Epson and 400MHz with ADE and TTS:$229

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by khalleron

That's true, but I didn't buy my 505 until after they made the update.

I won't pay for promises, is all I'm saying.

That's very understandable.

However, I do believe Robertb and Astak have made very good on every promise they've made, at least, all the promises to my recollection.

Hopefully we will hear final word, or better yet, an update, by the end of September.

[CharlieBird]

Robertb, I'm wondering about the colors. Are they matte/dullish or shiny? They appear 'duller' in the photo w/all the colors. The blue, especially, by itself seems quite glossy; the red solo, less so, but more than in the stack.
This is causing me to occupy time clicking back and forth between them rather than ordering!
thanks. Great job representing Astak, by the way.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

That's very understandable.

However, I do believe Robertb and Astak have made very good on every promise they've made, at least, all the promises to my recollection.

Um, nope. I started ebook reader shopping quite a while before I bought one, and there was a lot of hype then about the Astak Mentor line of ebook readers which had been announced and have yet to appear.

So, no, Astak has a *terrible* record of fulfilling promises, at least as far as ebook readers go.

No slam on robertb himself, he seems to be sincere if a bit overenthusiastic, but the company has a lot of unmet promises on record.

[Musicman]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Um, nope. I started ebook reader shopping quite a while before I bought one, and there was a lot of hype then about the Astak Mentor line of ebook readers which had been announced and have yet to appear.

So, no, Astak has a *terrible* record of fulfilling promises, at least as far as ebook readers go.

No slam on robertb himself, he seems to be sincere if a bit overenthusiastic, but the company has a lot of unmet promises on record.

I can see your point on the Mentor Line, but then again maybe some things he shared shouldn't have been.

I can say that my dealings with Robertb and Astak have been nothing but positive and he HAS delivered on his word.

[JEMelby]

Still no APO/FPO options.

I grieves me to think how the pre-orders are now probobly stacked up to the roof.

Considering that I've been ready to "pre-order" since http://www.theezreader.com first popped up, I'm pretty frustrated. It's like having to stand off to the side while everyone else gets in line to see the movie.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JEMelby

Still no APO/FPO options.

Robert said it's being added to the website.

[griffonwing]

The first mention I could find on APO was 2 days ago, so please give Robertb time. He said it is coming soon, and it will be. But he is not in control of that. He has done his job in passing the word. You have to get the Mailing Dept, the Website Dept, E-Commerce Dept, etc all on the same page.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

There is no search function on the Pocket PRO yet. Maybe it will come in a firmware upgrade later.

Allowing for the huge upside of the Pocket PRO, and the price, there has to be something that will come in subsequent releases.

I think this is something that should be seriously considered, even if, unfortunately, the dictionary look-up is left out of the EReader SDK. It shouldn't be too difficult to add it because the EReader DRM is keyed to the Credit Card number AND name, meaning that there will have to be a way to enter text on the device itself, presumably with some type of T9 system. But if you've solved the problem of entering text on the device, why not add search? One of the big advantages of ebooks is the ability to search text and find exactly the passages one wants. I know I'm very happy to have it on my Sony 700 and in FBReader on my G1. I understand that it won't be available at release, but adding it in would be a good idea; I believe its already available in Open Inkpot for the V3. Adapting this bit of open source functionality for the V5 shouldn't be too difficult. FYI, I am going to be sending my pre-order now (Slate Blue, of course), so you ain't wasting time responding to someone who ain't a sale.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by CharlieBird

Robertb, I'm wondering about the colors. Are they matte/dullish or shiny? They appear 'duller' in the photo w/all the colors. The blue, especially, by itself seems quite glossy; the red solo, less so, but more than in the stack.
This is causing me to occupy time clicking back and forth between them rather than ordering!
thanks. Great job representing Astak, by the way.

Dear Charliebird:

They are all Matte. Not dull... but not gloss. This was the advice from the people of MobileRead Forum.

The gloss supposedly has a fingerprint issue and dull (flat) is a little lifeless.

All colors are matte!

