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levpin · 04-29-2010, 03:55 PM

Hi, I am new member and this is my first post. Bought Mentor 2 weeks ago and would like to share my thoughts. First of all I think it is great product and have to compliment Astak for doing good job. On the other hand I agree it is very strange company. It looks like they don't want you to buy their product!?
Information on their web site is not accurate and they even deny good stuff.
For example they say Mentor does NOT support MP3 but it DOES! May be it is not perfect (see my comments below) but no one's product is. At least you can say it is limited now but will be upgraded in the future instead of turning off potential user who wants this feature.
Another example - they say it does not support SDHC cards but it works fine with my 4GB card.
And they can't even agree on how to call it. RobertB always talks about Mentor Lite and for some reason ignores user questions - Is it the same as Mentor? - nowhere else I see Mentor Lite, all stores sell just Mentor. From what I can tell it is exactly the same! What is a point to hide this and
confuse potential buyers even more I can't understand but again - it is weird company.
Found two firmware upgrades on website (of course, no instructions how to apply them and what is new!), tried both. My book came with version 1.12.9, I could not find anything different in 1.12.10.
Icon version 2.2.1 is much more interesting although it is not completed yet.
Navigation is much better, easier to go to last book read, it shows date and time, current and total number of pages in the book. There is icon for dictionary, does not work yet. It also shows more characters in the book title, often even full title! Why it is so truncated in standard version even when there is plenty of space?
I'd like to offer some suggestions to make it better, hope someone from Astak will read.
1) Menu navigation - return button often exits the menu, it should go to previous level. Or at least it should be in user preferences - how he wants this button to work
2) There are two pages of menu when reading the book, why? It just makes navigation more difficult. I think the most useful function here is to switch to full screen mode and back (show or not status bar) and it is on second page.
3) Status bar shows date but not time, I prefer to see clock, not calendar when reading the book. Again, it should be in user preferences - what to show in status bar. And please show full title or at least don't truncate it so much!
4) Need to remember font size for each book on Reading History page
5) Search - this is one of functions that "don't exist" in Mentor. I see some improvement in Icon version but the main problem remains - there is no keyboard for foreign languages. I read mostly Russian books, what is a point to search for something if you can't enter it on search screen.
6) MP3 player - does not exist but works pretty well. One problem is non standard headphone port - 2.5mm instead of 3.5 but easily fixed with adapter. What I'd like to have - Pause and Continue where you left last time, very important for audio books.

04-29-2010, 03:55 PM	#4
levpin Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Astak Mentor	Hi, I am new member and this is my first post. Bought Mentor 2 weeks ago and would like to share my thoughts. First of all I think it is great product and have to compliment Astak for doing good job. On the other hand I agree it is very strange company. It looks like they don't want you to buy their product!? Information on their web site is not accurate and they even deny good stuff. For example they say Mentor does NOT support MP3 but it DOES! May be it is not perfect (see my comments below) but no one's product is. At least you can say it is limited now but will be upgraded in the future instead of turning off potential user who wants this feature. Another example - they say it does not support SDHC cards but it works fine with my 4GB card. And they can't even agree on how to call it. RobertB always talks about Mentor Lite and for some reason ignores user questions - Is it the same as Mentor? - nowhere else I see Mentor Lite, all stores sell just Mentor. From what I can tell it is exactly the same! What is a point to hide this and confuse potential buyers even more I can't understand but again - it is weird company. Found two firmware upgrades on website (of course, no instructions how to apply them and what is new!), tried both. My book came with version 1.12.9, I could not find anything different in 1.12.10. Icon version 2.2.1 is much more interesting although it is not completed yet. Navigation is much better, easier to go to last book read, it shows date and time, current and total number of pages in the book. There is icon for dictionary, does not work yet. It also shows more characters in the book title, often even full title! Why it is so truncated in standard version even when there is plenty of space? I'd like to offer some suggestions to make it better, hope someone from Astak will read. 1) Menu navigation - return button often exits the menu, it should go to previous level. Or at least it should be in user preferences - how he wants this button to work 2) There are two pages of menu when reading the book, why? It just makes navigation more difficult. I think the most useful function here is to switch to full screen mode and back (show or not status bar) and it is on second page. 3) Status bar shows date but not time, I prefer to see clock, not calendar when reading the book. Again, it should be in user preferences - what to show in status bar. And please show full title or at least don't truncate it so much! 4) Need to remember font size for each book on Reading History page 5) Search - this is one of functions that "don't exist" in Mentor. I see some improvement in Icon version but the main problem remains - there is no keyboard for foreign languages. I read mostly Russian books, what is a point to search for something if you can't enter it on search screen. 6) MP3 player - does not exist but works pretty well. One problem is non standard headphone port - 2.5mm instead of 3.5 but easily fixed with adapter. What I'd like to have - Pause and Continue where you left last time, very important for audio books.