Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)

[MaggieScratch]

Originally Posted by Tectonic

P.S. to whoever wrote this, it's "Parlez-vous français?"

I was going to say...how is poor Francois to answer if he cannot speak?

The five-inch model is v. tempting...but I've declared a moratorium on gadget-buying for the rest of 2008!

[tcv]

Originally Posted by beschuit

But you need a Kindle if you want to buy ebooks from Amazon. I am surprised that authors are fine with that, as e-book buyers that have another device will not shop at Amazon.

Who says they're "fine with that?" But authors have never run the show. Well, the likes of King may, but it's the publishers. Right now, the publishers control every thing and they can make many demands.

It's kind of like the state of computing. Java and AIR hold out the hope that we all can run our own applications on _any_ computer, but it's still tough to get one thing that's going to run everywhere. Mostly you're Windows-only, or Mac-only. It's frustrating but expected. Everyone has their own turf and needs to defend it.

I honestly expect this situation to get MUCH worse before it ever gets better. Yeah, Amazon may "win," but at what cost? And what if your publisher can no longer afford to play ball because Amazon made the price of playing too high.

[Martinus's baby]

Just one question. In the first post of this thread it was reported that the Astak Mentor was going to support the ereader-format. I now read that the supported formats will be txt, pdf, rtf, html/chm. Whatever happened to the support for ereader?

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Martinus's baby

Just one question. In the first post of this thread it was reported that the Astak Mentor was going to support the ereader-format. I now read that the supported formats will be txt, pdf, rtf, html/chm. Whatever happened to the support for ereader?

I remember reading in the first thread here in MR that they intended to. However, whether that support materialized has yet to be revealed. Which is why I'm assuming the onboard ebook reading software will be a WinCE version of what is available on the Netronix series - IOW, STAReBOOK's Eread for the .stk format.

Derek

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

No, I think you missed my point.

Yes, Amazon wants everyone to choose the Kindle and buy Kindle books.

But, for those that DON'T choose the Kindle, Amazon wants them to buy Mobipocket books! Amazon gets a cut of every Mobipocket book sold.

So, I don't see Amazon discontinuing licensing the Mobipocket Reader software/DRM to third party eBook Reader manufacturers. They actually have an incentive to do this. Not because they want to create compentition for Kindle but because they know it realistically exists and they can still have a way to get some back end revenue for the sale of NON-Kindle devices if those said devices support Mobi.

BOb

Considering the Kindle is only available in the US and there are people all over the world that read ebooks, it would seem silly to give up on Mobipocket just yet.

[parryl]

http://www.astak.com/97Ebook_Reader.html

the link is up

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by parryl

http://www.astak.com/97Ebook_Reader.html

the link is up

Don't get me wrong, I'll probably buy one. But the list of "supported" ebook formats isn't very encouraging. That's exactly what was and is listed for the EB-100 from Netronix - and the only way those are supported is if one takes them, converts them to plain text (.txt files) and then runs the plain-text files through STK-Maker to create an .stk ebook.

I hope they're offering a better app by the time this releases.

Derek

P.S. Right now I've got my eye on an S3C2440 evaluation kit over on eBay - right about $269 for the one with a 7" LCD screen and $119 for one without any screen. Both come with a 20-pin LCD header and that's what the Netronix EB series and the Cybooks use. I should then be able to write my own apps.

[Zabuton]

I am getting one of the 9.7" unit, if they ship internationally

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Walk Broad

Yeah, but I can't see Amazon giving this away anymore, not with the Kindle at stake.

They have no incentive to make Mobipocket available anymore to other e-reading devices since they probably feel (and rightly so IMHO) that a cheaper device will canabalize sales of the Kindle.

As I understand it, anyone can implement Mobi on their reading device. There's a standard development kit available to implement it. All you have to do is stump up the fee for it, and agree to exclusivity (you're not allowed to implement any other DRM format on your device).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Walk Broad

I must respectfully disagree with you here Bob.

Amazon is out to win for the Amazon Kindle. The fact you can get books in Mobipocket format to work on the Kindle isn't exactly something they are trumpeting from every street corner.

We know about it, and maybe some Kindle owners who read this forum or are part of Kindle groups know about it but it's all about branding for Amazon.

"Get an Amazon Kindle! Shop at the Amazon Kindle store! (Oh, uh, yeah, uh, you can get Mobipocket books for the Kindle, uh, just don't tell anyone we told you that, k?) Get an Amazon Kindle! Shop at the Amazon Kindle store! Long live the Kindle!"

I could be wrong, but that seems to be the thrust of their advertising and PR to me.

But, with the greatest respect, the Kindle is only available in the US, and likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future. The MobiPocket market is a world-wide one.

Does anyone know if Astak are planning to sell these devices world-wide, or just in the US?

[moz]

Astak are US-only AFAIK. Emailing Astak got me a response that basically said "you need to talk to the distributor for your region and that's Netronix" (see previous post in this thread)

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by kacir

Today the Astak device is introduced on the IDPG show in New York.

Am I the only one refreshing Mobileread site every 5 minutes in hope of reading some early report from the IDPG show?

Yes, I was there and took pictures. I'm going to start a new thread.

[Gester]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Yes, I was there and took pictures. I'm going to start a new thread.

Has anyone told you how much you rock?

[RobertJSawyer]

Looking at the photos of the 9.7-inch unit, and the specs on the Astak website, I see they're touting a non-glare screen, which, of course, is essential, but they've put the unit in a glossy black chassis -- which will reflect light back into the reader's eyes. The Amazon Kindle and the iRex iLiad both were sensibly designed with matte-finish housings; I hope Astak will rectify this before they go into production. Ergonomics are hugely important to the reading experience, after all.

(Plus, an ebook reader has to be handled a lot, and glossy finishes show fingerprints ...)

Most exciting thing to me about the Astak Mentor: support for the eReader format.

----------------
ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer

Hugo Award winner for HOMINIDS
Nebula Award winner for THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT
John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner for MINDSCAN

http://www.sfwriter.com * sawyer@sfwriter.com
----------------

[radleyp]

I have my doubts about the ereader software: ereader was designed to work on small screens, what will it look like on larger screens? Are you sure it will work well?