MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

wallcraft · 02-12-2009, 05:02 PM

As phenomshel says, the EZ Reader brand is for Hanlin (Jinke) devices sold by Astak and the Mentor brand is for (future) Netronix products sold by Astak. All Robertb's posts are in one huge "Mentor" thread, so confusion is inevitable.

Today, the EZ Reader and BeBook are the same hardware and (for all practical purposes) the same software (firmware). Soon, the EZ Reader will switch to eReader as its DRM provider (same hardware, new software). Most likely, you will still be able to load EZ Reader firmware on any Hanlin and any Hanlin firmware on the EZ Reader.

The new EZ Reader devices will be from Hanlin, so BeBook will presumably have them too. By then, the MOBI vs eReader issue will also presumably be settled. At the moment it seems that Astak will have eReader and all other Hanlin partners will have MOBI, but from the outside it is hard to see why Astek would be singled out by Amazon.

Since all the new devices will have 16 grey shades and the Epson controller, it may be worth waiting a while. At a minimum the differences will be on the same scale as PRS-700 vs PRS-505 or Kindle 2 vs 1.

We know about the Hanlin products, but the current Cybook hardware is made by Netronix and Astak says their Mentor (Netronix) line will role out in March. Bookeen does not have to use Netronix as the source for their next device, but whoever builds it for them it is a good bet that they have a new device in the wings too.

So, if you hate buying a device only to have a new version introduced soon after, I suggest waiting a while. The older devices sometimes come out ok (I think PRS-505 and Kindle 1 are still viable options) but it is nice to know what the latest devices have to offer before deciding.

02-12-2009, 05:02 PM	#3
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	As phenomshel says, the EZ Reader brand is for Hanlin (Jinke) devices sold by Astak and the Mentor brand is for (future) Netronix products sold by Astak. All Robertb's posts are in one huge "Mentor" thread, so confusion is inevitable. Today, the EZ Reader and BeBook are the same hardware and (for all practical purposes) the same software (firmware). Soon, the EZ Reader will switch to eReader as its DRM provider (same hardware, new software). Most likely, you will still be able to load EZ Reader firmware on any Hanlin and any Hanlin firmware on the EZ Reader. The new EZ Reader devices will be from Hanlin, so BeBook will presumably have them too. By then, the MOBI vs eReader issue will also presumably be settled. At the moment it seems that Astak will have eReader and all other Hanlin partners will have MOBI, but from the outside it is hard to see why Astek would be singled out by Amazon. Since all the new devices will have 16 grey shades and the Epson controller, it may be worth waiting a while. At a minimum the differences will be on the same scale as PRS-700 vs PRS-505 or Kindle 2 vs 1. We know about the Hanlin products, but the current Cybook hardware is made by Netronix and Astak says their Mentor (Netronix) line will role out in March. Bookeen does not have to use Netronix as the source for their next device, but whoever builds it for them it is a good bet that they have a new device in the wings too. So, if you hate buying a device only to have a new version introduced soon after, I suggest waiting a while. The older devices sometimes come out ok (I think PRS-505 and Kindle 1 are still viable options) but it is nice to know what the latest devices have to offer before deciding. Last edited by wallcraft; 02-12-2009 at 05:04 PM.