The new 12 firmware upgrade - My take

[Duodora]

Originally Posted by DDHarriman

Duodora

I have not tested how long the battery lasts now - but I have never worried about it before as it had given me always much more time that I really needed.
People have tested it before, maybe they are in the mood do it again?

I'm hoping someone will! If not I could give it a shot--but unfortunately I've never tested the battery life of mine on any firmware, so I'm not sure how much it would really tell!

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But how useful is DRM-free ePub going to be? We know for a fact that we're not going to get support for Adobe Digital Editions (ie ePub with Adobe DRM) because of Mobi's insistance that they be the only DRM-format on a device.

Native support for ePub (non-DRM'd) would be a welcome addition IMHO. For now, if one has DRM-free ePub files of interest and are on the Windows platform, the latest Mobipocket Reader does a reasonably good job importing/converting them.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

It is "well known" from multiple sources, and has not been contradicted by anyone. The best source from an actual vendor is in Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen options (I'm not sure where in this 54 page thread you might find the best info, but its in there, from Robertb, multiple times). For this reason, and no other, Astak plans to produce two versions: a) the Mentor which will support at least two reader packages (eReader and Adobe Digital Editions, the latter perhaps after the initial release) and others if they can get them, and b) the LiteBook which will only support MOBI.

The distinction between classic handhelds and dedicated ebook readers is that the reader software is downloaded from 3rd parties after buying the device in the former case and bundled with the device in the latter case. This is why EInk devices with WinCE are potentially interesting - they might be able to follow the download model rather than the bundled model. It might be easier to produce a general purpose EInk handheld running Linux (the iLiad very nearly is such a device), but there is currently no downloadable DRMed ebook reader software for Linux.

I've seen the claims by other vendors that Mobipocket wants an exclusive deal (and I don't have a reason to doubt them) but I don't believe it's valid to extrapolate that as "a fact" of what is in the agreement between Mobipocket and Bookeen.

I acknowledge that HarryT was making another point completely and I'm just being anal word policeman. I would have been fine if he said "unlikely" or "highly unlikely".