Foxit eSlick – the cheaper, lighter and not quite so good eBook reader. Have I sold it?
eBook readers tend to divide opinion and divide it in a most disproportionate way. I like them but I think I’m in the minority. Fortunately, so does Foxit which is why they’re bringing out the Foxit eSlick – not the best name and perhaps not the best product either.
The main downfall of the device is that it only supports pdf and txt files as well as mp3s. Compare that to the BeBook which handles pdf, mobi, lit, epub, html, doc, fb2, txt, ppt, prc, rtf, jpg, and mp3. I haven’t even heard of some of those. I thought an epub was about online boozing but I’ll bet the mortgage that if I ever owned an eSlick I’d find out about all these files I can’t view very quickly indeed.
Foxit has supplied a file converter, to give them their dues, but it does add that slight pain in the arse factor that you don’t get with the Reader and the Kindle. What you also don’t get that these other two give you is access to an online source of books but then, does that really matter?
It has an SD card slot. It comes with a 2GB one for free. You’ve got a computer, or at least I hope you have. I’m sure you can work the rest out, and if you manage to jam something in the memory slot, you’ll be pleased to hear the eSlick comes with 128MB of onboard storage.
The screen itsef is 6 inches on the diagonal and resolves at 800 x 600, which I’m sure is enough to see the words properly. You get 8,000 page turns out of the Li-ion battery – not a massive amount but certainly enough – but out of them all, the Foxit is probably the reader I’d choose.
Why? Well, because it’s about £100 cheaper than the others, 100g lighter and it doesn’t look hideous. Oh, and for the record, I like books too. They can co-exist you know.
Foxit eSlick – $230 (via Coolest Gadgets)
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