Asus EA800 anywhere but Taiwan?

macminer · 01-16-2011, 03:51 PM

I am wondering what happened to Asus new reader/e-notepad (EA800). It is shown on Asus site:
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=IrZFXz2AcdRvL7L6

And I found one post on MR, which said about this product being released in Taiwan. Usually when products appear on Asus website, they are not vaporvare. Is this thing available anywhere but Taiwan?

sunwillsetforyou · 02-07-2011, 08:31 AM

It's coming to europe in february, and Q1 in USA.

You can directly order from Taiwan with $10 shipping cost

This site achieve the details of it: http://www.jessebandersen.com/ (I'm not the owner and not promoting the site)

You might found the order link if you want; it's in ereader tag

julon2000 · 03-03-2011, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunwillsetforyou

It's coming to europe in february, and Q1 in USA.

You can directly order from Taiwan with $10 shipping cost

This site achieve the details of it: http://www.jessebandersen.com/ (I'm not the owner and not promoting the site)

You might found the order link if you want; it's in ereader tag

Thanks for the tip.

However, the first link leads to what I guess is an error message (it's in chinese, I can't read it), and the second link seems to display a price of 6999 yuan (1050 US$) - they can't be serious!

wodin · 03-03-2011, 06:55 PM

There is an extensive discussion of the eeenote here

pbarrette · 03-03-2011, 11:39 PM

Hi julon2000,

That's actually 6990 Taiwan New Dollars. Not Chinese Yuan Renminbi:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Am...rom=TWD&To=USD

pb

julon2000 · 03-04-2011, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbarrette

Hi julon2000,

That's actually 6990 Taiwan New Dollars. Not Chinese Yuan Renminbi:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Am...rom=TWD&To=USD

pb

That seems more realistic - thanks for the info!

forcheville · 06-13-2011, 10:13 PM

I bought one of these via eBay. With English language interface.

It's a nice display, takes a little getting used to, but fast and clear, and easy to read, even for pdfs with a larger original page size than the screen.

However.... this device is not ready for prime-time. It needs some serious improvements which hopefully will come in a future firmware.

1. There is no search function. There is not even a Go To... function to go to a given page.

2. You can scribble comments on epubs OK, but when you try to do so on a pdf the device freezes.

3. Epubs default to an ugly Arial font unless you specifically edit them in Sigil and set the font.
4. PDf zooming only allows a few magnification options. No layout zoom.

5. Communicates with computer via a custom interface. When you load a doc format file it automatically converts it to a pdf for display.

6. No facility for loading your own dictionary.

The most recent firmware upgrade was a few days ago and didn't address any of these issues, which leads me to suspect that ASUS does not plan to continue with this device.

After the upgrade I had to get back to my place 300 pages into a scanner-output pdf by manually page-turning. Page turn is fast, but loading each new page is slow.

pbarrette · 06-17-2011, 10:29 AM

Hi forcheville,

1) There is no text search or go to page number, that is true. But there are bookmarks, text annotations, and draw on page. All of those are searchable within the document.

2) This is a known issue that occurs after a firmware update. You must:
a) Make a backup - You did that before the firmware upgrade, right?
b) Perform a factory reset using the Settings menu.
c) Restore your backup.

That will take care of the PDF drawing freeze.

6) The older firmware used a StarDict based dictionary. The newer Chinese firmware uses something called "DrEye" which is a proprietary format. The Russian firmware continues to use the StarDict format. You can replace DrEye with the older dictionary binary if you like and load custom dictionaries.

The most recent firmware update was just an alignment with the newly released source code items. So far, ASUS has provided monthly firmware updates, but it remains to be seen if that will continue.

The firmware upgrade performs a complete wipe and rewrite of the system partition. If you reload windows, you can't expect to open a PDF and have it remember the page you were on. It's basically the same thing. You could have set a bookmark, which would have been saved to the user partition. Alternatively, you could use the percentage slider to get very close to the correct page in your 300 page document, then page-by-page until you were there. It would save you nearly 300 individual page turns.

pb

forcheville · 06-20-2011, 12:01 AM

Hi pb,
Thanks for the information. I'll test it out as soon as I have recharged the device.
I wasn't aware of there being a percentage slider for PDFs, although I looked for one. Where is it?

It remains a lovely unit with solid build quality and an interestingly different kind of screen.
Whether it will prove itself as a good enough studying, reading/writing device is still open.

- forch

forcheville · 06-25-2011, 01:53 PM

OK so now I can write on PDFs without freezing the machine, so that has solved one problem. The percent slider was found and found to be useless. It only works for the first 19 pages.
Other annoyance with this unit are that it has a little light that flashes when it is in standby mode. Fine in daytime, but terrible at night if you've been reading in bed.
Also, that the matte reflective layer behind the LCD screen means that you need to read with diffuse lighting. If you are in a chair with a reading lamp behind you then the unevenness of the reflection causes eye strain.

No, the final verdict is that the EA800 is a catastrophe of a device, to be avoided at all costs.

