I recently purchased a Wikireader and thought I’d talk about it.
I’d like to start by saying that I returned it the next day. It’s a great idea but it was poorly executed.
The Wikireader is a device that gives you instant access to Wikipedia without needing the Internet. It’s the ability to carry the world of encyclopedias in your pocket. You can even change the language.
As you know, Wikipedia is my main source for research, background information, and definitions, so having this in my pocket without needing Wi-fi is fantastic. It means I can prove my husband wrong in a matter of seconds.
Pretty close to actual size
But there are just too many cons to this product.
First off, it’s not E-Ink technology and the screen is extremely hard to read. There is a warning in the manual saying that the product needs sufficient light, but I was sitting under a lamp and I had to angle the screen just so, or else I’d get a glare or nothing at all.
Second, it’s a touch screen, but the letters on the “keyboard” screen are so close together that it’s almost impossible to type the word you want. Either you press too many buttons, or the wrong button all together.
On the same note, there is no curser, so when pressing the “space” button, there’s no way to know if you actually successfully pressed the button or not.
So I thought that a stylus would be wonderful, and since I have several for my DS, I thought I’d try out my theory. NOPE! This didn’t work at all. Back to big fingers and little buttons.
If you find the word you want, and that’s a big IF, you’re taken to the result page with the definition. As you scroll through the answer, there are several underlined words. This means that if you press those, you’ll be taken to a new page with the history of that particular word. This is what happens on Wikipedia.com so it’s good that the Wikireader does this too.
My issue is the fact that in order to scroll through any given page you have to slide your finger “gently” across the screen from top to bottom or vice versa depending on the direction you want to go. BUT, if your entire result is a bunch of underlined words, no matter where you touch the screen to slide you’ll end up touching another word and thus going to another page.
Although there are many words in the Wikireader, it just isn’t complete. My husband would shout out a word or two and I’d check the pocket device while he checked the net. Out of 5 words, only one matched in our results. The other 4 were on the Internet but not the Wikireader.
Anyways, I like the idea of the Wikireader but it needs work. The one on the market now, I wouldn’t pay more then $20 for it as is. I’d be willing to pay a lot more for E-Ink, a better touch screen, a working stylus, and more results.
