Meebook Firmware Version 1.5

Current sub-version: 1.5.5

This page takes a deep dive into the firmware that is pre-installed on Meebook e-ink tablets to help potential customers decide if Meebook tablets have the software functionality that they need.

New in this version

There appears to be no significant changes between version 1.5.4 and 1.5.5, however, it is difficult to know for sure because Meebook do not appear to provide on-device release notes for their firmware versions. In addition, I have been unable to locate downloadable firmware files on the Internet (their own webpage is just a massive image showing their products with no other links on it).

The only thing I have noticed is that you can manually rotate the screen by 90-degrees.

Operating system

• Runs on open Android
• Android version differs between models (usually between Android 11 and Android 13)
• Supports installation of third-party apps from the Google Play Store

Homescreen

• The homescreen is split into nine squares in a 3×3 grid (one per application)
• If more than nine apps are installed a swipe-left will show the next page (the number of pages is shown in the lower right corner)
• Tapping the menu button in the bottom-left corner provides options for:
  • Number of squares in the grid (2×4, 3×4, 4×5)
  • Application management (options for all apps to hide, run at startup, and enable background activity)
  • App information (storage, permissions, notifications etc.)
• This interface is called Minimalist Display
• There is also a Standard Display, which has tabs across the bottom for notes, library, and apps
• The user interface is a bit clunky, with many warnings/messages either in Chinese, or poorly-translated English that do not make sense

Toolbar

• Along the top edge is thin toolbar that is accessible from all apps (although you may need to swipe down to see it).
• On the left, it has icons for:
  • Home (go back to the homescreen)
  • Back
  • Manual screen refresh
  • Frontlight settings
• On the right, there are icons for:
  • Notifications (from Android apps)
  • Battery life
  • Time
  • Task/app switcher
• A swipe-down from the right-hand side provides additional options for:
  • Refresh settings (Normal, Fast or Topspeed (A2) modes and contrast settings
  • Wifi connections
  • Bluetooth
  • Speaker volume
  • Rotate screen 180-degrees
  • Screen record
  • Screenshot
  • Screencast
  • Battery saver mode
  • Airplane mode
  • Location

Filesystem

• Meebook e-ink tablets use the Android filesystem, which can be accessed from the Files app
• This opens a generic file management app and from here, you can navigate around the Android filesystem and manipulate the files/folders (copy, move, rename, delete, share etc.)
• Files can be shared with Android app, so, for example, if you have GMail installed, you can share any file as an email attachment.

Library management

• Tapping on the Read app, opens up your book library
• There is support for multiple viewing options and a search option

Notebook management

• Tapping on the Notepad app shows all your notebooks
• There is no support for creating organisational folders although they can be organised into groups/collections which can be filtered
• Tapping the three dots below a notepad provides options for Rename, Select group, Share, and Delete

File transfers

• Because Meebook tablets use Android, there are a multitude of ways to transfer files to and from other devices.
• A long-press on any file provides a Share option, which means that the file can be shared with any third-party apps that are installed. This includes email apps (such as Gmail), messaging apps (such as Whatsapp), and cloud drives (such as Dropbox).
• You can also share files via Bluetooth.
• You can also connect your Meebook tablet to your computer using a USB cable to transfer files.
• Notebooks are slightly different because they use a proprietary format that cannot be viewed on other devices. To open/view a Meebook notebook on another platform, it must first be exported.
• Notebooks can be exported as PNG, PDF or HTML
• Files can also be transferred to a Meebook tablet via third-party apps downloaded from websites (e.g. you can download files from the Internet using a web browser, or open email attachments)

File synchronisation

• Meebook does provide its own cloud services
• However, they do support integration with several third-party clouds, including:
  • AliYun
  • Baidu
  • Dropbox
  • Google Drive
  • OneDrive
• If you bind a third-party cloud to your account, you can browse the drive by tapping the Cloud Drive app on the home screen

