Cool-er: light, trendy, inexpensive e-book reader

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

It is an early version of the Astak Mentor Lite, built by Netronix, debuting next month BUT with no Netronix Software... it is their own and not as good. Suspect that this device also uses what is known in the panel business as a "B Grade Panel", cheap but fuzzy with lower resolution. A "B Grade" is a panel that was rejected by the factory as not good enough. Also will not have Adobe Digital Editions on it. There are numerous other differences, all of which are minuses and not additions.....

Hm, hate to say it, but this smells a little bit like FUD....

You "suspect" B Grade panel..., "fuzzy with lower resolution...?"

Come on, it looks like a cool product, with nice design, nice website, and a friendly price. All good things, in my book. I hope it sells well.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Teleread references a FT.com article (Cool-er e-reader takes on the Kindle) which provides slightly more believable ebook figures: However, browsing Coolerbooks.com, with all ebook formats selected, does not give me the impression that they have 260K titles.

They don't even have the Twilight series.

[mobelby]

JSWolf, there's always the long hand way for books not listed - ie buy and convert

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Sonist

Hm, hate to say it, but this smells a little bit like FUD....

You "suspect" B Grade panel..., "fuzzy with lower resolution...?"

Come on, it looks like a cool product, with nice design, nice website, and a friendly price. All good things, in my book. I hope it sells well.

Dear Sonist:

Yes, in hindsite, I regret my comments. That is not like me. I am dog tired from flying and getting four hours of sleep. I withdraw my comments. I still urge caution. I know their price for eBooks is VERY expensive and that much is solid fact.

Also... just please remember this may look like a Mentor Lite on the outside... but the software in entirely different... and that changes everything.

As you know, I am a major preacher of COLOR in the device body and they did that. The colors are beautiful.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

They don't even have the Twilight series.

So there's a big plus in their favour then? (Sorry, could't resist)

But they do need to carry that particular title because of its popularity. They're shooting themselves in the foot if they don't.

[Elsi]

If it weren't so expensive, I'd get a green one! Maybe the price will come down.

[rrburton]

Did a little googling -

Wired seems to have had a chance to touch it http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/...s-up-the-heat/

PCWorld too - http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/articl...er_debuts?fp=4

[SaraD]

The colors and all the good pictures on Engadget even impressed my husband and that is hard for any electronic device to do. Mostly he is amused by my interest in e-book readers, but this one seemed to actually interest him as well.

My favorite picture shows the 3? font types and the 8 sizes. I did like that feature quite a bit.

I've been waiting for the Astak products since I read the first hints of them over a year ago and I'm now holding out for something with the Epson controller and the replacable battery. This is so pretty that it is tempting. Kind of like Jeff Foxworthy's old joke about bass boats having a glitter finish to lure us in...

I want to know more about exactly what accessories are offered for what kinds of prices, and a confirmation of the controller before I give it any serious consideration. The 8 shades of grayscale hint at the Epson controller to me, but it would be nice to know. A newer chassis style with better page turning buttons would also be a big point for me. I haven't held out this long to go second class on the features I feel are important.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Sonist:

Yes, in hindsite, I regret my comments. That is not like me. I am dog tired from flying and getting four hours of sleep. I withdraw my comments. I still urge caution. I know their price for eBooks is VERY expensive and that much is solid fact.

Also... just please remember this may look like a Mentor Lite on the outside... but the software in entirely different... and that changes everything.

As you know, I am a major preacher of COLOR in the device body and they did that. The colors are beautiful.

So, you are admitting you lied, right?

And "not like you":

http://robertbez.blogspot.com/2009/0...-kindle-2.html

'nuff sed...

[mobelby]

Re the feature comparison with the Mentor Lite,

Notwithstanding the different software the following functions/features look pretty identical:

- circular keypad
- 8 font sizes
- sudoku
- adobe digital editions
- removable battery
- menu system

My inference from this is that I doubt very, very much that the screen on the cool-er would not be identical to the mentor lite. Further, if I was the owner of the e-ink screen brand I would not be letting any reseller launch a product based on substandard B grade screeens for fear it would badly damage the brand.

So far the only difference appears to be casing and minor software variations and of course price

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

So, you are admitting you lied, right?

And "not like you":

http://robertbez.blogspot.com/2009/0...-kindle-2.html

'nuff sed...

Do you really expect Robert to immediately praise another manufacturer's unit, on four hours sleep after a long plane ride? I'd be a little touchy too in that situation, especially with a unit that looks so much like the forthcoming Mentor line and is so similar in specs. For that matter, I'd be touchy on the subject with the full allotment of sleep and without the plane ride!
Robert's human. As are we all.
Robert is graceful enough to come here, put forth his ideas and expectations, and actually listen to our feedback. Do you see anyone from Amazon or Sony doing that? They may BE here, but they sure don't interact with us on the level that Robert does. Robert, in representation of Astak, has the one priceless quality that is very rarely found - accessibility. He may not always be right, and he may type before he thinks sometimes, but that can be said of all of us.
I for one appreciate his sharing of thoughts with us, and his keeping us as up to date as he can on what's going on with the EZ Reader and Mentor lines.
His plans may not always come to fruition in the time frame he expects, but he does try, and he does keep us informed.
I own an EZ Reader. I got it from the promotion Robert ran for Mobileread members to get the colored units produced for CES 2009. I made one comment about .lit files not working as expected, and he immediately responded and I got a firmware update in two days. The unit is built like a tank, I've dropped it, sat on it, and exposed it to cat fur, and never a glitch except for the aforementioned .lit file issue which is now fixed, thanks to Robert. I've never seen customer service like that anywhere else.
Regardless of how the preceding paragraphs sound, no, I don't think Robert walks on water. He's as human as the rest of us, and just as entitled to mistakes, mistypings, and forgiveness.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

And "not like you":

http://robertbez.blogspot.com/2009/0...-kindle-2.html

'nuff sed...

What is wrong with that blog? I find it a good user-review, considering (as he mentioned himself) he's bias towards his own device.

You have never posted (or emailed) anything you later felt you shouldn't have? Or maybe in a different tone?

My thought about that post was that he saw it, and felt cranky they didn't have the first scoop. He posted something based on hear-say and rumours, but finally regretted ever posting...


Anyway, on topic: it looks like a nice device and I'd love a red one! But the fact that it can't read mobipocket would be a let-down for me. As my library is in mobipocket atm, and having to convert everything to epub would be a pain!

[Godzil]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

The specifications don't show any support for audio. I have a audio jack on my eBookwise but it does not have any audio support. The hardware from Netronix has support but the software is not Netronix based so it is not clear to me. However, offering headphones could be an indicator. I hope they clear this up.

edit: I see in the FAQ they have MP3 support. I will fix the wiki.

Dale

It's certain that this device use Netronix Hardware *AND* Software

Look at this picture from netronix :
Fichier joint : (EB-600.jpg.jpeg)
Original

And this of the Cooler :
Fichier joint : (cool-er-e-book-hands-on-1-2009-05-13_20-31-57-rm-eng42.jpg.jpeg)
Original

[soilwork]

Techcrunch posted a short video walkthrough of Cool-er. It looks pretty decent and I like that it has user-replaceable battery.



[Source]
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/15...-ebook-reader/

[Godzil]

All netronix hardware clone have a user replaceable battery, the design looks great, but I have doubt about the netronix software... We will see