The Lenovo IdeaPad K1 with its 10 inch screen makes for a great reading tablet. Here’s how to use eReader, the ebook reader that comes with the Ideapad. See the first article on the IdeaPad K1 for a list of other features and specifications.

Reading on the K1 works best when you hold the tablet in portrait mode and using it this way gives you the equivalent of a full page of text from a book. The screen is bright and the text is clear. Lenovo includes a reader with the tablet (along with the Amazon reader for Android) called eReader and I chose to use that rather then download anything new.

 
eReader is set by default and shows up on the bottom right of the Ideapad K1’s unique control panel shown on the main screen of the K1. It’s the picture of the open book and hard to miss. When you click to open it you see a set of bookshelves waiting for your digital books. eReader however, offers no advice on how to get the books there and you’ll find no menu option to “add book” or anything like that. The PowerMobia eReader is made by ArcSoft and this is an OEM product specifically for the Ideapad K1.

ArcSoft eReader Features

It took a couple of emails to ArcSoft to get a short reply. Because eReader is an OEM product there is no manual online and ArcSoft wasn’t very forthcoming. Here’s the details received:

• Supports TXT, HTML, EPUB, PDF
• Supports multiple languages
• Works on Android 2.1 & 2.2

How To Add A Book To eReader

• – Plug your IdeaPad K1 into your computer using the included USB cable
• – Once attached you should see a new drive called “K1”
• – Click from the down to Device Storage and you’ll see a folder called “ebook”
• – Simply drag your digital books to this location and they will show up on eReader’s bookshelves

Sounds easy right?!
And it is – except your books show up all looking the same and if the titles are long then you can’t tell which book is which.
The book name is not the name of the file, according to ArcSoft it’s being pulled from the EPUB file, as is the book cover. Depending on the source of the ebook and whether it was converted from another format will depend on whether you get a book cover or not. We offer an easy way to convert books using Calibre.

Using eReader

As you collect books on your shelf it turns them so the spine faces out, just like they would show on a physical bookshelf. You can run your finger along the books and it will turn them slightly so that you can see the title and front cover. If no cover exists then PDF’s show in a reddish tone and EPUB’s show in a greenish tone.

The text document showed up as “unknown” rather than the file name – not very helpful, but rendered just fine.

The HTML document I tried did not show up at all, either with .HTML or .HTM extension.

You can press and hold on a book and then move it from shelf to shelf or even put them in order on the shelf. The book that sits over the shelf label will be facing out.
You can also change the shelf labels so that a shelf can house certain book types or themes. Press and hold the shelf label and you’ll be prompted to enter a new label.

If you have more books that fit on the shelves on the first screen, swipe anywhere outside a shelf and you’ll see another screen of blank bookshelves. There are lots of shelves – more than you’re likely to use.

Once a book is turned or facing you then you can press it and it will open. Turning pages is natural and is just swiping left or right. PDF’s can be resized using pinch with your fingers.

At the top of the book page you will see icons that, from left to right, take you back to the bookshelf, show you chapters and bookmarks, resize the text, change the display brightness, and set a bookmark. Press any one and the actions required from that point are quite intuitive.

When you are done reading press the back arrow at the bottom right of the tablet, or the icon on the top left of the page, and the book will close and take you back to the eReader main screen. Press the back arrow again, or the home button, and you will be taken out of eReader and back to the Ideapad screen.

Conclusion

eReader does work and renders books well. It’s functionality is very basic and there are better eReaders out there that will offer you more features. However if you want to keep your Ideapad k1 clean and use a product built specifically for it, then eReader does the job.