Thread: Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)
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Old 05-29-2008, 07:28 PM   #339
delphidb96
Wizard
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Posts: 2,999
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Citrus Heights, California
Device: TWO Kindle 2s, one each Bookeen Cybook Gen3, Sony PRS-500, Axim X51V
Quote:
Originally Posted by 6charlong View Post
I've been trying to be patient but some questions about the Mentor are busting my buttons.

1. My PDA came without eBook software but it let me load, unload and update the book-reader software I wanted. Will it be possible for Mentor owners to delete, load and update the reading software of their choice?

2. eReader on the Clie lets you press one side of the screen to page forward and the other side to page back. This works much better than putting buttons under your fingers. Will the Mentor implement this feature?

3. eReader on my PC has a button to click that takes you to the eReader.com bookstore where you can click off the books you want to buy--sort of like what Amazon just did with the Kindle. Will the WiFi version of eReader do that? How about the MobiPocket version: will it home to Amazon to buy and download books?

4. Will the 5-inch Mentor be available with both touch and WiFi?

I know I'll hear the answers to all this eventually. Just having trouble waiting. The Mentor really IS a book reader for the rest of us.
I, for one, do NOT want to be 'homed in on' just one source whenever I connect my ebook reader. I like being able to buy my ebooks via my PC and then transfer them across to the SD card or the Cybook Gen3.

However, much of your desires mirror mine.

I will note that at this time, installing a reader application on a Cybook or EB-100 is a matter of porting the software over and then running a firmware update. In the case of the EB-100, it has been demonstrated that, while identical in hardware and OS to the Cybook, installing each other's reader app across is a NON-trivial task. (Yes, one can install the reader software from the EB-100 on the Cybook, but why *would* one, as it leaves much to be desired. )

I think the basic idea of having OpenInkpot running (in a form of dual-boot mode) off an SD card with a reader of one's choice would be the best approach. Then, one could buy any such reader and leave the firmware contents alone - switching over to, say, FBReader via the use of OI and FBReader on a 2GB SD card for those books which aren't available in the device's native reader format.

Derek
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