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

[griffonwing]

Carbonated nasal spillage is a horrid condition to bear, so I would not make light of it. Even so, you responded with some quote from Gunsmoke, mentioneding a Mr. Dillon. You may not be familiar with Mr. Dalliard's character, so here I will link it.

A Bit of Fry and Laurie - Shoe Shop video from YouTube.

I will warn you. Remove all liquids, both of the carbonated and/or fruit or citrus variety, before watching. I do not want to be responsible for shorting out your keyboard.

----------------

Back on the subject of the Mentor. I can't wait to heard your responses from overseas. I'm also on edge to hear more information on the Mentor True, and the likelihood of there being a 'lite" version of it as well.

[emellaich]

Again on the subject of buttons. As I noted earlier, I basically had the previous version of that reader as the Bookeen Cybook (or is it Cybook Bookeen? I owned one and still can't remember).

In the previous incarnation, the four side buttons were related to the mp3 duties and a back button on the menu. I sometimes used the back button and never used the mp3. This meant I had wasted buttons, and the only way to turn pages was the big four-way button on one corner. As a result, left/right holding wasn't easy.

Frankly, I don't like the form factor of the device. I prefer what I see in pictures of the Jinke device more.

[emellaich]

Robertb

Can you confirm whether the folks at Netronix wrote the software for Bookeen, or whether Bookeen wrote it themselves?

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by emellaich

Robertb

Can you confirm whether the folks at Netronix wrote the software for Bookeen, or whether Bookeen wrote it themselves?

Bookeen did it. It is based loosely on their earlier generation one product.

Dale

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by emellaich

Again on the subject of buttons. As I noted earlier, I basically had the previous version of that reader as the Bookeen Cybook (or is it Cybook Bookeen? I owned one and still can't remember).

In the previous incarnation, the four side buttons were related to the mp3 duties and a back button on the menu. I sometimes used the back button and never used the mp3. This meant I had wasted buttons, and the only way to turn pages was the big four-way button on one corner. As a result, left/right holding wasn't easy.

Frankly, I don't like the form factor of the device. I prefer what I see in pictures of the Jinke device more.

Dear Emellaich:

Definitely noted. Truth be told, I wanted page advance on both sides too.
The Mentor line has great potential and great plans and the future looks bright. However, I think they have to face that they need to also learn along the way. So, I sent your comments to Netronix.

Some people like the lack of buttons on the front of the Mentor. That is what they like. Me, I like well placed usable buttons and I want them to be as good for left handers as they may be for right handers.

As always, your comments are excellent and I thank you!

[Robertb]

Dear All:

For those always looking for facts about their hobby or industry, the IDPF is a very important body and their annual conference (this year May 11&12) plays quite a role. You may want to read my blog today on the IDPF at: www.RobertbEZ.blogspot.com

[SaraD]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Actually you can play suduko with letters or symbols too... it doesn't have to be numbers. You know there is no math involved at all right?

BOb

Actually, no I was not aware of it being done with letters or symbols. Every grid I have seen to date has been with numbers. You are correct, it is not truly math, but it is a logic game that I associate with math/engineering. And since my version of logic tends to go in curves and circles to get to the end result instead of straight lines so excercises to help strengthen the logic skills are exhausting and a lot of effort. Not what I want to do when my brain already hurts from a day at the office dealing with insurance sign-up forms generally filled out by people who rarely glance at the directions.

[Robertb]

Dear All:

Anyone waiting for answers on making the Sudoku button on the Mentor as a User Programable... Netronix has received my emails and has promised to reply.

It does take a while for the engineers to look into this so please just know that an answer will be forthcoming.

[6charlong]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Emellaich:

Definitely noted. Truth be told, I wanted page advance on both sides too.
The Mentor line has great potential and great plans and the future looks bright. However, I think they have to face that they need to also learn along the way. So, I sent your comments to Netronix.

