http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/newpro.asp

Hanlin eReader V2c - ETA 2006-12-31
Hanlin eReader V2t - ETA 2007-4-30
Hanlin eReader V2d - ETA 2007-06-30
Hanlin eReader V9 - ETA 2007-08-31
Hanlin eReader V9c - ETA 2007-09-30
Hanlin eReader V9t - ETA 2007-09-30

Not one, not two, nor three, but SIX, my friends ... whopping SIX new readers in the roadmap till next year September!

woo hoo ... now all they need to do is figure out they can sell it online worldwide and I'll be a happy customer and they can start laughing their way to the bank ... ie, if they figure out the online sales part before Sony own the world with their Sony Reader!

I'm visiting state side in a month or two ... think I'll get a Sony Reader ... if there is some way to make it display Chinese.

good news...if they actually manage to deliver this time...the v2 is still not out...

wow, really promising :D
That Iliad from Jinke (V9) looks great :)

They do look like Iliad/Sony Reader clones...^^
But my main worry is that Jinke hasn't managed to market any devices outisde Europe (apart from a few in Russia) and is still not ready with the V2 model that was supposed to be available worldwide in May...
I'd really love to get one of there, even the V2 would be cool (and the V2 with touchscreen is also pretty cool) but I'm skeptical...

Perhaps this is something that I missed before, but I don't remember the order online option being availiable before for the v2, but now it is here (http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/index.asp) Does that mean it is ready to go or did I just not see it before? :blink:
I also looks like it is black and has a cover now, which makes me happy since I never much liked the ipod bathroom white scheme.

good news...I'll check it out right now...

edit: It says "only for cooperators"

Damn...

Curses! I had not noticed that. I promise to cooperate with them by buying the reader, but I guess that isn't what they mean.

I'm afraid not...but i'll talk to them about it next week...

I like the Dual Screen V2d, think they can incorporate an alternating refresh option so you can read one page while the next one is loading? That could eliminate wait time, and i like the idea of keeping the traditional form factor... even if it's just a novelty, i could see my self getting that one. It's sort of like the Nintendo DS where you close it, and it becomes it's own case.

I'm currently waiting for a 'New hardware and software version of the V2' (their words) May said it should be available by the end of this month. So i will be able to give you a review soon. I'm hoping that its as close to 'release version' as possible.
I'm guessing if the version I receive is nigh on complete then the possibilty of these offshoots could be not far from the truth.

good news...I'll check it out right now...

edit: It says "only for cooperators"

Damn...
Checked today - it's possible to order :) No cooperators at all...

The specs are a bit worrying to me. 200MHz CPU with 32MB of RAM for the entire product line, even the dual panel and cellular models.

Plus what exactly is GPRS/CDMA?

GPRS is a GSM data service and CDMA is the competitor to GSM. It would seem they are saying they will have support for GPRS and 1xRTT (which is the data service for CDMA)?

The v9 series is also claiming to be capable of SD rather than just MMC. One of these days perhaps iRex will drop the $$$ and join the SD consortium so the iLiad can have SD support as well.

The pixel count for the 10" panel also caught my eye. Many of the manga/graphic novels I've been running through my CBR/CBZ viewer code on the iLiad are 1200 pixels tall...

And did anyone else notice they have no pixel depth listed for the 10" panel? Their 6" panel is the older 4 gray panel used in the Librie but there is no mention of gray count for the new 10" panel.

And did anyone else notice they have no pixel depth listed for the 10" panel? Their 6" panel is the older 4 gray panel used in the Librie but there is no mention of gray count for the new 10" panel.
Scotty, I think they actually do, in the product pamphlets. They mention 4 grey levels for every device.

I only care that the paging speed, price, and unicode (CJK Asian fonts)support.
The iLiad is nice but it's a little slow reading PDF even with Xscale 400MHz CPU.
The V2 and V9 series are with Samsung 200MHz...
The other interesting thing is that it supports the XEB (apabi) in the product pamphlets but no similiar information in the website.

being kinda new to the e-ink/e-book/e-reader wave and not knowing alot about the history of the iliad and this particular manufacturer, i'm wondering how, exactly, they plan on doing both a decent touch screen and e-ink (if it is - in fact - e-ink) display.

while i'd love a "pda" with the form-factor of the prs-500, one of the best features of it (besides the beautiful display) is the battery life. cramming 3G, 802.11 & a touch screen seems to be counter-productive for a device that is still being marketed as a e-book reader. also, unless they've sped up the refresh rate or found a way to stop the ghosting on partial clear/re-draw regions, i'm not sure i'd want one of these to read my e-mail (as indicated by the mail icon in one of the pix) & spreadsheets on.

and, if this is going to be something with an on-screen keyboard that i can "type" with, then i'm really confused as to how that's going to work well with the e-ink tech.

i also agree with one of the previous posters - 200MHz?

am i just being over-negative? am i missing something?

