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

rgeorg · 04-10-2009, 06:46 AM

Just from a probably rather naive (although perhaps typical?) user-perspective - I think that when we start discussing 9"+ ereaders we are overlapping onto netbook territory and it will be very difficult to compete. I have just purchased a 500Euro, 1-kg, 9" touchscreen-tablet netbook running XP. It has everything except long battery life. This can be worked around, especially since I am usually around outlets. It is also not as fragile as I have heard the 8-10" eReaders are supposed to be. It does and displays everything.

That being said - I still want to purchase a stable, sturdy, functional 6" reader that will adequately organize and display the most popular (non-DRM) formats, etc. I am hoping the Mentor Lite will fit the bill, and am willing to wait and see. The 6" - just for reading fiction paperback equivs - will fit my requirement for pocketbook-portability and excellent battery-life. Much as my .mp3 player does for audio-books. I only read fiction for long periods of time.

These are just my own personal requirements, and perhaps do not have any relevance to the general discussion. It seems that if the current 6" devices (no touchscreen) are around 300 euros, the feature-full 9.7" will definately compete with tablet-netbooks as to price -- and with less overall functionality.

04-10-2009, 06:46 AM	#1775
rgeorg Guru Posts: 675 Karma: 3314796 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Europe & USA Device: K3/3G(2x), Glo HD, Amazon Voyage	Another user perspective Just from a probably rather naive (although perhaps typical?) user-perspective - I think that when we start discussing 9"+ ereaders we are overlapping onto netbook territory and it will be very difficult to compete. I have just purchased a 500Euro, 1-kg, 9" touchscreen-tablet netbook running XP. It has everything except long battery life. This can be worked around, especially since I am usually around outlets. It is also not as fragile as I have heard the 8-10" eReaders are supposed to be. It does and displays everything. That being said - I still want to purchase a stable, sturdy, functional 6" reader that will adequately organize and display the most popular (non-DRM) formats, etc. I am hoping the Mentor Lite will fit the bill, and am willing to wait and see. The 6" - just for reading fiction paperback equivs - will fit my requirement for pocketbook-portability and excellent battery-life. Much as my .mp3 player does for audio-books. I only read fiction for long periods of time. These are just my own personal requirements, and perhaps do not have any relevance to the general discussion. It seems that if the current 6" devices (no touchscreen) are around 300 euros, the feature-full 9.7" will definately compete with tablet-netbooks as to price -- and with less overall functionality.