Astak first prototype of Mentor Intrique TOUCH

[emellaich]

Robert,

I'd be interested to hear your feedback on the touch screen. I assume it supports annotation?

It's my belief that e-ink won't do a great job with touch screen annotation because of its relatively slow refresh speed. It's my hope that I'm wrong, so I am hoping that your new ereader will do a good job of supporting annotation/markup on documents.

Is there anything you can report to us in this regard?

Thx,
Michael

p.s. I am another who is looking forword to the negotiations on the pocket pro.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by cheese bogart

Robertb on your blog you state the following:

"The device has a replaceable and rechargeable battery!! It also is unique in taking a micro-SD card instead of regular SD."

Just to let you know the up coming Wizpac Txtr will also be using a micro-SD card. Thought you might want to alter it, just in case people come back to you saying that you had mis-informed them.

Dear All:

I have no idea yet on WHY the Mentor Intrique is coming with MicroSD. MAYBE it is a prototype and will be changed to SD by production time.

CheeseBogart:

Thank you for correcting me. I take back the "Unique" in my sentence. I need to realize that just because I have never heard of it does not mean it is unique. I appreciate the correction and will try not to use "unique" in the future. You are right!!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by emellaich

Robert,

I'd be interested to hear your feedback on the touch screen. I assume it supports annotation?

It's my belief that e-ink won't do a great job with touch screen annotation because of its relatively slow refresh speed. It's my hope that I'm wrong, so I am hoping that your new ereader will do a good job of supporting annotation/markup on documents.

Is there anything you can report to us in this regard?

Thx,
Michael

p.s. I am another who is looking forword to the negotiations on the pocket pro.

Dear emellaich:

Thank you! I am also longing for a conclusion on exclusivity for EZ Reader Pocket PRO. I can tell you that we are moving ahead and ordering the colors. I am not a party to the negotiations as it is all done in Mandarin. It is NOT impacting the delivery at this point.

Well, I will give you mu opnion for what it is worth of the Mentor Intrique Touchscreen. Others will say I am biased... but I sure try to be fairly objective.

The Touchscreen on the Mentor Intrique seemed NOT to impact the resolution at all. I cannot explain why. I just know what my own eyes saw. The resolution and brightness were really good!

The Intrique has the Epson Controller. While the EZ Reader Pocket PRO seems instantaneous to me on page turns (refresh) it is only a tiny bit slower on the Mentor Intrique. Faster than the EZ Reader (which does not have the Epson Controller) but is pretty quick anyway.

Annotation/Markup? I think you are using great words for Note Taking. I am of the opnion that it does have Note Taking but I have not yet seen it or worked with it. I do not know.

Remember... as I said... this is a single prototype and I am not supposed to be saying much more about it at this point. It is way too early. I already have said a bit too much and my boss wishes me to say nothing until we have some facts. Sorry.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

How could you write about this and not take a single picture? The only valid reason I can think of is that there is some kind of NDA.

Dear Canuck_in_Japan:

No NDA. I have a boss who just hates it when I wet people's appetites too soon. We have ONE single prototype and he does not want any real specs given out, or pictures, until we have our facts straight.

I was just trying to let people know it is progressing... not sell it or build it up. At this point I have got to clam up a bit on this subject (not out of meaness but I need my job).

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Robertb

No NDA. I have a boss who just hates it when I wet people's appetites too soon. We have ONE single prototype and he does not want any real specs given out, or pictures, until we have our facts straight.

I was just trying to let people know it is progressing... not sell it or build it up. At this point I have got to clam up a bit on this subject (not out of meaness but I need my job).

You can show your boss that most of the info is on the Netronic product page and you can point out that is is very obvious that you are working with Netronic - you sell their devices under the name Mentor.

We want to hear all the exciting details, yet we wish no harm to your business. Because ONLY if you are successful we can get all those great products for great prices.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by kacir

You can show your boss that most of the info is on the Netronic product page and you can point out that is is very obvious that you are working with Netronic - you sell their devices under the name Mentor.

We want to hear all the exciting details, yet we wish no harm to your business. Because ONLY if you are successful we can get all those great products for great prices.

Dear Kacir:

I agree with you but the owner has the final say. He feels that spotlighting new devices before the right time is tipping off our competition. I feel that whetting the appetite and informing our Forum members of what is likely to occur is beneficial to all. He sees it as destructive.

I am now under orders to not mention the Intrique until we have a chance to fully assess it. It was only ONE prototype and not for general test.