In the tradition of the PC industry, raw muscle is not always the answer. How speedy a device is or feels like is often a combination of many factors and not a simple function of the CPU speed. 8)

The only thing worrying so far is the ability for Jinke to deliver their products into the hands of geeks worldwide. Then again, I heard from some that it has its hands so tied up with China's market, it can barely cope with worldwide market, hence the seemingly lack of support for overseas requests and also their call for retail agents overseas.

I might just swing by China next year, but just for a short trip, so may not get to even get a reader there ... *bummer* ... so close yet so far! grrr

unless they've sped up the refresh rate or found a way to stop the ghosting on partial clear/re-draw regions, i'm not sure i'd want one of these to read my e-mail (as indicated by the mail icon in one of the pix) & spreadsheets on.

and, if this is going to be something with an on-screen keyboard that i can "type" with, then i'm really confused as to how that's going to work well with the e-ink tech.I'd think reading e-mail wouldn't be significantly different from reading any other mostly text file, which e-ink handles rather well. :smile:

'Course it might not work too well for animated gif's and the like. :shrug:

As for the on-screen keyboard, the iLiad has one, and the display seems to handle it well enough, but perhaps one of the iLiadites will comment. :beam:

Hi guys,

I’m Morgan, the principal of eReader project of Jinke. Firstly thank Alexander for providing us a good platform for exchanging ideas and study. Salute to you!

I also thank CommanderROR , snappy, Natch and all the speakers who submit many good ideas and suggestions about eBook device. Your suggestions are very helpful for both eReader amateurs and manufacturers like our company. Also salute to you.



Jinke Company is a hi-tech company with university background, now it has 22 years history. Since 2000, Jinke began to devote to R&D and production of eBook device; we have designed and produced dozens of types of product, and have begun the OEM cooperation with some overseas companies. By the end of 2005, the accumulated sales quantity is over 150,000 units, Hanlin also become the first brand of eReader in China.



But Jinke Company is still a localized company with less than 200 staff, now we haven’t the capability for developing the international market, at present we focus on OEM and ODM cooperation for the international market. In the future, Jinke company will devote to the R&D of eReader for providing cheaper and more open eBook device to the user.



According to our experiences of Chinese market, comparing with MP3, the eReader have many differences, it need a large industrialization environment, especially in content providing. Therefore, the development and process of eReader is slower.



The current technology can’t reach the requirement of people to the eReader. For example, the screen isn’t colorful and flexible, the display speed is slower and price is still high. All these issues need to be solved by the increasing technology and special IC in the future years, all list limit the current sales of ebook device. Jinke Company will devote to these works, and try to provide a more open technology environment.



The product plan of 2007 you saw in our website (http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/newpro.asp ) is just a draft for discussion. I’m very sorry that I didn’t declare it to you all before we put the plan on the website. Originally it is a draft for discussion, which needs to be discussed on the top management meeting of our company. But I suggested that put the draft plan on the website, in order to let more users to join the discussion. Welcome your comments.



Thank again to CommanderROR and snappy and all the speakers who deliver the suggestions and advices in this forum. And I also welcome you all to attend the discussion in our forum: http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/developer/index.asp Thank you!

Hello Morgan! Welcome aboard this forum!

The product roadmap on your web site is indeed exciting to say the least. I'll hop over to the Jinke forum in a short while and participate.

As mentioned in earlier posts, perhaps the most pertinent step we are anticipation from Jinke right now is availability of its eink readers worldwide, possibly via online store.

And, I'm sure everyone is glad to see you onboard engaging us in open discussion! Hope to see more discussions both here and in your forum soon!

oh btw, maybe we can combine this and the other similar/identical thread? ;)

Hello everyone,

I’d like to clarify the following question:

1. Why don’t we provide V2 to the customers on time?

In China, we don’t want V2 to affect the sales of V8 in our local market, because in China nobody would like to pay more 50 dollars to buy a product only for supporting PDF and DOC formats.



In Europe and USA, we don’t have enough confidence. We are a company which good at designing. Therefore we have not enough confidence in sales volume and remote after service. Now only some amateurs of ebook device from Europe and USA want to purchase V2 product, while the OEM and ODM cooperators in discussing haven’t shown the enough confidence as well. All these are more complicated than we expected before.



But we still welcome the all cooperators to contact us, especially OEM and ODM cooperators.

2. The products roadmap of 2007

The new products of 2007 declared on our website are just a primary plan, which aren’t finally decided. We’d like to hear the comments from all of you, which can help us to improve the products.。

3.SDK

We will provide the SDK of all of our products based on Linux OS, not only provide it to OEM and ODM, but also to personal cooperators. But the cooperators need to sign a cooperation agreement with us, which will relate to the management of version and DRM.



As the global leading eReader manufacturer, Jinke Company try its best to continue to promote the new products in the next several years, and provide a safe, reliable and cheap platform to the cooperators. In 2008, we will promote the color ePaper product. Color, High Speed, Open and Communication are our directions. Linux OS will be our main OS. We will take the responsibilities in eReader career.



Thank you all.