little gadget. I find myself using it almost daily since I received it from Amazon about 6 months ago. It is much easier than powering up my laptop or getting out my tablet and the screen, though small, is certainly bigger than my smartphone. It is just a great little information powerhouse to have around.The screen measures about 3 3/4 of inch as a square and almost 5 inches diagonally. The screen itself is about 3 5/8 of an inch diagonally. That makes for a fairly large reading surface. The housing around the screen face is a white plastic. It seems moderately solid and sturdy, but I am not sure how it would hold up in a waist-high drop. And the glass screen certainly would not fare as well as the casing. Even more reason for me to be careful when using this WikiReader.In my tests of the unit, it has performed outstanding. Other than a slight delay it takes to load a topic (I guess from searching and loading one of the 3 million topics) the unit performs very well. The screen, in a well-lit area, is easy to read and the type is easy for my eyes to adjust in such well-lit areas. The on button is on the upper right lower side. It is very easy to find even if I am not looking for its position. The front of the device has the WikiReader logo and 3 buttons, from left to right: search, history and random. The search button does exactly as it indicates. A keyboard pops-up so I can enter search terms. I found the keyboard a bit small for my fingers, so I use a stylus with the keyboard - this seems to work out very well. The history button is very convenient, it lets me see at a glance all the pages I have visited on the WikiReader in chronological order. The random button is intriguing, if I just want to browse with no particular topic in mind, I hit the random button and it brings up any number of topics I would never search for with the search button. I have discovered some very interesting topics using this button.I was a bit anxious when I realized that Pandigital was the purveyor of this WikiReader. From what I had heard before purchasing this unit, Pandigital was not known for its quality products, however, that has not been the case with this device. The construction build of this unit is first rate. I speculate that the backers of this unit, and Wikipedia, imposed some pretty stringent manufacturing specifications for this gadget. It is a well-built unit.I have been using this small wonder for a little over six months, and it is one of those items where I state: What did I do before I found this device? Hope you enjoy it as much.Oh, one last item, kind of on a down note. I downloaded the update software from [...] for the free Update Application downloads to my PC for convenient transferring updates to my WikiReader. I downloaded the .zip file and installed the software, but I am unable to get the application to run. I plan on contacting WikiReader to determine what I have done wrong in my installation.

I was given a Wikireader for Christmas and thought it was wonderful. I just bought Four more for gifts and none of them work. I am trying to get help but the process is trying . It is a problem with the item, not Amazon. One does show a screen but just says "No Wiki Found". Another wont go past the first Title screen. It seems a poorly made product with no testing before shipping. I only paid 1l bucks for it and would gladly pay more for one that works. Plesas help me get the word to the company. I highly recommended one to a cardiologist friend and thought he was doing something wrong when he called, but he brought his over and it did not work. My four came later and none worked, and I do know how.

This product does exactly what it sets out to do; a few caveats though: The display is pretty lousy. it is difficult to read, not as fresh-looking as the Kindle or other readers... and only one font is available. The touchscreen keyboard is frustating to use.. the iPhone is so much better at this, in a smaller package. Also, it is a bit too large to carry in one's pocket, altough I think it's great for camping and for taking to the field (i.e. Military training excercise... my purpose for getting one)

If the screen had greater contrast, it would be a great product. Sadly, the screen is too dim for it to be usable.