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

[emellaich]

So, I've been reading about the KindleDX, and I've not heard any mention of it using a flexible screen. Robert, what's your opinion of a large-format device without a flexible screen?

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by emellaich

So, I've been reading about the KindleDX, and I've not heard any mention of it using a flexible screen. Robert, what's your opinion of a large-format device without a flexible screen?

Dear Emellaich:

It is a good question. My experience is that IF you "baby" the device... keep it out of luggage, get a crush resistant case, watch out for it always... then it should be fine. You may be surprised with this response from me.

Our own tests have shown that it is the twisting motion that cracks the screen. It is not as much impact as twisting that is the culprit. Think of shoving the device into a bag filled with maybe dirty shirts and undergarments. If the device rides on a bump, any pressure point, then it will twist. THAT seems to be the trouble.

The fact is that most of us do NOT baby our devices. Worst yet, most end users not used to eBook Readers and not very knowledgeable will not know this. I am sure Kindle will bury the warning somewhere in the User Manual but NOT put it anywhere on the outer box. So, that is what I fear... end users may get the device and assume they can bang it around and treat it like a paperback book. In that circumstance, that screen will likely crack.

You asked a fair question and I am trying hard to answer very honestly. I would not buy one as I know that even I cannot baby my eBook Reader. My Blue EZ Reader gets crammed into my travel bag with a GPS unit, headphone case, snacks, and travel arrangements. I respect my EZ Reader BECAUSE it takes what I dish out and just does its job never-the-less. Same with my truck... I change the oil and all filters religiously but otherwise I expect it to operate fine with little further care and it has.

The potential for Kindle is that this is going to be a mess down the road. Ask yourself WHAT you would do if you love reading and then have to spend 4-8 weeks without your device if you only own one!

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Slayda:

Thank you. I trust you and know you know what you are doing.

I have forwarded this to our Operations Manager at Astak and to the factory. We try to be very sure before we tell end users to do anything. You would be amazed how many of our technical support questions center on someone doing a non-recommended firmware upgrade and the device shows a problem.

I would like our tech to be very sure it will cause zero problems and would like the factory to put it into their next firmware upgrade.

I appreciate this tip very much!! PLEASE, if anyone has tried this and had zero problems, please report!! Likewise, if you put the Open Ink Pot onto the EZ Reader and had any struggle... please jump in also.

I know Slayda to know what he is talking about.

This is not a fix for the erase file problem. It is a totally different OS with many different features. RobertB, You should not suggest this as a fix for anyone. It is an interesting observation but that is all. Erasing files and moving files are both in the list I submitted to you sometime back.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by emellaich

So, I've been reading about the KindleDX, and I've not heard any mention of it using a flexible screen. Robert, what's your opinion of a large-format device without a flexible screen?

It is my understanding that PVI made this decision based on reliability concerns (raised by Astak). I suspect the Kindle DX won't ship until the new screen is ready. It is actually due in the not too distant future anyway.

Dale

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Emellaich:

It is a good question. My experience is that IF you "baby" the device... keep it out of luggage, get a crush resistant case, watch out for it always... then it should be fine. You may be surprised with this response from me.

I am not surprised. You have always been very open and very honest with us. You provide us with a very valuable and very interesting insight. I might disagree with you ocassionaly, but I have learned to trust your words.

Originally Posted by Robertb

The fact is that most of us do NOT baby our devices. ... I am sure Kindle will bury the warning somewhere in the User Manual but NOT put it anywhere on the outer box. So, that is what I fear... end users may get the device and assume they can bang it around and treat it like a paperback book. In that circumstance, that screen will likely crack.

if you go to the www.amazon.com/kindle2 there is a video demonstration of the Kindle2. In the video the man reading the Kindle on a bus stop casually puts the Kindle into his coat pocket. Without any protective cover! Ouch!

I use My Sony PRS 500 Every Single Day (TM). The cover is quite worn, the device has survived a few ugly drops and other mishaps. Yet, I am still extremely carefull when handling it, because it is, quite literaly, irreplacable ;-)

At the time I purchased my PRS 500, I paid for it as much money as The new Kindle DX would cost me today (due to the dollar exchange rate).

At this price point, ($500) I would not hesitate to buy a secondary 9.7" reader for a non-fiction reading in protected environments - reading at home or in office. Definitely not travel, and most probably not for reading "linear prose".
So please, pretty please do learn from all the good and all the bad Amazon decisions, so you can provide us with even better device. ;-)
Amazon might be providing you (an e-book device distributor / developer / seller / manufacturer) a good service by creating a market that you might be able to comoditize if you play it right.

[John F]

Does the EZ Reader(s) use a flexible screen?

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by John F

Does the EZ Reader(s) use a flexible screen?

they can hardly get product out the door (re: a whole 5k in readers to Fry's) and you ask if they have the newest tech?

Of course that nobody is using the plastic-substrate displays yet might have more to do with that than anything else. Actually from what I have read in this thread several devices are waiting on the availability of the plastic-substrate displays.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

Does the EZ Reader(s) use a flexible screen?

