I contacted Stareread about a review device of the STAReBOOK a few days ago and received a reply today.
Nothing definite yet, but the guy sounded like he was interested (saying he would ready a device ASAP and that he would like to be reviewed by mobileread.com).

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this project. Maybe we'll soon know whether we have another alternative to the Iliad and the Sony Reader.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this project. Maybe we'll soon know whether we have another alternative to the Iliad and the Sony Reader...

Hmmm... It's more expensive than the Sony reader and only supports a closed, proprietary eBook format.

I really don't see this unit as an alternative right now.

Details are scarce so far, that is why I requested the review device...the way I understood it, the device also supports .txt and HTML

...And you get to play! D)

This is a neat device. The thinnest of them all!

Yes, but "thin" isn't exactly a seling feautre, at least not for me.
Screen quality, Battery Life and Content support, those are the features I think are important...and i'd like to see how well the STAReBOOK performs in those areas.

With no input method, there would be no search. This is a feature that matters pretty heavily to me.

@CommanderROR
Come on! Admit it!...admit that it's a nice toy!
Reminds me of the first time I held a metal backed iPod. I like objects that treat my hands good, that feel nice even with eyes closed! The kind of sensations that sell the worse gadgets! :)

This is a neat device. The thinnest of them all!

Thin= more breakable; with only a panel of glass protecting the e-ink panel, thin is not really a feature i'd be looking for

Is it glass, or plastic? Do we know? I guess I was rather assuming plastic. :shrug:

So far, nobody knows apart from the company...:-)

I hope they'll manage to get a review sample to me, then I see how easy it is to break...just kidding...:-)

One can read it only with right hand? No chance to turn pages holding it in a left hand? Or I missed something?
I hold my lBook in a left one, it is comfortable for me...

Did I mention that I am in Asia and would love to do a review on this device? ;)

One can read it only with right hand? No chance to turn pages holding it in a left hand?Good questions. And two more things we don't know about this device. :sad:

Yeah! Why can't anyone make a central thumb control like music players or a bar across the bottom to accomodate smaller hands.

Still waiting for another reply from Stareread...I hope they won't go all iRex and delay forever...^^

Where can I buy one?

Right now, it sounds like the answer is "China." :nice:

I read a review of STAReBOOK on this website,
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT5277698708.html,

Taiwan-based e-book specialist eRead is shipping a Linux-based electronic book reader featuring an electrophoretic (aka electronic paper) display (EPD). The low-power, thin, light-weight Star eBook STK-101 can be used to read as many as 60 books on a single charge, the company claims.




eRead's Star eBook reader



Star eBook's
home menu
(Click to enlarge)
Spread the word:
digg this story

eRead publishes digital books, magazines, and comic books for the Chinese market. The company's Star eBook reader appears to support only its proprietary format -- at least, no other formats are listed as supported. However, the company does appear to offer an eRead Editor PC application for users wishing to "compile and share" material for the device.

eRead positions the Star eBook as the lightest and thinnest available eBook reader. The device uses a high-contrast EPD display element from E-Ink, which offers Linux-based EPD development kits. E-Ink's EPD displays have also been used in Motorola's Motofone, which shipped this week in India, and in another Linux-based eBook reader from iRex.

EPD displays require no power to hold an image, once it has been set. eRead claims that the Star eBook can display between 6,000 and 10,000 pages on a single battery charge -- roughly the equivalent of 60 paper-based books. Additionally, the device can play back audio books, language tutorials, or music files encoded as MP3 files.

eRead says that the Star eBook's high reflectivity EPD display provides a newsprint-like reading experience that does not injur or fatigue the eyes during extending reading sessions. The six-inch, 4-level grayscale display has a resolution of 800x600.



Close-up of Star eBook STK-101 display
(Click for full-sized view)

What's under the hood?

The Star eBook STK-101 is based on a Samsung S3C2410A SoC (system-on-chip), powered by an ARM-920T core clocked at 200MHz. The chip has an MMU (memory management unit) and 16KB each of instruction and data cache.

The STK-101 boots Linux from a 4MB boot ROM, and has 16MB of 32-bit SDRAM. The device also has 64MB of DataFlash, for user file storage, expandable via SD/MMC cards up to 1GB.

On the software side, the STK-101's embedded operating system is based on a 2.4.18 Linux kernel.

The device measures 7.4 x 4.6 x 0.3 inches (188 x 118 x 8mm), and weighs 6.2 ounces (176 grams) with its 3.7-Volt, 800mAh lithium-ion battery.

eRead developed the STK-101 itself, at its headquarters in Cheng Du, Taiwan, according to Spokesperson "Christine."

"Everyone who touches [the device] and uses it will want it. It is really cool, and I have one :)," Christine added.

