http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/ Engadget Comments for Astak's 5-inch EZ Reader now shipping from Newegg http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 11:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
My wife's 505 has all that...]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Actually these Jinke clones do support more formats then any of the Sony readers. Though this seems to come at a compromise in rendering quality for many of those. And Sony's own 5" model, the PRS-300, does indeed lack a memory card slot.]]>Oct 1st 2009 8:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 11:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
So far, I love it!

Reads ANY format a threw at it, including compressed files (rar, zip). Natively!

Native PDF support from Adobe (Sony?)

Full, out of the box support for the foreign characters. (A point off from Sony for sure)

Screan is supereasy to read. Battery life, though less than advertized (PDF fault?), is still pretty decent.

Text-to-speech (!)

I like its smaller size (5"), with the same resolution as 6".

16 Gb SD swallowed ALL the thousands of books and reprints I have, including the huge reference ones. (Sony doesn't have one, right?)

I was thinking Sony 505 for a while, but I am really glad I waited for this little puppy (and I never considered Kindler - an overpriced propriatary junk).]]>Oct 1st 2009 1:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/]]>Oct 1st 2009 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
By the way, how does your Touch work outdoors? During my recent vacation to the beach, I tried using the tablet PC on the porch and quickly gave up, and decided to read some good books on the Kindle instead.]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
I do understand why people put them down though... Until you have actually seen an e-ink screen in the flesh, you have no idea how crisp and clean a screen can be. I've shown mine to several people that didn't understand it was a real screen until i clicked on "next page". (they assumed it was fake)

Also.. this unit has a lot more going for it over the sony reader
- memory card slot, mp3 player, more formats, more built in fonts, replaceable battery, it can read books to you in a crappy voice. Sony beat them to market by a month, so i bought the sony one.


]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
$250 is far too cheap!]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
Regardless, this sounds pretty great to me. I love that it has an sd slot and not just built in memory. Also it reads a ton of formats, even rar/zip which sounds very handy. I wonder how well it could display comic books?]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 1:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
I've read numerous books on my Touch and so has my wife (on hers) and both of us vastly prefer the Touch experience to holding a heavy "real" book.]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 1:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
Of course, I don't have your delicate feminine wrists, so my big rough male muscles obviously give me an unfair advantage.

Perhaps your confusion is from holding your touchpod in the air so everybody can see you have one. I can see how that would be hard work. . Reading a book is best done in a comfortable seated position, with the book resting on one's lap, or in one or both hands. Not prancing around like a demented ballerina, trying to make sure everybody can see how special you are... ]]>Oct 1st 2009 5:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 12:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
I'm very glad I bought this over a Kindle. Freaking overpriced proprietary junk.]]>Oct 1st 2009 12:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
@dave- neg1000]]>Oct 1st 2009 1:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 1:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 1:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 6:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 6:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
"Secondly, you read a book every 2.66 days? Which at an average pace, you would need to read 1/3 the book everyday, which equates to about 12 hours a day."

Only one book every three days at 12 hours a day??? God you must be a pathetically slow reader. A 250 page novel is about 1.5 hours to read, a 500 pager is about 3 hours etc. I've read 3 to 5 novels a week since I was 9 years old, plus magazines (National Geographic, Discover, Popular Sci. etc etc), newspapers, textbooks and so on. I'm not that unusual. Both of my children read as much or more then I do and at least 15 to 20 of my friends do to.]]>Oct 2nd 2009 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 4:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
Anyone... Anyone?]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 2nd 2009 4:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 1st 2009 6:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Speaking of reading on smaller screens (like iPod/Palm) I have no eyestrain from reading Touch for weeks. I've been reading eBooks books for over 8 years starting with B&W Handspring (battery lasted for weeks on that thing), then moving on to Palm M515 and even smaller screen on Treo650. I've read tons of books, no issues, no glasses, my eyesight still perfect (I'm 33). Yes battery won't last as long as on e-ink devices, but I recently took my Touch on a 15 hour flight (with 2 stops) to Hawaii and with help of little battery recharger it lasted me pretty much whole flight. I did take few breaks for naps, but also watched couple of videos. Screen size is really not as big an issue as most people think. You get used to in a couple of hours, and you can't beat portability of the reading device that fits in our pocket. I'd rather see Kindle and others with screen size of iPod Touch...]]>Oct 2nd 2009 9:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/
I've been reading on my Tapwave Zodiac since I got it in 2003. It's backlit. NO eyestrain ever, so don't give me that crap about eyestrain from a backlit screen. My vision hasn't changed in all that time and I never get headaches or eyeaches from reading. There are times I'll spend more than eight hours reading in bed with the lights out.

Before owning a Zodiac, I used my Palm V. Guess what. It's backlit too. Almost everyone I know who bought a Zodiac still uses it for reading even though they've moved PIM functions over to something else (I have an HTC Touch linked to my Exchange server).

Also, I get about 14 hours of battery life using %50 brightness and autoscroll with a "screen full" every five seconds. That's SMOOTH scrolling text, no jumping like the old PDA's did. When I'm reading in bed with the lights out so the wife can sleep, I cut the brightness down to the minimum which I think is about %5. Full sunny day really only needs about %40. The Zodiac will fully charge in about two hours when not in use and a little over four when in use. If I do only night reading (lowest brightness possible) I get about 18 hours before needing to charge.

Backlighting is not that big of a power hog. Use freaking LEDs and side light it. Put a switch on there for when people don't need the light.

These things cost way too much are physically too big and need a built-in light. Plain and simple.]]>Oct 2nd 2009 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/astaks-5-inch-ez-reader-now-shipping-from-newegg/Oct 2nd 2009 11:54AM