More on the $155 DT 375 tablet as a reading and writing tool—including some tips

By David Rothman

The $155 DT 375 Web tablet is now my flagship e-book machine, the one I use most often.

Dr. Ellen Hage, who did e-book-related Ph.D. work, shares my enthusiasm for this slim, 1.9-pound, stylus-equipped tablet despite some glitches.

Want to follow my progress with the DT? See my earlier TeleBlog posts.

Yes, for now the $155 price applies since the refurbs at uBid (specs here) are selling for that again.

Handy proofing tool

I use the 375 not just for reading but also as a proofing tool for fiction (update: Michael Banks’ thoughts). Amazing, isn’t it—what atrocities you’ll spot from the comfort of your sofa when you can see them displayed on a second screen?

With uBook, the DT 375 reads .rtf from my desktop Word program just fine and offers bookmarking capability. Reminder: Open Office likewise can create .rft.

Other amenities for writers

I could also use the built-in WordPad program, although it’s poky on long files on the DT. But it’s nice to know WordPad is there as an option to compose chapters, and you can use Gmail or e-mail software to bounce your work off friends. For work from the boonies, moreover, you can plug in a telephone modem that comes free with the DT as supplied by uBid.

Significantly for writers, the DT 375 will work with a USB keyboard (info here on keyboard and matching case).

Later I’ll pass on a few tips from Andy at DT375.com, including the fact that the 375 can accommodate at least some 4G memory cards and Cisco Aironet 350 WiFi cards. But first here’s a summary of the pros and cons as I’ve encountered them after several weeks of 375ing:

Pros and cons

Pros: The 8.4 inch screen on the Win CE-based machine boasts 800 x 600 resolution and is an optimal size for recreational e-booking, at least for me, even though, yes, a larger screen might help for illustrated documents for school or work.

Within the uBook program, the right adjustments can make fonts appear almost as sharp as with E Ink, maybe even just as sharp in some cases. So if you hate ragged-edged characters but want to be able to read in the dark, the LCD-based 375 could be a solution if you have reasonable technical skills. The resolution is actually better than the recently posted photo would suggest.

Mobipocket (DT 375-related link here) and Microsoft Reader (here) are running on my 375, and Andy assures me that eReader (here) will work as well. I bought the 375 with low expectations—I mostly wanted to see if I could enjoy good multiformat e-reading capabilities and be able to download books directly from commercial and public domain sites. Within those limits, the 375 succeeds despite frustrations such as the probable lack of software for reading encrypted PDF (oh, the joys of DRM!).

Cons: For browsing of newspaper sites and others cluttered with Flash and Java, you’ll find that the built-in Internet Explorer is hardly a joy. It’s slow, and I’m not sure if the Flash can be upgraded. Forget about Flash, then; do not buy a 375 for YouTube viewing. Even with Gmail, the snailish browser may disappoint you.

Worst of all, the browser can lock up when it’s up against a challenging site, and then you must reboot by holding down the “on” button rather than just relying on a soft reboot. Most likely, the villain is Microsoft, or at least changing Web standards, rather than the DT itself. In Andy’s place, I’d keep a close eye on the Konqueror browser and see if perhaps in the future I could get some business upgrading nontechie clients to it when a CE version is ready. Or how about a way to burn in Linux, if you don’t need various Microsoft programs?

Another negative is that you need to store program such as uBook and Mobipocket on a trusty CF card if you don’t want to lose them when IE sabotages you and you must reboot. Even at that, you’ll probably still need to re-create desktop shortcuts.

Still another “con” is that thanks to changing audio standards, you can’t rely on the built in Windows Media player to work with steaming audio or video from net.radio stations. Yet another lesson for e-bookdom?

Also, at maybe 2.5 hours with a Cisco WiFi card (working fine with my Cisco Linksys router after a bit of tinkering), battery life isn’t stellar.

But for extended use outside my place, I prefer the smaller Palm TX PDA anyway. It’s easier to carry and more rugged.