Availability

The eRead Star eBook is available now, direct from Taiwan, at a retail price of $400, excluding shipping. It is packaged in a box resembling a hard-cover book (pictured at right).

I read a review of STAReBOOK on this website,
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT5277698708.html...
Please... this is not a review, but the typical PR blurb we've seen from this company so many times. They are going to shoot themselves in the foot like this, worse so if they don't reply to CommanderROR's offer for a review.

News from Staretek:

They are out of devices right now, but as soon as they have stock again he'll get in contact with me about the review sample.
Apart from the "spamvertising" here on the forums, the behaviour of the company seems to be quite OK from my personal experience so far. The guy I'm talking to, Ivan, seems to be interested in getting his device reviewed and also promised to look into the Software issue I've been having with their .stk maker software.

Further news as they become available, but I'm starting to get carefully optimistic on this one. I remember iRex's early days where they would not even answer emails and stuff like that...^^

UPDATE:

Ivan from Staretek just contacted me and said that he should be able to supply a device for review in early January. So all you eink fans will have to wait a little longer for the review... ;)
But remember how long we had to wait for the iRex Iliad and the Sony Reader...^^

UPDATE:

I had another communication from Ivan today asking for my address, so I guess things could be coming together soon...I'm looking forward to having a second eink device to compare and review next to the Iliad.

Wonderful! It is early January, so it sounds like they are right on schedule. Can't wait to hear what you think about it, and I think we are all eager to have some more device options in the market.

UPDATE:

Ivan just emailed me that he has sent the device. Now I'll just have to wait and hope it gets through German Customs in one piece and without too much VAT and Tax added...but so far the whole process has gone very nicely.
Congratulations to STAReTEK for handling this so well up to this point.

Ivan also tells me that the STAReBOOK now has a new firmware with added functions and that the eREAD software and STK-Maker are being updated and bundled into one application.
They also apparently have a new website up...visit http://ebook.stareread.com/en/

That's very good news, Roland! I cannot wait to hear your opinion on the starebook!

Interesting. I checked out the new website, followed a link to http://shop.isoshu.com/zh/ and found a price in 3500 (presumably Taiwan Dollars). That converts to about US$107. Now that's a price I'd consider paying, even for a device without a stylus or support for a range of formats without conversion.

OK folks.

I just tried the new eRead3 Software that now works on my System (Ivan told me the problem was due to different language versions of Windows) and created a book quite quickly.

I don't have the ebook device yet of course, but I created a test-ebook with the software just now and it was pretty fast and easy, the resulting file was small and apart from the lack of customizable fonts (which i'm sure could be added) it seems to be working fine.
At the moment there is little the user can change about the file that is created, but I hope that this will change with future revision.

I'd advise anyone interested in the ebook device to look into the software and see how he likes it.

@nekokami
If what you found is correct, then this could very well become one of the major ebook players...I'm starting to get more and more interested in this device...:-)

I think the $107 unit price might be closer to the $500 range.

3,500.00 CNY = 449.29 USD

1,988.00 MYR = 567.78 USD

Not being able to read the page very well, I took a guess that the cost was in Taiwan dollars, but I agree, the cost assuming Yuan seems a lot more likely.

Yeah. I really had my hopes up until I ran across a Malaysian site also selling the Starebook.

I think the prices of all device, but especially the STAReBOOK will have to fall considerably before they can get off to a real start.
Sony has it's ebook store to back up the deivce which could justify a higher price, the Iliad has it's many features and (if it every becomes fully available) the SDK as well, but Jinke and eREAD will have to manage a price-drop to be able to sell their devices in greater numbers. But maybe eink anels are just so expensive that there is no way for the ebook makers to drop prices yet.

I think the STAReBOOK price leverage was due to the fact that they offer free ebooks. I don't know how that's legal, but assuming they have some sort of legal way to do it, and they can keep up the choices of English books, it might have a market. Plus even more of a market in China.

I think the STAReBOOK price leverage was due to the fact that they offer free ebooks. I don't know how that's legal, but assuming they have some sort of legal way to do it, and they can keep up the choices of English books, it might have a market. Plus even more of a market in China.
Um... let's just say that "intellectual property" is a relatively unknown concept in China. As an example, I see a complete line of "Harry Potter" books on the isoshu site... and we all know Rowling/Bloomsbury/Scholastic has not authorized any ebooks.

I think it will be difficult or impossible for U.S. publishers to shut them down, though sales of the STAReBOOK reader could potentially be blocked in the U.S. As you say, the market might hold in China, where enforcement of copyright laws is a bit different than what we might expect in western countries. But justifying the price of the reader with the "free" books available for it is a very shaky argument indeed. One could say many of the same "free" books are equally available for any reader capable of accepting (or converting) txt and other files.

