Pinwheel e-Reader

Rating: 3/5

Review:

Good for reading, but serious access problems

This is a very basic e-reader which was sent to me free for review.  It does some things very well but has severe limitations for my use because I can't get any of my Amazon e-books books onto it.

The reader arrives in very basic packaging – wrapped in bubble wrap inside an unmarked cardboard box, but it's perfectly functional.  You get the reader and a mini- (not micro-) USB lead for charging and data transfer.  That's it – not even an instruction manual.  The distributors tell me that the manual is on the reader itself, but I haven't been able to find one.  If you're familiar with Android this shouldn't be a problem, but do be warned.

In use, it's fine in many ways.  It is neat-looking and sits nicely in the hand.  Navigation around the menu is pretty easy, and it comes with quite a few classics like Moby-Dick pre-loaded.   Wi-fi connection is OK; although I had some trouble at first, the connection has been fine once it was eventually established.  The screen is good and clear, and I find reading easy and unstrained.  (There is no built-in light, by the way.  This isn't a problem for me, but I know some readers prefer one.)

You transfer books to the browser by downloading to a computer and then loading them onto the reader by a simple drag-and-drop.  There is a basic browser and you can presumably download books from some sites, but – and this is a real problem for me – you can't log into your Amazon Account and download from there, and books from an Amazon account can't be copied onto the reader either.  So, unless I'm missing something vital, I can't get any of my books onto the thing, because they're all either bought from Amazon or sent from Netgalley to my Kindle via Amazon.

So – if you can get your books onto this reader it's fine and will work well for you.  However, if, like me, you are tied to Amazon for your books, it won't work at all, so do make sure you check!