Customer Reviews

Franklin EBM-900 eBookman (Translucent Blue)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

After a prolonged delay, and eager anticipation the Franklin eBookman finally shipped today. Its not every day that a new device comes out that features all the usual organiser/PIM/PDA function but also an MP3 player, an eBook reader and an Audio Book player. First impressions are mixed. The box comes with the device, a flimsy plastic cover, a USB cable and thats all. No user manual or instruction guide. Instead, just a leaflet telling you to download the operating system from Franklin.com. That's right! - You have to download the OS and install it before you can use it. Took me about 1 hour (and I'm not computer illiterate!). Beware - all the basic information takes up almost 5MB of memory. Leaves only 11MB on the EBM911 and only 3.5MB on the EBM900!!

Finally...up and running! The screen is clear, backlight works well. The case is solid (surprisingly heavy). Touch screen is sensitive, and the handwriting recognition software is fairly accurate, even with no practice. A (on-screen) pop-up keyboard is provided if you prefer. The PC-link software is effortless. Simply drag files from the PC screen to the eBookman screen and the file is transfered instantly.

Now, a few bugs emerge. The Date Book funtion allows you to view your appointments in daily, weekly or monthly format. Unfortunately, when adding a recurring appointment in the daily view, it did not show up on the weekly view(!) Easy to miss a crucial meeting this way. Also, the To-Do list is not synchronised with the Date Book. So if you have added a task to do in the To Do folder, it will not show up on the relevent day in the Date book. Annoying.

The MP3 player is surprisingly good quality sound, even without earphones. But it played my test file too fast. I could not find any parameters to change the playback speed.

Still waiting to download an ebook for the eBook reader. The claim is a clear type, resizable fonts, read in landscape or portrait orientation, bookmarkable, searchable text.

Finally, the ugly. The stylus provided is a very cheap, plastic job that looks like it came out of a cereal box. It does not click firmly into the case, so easy to lose.

Overall, this machine has potential. Some bugs need ironing out. Luckily, with the PC synchronising software, this should be an easy job for Franklin, by just providing updates to their downloadable software. The open platform allows 3rd parties to produce custom software. Applications should abound in the near future.

I'm not 100% happy with it yet, but I'm going to keep my eBookman to see what the future holds.

I have had my eBookman for over a year now and I have read all of the reviews on this site and others. The pros and cons seem to be pretty accurately stated by other reviewers so I will not waste anybody's time repeating what has already been said. However, there seems to be something which has been missed in other reviews. What I've noticed is that most other reviewers seem to be avid readers who use their eBookman's everyday. And for those users, the complaint that I have is probably simply a minor annoyance. But for users like myself who bought the eBookman for the occassional business trip or long flight, there is a ridiculously inconvenient feature that makes it almost impossible to use. That is, if you leave your eBookman off for any extended period of time, the batteries continue to drain until they are completely dead! Yes, you heard me. THIS UNIT USES UP THE BATTERIES EVEN WHEN IT IS OFF. For example, I would regularly put in a fresh set of batteries and within 3 weeks they would be completely dead (without ever having turned on the unit). At first, I thought there was something wrong with my unit. But a call to Franklin's technical support confirmed my worst fear: This is the way the units were designed!

But, wait - I haven't even gotten to the punch line yet! When the batteries run out, all of the data is lost - INCLUDING THE OPERATING SYSTEM. This is because the unit has no internal battery back-up. It just uses a capacitor which only holds a smal charge for a few seconds (supposedly just long enough to change batteries when the battery indicator is running low). But if your batteries run out, it's BYE-BYE data! So, for the casual user, what that means is that you end up having to re-install the entire operating system and all of your titles every time you turn the unit on (assuming you do not use it an a VERY regular basis). This, by the way, is no short task (although, in fairness to Franklin, it is a simple process). For me, this problem renders the eBookman TOTALLY USELESS. Now, I'm sure there are avid readers or frequent travelers who would love to have what otherwise would be classified as a pretty decent reader for a very decent price. But, for me, it is just a paperweight.

In summary, if you use the eBookman everyday, I guess you could find a use for it. But if you plan to let it rest - even for a relatively short period of time - I would look elsewhere.