Companion App

• Meebook does not offer a companion app

Settings

• Settings are accessed by tapping the UserSettings app on the homescreen
  • Wireless settings – configure wifi networks, Bluetooth devices, and VPNs
  • Accounts – configure accounts (e.g. Google, Microsoft etc.)
  • User Settings – Display (either the minimal homescreen discussed above, or the standard homescreen with tabs for notepad, read, bookstore, and app), Full refresh frequency
  • Power – configure the inactivity time before the tablet sleeps and powers off, and various other power options
  • Wallpaper settings – set the standby and shutdown wallpaper
  • Device settings – lots of Android settings, including languages/input, stylus calibration, date/time, and lock-screen password
  • Font Adjustment – change default font type (fonts must be copied into the fonts folder)
  • System Update – update the firmware
  • Help & Feedbacks – User manual, feedback, and Contact Us
• In the Settings area, you can also see information about the tablet, including the Model, Serial Number, software versions, and MAC address, as well as doing a factory reset.

Native note-taking software

• Meebook’s native note-taking app is very basic
• There is no handwriting recognition or conversion to text

Navigation & canvas

• When you open up a Meebook notebook, most of the screen area is taken up by the canvas on which you write.
• If you have chosen a notebook template (see below), this will be displayed in the canvas area ready for you to write on top of.
• There is a single toolbar at the top, and in the bottom-left corner are the brush/pen selections.
• You can flick between pages by swiping left and right. You can also tap the forward/back buttons in the top-right to navigate through your pages or access the page overview (see below).

Toolbar

• The top toolbar has the following buttons:
  • Close – Exit the notebook
  • Switcher – switch to a different notebook (most recent notebooks are shown on a dropdown menu)
  • Undo/redo
  • Lasso-select – select an element (e.g. a piece of handwriting) for manipulation, including:
    • Move
    • Resize
    • Rotate
    • Copy
  • Insert – insert shapes, images (from local files), text, or a new page
  • Navigate – Shows the page number and total pages with left/right arrows for next/previous pages. Tapping the page number shows the pages overview (thumbnails of all the pages in the notebook). From the page overview screen, pages can be moved and deleted.
  • Manual refresh
  • Disable touchscreen/finger input
  • Paper switch – choose a template for the page (such as blank, lined, squares etc.). Twenty templates are provided. Changing the template for one page changes it for the whole notebook.
  • Share/export – Export the notebook (or a selection of pages from it) in PDF, PNG, or HTML format

Pens/brushes

• In the bottom-left corner, you can select the pen/brush you wish to use, or switch to the eraser
• There are five brush types:
  • Fountain pen (pressure sensitive)
  • Ballpoint
  • Pencil
  • Marker
  • Paintbrush (pressure sensitive)
• There is no tilt sensitivity
• All brushes have a choice of ten colours and several thicknesses
• The eraser can be set to area, selection, or stroke

Native reading & annotation software

• The Meebook native reading software can open the following file formats: PDF, EPUB, DOC, DOCX, TXT, HTML, FB2, CBR, CBZ, MOBI, PRC, DJVU, RTF, PRC
• It cannot open DRM-Protected e-books, however, third-party e-readers can be used. So, for example, you can read DRM-Protected Kobo ebooks by installing and using the Kobo Reader app.
• However, because you are using a different e-reading app, you will not have all the configuration options provided by the native software (for example, you cannot write directly onto ebooks viewed in other apps). Most e-reading apps will still let you highlight passages of text and insert text-based notes.
• Tapping in the middle of the screen activates menus at the top and the bottom of the screen
• On the top menu, there are options for:
  • Turning stylus input on/off
  • Turning touchscreen on/off
  • Frontlight
  • Split screen (to open a notebook in a split-screen window alongside the ebook)
  • Bookmark
  • Search
  • Dictionary
  • Export (export the ebook along with your handwritten annotations)
• The bottom menu has the following options:
  • Scrollbar – for navigating the pages
  • Table of contents (and bookmarks)
  • Notes – all the notes you have made. It is split into Underline notes (highlights and sticky notes), Text Notes (handwriting), and Marginal Notes (not quite sure what distinguishes these). Notes can be exported as a PDF or HTML file (not text)
  • Text-to-voice
  • Auto page turn (between 1 and 120 seconds)
  • Thumbnail view (a grid of thumbnails of the book’s pages)
  • Translation
  • Settings
• There is also a tab for layout but different file formats behave slightly differently and have slightly different configuration options.
• PDFs are usually a notable exception with regards configuration options because they are not ‘flowable‘. Essentially, this means that the text is burned into the page and cannot be altered (e.g. the font-size cannot be changed).
• For PDFs, there are layout options for contrast, margins, and orientation
• In contrast, with a text-based file, such as an ePUB, when you increase the font size, some of the text reflows onto the next page. With a PDF, whatever text is shown on page 1, stays on page 1 in the exact position that the author intended.
• For ePubs, there are layout options for font, font size, margins, contrast, and rotation
• These differences mean that if you do a pinch-to-zoom action within a reflowable document (e.g. ePub), the font size will increase/decrease and some text will oveflow onto the next page. However, if you do the same action in a PDF, it will zoom in and out of the page instead.