01-16-2011, 03:51 PM	#1
macminer Connoisseur Posts: 98 Karma: 660420 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Poland Device: Boox Nova 3, Lenovo Tab 4 8" (formerly many others)	Asus EA800 anywhere but Taiwan? I am wondering what happened to Asus new reader/e-notepad (EA800). It is shown on Asus site: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=IrZFXz2AcdRvL7L6 And I found one post on MR, which said about this product being released in Taiwan. Usually when products appear on Asus website, they are not vaporvare. Is this thing available anywhere but Taiwan?

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02-07-2011, 08:31 AM	#2
sunwillsetforyou Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Thailand Device: Kindle 3 and Asus Eee Note Ea-800	It's coming to europe in february, and Q1 in USA. You can directly order from Taiwan with $10 shipping cost This site achieve the details of it: http://www.jessebandersen.com/ (I'm not the owner and not promoting the site) You might found the order link if you want; it's in ereader tag

03-03-2011, 06:55 PM	#4
wodin Illiterate Posts: 10,279 Karma: 37848716 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: The Sandwich Isles Device: Samsung Galaxy S10+, Microsoft Surface Pro	There is an extensive discussion of the eeenote here

03-03-2011, 11:39 PM	#5
pbarrette Member Posts: 20 Karma: 2678 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Alabama Device: ASUS EeeNote	Hi julon2000, That's actually 6990 Taiwan New Dollars. Not Chinese Yuan Renminbi: http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Am...rom=TWD&To=USD pb

06-13-2011, 10:13 PM	#7
forcheville Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 672100 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Sony prs650, Boox M92, Samsung Slate 7	I bought one of these via eBay. With English language interface. It's a nice display, takes a little getting used to, but fast and clear, and easy to read, even for pdfs with a larger original page size than the screen. However.... this device is not ready for prime-time. It needs some serious improvements which hopefully will come in a future firmware. 1. There is no search function. There is not even a Go To... function to go to a given page. 2. You can scribble comments on epubs OK, but when you try to do so on a pdf the device freezes. 3. Epubs default to an ugly Arial font unless you specifically edit them in Sigil and set the font. 4. PDf zooming only allows a few magnification options. No layout zoom. 5. Communicates with computer via a custom interface. When you load a doc format file it automatically converts it to a pdf for display. 6. No facility for loading your own dictionary. The most recent firmware upgrade was a few days ago and didn't address any of these issues, which leads me to suspect that ASUS does not plan to continue with this device. After the upgrade I had to get back to my place 300 pages into a scanner-output pdf by manually page-turning. Page turn is fast, but loading each new page is slow.

06-17-2011, 10:29 AM	#8
pbarrette Member Posts: 20 Karma: 2678 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Alabama Device: ASUS EeeNote	Hi forcheville, 1) There is no text search or go to page number, that is true. But there are bookmarks, text annotations, and draw on page. All of those are searchable within the document. 2) This is a known issue that occurs after a firmware update. You must: a) Make a backup - You did that before the firmware upgrade, right? b) Perform a factory reset using the Settings menu. c) Restore your backup. That will take care of the PDF drawing freeze. 6) The older firmware used a StarDict based dictionary. The newer Chinese firmware uses something called "DrEye" which is a proprietary format. The Russian firmware continues to use the StarDict format. You can replace DrEye with the older dictionary binary if you like and load custom dictionaries. The most recent firmware update was just an alignment with the newly released source code items. So far, ASUS has provided monthly firmware updates, but it remains to be seen if that will continue. The firmware upgrade performs a complete wipe and rewrite of the system partition. If you reload windows, you can't expect to open a PDF and have it remember the page you were on. It's basically the same thing. You could have set a bookmark, which would have been saved to the user partition. Alternatively, you could use the percentage slider to get very close to the correct page in your 300 page document, then page-by-page until you were there. It would save you nearly 300 individual page turns. pb

06-20-2011, 12:01 AM	#9
forcheville Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 672100 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Sony prs650, Boox M92, Samsung Slate 7	Hi pb, Thanks for the information. I'll test it out as soon as I have recharged the device. I wasn't aware of there being a percentage slider for PDFs, although I looked for one. Where is it? It remains a lovely unit with solid build quality and an interestingly different kind of screen. Whether it will prove itself as a good enough studying, reading/writing device is still open. - forch

06-25-2011, 01:53 PM	#10
forcheville Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 672100 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Sony prs650, Boox M92, Samsung Slate 7	OK so now I can write on PDFs without freezing the machine, so that has solved one problem. The percent slider was found and found to be useless. It only works for the first 19 pages. Other annoyance with this unit are that it has a little light that flashes when it is in standby mode. Fine in daytime, but terrible at night if you've been reading in bed. Also, that the matte reflective layer behind the LCD screen means that you need to read with diffuse lighting. If you are in a chair with a reading lamp behind you then the unevenness of the reflection causes eye strain. No, the final verdict is that the EA800 is a catastrophe of a device, to be avoided at all costs.