Is Harry Potter really in there?
Wow...that's first grade copyright infraction then...tsts...:-)

I did a search on a few popular authors and didn't come up with anything, but I forgot to try Harry Potter...

I didn't get much searching on authors. I had to actually search on "Harry Potter."

In China, it's often nearly impossible to tell if you're buying a pirate copy of something (speaking from personal experience). Products are often reproduced right down to copyright statements and warnings! Price is usually one of the tell-tale factors.

It's nearing the last week of Jan .... so how's the review coming?

Hey Snappy...the review device should be on it's way, as soon as it's here the review can get on it's way too...:-)

I've started playiung around with the new software and have created a few books so I'll have some material to use on the device as soon as it arrives. Ivan also told me that the device has a new firmware and now support bookmarks and has some other imrpovemens as well...I'll know more once I actually have the Hardware in my hands... :deal:

Well, I received the tracking number today...it does not seem to work (yet?) but that is nothing new with DHL...even their national (german) tracking is often so slow that the package arrives before they start offering an online status...

My tracking number still does not show up in the DHL system...I'll guess I'll ask Ivan about that on Monday.

One thing I can say about the eRead folk is that they seem to have a pretty good Software team. I haven't seen the device software yet, but the eRead Software for Pc is progressing quickly. New revisions are popping up every few days actually and it really seems like they are doing quite well. There are still many rough edges at the moment, but at the pace they are setting at the moment, I guess they'll have in a few months what the guys from dotreader have been planning for years. Their software is apparently also aiming at complete integration of chatting, reader and annotating...I'm not really somebody who thinks this is neccessary, but it's always good to see somebody doing it anyway.

Bookeen has offered the STAReBOOK hardware with its own reading software to Baen Bar, see thread (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9400). So it may be worth reviewing the hardware and software separately. It isn't clear whether Bookeen could not offer the STK software, or if it is missing to reduce cost.

Um... let's just say that "intellectual property" is a relatively unknown concept in China. ... As you say, the market might hold in China, where enforcement of copyright laws is a bit different than what we might expect in western countries. In the late 1800s the UK and other European countries were saying the same thing about the USA. The USA publishers were reprinting the overseas books and stories without payment of copyright fees and the USA did not sign the international copyright convention agreements until 1891.

In the late 1800s the UK and other European countries were saying the same thing about the USA. The USA publishers were reprinting the overseas books and stories without payment of copyright fees and the USA did not sign the international copyright convention agreements until 1891.
Oh, absolutely, and it was darned hard to make a living at writing in the US until that point, from what I've heard. Though the legal basis of international copyright didn't really exist until the Berne Convention in 1886, so there wasn't much for the US to sign before that. Wikipedia has a nice article on the history of copyright law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_copyright_law), for those who might be interested in more detail.

The IP situation in China (and, for that matter, other less wealthy countries) is interesting. Even leaving out the amount of revenue expected by publishers, the income required to support a content creator in the western countries could be far greater than what potential customers in developing countries can afford to pay. If western publishers charge the same prices in China that they charge in the US or Europe, they don't sell many copies. But with digital technology, the cost of distribution is minimal. The western companies can cut prices in China, and accept a lower markup, or the pirates will do it for them. But if cheap copies are available in China (whether authorized or pirated), what's to stop people from reselling them in more expensive markets?

One might hope that long-term, the pipe could run both ways, and content creators in less wealthy countries could start to sell to richer customers via the internet. I'm betting we'll see it in music, first, where language is less of a barrier.

Roger that! :)
I'm wondering if I should just get a Sony Reader and later this year 'upgrade' when newer readers appear on the market.

Hey Snappy...the review device should be on it's way, as soon as it's here the review can get on it's way too...:-)

I've started playiung around with the new software and have created a few books so I'll have some material to use on the device as soon as it arrives. Ivan also told me that the device has a new firmware and now support bookmarks and has some other imrpovemens as well...I'll know more once I actually have the Hardware in my hands... :deal:

BIG NEwS!

According to the tracking status (ivan gave me a tracking number, but he told me he shipped it by DHL...I asked him why the tracking wasn't working and he rechecked and found that it had been shipped by FedEx...:-) that now works the STAReBOOK is now out for delivery in my hometown. If I don't miss the FedEx guys today, then I should be able to provide at least a few pictures today.

The package was sent out on the 18th...and it is here now which means staretek put down a lot of money to ship out a review sample. That looks like a good sign to me...

Yesterday I did some further testing with the eRead 3.0 software and also registered for the included IM app (ICQ style thing). One thing I found was that the program comes with several support guys already in the contact list...and they work on sundays. I gave them a bug report and they promised to look into it. Their english is not quite as good as ivan's and their first response is in chinese characters...but apart from that I was impressed.

Looking forward to your first preview, Roland! And to a lot of photos ;)