OH, and thank you very much!!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

I think this is something that should be seriously considered, even if, unfortunately, the dictionary look-up is left out of the EReader SDK. It shouldn't be too difficult to add it because the EReader DRM is keyed to the Credit Card number AND name, meaning that there will have to be a way to enter text on the device itself, presumably with some type of T9 system. But if you've solved the problem of entering text on the device, why not add search? One of the big advantages of ebooks is the ability to search text and find exactly the passages one wants. I know I'm very happy to have it on my Sony 700 and in FBReader on my G1. I understand that it won't be available at release, but adding it in would be a good idea; I believe its already available in Open Inkpot for the V3. Adapting this bit of open source functionality for the V5 shouldn't be too difficult. FYI, I am going to be sending my pre-order now (Slate Blue, of course), so you ain't wasting time responding to someone who ain't a sale.

Dear lugmaninbmor:

Search is coming on other Astak models but works best with a soft keyboard. A soft keyboard takes Touchscreen. Touchscreen means about a 30% drop in resolution.

I agree fully that Dictionary Support needs to be on the device and we are working now to do this in a firmware upgrade. Remember... the Pocket PRO's siblings are sold in Asia and Europe. Maybe all the dialects and languages lessen the need for dictionary support there. Here we need it!!

You will love the Slate Blue. It is gorgeous in your hand.

[griffonwing]

Robert

Ever thought about implementing support for a mini-USB keyboard? In this manner, you do not need touchscreen, but can just plug in and type away.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Robert said it's being added to the website.

Dear Anemic Oak:

We expect to have the APO/FPO support up within a few working days. They are working on it and they are aware of the need and I was in the service for three years and know the importance.

As mentioned before, the website was NOT supposed to be open when people found it by mistake and started ordering. It happened a week before we planned to open it. So, we had no time to prepare. Much to Astak's credit... we honored the pre-orders and went from there. There was no silly scolding... we just tried to catch up and cooperate.

I am pushing for the APO/FPO!!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by JEMelby

Still no APO/FPO options.

I grieves me to think how the pre-orders are now probobly stacked up to the roof.

Considering that I've been ready to "pre-order" since http://www.theezreader.com first popped up, I'm pretty frustrated. It's like having to stand off to the side while everyone else gets in line to see the movie.

Dear JEMelby:

We just released our biggest device, have had a buble now of press calls, and have accomodated already the International end users.

Pre-orders are still minor so far. I WISH they were stacked to the roof. I have set aside 20 in each color for our servicemen and women. We will not ship ANY until the end of August. What is there to grieve about.

YOU are NOT standing off to the side. You are already in our system with an early number. We hope to have FPO/APO up within 2-3 working days!

JE... I am a veteran and I do care!!

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear lugmaninbmor:

Search is coming on other Astak models but works best with a soft keyboard. A soft keyboard takes Touchscreen. Touchscreen means about a 30% drop in resolution.

I agree fully that Dictionary Support needs to be on the device and we are working now to do this in a firmware upgrade. Remember... the Pocket PRO's siblings are sold in Asia and Europe. Maybe all the dialects and languages lessen the need for dictionary support there. Here we need it!!

You will love the Slate Blue. It is gorgeous in your hand.

A soft-keyboard is possible to implement even without a touch screen. You could use the jogwheel as a selector or divide the soft-keyboard into sections each of which are toggled by one of the number keys (I believe that one of the Netronix-clones does something similar with the directional controller). The Jetbook implements search using a T9 system with the numbered buttons, similar to how texting is implemented on a non-Qwerty cell phone. It might not be as good as a touch screen soft keyboard, but it is still useful as the users of that device will tell you. Remember, for search to be useful, you only need to be able to enter a few words (which is approximately the same level of difficulty as entering the name on the credit card which you used to encode your EReader DRMed books). This can be done with the numerical buttons or with a combination of jog-wheel soft-keyboard. Taking notes, however, would require a soft or hard keyboard to be anything other than an annoyance.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

A soft-keyboard is possible to implement even without a touch screen. You could use the jogwheel as a selector or divide the soft-keyboard into sections each of which are toggled by one of the number keys (I believe that one of the Netronix-clones does something similar with the directional controller). The Jetbook implements search using a T9 system with the numbered buttons, similar to how texting is implemented on a non-Qwerty cell phone. It might not be as good as a touch screen soft keyboard, but it is still useful as the users of that device will tell you. Remember, for search to be useful, you only need to be able to enter a few words (which is approximately the same level of difficulty as entering the name on the credit card which you used to encode your EReader DRMed books). This can be done with the numerical buttons or with a combination of jog-wheel soft-keyboard. Taking notes, however, would require a soft or hard keyboard to be anything other than an annoyance.

This is already done for the V3 series by the OpenInkPot firmware. And in bothe English & Russian.