Same glass screen that every eink device currently uses.

[ahammer]

Originally Posted by John F

Does the EZ Reader(s) use a flexible screen?

the ezreader true (the 9.7 one ) is going to come out with it due to it size it is more pron to braking then the smaller screens.

currently it is the only one that they have planed to put it on(fact ck this robertb just going by what you have said so far). this is do mostly to the extra cost I think.

edit: does not seem like azamzon is going to going to get their reader out any sooner then any other compain they just had a meda hipe about it before they where ready.

[ahammer]

I realy sould got all the thoghts out there before I post...

anyway I wanted to say base on what I saw of the dx. base on two things

one I dont realy need 3g and dont feal like paying close to 100$ to have wisper net.

two I want a flex screen for a reader that big. robert has said they would have put out a 9.7 already but they did not like how easy it was to brake. I will take him at his word on this.

rest of amazion stuff is cool. its what im looking for realy just feel that the ezreader true will be better.

[snowgoose]

While we wait for the hoped for 9.7 inch plastic screen Astak ereader, it is interesting to view what others produce. Here is the user guide for the 9.7 inch Kindle DX reader soon to be issued.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200317150

It has a glass E-inkscreen, and appears to be locked to Amazon wireless system, and so is not much use for non-USA citizens. I for one still await the ASTAK reader with others. The DX does at least permit the display of pdf documents, and a search within the documents. Hopefully the Astak reader will also have similar capabilities; I think that the plastic flexible screens are not yet available, so no user manuals have been provided for these readers. We wait and hope, and encourage Astak, Plastic Logic and others. It is getting more interesting by the month !

[mobelby]

RobertB,

I noticed on Bebook's twitter last night that they were finalising a "firmware update" that was almost ready to be the Release Candidate. Can I ask whether this is for the original Hanlin v3 or it is the final firmware for the new model that you are hopefully about to release.

Finally, do you know roughly how much the wifi SDIO cards are going to cost (to use with the Hanlin v3, v5 or v3 mk II)

Thanks and hoping that May is the release month as I've been waiting a long time now

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by snowgoose

While we wait for the hoped for 9.7 inch plastic screen Astak ereader, it is interesting to view what others produce. Here is the user guide for the 9.7 inch Kindle DX reader soon to be issued.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200317150

It has a glass E-inkscreen, and appears to be locked to Amazon wireless system, and so is not much use for non-USA citizens. I for one still await the ASTAK reader with others. The DX does at least permit the display of pdf documents, and a search within the documents. Hopefully the Astak reader will also have similar capabilities; I think that the plastic flexible screens are not yet available, so no user manuals have been provided for these readers. We wait and hope, and encourage Astak, Plastic Logic and others. It is getting more interesting by the month !

I thought the e-ink screen was suspected to be glass but hadn't yet been proven to be glass? And I also thought that the jury was out on whether the DX could search within pdf documents; in at least one place the user manual says the DX only searches the metadata of pdfs.

Also, while the DX, like the other Kindles uses Whispernet, I wouldn't describe it as *locked*--all Kindles are perfectly capable of displaying books in .txt and .prc or .mobi formats as long as they don't have non-Amazon DRM and all Kindles are capable of downloading such books over Whispernet or of accepting them via standard USB connection. Since displaying non-DRM books and accepting them via USB is pretty much the standard for most e-book readers, (many of which can also display one or sometimes more types DRMed e-books) the Kindles aren't any more locked than anything else, in my view.

Of course, I have two Kindles, so maybe I'm biased :-) And I certainly *am* interested in the Plastic Logic reader and the EZ reader True, (and any other 9.7 or larger readers that may be hitting the market in the next couple of years) since the DX does not meet my pdf-reading needs without the ability to search, highlight and annotate PDFS.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by catsittingstill

the DX does not meet my pdf-reading needs without the ability to search, highlight and annotate PDFS.

What the KDX demonstrates (or asserts, since they are not in the wild yet) is that on a 9.7" screen PDFs are trivially easy to support. All it has is a portrait mode with border clipping, and a continuous (i.e. can be parts of two pages on the screen vertically) landscape mode with left/right margin clipping. I would like a 2-column mode as well, but the important point is that, as you say, what the KDX is missing now is highlighting and annotating PDFs. This isn't rocket science, and if Amazon drops the ball others will pick up the slack. Note that, based on the manual, the KDX can search within the currently open PDF (and probably use the dictionary) but it can't search your entire collection of PDFs at once - as it can for your collection of MOBI/AZWs.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by John F

Does the EZ Reader(s) use a flexible screen?

Dear John F:

Both the Mentor Electra 9.7 inch and the EZ Reader TRUE 9.7 inch will have the flexi screen. However, they are not out yet and it is looking more like September.

The flexi screen is a PVI innovation. Both of my factories have placed orders for it and when PVI is fully ready to roll I believe the factories are ready.