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Old 08-27-2010, 01:06 AM   #91
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Interesting to know that this is also happening to other people now too. I thought I'd pop in with my story too, so Astak knows this wasn't an entirely corrected problem. I bought a purple one last Sept, had the paint bubbling, exchanged it in Oct; that one also had even worse bubbling, and got another exchange in Nov. That one was fine until about the end of July, when it looked like some of the front side was two-toned purple. Within a couple of days it had bubbling down one of the front seams and both the upper and lower right front corners and one button.
The inside of the cover is light beige. I remember they had said they were switching over to light grey, but I thought I had escaped any problems. I just don't think I want to go through all the hassle of another exchange; besides, want a distinctly different color like purple, that's one of the reasons I bought it.--otherwise I had wanted the rose colored Sony.
I enjoy reading on it, I just won't show it to anyone anymore.
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Old 08-27-2010, 12:34 PM   #92
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My new replacement PPro (due to screen crack) has the cover with the grey "felt-like" inside, which I recall was their solution. Surprised it took from Nov to July for yours to start bubbling.

I'd say my Christmas gift (tan interior cover) started within a month. But it still functioned, and if I hadn't cracked the screen, I'd still be happily using it, and I never hesitated to show it off, even with the shiny blue showing thru over about 2/3 of the front.

Since I got mine originally long after the peeling problem was supposedly "solved" (didn't know about the grey vs tan difference in cover interior at that time), I figured it was Astak's problem for selling a known-defective product.

I also figured that 90% of the folk who saw it weren't really going to buy an ereader any time soon, and the other 10% would probably be buying a Kindle, anyway, because every one of them started the conversation with "is that a Kindle?".

I'd explain that it was LIKE a Kindle, but a different brand (carefully showing them the name so they might remember it), and that it was more flexible than Kindle because 1.) you aren't restricted to buying books only from Amazon, and 2.) you can't borrow books from the library with a Kindle.

The peeling paint never bothered me because it obviously never bothered Astak or they wouldn't have continued shipping the units with the tan-interior covers after the problem became known.
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Old 08-28-2010, 12:34 AM   #93
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Mine (exchanged for another last Winter which came back with the same "tan" cover), has been okay since the exchange, but... I know the peeling will happen again. You can see the early signs on the BACK of the unit first (where it comes in closest contact with the leather), and for some time my replacement unit's backside has progressively had the same "waffle" pattern of dissolving paint I saw when my first until peeled. The fact that it hasn't yet caught up to the side and front paint yet just means its a disaster waiting to happen.
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Old 08-28-2010, 02:23 AM   #94
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Originally Posted by Spiffy View Post
Mine (exchanged for another last Winter which came back with the same "tan" cover), has been okay since the exchange, but... I know the peeling will happen again. You can see the early signs on the BACK of the unit first (where it comes in closest contact with the leather), and for some time my replacement unit's backside has progressively had the same "waffle" pattern of dissolving paint I saw when my first until peeled. The fact that it hasn't yet caught up to the side and front paint yet just means its a disaster waiting to happen.
Whilst I agree that the cover had some impact to the paint peeling I honestly do not believe it was the only instigator. People who purchased a Bebook Mini reported peeling paint and their units ship without a cover, so these would not have been in contact with these 'tan' covers. Something obviously changed during manufacturing to fix these paint issues.

Mine certainly isn't bad, just little bumps here and there and in the right light you can see a 'patchiness' occurring on the rubber, but like yours, it is a sign of things to come. I really looked after my PP and would like to remedy the situation before it runs out of warranty and then find it will get dramatically worse. I've posted here asking Jenifer about it, I'm not going to bother emailing support, nothing ever got responded to with prior issues/questions. Hopefully we can work something out in regard to it.
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Old 09-02-2010, 06:57 PM   #95
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Well, no response from Jenifer here, nor any response to TWO emails sent to support. Sad but I'm going to have to wash my hands of this, I just don't know how much chasing up a customer needs to do just to receive A response.

