Jetbook VS Aluratek Libre Pro VS Astak Ez Reader pro Anyone??

[ProDigit]

Anyone can help me define the differences (besides e-ink/resolution) between these devices?

Thank you!

[silverraven]

Well, I'm not sure how much help I will be, but I'll try.
I own both the jetbook lite and the Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro. Obviously, the pocket pro has an eink screen, and the jetbook has an lcd screen. I know everyone loves eink screens, but I have to say both screens are very nice to read on. The main difference being battery life. LCDs eat batteries fast. I get weeks out of a charge for the Pocket Pro, but only about 24 hours worth of reading from the jetbook. I have the lite, so it isn't an issue, I can just keep an extra set of AA batteries charged.
As far as being able to organize your books your way on the reader - they are both FABULOUS! I love being able to put my books into multi layer folders the way I want them to with out having to mess with collections, or what ever. I do miss that on my nook and Sony. (thought the screen on the nook and Sony are nicer than the Pocket Pro) Oh well, can't have everything, huh?
Hope this at least got you started.
S

[Elfwreck]

Astak EZ-Reader Pocket Pro has some problems with mobi files... the tops of italic letters are consistently cut off. And while it claims to support html, txt, and doc, it lies; it sort of displays those, but they're all unreadable. It adds hyphens in places that shouldn't have them, and breaks words in the middle to switch lines and pages. (Sometimes with, sometimes without adding a hyphen.) I had the same problem the couple of times I tried to read fb2; I can't remember if it had decent support for lit or PalmDOC pdb. (I remember hearing it had problems with lit.)

No idea how the Jetbook and Libre deal with those issues.

[Ken Maltby]

When most people read the term "LCD" they think of the backlit display that many
computer monitors and tablets use. The jetBook devices are not backlit and use a
reflective technology, like e-Ink does. E-Ink's technology is very different in most
other ways, though. Both reflective displays are easier on the eyes and use less
power than a backlit display. The reflective TFT LCD display of the jetBooks is
much more responsive than an e-Ink display.

The jetBook Lite handles a very wide array of ebook formats, to include .pdb ebooks.
Both jetBooks, but not the jetBook Mini, are currently using the Adobe Reader Mobile
version 9.1.1 which was implemented with ADE support and has support for the B&N
DRM (.epub) ADE DRM (.epub & .pdf). The Secure eReader DRM (.pdb) is also supported
by the jetBook Lite.

Luck;
Ken

[ProDigit]

I personally own the Jetbook, but am about to return it to Ectaco, to get a $100 cashback deal on it for buying the JBC. From that $100 I'm basically buying the Aztak, costing me only $50.

At first sight I would gain:
1- Whiter background
2- E-ink (longer battery life)
3- Higher resolution (640x480 for the jetbook, to 800x600).

The way I see it, they are all wins!

I lose,
- Customer support,
- Screen response time
and seemingly also:
- Some file compatibility

Though, I'll mainly read txt, and epub on it.

[ProDigit]

The Astak arrived today!
It's the same size, but with all those buttons on the top,it looks much smaller to me (looks more the size of the Jetbook Mini,which is actually the same size)!
Offers about the same feats,except it has a basic TTS!
The TTS is not the best sounding, perhaps a bit robotic, but I can understand it perfectly well!
The screen is much lighter than the jetbook! Blacks are more grey-ish, but the background is also a bit lighter.
It gives the overall impression that the Astak has a lower contrast ratio than the Jetbook!
The resolution is noticeably better, however the screen font is worse to me!
I always read from the Jetbook on a font somewhere between small and normal on the Astak. I can't select that font and feel the astak's small font is just too small, and the normal font is just too large.
However I prefer small over normal, as it shows more text per page.

The astak also has the feeling that it cuts off lines too early, perhaps the Jetbook had a feat to start a new line with 'indent' (I believe the word was, I mean, a small tab before), or stretch sentences to fit screen.
The Astak has more the feeling of centering lines in larger fonts, as there are too few words fitting a screen, and get cut off at the end to be placed at the next line.
At smaller fonts it looks to me like a whole block of text, harder to read...

Apart from that Astak's weight is nearly half of the Jetbook! It's cover is also of much higher quality! And it's e-ink!
Mine came with a 2GB SD Card, filled with TXT files, and mp3 music. It plays back music ok; a bit (artificially) crystallic, but not bad!
The music player controls are less organized, and harder to grasp.

One thing I do like about the Astak is that it uses one filebrowser. You can open books, pictures, or music from the same browser, unlike the Jetbook,where you had to select either music, or books.

[ProDigit]

As a correction on my previous post, seemingly the Astak does have an indent, but much too large! The Jetbook has one a few characters wide, which looks nice on the screen. The Astak has one the size almost of a 6 letter word, and especially in larger fonts, it could almost look like some sentences are centered, and very little text is appearing on the screen!

The audio quality is worse on the Astak. The resolution better, the contrast worse, the screen is more reflective, but I really prefer the round dial on the right above the slider on the jetbook!
The 'next page' (arrow to the right) on the left of the screen, is slightly too high for comfort. It would have felt more natural if those buttons would have been lowered by 1/2 to 1 inch.

I much prefer the Astak's SD card without an ugly looking flap. The SD card also inserts normally, as opposed to upside down (with golden pins on the top) as on the Jetbook.
The small buttons make the device look smaller than the jetbook, eventhough both devices are about just as big (5 inch devices).

My EZReader (Pocket pro) has a matte white housing, very nice, less reflective, but the white is too bright even for the white of the e-ink.
It stands out in bright environments.


For $50, any device like this is really worth the price, especially because about a year to two years ago, this device was priced triple this price!


Astak EZ Reader Pro's weaknesses:
- Audio quality is good, and crisp, but not excellent
- Screen reflection
- Indent is too large
- TTS is too robotic sounding

Astak EZ Reader Pro's strengths:
- Ultra light
- Looks much smaller than other similar devices
- Case light reflection is near to zero
- E-ink (800x600 pix,in a 5" screen)
- Good sleeve/pocket, though larger than the reader, making it impossible to fit inside a pocket of a standard jacket.

[DaleDe]

One point about Indent is too large.

Astak Pocket Pro does not override the CSS in the book you are reading. The indent is set in the CSS inside the book so it will likely vary from book to book. It you use Sigil to edit the book you can set the indent to whatever you wish. This will not work with books using DRM.

Dale

[ProDigit]

It's a bit of a pitty, the Jetbook does control the length of an indent to fit the screen.
Some of these indents may look nice on a small screen, but not on a large, or reverse.

I wished they had a system override.

[alg2468]

I just bought a refurbished ezreader pro from Amazon and really like it. And I also have the Aluratek Libre Pro, too. Upon comparing the readers side by side, I agree with ProDigit about the good and bad points on the readers. One added difference is that the battery on the Astak is easily changeable, more difficult to do for the Libre (and identical Jetbook). But either reader is a better value than other higher priced readers from Amazon, B & N, and Kobo, which offer less features (ie, no audio).