Once again, however, keep in mind what you’re paying for a tablet with an 8.2 inch screen—just $155 and shipping, in the case of uBid. For that you get a much smaller, slimmer machine than the typical XP Tablet.

Tips

So what about those promised tips? Here’s a list, with quotes from Andy:

CompactFash cards: “The largest CF card that I know of is 16GB. I use a 4GB card in my 375 but I can’t think of a reason that you could not use a 16GB (or a microdrive for that matter). I have used a variety of CF brands. The ones I usually get are Plexar or SimpleTech, but I have not found any that did not work. A word of caution on the CF cards: If they have been formatted using Windows sometime they will be unreadable by the 375 until they have been reformatted using the storage utility on the 375.”

Getting eReader to recognize .pdb files, rather than letting Mobipocket take them over: “You can change the file association by editing the registry. Not a task for the faint of heart but certainly doable.” I suppose, too, that you might experiment with a separate storage card for eReader and another Mobipocket. A kludge, but a possible solution just the same? Haven’t tried it, though.

Registering Mobipocket with the vendor: “As the version that you are trying to run is no longer directly supported this is the only way to get registration information.”

Use of Foxit for unencrypted PDF: “If you like Acrobat, you can use an application called Foxit. I have been doing some testing with it and it works really well. Not sure how it would work with a protected PDF (don’t have any to test). [I doubt encrypted PDFs will work.-DR.] But it performs better than Acrobat itself so far.” Of course, in many cases, Mobipocket Desktop‘s conversion took may be the best path to reading unencrypted PDF on the DT. Just do the conversion on your desktop, plug in a memory card, and send the Mobi file over to your DT 375.

An email Q&A conducted earlier with Andy and partly edited

David: Is there a way to speed up the IE and make it work with recent Flash. I have 128M of memory, twice the 64M minimum. Would still more memory help? And how much would it cost?

Andy: Unfortunately, it is what it is. If you are talking about the slowness surfing the web, that is most likely from the wireless card. Best speed you will get out of that is 11mbps. There is not an 802.11G card for WinCE 4.2 .net so we are stuck with 802.11B. IE is notoriously slow anyway so there is an issue there as well. Would be great if we could get a version of Opera to work on the device, but I have been unsuccessful so far.

David: Will the Cisco Aironet LM3500 PCMCIA Wireless LAN card work with the DT375? And do I need an antenna for it?

Andy: Have not tried this one so can not say for sure. As the LM3500 is close-in family to the Aironet 350, it might work. If you are looking to buy, go with the Aironet 350. I know it works right out of the box.

David: How many DT 375s are floating around? If there were mass library or school purchases, how far could the price drop and how many could be bought? Is it possible that dirt-cheap new DT 375s could be manufactured and still be competitive against the OLPC laptop?

Andy: There are probably a good number of them around. I have a good supply and could get more fairly easily. To have them manufactured new again would probably not work. DTResearch discontinued them about 2 years ago for a newer model. That is not to say it is impossible but unlikely. I know a few people over at DT, so I can ask. My guess is that they would push you toward the newer model. Of course that is more money. I have found it easier to pick up large quantities and fix them up. Reimage with the latest OS and add software as needed. Not sure what you are referring to with OLPC. I do know that schools that I have been able to show these to have loved them. I could quickly lay my hands on about 500 units.

David: Do you have the same problem with Microsoft Reader that I do–I download books but they vanish after I switch off the unit (or is when I do the soft reset)? To what directory does Reader write the books.

Andy: Sounds like you are doing a soft reset. If you press and hold the power button for more than 4 seconds you will reset the device. I put my ebooks on my CF card. That way if I crash my system my books are safe.

Reminder: Neither Andy nor uBid is paying me. I just like the 375 despite its flaws. I’d love to see the Konqueror and linux communities adopt this baby and help it grow up to its potential. Ditto if Opera’s interested.

Related: A $155 used Web tablet vs. e-books’ Tower of eBabel: Shades of the old Cybook.