What happens is people start calling and asking about models and our ladies have no answers on new models not yet fully planned. So, they get confused. I see his point; but I thought I made it pretty clear it is only one prototype and very early in the test process.

I agree with you that Netronix HAS posted a roadmap of projects and it is natural for people to ask about them.

[fugazied]

Touchscreen 10" ebook readers are getting closer, this is getting pretty exciting! I was sure Apple would be first to market with a touch 10" device (basically a large ipod touch), but it looks like they will be followers in this area.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Robertb

I see his point; but I thought I made it pretty clear it is only one prototype and very early in the test process.

You should know us by now! Give us only the hint of a finger and we'll want the whole body! And preferably yesterday too

[ThR]

Originally Posted by fugazied

Touchscreen 10" ebook readers are getting closer, this is getting pretty exciting! I was sure Apple would be first to market with a touch 10" device (basically a large ipod touch), but it looks like they will be followers in this area.

Touchscreen 10" ebook readers are really there. See Irex' DR1000S.

[SaraD]

Knowing that you are receiving samples of potential units to test is also nice because it lets everybody know that there is actually hope of this type of device going mainstream much sooner than later. And that it won't be another 5 years or so until the next big breakthrough in technology (i.e. Epson Controller and/or new chassis with updated page turn buttons). Please know that I very much appreciate that.

And Sweatpea is very correct!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by SaraD

Knowing that you are receiving samples of potential units to test is also nice because it lets everybody know that there is actually hope of this type of device going mainstream much sooner than later. And that it won't be another 5 years or so until the next big breakthrough in technology (i.e. Epson Controller and/or new chassis with updated page turn buttons). Please know that I very much appreciate that.

And Sweatpea is very correct!

Dear Sweatpea and SaraD:

That is MY point I make. Occasionally you have to show that the wheels are turning still. You do not need to say "Intrique coming out on August 15 at 2:00 p.m. PDT exactly to the minute and here is a list of every conceivable option and nuance and strength.". You DO need to say: "Astak has its first prototype in and we are starting the testing". This tells that we ARE folowing up and it is not "vaporware".

Astak is a good company with great ownership and I like their attention to detail and honesty. BUT... sometimes they seriously devalue getting the word out and the need to get the word out. There are tons of other choices out there and people will go to those choices if they do not hear you have what they need coming out.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Sweatpea and SaraD:

That is MY point I make. Occasionally you have to show that the wheels are turning still. You do not need to say "Intrique coming out on August 15 at 2:00 p.m. PDT exactly to the minute and here is a list of every conceivable option and nuance and strength.". You DO need to say: "Astak has its first prototype in and we are starting the testing". This tells that we ARE folowing up and it is not "vaporware".

Astak is a good company with great ownership and I like their attention to detail and honesty. BUT... sometimes they seriously devalue getting the word out and the need to get the word out. There are tons of other choices out there and people will go to those choices if they do not hear you have what they need coming out.

Oh, I know exactly why you do it and I really appreciate it! Make no mistake about that. But you should also expect people to want to know exactly what it does, how much it costs, when it will be out, who it is married to, how many children it has, when it was born, etc... We don't want to know much, only everything

And I wish more companies would let the public know what they were working on. Even if only saying that they're working on it... With a nice little teaser screenshot, maybe, or a nice little bit of specs, maybe...

But, don't let our need for more information stop you from posting these teasers, please!

[DG25]

When will we be seeing this on the market? I'm getting tired of this...No pics, no video, no other Astak reader on the market now, except for the old E-Reader. Just smoke. I'm not saying they don't exists, but this long, long waiting and endless threads is getting ridiculous.
Sorry for saying this, but i'm getting frustrated there is not one ereader currently on the market that's good enough for my needs.

[Sweetpea]

Every netronix clone is slow in coming right now... The BeBook2 and the BeBook Mini have been floating around for a while as well.

And as RobertB already said, the Intrique was only an early prototype. It's more a signal that they are working on new devices.

[Lbooker]

Originally Posted by DG25

When will we be seeing this on the market? I'm getting tired of this...No pics, no video, no other Astak reader on the market now, except for the old E-Reader. Just smoke. I'm not saying they don't exists, but this long, long waiting and endless threads is getting ridiculous.
Sorry for saying this, but i'm getting frustrated there is not one ereader currently on the market that's good enough for my needs.

C'mon! This is a new market. Chill, B!