Handling

There are a number of control elements, the power on/off switch is on the back, to the right are three buttons for quick access of the start screen, device settings and going back one screen. On the right side is a 5-way joystick, which navigates through menus and options. Personally I find it underused, which becomes particularly annoying when one has to switch several times between using the joystick and one of the five soft-buttons situated under the monitor. These work like a context-menu, changing functions with every screen.

The first notion upon counting all the buttons, slots and receptacles is that they must be quite difficult to use. Well, no. Less control elements do not make for easier use, only for more hidden depths; often enough a tool with more buttons makes for much better handling simply because one does not have to think about how to access a specific feature, just press a button. This works well for Nikon cameras (compare an F4 with a Canon EOS 1) and it works with the GVPe.

Admittedly, a touch screen would be much better, even mobile phones or MP3-players employ them. Actually JOBO’s choice for a conventional monitor is based upon calibration and colour profiling. It seems touch screens are not suitable for good colour rendition. Most of the time the classical user interface of the GVPe poses no problems; yes, navigating a fully zoomed in image can be a bit cumbersome, yes, switching between soft buttons and joystick is annoying, and yes, the menu entries’ order sometimes lacks. That is all minor complaints. The only major change I would like to see is an exchange of positions between the three hard buttons - Home, Back, Settings and the five soft buttons.

When holding the GVPe in both hands, naturally the left thumb goes to the joystick. The right thumb now rest on the three hard buttons, which one does not use too often. Would the soft buttons be here, which you need very often during operations, one wouldn’t need to switch between the two main control elements. Granted, the labels for the soft buttons would grab a little more screen estate but this could be remedied by hiding them when not in use. This is already done to have as much space for an image – until you need the buttons (just push one and the labels come up). Now only a timer is missing to hide them again after a definable period of time not used.

The menus are nothing more than lists of features and options, selectable via joystick; pushing the joystick then goes into the chosen screen. The joystick also selects files, from a list or grid, and often enough activates a feature. In some cases – possible meant as a security measure, e.g. to not delete a file accidentally – to access a certain option one has to push one of the soft buttons.

A word on filing, the GVPe is rather finicky how files are stored. It comes with several pre-defined main directories - Photo, Movies, Music -, which have to be retained if you do not want to head for trouble. The operating system will only find your files correctly if they are in sub-directories of those mentioned. And any file you want to have access through via the GVPe has to be in a sub-directory, that is, files in the main directory are invisible to the GVPe. Luckily your PC can see them, so that you can delete or move wrongly stored files. By the way, JOBO calls directories ‘albums’, probably to add to the already existing confusion with ‘directories’ and ‘folders’.

Like most newer electronic devices JOBO’s GIGA Vu Pro evolution offers firmware-update capability. This will not only fix possible bugs but bring new functionality to the image viewer. One example is the JD-Loupe, which was added to the original GVPe via a software update.