Some people like the lack of buttons on the front of the Mentor. That is what they like. Me, I like well placed usable buttons and I want them to be as good for left handers as they may be for right handers.

As always, your comments are excellent and I thank you!

I can't find it now, but someone posted a link to a reader being sold in Ukraine. It had a 5-inch Visplex screen with two large buttons on the right side. I seem to remember that it was made by Netronix.

Also, there was a 5-inch reader shown with a Q2 2009 release date shown on the Netronix page (http://www.netronixinc.com/product_e-book.htm). Two questions:

1. If the Ukrainian reader is a Netronix design, can it handle an English OS and can it be sold here? Those two, large right-hand buttons were a brilliant ergonomic addition, similar to the EB1150.

2. Is Astak still planning to sell a 5-inch Mentor in the US?

Oh. And about giving light to old people (i.e., people who need good light to read by). The wedge light cover Sony makes for the 505 makes the difference between a substantially better way to read than pbooks, and merely an alternative to pbooks. Can Astak get Sony to make the wedge for your readers? Failing that, can someone reverse engineer the wedge for your products? The light wedge works better than back lighting or any of the six or seven book lights I've ever tried. It works substantially better than any book light I've ever used with a pbook, too.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

I can't find it now, but someone posted a link to a reader being sold in Ukraine. It had a 5-inch Visplex screen with two large buttons on the right side. I seem to remember that it was made by Netronix.

I think that is the PocketBook 360.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44539

BOb

[catsittingstill]

I think there is more than one market for e-book readers. Or maybe there is a continuum of markets. Sure, a major part of the market is the "I just want to read my fiction books on something the size of a paperback, with about as many bells and whistles as a paperback" folks, and there's nothing wrong with that.

But another part of the market is where Snowgoose and I sit: we want something that can display complex formatted pdfs. PDFs don't reflow worth a darn (except a tiny subset, I gather) so that means a big screen. Snowgoose wants it for magazines; I want it for scientific journal articles. I already have something suitable for reading my fiction books, (and I love it)--now I want something that can replace a whole filebox of printed pdfs from molecular biology journals. If that overlaps with a "senior market" for displaying pdfs and word docs at 8 1/2 by 11--great!

And while there are plenty of things out there that let you read paperbacks, there isn't much available in our market. The iLiad is very expensive, and really a bit on the small side. The Plastic Logic reader sounds like it might work, and so does the EZ reader True. That's the kind of thing I'm watching for now.

[ahammer]

Originally Posted by catsittingstill

I think there is more than one market for e-book readers. Or maybe there is a continuum of markets. Sure, a major part of the market is the "I just want to read my fiction books on something the size of a paperback, with about as many bells and whistles as a paperback" folks, and there's nothing wrong with that.

But another part of the market is where Snowgoose and I sit: we want something that can display complex formatted pdfs. PDFs don't reflow worth a darn (except a tiny subset, I gather) so that means a big screen. Snowgoose wants it for magazines; I want it for scientific journal articles. I already have something suitable for reading my fiction books, (and I love it)--now I want something that can replace a whole filebox of printed pdfs from molecular biology journals. If that overlaps with a "senior market" for displaying pdfs and word docs at 8 1/2 by 11--great!

And while there are plenty of things out there that let you read paperbacks, there isn't much available in our market. The iLiad is very expensive, and really a bit on the small side. The Plastic Logic reader sounds like it might work, and so does the EZ reader True. That's the kind of thing I'm watching for now.

this is kind of where im at two as I need whatever I buy to be able to read my rpg books as im sick of haling them around.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

I can't find it now, but someone posted a link to a reader being sold in Ukraine. It had a 5-inch Visplex screen with two large buttons on the right side. I seem to remember that it was made by Netronix.

Also, there was a 5-inch reader shown with a Q2 2009 release date shown on the Netronix page (http://www.netronixinc.com/product_e-book.htm). Two questions:

1. If the Ukrainian reader is a Netronix design, can it handle an English OS and can it be sold here? Those two, large right-hand buttons were a brilliant ergonomic addition, similar to the EB1150.