Context menu

• If you highlight a word (or passage of text) by long-pressing it, a context menu opens up with a number of options:
  • Highlight – Highlight an important or inspiring passage (with various formatting options)
  • Copy – copy the text to the clipboard
  • Sticky note – add a sticky note (text only)
  • TTS – read the highlighted text out loud
  • Wikipedia – search for the text on Wikipedia
  • Translate – Translate the word/phrase into another language
  • Dictionary – Dictionary definition of a single word
  • Search – search for this word/phrase elsewhere in the book

Handwriting, sticky notes & highlights

• There are three ways to make notes in your books; handwriting, sticky notes, and highlights.
• Handwriting is the ability to use the stylus to write directly onto documents in the Meebook e-reading app
• Using the stylus, you can write anywhere on the page (although the margins are usually the best place because you won’t obscure the text). You can also use this feature to fill in electronic forms. Any page that you have written on will show up in the Contents section (discussed above).
• Although you can write on most file formats, these handwritten annotations can only be viewed on your Meebook tablet. For example, if you write on an ePub and then access the same file from your computer, the handwriting will not be shown. PDFs can retain the handwriting but they have to be manually exported (as a new PDF file).
• Sticky notes can be added to text by highlighting it (either with a long press or by using the stylus) and tapping the Sticky Note button. You will then be provided with a small canvas to make your notes. Sticky notes are text-only (not handwriting). A passage of text with a sticky note attached is identified with a small icon (in subscript). You can view all your sticky notes in the Notes section (discussed above).
• Highlights are passages of text that you have highlighted through the context menu. Again, all highlights can be accessed through the Notes section (discussed above).

Other native software

• In addition to the native reading and note-taking software, Meebook tablets have several other apps preinstalled.
  • Browser (a Chrome-based web browser)
  • Files (a generic file explorer)
  • File Manager (another file explorer)
  • Cloud Drive (used for binding the tablet to third-party clouds)
  • Gallery (generic image viewer)
  • Music Player (a generic music player)
  • Sound Recorder (a generic audio capture app)
  • Dictionary
  • Calculator

Third-party software

• Third-party Android apps can be installed from the Google Play Store.
• Most apps will install, however, performance can be variable. This is primarily due to the limitations of the e-ink screen and because the vast majority of apps were developed with faster screens in mind. Whilst e-ink is great for screen tasks that require low refresh rates (such as reading), they’re not so good for tasks that require faster refresh rates (such as video and gaming). So apps like Kindle and Kobo work well, but YouTube not-so-well. Some apps may suffer from latency and ghosting on an e-ink screen, which can make them frustrating to use and sometimes even completely unusable.
• Meebook do provide the ability to configure the refresh rate of the tablet
• However, be prepared to spend time playing around with the refresh settings to find the best configuration for each app.
• Although you can install third-party e-readers (such as Kindle), you cannot write on them with the stylus (as you would in the Meebook reader app).

Overall Verdict

Everything about the Meebook firmware screams ‘generic‘. It works okay, but there’s nothing really innovative or unique the firmware.

The user interface is quite clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to navigate.

The native e-reading app is actually pretty good, but has no option to support highlights as text. The native note-taking app okay – it can be used to make simple notes, but does not really offer much in terms of features compared to the competition.

Because it has Android, third-party apps can be installed, but performance isn’t all that great.

Overall, the Meebook firmware has fairly decent e-reading software, but for any other tasks, there are far more capable brands of software.

Firmware Overview