For those interested, smirkabout have skins for the 5" readers.
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Old 09-04-2010, 08:45 PM   #96
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I exchanged mine pocket pro four times to pealing paint before I gave up on the reader all together and sold it on eBay. I bought myself the Kindle DX and I love it!!! No buggy firmware, no paint to bubble, and responsive customer service. I liked the pocket pro since it could read so many formats but it did me little good since the silly thing had to be restarted 1/2 way through a reading session due to lock ups.
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Old 09-05-2010, 12:08 PM   #97
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In all fairness, I have to say that except for a bit of peeling paint and the screen not standing up to either being sat on or stepped on (don't know which) I have had no complaints with the PPro. I just figured the peeling paint was a nice idea that didn't work out as well as it could have.

Even with today's prices from the elephants in the room, the Astaks are still a bargain without many serious complaints. I have said it ad nauseum (sp?), I am sure, but Kindle's one great draw-back for me is no access to library books. In addition, of course, to the keyboard-clutter. But either the Kindles or the nook, you still aren't beating the Astak prices once you purchase a respectable cover. And, of course, Sony is totally ignoring any price-wars and you STILL have to buy a cover. In addition, I believe you have to buy a wall-charger as well, which is standard with the Astak products.

Of course, the Sonys have that nice touchy-feelly screen, but I find buttons still do all I need them to do.

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Old 09-06-2010, 10:06 AM   #98
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Well, I went the kindle dx which is currently selling at 379.00, and I bought a nice cover for it for about 17.00 with tax and shipping. The library books are a huge draw back for me as well. I love having the huge screen but it is rather heavy, about to equal to holding a hardback book. As far as the key board clutter goes I find a ton more user friendly for notes and searching thank it was to try to use astak's odd navigation with the ten number keys to tpye. So that hasn't really been an issue for me. I would like to be able to highlight in PDF format though. The new pearl screens are really nice, but in all fairness I went form using an 8 gray scale to 16 so that may make a difference as well. The PDF on the DX is a ton better than the pocket pro, but again the screen size is main help there. Use PDF on the readers because I scan my kids spelling word lists, and books to teach reading so that when we are waiting for Isaac's turn to see the doctors we can work on some of those skills. The DX does annoy me since there are no turn page buttons on the keyboard so when reading it vertically I either have to reach on top of the book, or to the bottom of where it sits. It also reads music sheet wonderfully, but again this is due to the extra 6 inches on screen. I really did want to love my pocket pro but it was faulty for me.... maybe I just have bad luck. I just feel that when I spend 250.00 the item should work properly.
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Old 09-07-2010, 01:20 PM   #99
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I really did want to love my pocket pro but it was faulty for me.... maybe I just have bad luck. I just feel that when I spend 250.00 the item should work properly.
I'm sorry that your Pocket Pro didn't work for you, if there is still any way we could tune or fix your device, email support@astak.com and I will give them a 'nudge' to address your problem right away.

I own two readers, I might have mentioned before, a Kindle 2 and an EZ Read Pocket Pro. For me, the PPro is my daily reader. I believe that the device actually has more to do with book choice than any tech advantage, and I'll lay out my pros and cons for both (side note: this is my personal opinion, not Astak's)

Pros About Kindle: The Kindle is well-supported, sleek looking, easy to use, and has wi-fi. I never purchased a cover for it, but I keep it in a felt-pouch. The store is easy to navigate and book prices are low. The keyboard is useful for notes and the dictionary is a major plus.

Cons About Kindle: The Kindle book store is the reason I no longer use a Kindle. I am not a 'beach-book' buyer, I actually read a number of strange authors, rare editions, hard-to-find indie work, and other such pretentious reading. The Kindle store has only a quarter of what I read, most of which are free classics I can get elsewhere. Because of their proprietary format, it's like having an iPod and ONLY being able to buy major label crapola from the iPod store.

Pros about PPro: Because my PPro supports virtually every format except for Kindle and B&N's, I can get my books from any source. I can download ePub books from friends, indies all over the place, pretty much anything. I use my PPro exclusively because my choices as a book buyer are so large. There hasn't been a book I couldn't download, save cookbooks or a kid's book like "Are You My Mother?"

Cons about PPro: I have my PPro in pink, which makes it more personalized, but it isn't as sleek as the Kindle. And the paint IS misbehaving. The number button selection is a little funky, and I had to get used to updating FW and Adobe.

But when it comes down to it, the PPro is a hearty, no-nonsense device that doesn't restrict me to the latest Dan Brown. It's more tool than accessory.

...Rant done.
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