2. Is Astak still planning to sell a 5-inch Mentor in the US?

Oh. And about giving light to old people (i.e., people who need good light to read by). The wedge light cover Sony makes for the 505 makes the difference between a substantially better way to read than pbooks, and merely an alternative to pbooks. Can Astak get Sony to make the wedge for your readers? Failing that, can someone reverse engineer the wedge for your products? The light wedge works better than back lighting or any of the six or seven book lights I've ever tried. It works substantially better than any book light I've ever used with a pbook, too.

Dear 6charlong:

I cannot reverse engineer; but Astak is looking at several different lighting options.

Netronix has contracts for all of their 5 inch devices. We still hope to release a 5 inch device; but it looks like it will not be Netronix.

The Ukranian eBook Reader is built by Netronix but is not a Netronix design. It belongs to the Ukranian company, and we would have to purchase it from them. They paid a substantial NRE fee to have 20,000 of them built.

Sorry.

[cutterjohn42]

I'd've been interested in an Astak reader had they managed to do a reasonable price on their EZ Reader, however the only truly competitive pricing was offered by Fry's who have no stores within 250m of where I live(assuming that there is one in either Chicago or Cleveland) and offer no shipping of the reader. The direct pricing was a joke as even w/o discounts and comparing sales tax v. shipping costs it would've been cheaper for me to buy a Sony PRS-505(readily available from several retails at $299 and below -- or IOW effectively cheaper than Astak) or the PRS-700 also readily available from several retailers for $349(slightly higher overall cost, but possibly worth it to some) or overall for somewhat less(505) or slightly more(700) I could pick up a reader in about 15m.

Anyways the moral of the story for Astak and other smaller players is that I ended up with a Sony PRS-505 after being able to actually look at display models in a store AND being able to pick up one in about 15m for a slightly lower overall price. (Very good build quality for a Sony consumer product, which is usually awful...) [EDIT] Yes, I could've gotten the 505 for a bit less online as well, but the instant gratification played a role here once I decided to live with the feature regression(and higher pricing) of modern (e-ink) reading devices... [/EDIT]

Hopefully Astak sticks with the base netronix OS and adds to it, although I suppose by the time that it comes out openinkpot will have perhaps made it to at least beta...

(Off to figure out how to do some conversions for the new reader now, specifically web pages w/o resorting to plucker(or some similar older app) then converting it back to a more "modern" formatting with 505 specific sizing clues... I used sitescooper alot way back in the day, then plucker for downloading various web pages to read in the morning. I'd just use my notebook today, but I ended up with a 17" that while small/light(for a 17"), is still a bit unwieldly. The 505(and I'm sure other similar models) do a remarkably good job at rendering web pages once you've got the download/conversion setup or at least based on my experience with the defualt calibre recipes as compared with sitescooper & plucker, although in many ways plucker was easier to work with, with the more admittedly limited GUI interface(v. python 'recipe') and converting single articles or large chunks of sites. I guess that I'll finally shutdown my sitescooper installation which I still use from time-to-time now...)

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by cutterjohn42

I'd've been interested in an Astak reader had they managed to do a reasonable price on their EZ Reader, however the only truly competitive pricing was offered by Fry's who have no stores within 250m of where I live(assuming that there is one in either Chicago or Cleveland) and offer no shipping of the reader.

I'm not challenging your decision, but trying to gather some information for my future purchase of a reader for my son. I had thought that Fry's online offered the Astak reader for $229. I assume that would be plus shipping, but I don't know about sales tax. Also, the price I was aware of was a sale price with coupon. I suspect it has expired now, but I assume that it will eventually be back on sale.

So, were you not aware of Fry's online? Or is their some reason they won't ship to your location?

Of course, you would also need to wait for the sale and I know how much of a pain that can be -- no instant gratification as you said.

Michael