Last we heard from Astak, it was quietly peddling some off-the-wall
Mentor e-book reader based on a
drab OEM model that every other no-name reader manufacturer uses. Now, however, it seems the company has a bit more pep in its step (though it's still copying others, this time the
BeBook), as it has proudly proclaimed that the new 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket PRO is primed to "give Amazon's
Kindle a run for its money." With Adobe's blessing, the device is able to support over 20 open file formats along with DRM-laced PDF files; also of note, a
sure-to-be-controversial text-to-speech feature can read back documents aloud. The six-ounce device will be available in a half dozen hues, and within you'll find a 400MHz processor, 512MB of memory, an SD expansion slot, 8-level grayscale E-ink screen, a replaceable battery good for 8,000 page turns per charge and an MP3 player that can operate in the background. Sadly, no wireless connectivity is baked in, but the $199 price point is definitely tantalizing. Anyone looking to get in on a
pre-order before it ships later this month?
posted August 7th 2009 5:52AM
On the other hand, you could get the Sony. I think the PRS-300 is going to deflate a lot of manufacturers' low-end ebook reader sales.
However you don't get the Text to Speech, an SD slot, or an easily removable battery with the PRS-300.
Yeah but for the same price, you really better go with the Sony for look and quality. Text to speech is a hard to listen gimmick. If the other were 150$ I would not say but for the same price, go Sony.
Quality? My original Sony PRS-500 died for no apparent reason whatsoever. And lets not forget the fiascoes with the PS1 and PS2.
Can it stand in line with Sony Pocket Reader with same price 199 USD? Really a reader war has begun!
That's the easy part. The hard part is having something like Amazon's bookstore and compatibility with mobile apps like the Kindle iphone app.
These devices are ridiculously expensive. They don't have any expensive components inside (except maybe for the e-ink display which is new on the market). They should have been very cheap. It's stupid to price them around a netbook which actually have a lot of components inside. Sorry for my english.
AFAIK, replacement e-Ink displays are about $90. I've seen this price mentioned on some forums, but I wouldn't guarantee this information is correct.
Really Darren? No mention of similarly priced Sony readers? Also how is it supposed to give Kindle run for its money when there's no connectivity options whatsoever? So far it's the only feature differentiating Kindle from quite a few other e-ink readers.
Maybe you should direct your concerns to Astak, considering that it's the one ready to "give Amazon's Kindle a run for its money."
The big thing with this e-reader is that "the device is able to support over 20 open file formats along with DRM-laced PDF files". The ability to be able to support all of the ebooks formats that are currently on my computer trumps being able to get new ebooks over the air for me.
i hear there's a kristin stewart version
*crickets chirp as no one gets this*
Or crickets chirp because everyone got it. ;P
Somebody tell me when they make these for $99. I am willing to suffer reading on my laptop until you can buy a really barebones model for under $100.
Greyscale? what time is it? 1980? go back to your chinese landfill where you belong
It's grayscale EINK. Color versions of these displays are not yet available.
It's a BeBook ppl.
This company simply place a diffrent name on this device every year.
I have on of these, they change nothing but the name.
It is quite a good ebook reader with two problems:
1: Its does support PDF however the font support for that format is in every way lacking.
2: it will never quite finish an audio book, it will always jump to the next one with over three minuts remaining.
those problems remain even with the latest firmware
"Now, however, it seems the company has a bit more pep in its step (though it's still copying others, this time the BeBook)"
You obviously meant Halin V5, right? It's not like BeBook has produced their own e-Book reader, just another Hanlin rebranding, like Astak.
Any chance these e-ink devices will ever be in color? I'd love to be able to read a graphic novel or my weekly The Economist or Scientific American on one of these babies. No color, no dice.
Supported Formats:
ADE, PDF, DOC, RTF, HTML, TXT, MP3, WOL, CHM, RAR, ZIP, FB2, DJVU, EPUB, BMP, JPG, TIF, PNG, GIF, PDB, PPT, LIT
http://www.astak.com/product.asp?serial=05EZWHT
I like the fact that the prices for the hardware is coming down, but that was always expected. (The market won't really explode until you get some major consumer names down around $100)
What I really want to see, is the bundling of ebooks with regular purchases. I'd be willing to pay and extra dollar or two when buying a hardcover to get an ebook with it.
Is this Morgan Freeman approved?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_PuAqRQLKA
I purchased jetBook eBook reader for the same price from NewEgg and it looks better for me than EZ reader (better screen without E-ink flash, dictionaries support, folders etc)
This is just another rebranding of a cheap Chinese reader. While the build quality is mediocre compared other readers, the main problems with these units is generally the firmware. The original Chinese firmware is generally bad, and Astak don't seem to have many programmers in-house to improve on it. it seem to be a very small company.
Their previous reader was very slow and prone to crash, and since its release all bugs are still not fixed. I would wait for a review before buying this one.
I have the 6" version of the EZreader and you're right - the firmware stinks.
I just installed this firmware
http://www.lbook.com.ua/en/downloads/firmwarev3
It's lightyears ahead. The folders' display is much more readable and it even supports .mobi DRM files. When you first install, the default language is Russian, but you can change this in the settings.