I purchased this item directly from the manufacturer and had it shipped to my home. This was the single worst purchase I have ever made. The device came broken, ie, the display screen was full of black lines that wouldn't clear. When I tried to talk to customer service, they would not just take back the item, but wanted a restocking fee of 6.5% for this defective item. AND the phone number I had to call for customer service is in New York and no toll free number was provided. When I asked to talk to the customer service manager, they refused, then after I insisted, they put me through to the manager's voice mail. He never returned my call (big, huge shock). In any case, I have had the shipping company investigate the broken item and I hope to get my money back one way or the other. All in all, the manufacturer of this item provided a poor product and rotten customer service. If I could give a zero star rating, I would.

I'm not going to talk about all the great things this device can do. But there is one really poor thing that it does that one would never guess. First, you don't recharge the eBookman! Even the Cybiko works by being changed. With the eBookman you have to use batteries. And I had mine less than 24 hours before I ran them out! The AC adapter costs extra! But that's only so you can use it while plugged into a socket. Sure the eBookman is a great device but these short comings are very unnecessary and really disappointing. It's worth buying but this info is also worth knowing before you buy it.

Sincerely, A technology columnist in Chicago

What I like about it (I own ebm-901):
1. Open platform (thus lots of useful FREE software available).
2. Generic AAA batteries support.
3. Simple USB interface.
4. Large screen.
5. Good handwriting recognition.
6. Sturdy and reliable case.
7. Low power consumption.
8. Good music playback quality.
Now, about its well-known problems: folks, BACKUP your data on your MMC! This way you will NEVER lose your OS and apps! Come on! The device does have a power backup in the form of a capacitor, which is really bad and it hardly does anything. For a techie, it is not hard to put in a differect capacitor. Problem solved. Sometimes it helps keep memory intact if you pull out one dead battery and put it a fresh one, then pull out another one and replace it with fresh.
You cannot manage your files on MMC from within the EBM's OS. Who knows if Ectaco will ever release a new version of the OS.
Otherwise I love my eBookMan, I use it all the time, it's my primary mobile library, and I am quite hesitant to look elsewere for a new PDA.

I am so far very impressed with this device and think franklin has themselves a winner, especially, if the promised microsoft reader compatibility comes through. Even without this, though, the device fits the bill for my needs. Aside from providing for all your basic PDA needs, the ebook functions work very well. Granted, there are not many free titles yet for the native franklin reader format, however, there are plenty of compatible titles for reading in the franklin viewer format which is compatible with .txt files as well as the old palm pilot .... One of the best ebooks sites, on the web, www.blackmask.com just reformatted their entire collection of 1930+ books in the old .pdb format just to offer it for franklin ebookman buyers. This site increases their content virtually on a daily basis. Project Gutenberg .txt files are also viewable through the franklin viewer. Granted, the viewer does not yet offer, the same glitzy functions that the reader does, such as changeable fonts, bookmarks, change in orientation, etc., but it's still extremely usable and all for free. No copyright infringement, though. In addition, mobipocket reader(www.mobipocket.com) has already released their version for the ebookman, and offers some free etitles in their native format, more than franklin. In addition, copyrighted titles are available for purchase through their site as well. The software appears to work well(.prc format), though I can not yet access .txt and .htm files through it as promised( perhaps not implemented yet). The software for reading as well as basic publishing software, however, is free. The publishing software appears much more friendly than the franklin publishing software and most people will probably be able to convert any txt files of their choosing and convert into the native .prc format. Definitely worth checking out. I'm expecting some significant software updates and changes from franklin in the near future which should improve on some of the little glitches and impairments of the unit. The negative side: For true flexibility, mp3 player,etc, the unit will require memory expansion, of at least 64mb, which is all that is available at the present time. The unit is small, light in weight, but with a very solid feel. I received a nice black leather case for mine, however, this may have been something thrown in by amazon as an initial promotion. The screen is clear and usable in almost all light conditions. The unit is great to read with in bed, in the dark with the backlight on without disturbing your spouse. I recommend it and think at its present price point that it will be a winner. I am reserving the final star for some of the software glitches and problems that are still being worked on.

