MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)

stive · 02-21-2009, 01:12 PM

Hi Everyone,

First, thanks to everyone on this thread for a valuable and entertaining education on ebooks, ebook technologies and value, and Astak products, not to mention on product management and innovation management

I *love* this thread.

I just received my EZ Reader from Frys (@ the $269 price), my first ebook, and look forward to sharing my experience and posting a review on the board. But first, I'm off to a slow start - the EZ Reader will not open any of pdfs I've downloaded from Google books - an absolute show-stopper for me. There doesn't seem to be a user or help forum on the Mobiebook site ("Forum" link is broken), and the manual gives an email and phone # that seems to be for RMA - not sure I need to return it yet. Can anyone help?

--There is no problem opening and reading the manual pdf or a couple of pdfs from a certification study guide I've loaded. So it does work for some pdfs.
--I cannot open any of about 30 Google Books I've initially downloaded onto the reader. Not small 1.5 or 3 MB books, not large 14 MB books.
--When I try to open a Google book pdf, an hourglass briefly appears next to the numbered tab on the left, a couple of arrows forming a circle pops up on the screen and then promptly freezes, while the pinpoint light on the upper left of the device goes red.
--Then either one of two things happens: a) the screen simply goes to my SD card bookshelf (whether I was opening from the hard drive or the card); b) or more often, the screen goes dark for a moment, then the bookshelf screen reappears very faded, looking like a watermark, followed by a splashscreen with "Your EZ Reader, Your Library, ASTAK" on it.
--This happens whether I try to open the Google books from the hard drive or the SD card
--I've powered on/off, I've reset, I've deleted and re-loaded the pdf Google books. There is plenty of juice in the battery

I was on the fence getting this, since I felt the generally less expensive Mentor line with the more powerful controller would be the better value. But at $269 with the 2 gig card, decent leather case, and free shipping, this met my price point and I figured it would be a good starter device for me to cut my teeth on until the large-screened devices come out. Plus, I thought my risk would be small since Hanlin was considered a mature product (implies not buggy) and Robertb's active ear listening in.

Any suggestions, or pointers to an Astak or Hanlin support site or forum would be appreciated, I didn't find one. Again, I'm brand new to this technology - once I get my feet under me with this, I hope to contribute in the spirit of the thread's enhancement ideas, not possible bugs.

Thanks,
Stive

02-21-2009, 01:12 PM	#1468
stive Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Leading candidate is Astak EZ Reader, but price sensitive	Hi, longtime lurker, first post, first ebook Hi Everyone, First, thanks to everyone on this thread for a valuable and entertaining education on ebooks, ebook technologies and value, and Astak products, not to mention on product management and innovation management I love this thread. I just received my EZ Reader from Frys (@ the $269 price), my first ebook, and look forward to sharing my experience and posting a review on the board. But first, I'm off to a slow start - the EZ Reader will not open any of pdfs I've downloaded from Google books - an absolute show-stopper for me. There doesn't seem to be a user or help forum on the Mobiebook site ("Forum" link is broken), and the manual gives an email and phone # that seems to be for RMA - not sure I need to return it yet. Can anyone help? --There is no problem opening and reading the manual pdf or a couple of pdfs from a certification study guide I've loaded. So it does work for some pdfs. --I cannot open any of about 30 Google Books I've initially downloaded onto the reader. Not small 1.5 or 3 MB books, not large 14 MB books. --When I try to open a Google book pdf, an hourglass briefly appears next to the numbered tab on the left, a couple of arrows forming a circle pops up on the screen and then promptly freezes, while the pinpoint light on the upper left of the device goes red. --Then either one of two things happens: a) the screen simply goes to my SD card bookshelf (whether I was opening from the hard drive or the card); b) or more often, the screen goes dark for a moment, then the bookshelf screen reappears very faded, looking like a watermark, followed by a splashscreen with "Your EZ Reader, Your Library, ASTAK" on it. --This happens whether I try to open the Google books from the hard drive or the SD card --I've powered on/off, I've reset, I've deleted and re-loaded the pdf Google books. There is plenty of juice in the battery I was on the fence getting this, since I felt the generally less expensive Mentor line with the more powerful controller would be the better value. But at $269 with the 2 gig card, decent leather case, and free shipping, this met my price point and I figured it would be a good starter device for me to cut my teeth on until the large-screened devices come out. Plus, I thought my risk would be small since Hanlin was considered a mature product (implies not buggy) and Robertb's active ear listening in. Any suggestions, or pointers to an Astak or Hanlin support site or forum would be appreciated, I didn't find one. Again, I'm brand new to this technology - once I get my feet under me with this, I hope to contribute in the spirit of the thread's enhancement ideas, not possible bugs. Thanks, Stive