I have used my Ebookman for about 6 weeks now and I have mixed feelings about it. In some ways it is a very good little unit but Franklin still has some problems to sort out with both the hardware and the software. It took me a day to download the Operating System and Software and install it and print out the manual on my Laser Printer. Surely Franklin can provide a CD with the OS and a printed manual.
I bought the 911 model with 16MB RAM and added a Sandisk 64 MB MMC (these are about half the price of an original Franklin MMC).
The screen is sharp and large and has 16 shade grey scale. This screen is much better than the mono Palms.
The processor is a 24Mhz 32 bit propriety processor that Franklin has been given a Patent for. This means the unit is fairly responsive in most situations - certainly more so than the first generation Palms.
Battery life is poor and if you do not want to lose your contents I suggest changing the batteries when the indicator says 50%. Fortunately I have most of my applications on MMC but having to load 10MB via USB when the batteries die is just simply frustrating.
Some of the built in applications work well but the Date Book is particularly buggy. The OS itself is about as stable as Win 95 or 98 ie. it works most of the time but will occasionaly crash for no reason at all.
Mobireader is good and works well but sometimes I have trouble downloading the enews off the web each day. I have one Audible book that is 19.5MB and find that playback is not as smooth as it should be. Whether this is because the book resides in the MMC or the processor is simply just not fast enough I don't know.
If you want to develop software for the eBookman then Franklin has made a SDK available but you have to develop in C++ in a Linux environment. However a port of SmallBASIC has just been made available and this seems to work OK on my eBookman (but only in RAM not MMC).
I suggest you sync your eBookman everyday and then you will not have any problems with losing any valuable data.
The UP side is the screen is better than a Palm and it offers more expandibility than a Palm and is cheaper than a Palm.
The DOWN side is that the applications are not as mature as the Palm and there is only a fraction of the applications available that there are available for the Palm. The 16 shade grey scale is not suitable for displaying pictures - if you want to do that buy a colour PocketPC.

I bought this product for my husband for his Birthday. He loves it. Takes it with him everywhere. Yes, 8mb of memory is not enough to get the most out of the bookman. Things were going along fine - until he replaced the batteries!!! Now it doesn't work. Upon going to the Franklin website, he is not the only person with this problem. Apparantly it must be some kind of defect with the product. Now I'm not sure what to do.

I like some of the eBookMan's features. It shows promise but it is not quite ready yet.

I will omit the good points, others have mentioned them. Here are some negative observations...The expensive MMC card only stores music, Nothing else.

There is no voice memo capability.

The unit arrives without a complete manual - this needs to be downloaded.

The entire Operating System needs to be downloaded. It is neither pre-loaded nor provided on a CD. The download is from 1.6MB to 6.0MB.

One of the reasons I bought the bookman was to be reminded of meetings when I was out of the office. This has not worked for me. I have tried dozens of test appointments, about three of them actually sounded the alarm. All of these were with the unit on, it shuts off automatically after 5 minutes.

I find seeing the screen difficult. It is very mirror-like so that when I try to see the text I have to force my eyes to focus off of my reflection and at the image underneath. This may just be me, I have not used any other PDA or bookreader. When I asked Franklin about this all their tech' support had to say was the bookman has "...a polarized screen to prevent reflection". So, I must be imagining it.

In a completely dark room, however, the screen is very clear. This is because in a dark room the backlight can be used. With the backlight on, light is being emitted from the bookman rather than reflected and the mirror effect goes away. It is comfortable to use this way.

There are no nifty peripherals to attach like there are for the Palm or the Compaq iPaq. I don't know if there ever will be because I don't know if other companies will be allowed to make accessories for the bookman the way they do for the Palm.

The software to communicate between your PC and the bookman ("Desktop Manager") is crude, it just lists a bunch of cryptic file names on one side representing the files on your PC and another list of cryptic filenames on the other side representing the files on your bookman. It looks like something thrown together by engineers to test the bookman while they were designing it. Programs, books, calendars, music, audio clips are all jumbled together as individual files in an unsortable mess. Very unprofessional.

Franklin is unresponsive and cryptic in addressing concerns. When they do respond they make statements like the one I quoted above and "that feature is expected to be available in the spring" - very vague and non-committal.

I am waiting to see if: They fix the non-functioning features with a new software release (or at least commit to a date for a fix),

I get used to the reflective screen,

The bloating of files and conversion to their own proprietary formats (e.g. MP3s) is changed,

I figure out how to make the alarm work,

More user-friendly programs become available,

They start communicating with people about their plans and schedules,

Peripherals are made available.

I may be sending mine back.

I had the same problems with the Ebookman. There wasn't enough room to download a whole book, which to me was very inconvenient. I also wanted to use the voice recording feature that they advertised, but it was never available the whole time I had my unit. I also had the same problem every time I changed batteries, about once a month. Lost EVERYTHING everytime. I emailed and talked to Franklin people numerous times, but nothing changed. Then I lost it.....serendipitous? Perhaps. Now I have a Palm M105 on the way.