Astak's 5" Pocket Pro $199

[CharlieBird]

frozennorth, it also appears the Mighty Bright would be a better fit (from the pics Robertb posted).
thanks for the tip.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, but if you buy from out-of-state or online, don't you have to pay "use tax", which is the same amount that you would have paid in sales tax had you bought it in your own state?

Forgive me if my knowledge of the US tax system is inaccurate.

no...google is free...there is a thing we have called State's Rights which the last administration as well as his daddy forgot about. But one thing that never has been infringed upon is STATE & LOCAL sales tax. We have not form of VAT or such...yet...and if you happen to buy something a a street in a down where the businesses on the other side of the street are in a different city or county, the sales tax and be different by as much as 2-3%. Yeah, it is weird.

As far as paying sales tax, in most states if a resident buys something outside of state lines it is supposed to be reported and tax paid...same goes for local taxes. But , obviously those laws were written in a different time and no longer practical. In fact I know nobody who willingly pays taxes on such purchases.

Another law we have has to do with reciprocation of certain laws between states, and this is where what is being misnamed an "internet sales tax" might spring. If someone lives in a state with a different (read lower as who would ask to pay MORE taxes), but if they live somewhere such as Oregon where there is no sales tax and then buy something in California or Washington, all they need to is provide proof of residence and the seller of the item is required by law to not charge them sales tax because Oregon has no sales tax. The theory is the item(s) are not going to remain in the state. That, in fact, is one of the ways something is trying to get done on a national basis for online sales. Then again the federal government is technically not given the power to enforce such laws which manage interactions like this between states...even interstate commerce does not have any black and white in this area.

I know it's weird and convoluted but it worked well for decades, remember we did not have the sort of tax system as we have today until just before WWI, though several attempts happened before then, even a national flat tax in the late 1800's.

FYI here is a fairly accurate page wrt to taxes here in the US that will always give a good reference for you w/o any political bias. Well mostly no bias, if that is actually possible,

http://www.treas.gov/education/fact-...es/ustax.shtml

[emellaich]

Robertb, one question for you. I've seen a couple of comments now of people on font size on the EZReader for epub. It seems that the smallest font size is too small, and the next bigger size is huge. The comment is that there needs to be about two more steps between the first and second size and that the bigger sizes may not be needed at all.

Is this an issue that is being addressed in the EZReader software for epub?

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

At the end of the month Sony is going to convert their eBook store to sell ePubs. You will be able to redownload all your purchases in that format and be able to use them on the Astak Pocket Pro.

Any books you have in .LRF format you can probably get in ePub or Mobi and convert to ePub. So, you should be fine using your ebooks on both devices.

BOb

DISCLAIMER: This is from the info that we have seen in the news... don't kill me if it isn't true.

I believe it was at the end of the year. Making such a change in 2 weeks would be a really large task.

Dale

[HJS1977]

Hello,

I am really like the new Ez Reader pro, but which one would is better: the Ez reader or the Ez reader pocket pro? I love the colors that I am able to chose from with the Pocket pro, but the Orginal has a bigger screen. The only difference between the 2 that I can see is the screen size and the price. I have a lot of e-books that are in the html, lit and pdf formats so either one the ezreader seems to be a great buy for me. My last question is that since the Ez reader doesn't have a backlight what are some options for me to purchase a light so I can read in dark areas like the car?

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by HJS1977

Hello,

I am really like the new Ez Reader pro, but which one would is better: the Ez reader or the Ez reader pocket pro? I love the colors that I am able to chose from with the Pocket pro, but the Orginal has a bigger screen. The only difference between the 2 that I can see is the screen size and the price. I have a lot of e-books that are in the html, lit and pdf formats so either one the ezreader seems to be a great buy for me. My last question is that since the Ez reader doesn't have a backlight what are some options for me to purchase a light so I can read in dark areas like the car?

Welcome to MobileRead, HJS!

The 5" is only slightly smaller screen, but they are both 800x600. This means the 5" will have a higher pixel density, ergo a better resolution.

The 5" has twice the processing power (400MHz compared to the 6" 200MHz)
The 5" has 8 gray levels instead of the normal 4-level grayscale of the 6" unit.
The 5" unit supports 16GB sd card, where the 6" only supports 4GB
The 5" has the faster Epson controller which equal a much faster page turn, as compared to the 6" model.

Those are the main marketable differences between the 2 units, apart from the fact that the 5" device will also be much more portable. The 5" is also 40 bucks cheaper than it's slower big brother.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

Welcome to MobileRead, HJS!

The 5" is only slightly smaller screen, but they are both 800x600. This means the 5" will have a higher pixel density, ergo a better resolution.

The 5" has twice the processing power (400MHz compared to the 6" 200MHz)
The 5" has 8 gray levels instead of the normal 4-level grayscale of the 6" unit.
The 5" unit supports 16GB sd card, where the 6" only supports 4GB
The 5" has the faster Epson controller which equal a much faster page turn, as compared to the 6" model.

Those are the main marketable differences between the 2 units, apart from the fact that the 5" device will also be much more portable. The 5" is also 40 bucks cheaper than it's slower big brother.

There are more differences:
The 5" support TTS while the 6" does not.
The 5" has a thumbwheel on the right hand side that provides additional page turns.
The 6" have vol up/down buttons on the right side.
The 6" uses an industry standard battery available anywhere.

The Epson controller provides more that just a faster page turn. It can also do a partial screen draw which means menus will be crisper and faster as well. There are some other features in this controller but it is not clear yet if the firmware will use them.

The run equivalent firmware although not exactly the same, thus have the same formats, etc. with the same capabilities.

Dale

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

There are more differences:
The 5" support TTS while the 6" does not.
The 5" has a thumbwheel on the right hand side that provides additional page turns.
The 6" have vol up/down buttons on the right side.
The 6" uses an industry standard battery available anywhere.

The Epson controller provides more that just a faster page turn. It can also do a partial screen draw which means menus will be crisper and faster as well. There are some other features in this controller but it is not clear yet if the firmware will use them.

The run equivalent firmware although not exactly the same, thus have the same formats, etc. with the same capabilities.

Dale

Ahh, yes, I had forgotten about TTS. There are so many good things about the new PPro that it's hard to remember them all.

Dale, I thought I read where the thumbwheel can also be used for Volume control. Or am I hallucinating?

I was also under the assumption that the user battery on the 5" was just as prolific as the 6". More juice, but just as easily readable as the other.

From what I read, it might be best to get a good battery from the git-go. I heard some tales of the 6" coming from the manufacturer with bad batteries. Not sure if the 5" will be the same though.

Either way, it's a step up above the competition.

[griffonwing]

Found some more reviews while searching the net for some information. Granted, they're a week old, but the news is definitely spreading. Apologies if these were already mentioned.

http://technews.am/conversations/ube...der_pocket_pro

http://hothardware.com/News/Astaks-P...ions-Firmware/

http://gadgets.softpedia.com/news/As...e-4402-01.html

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

Ahh, yes, I had forgotten about TTS. There are so many good things about the new PPro that it's hard to remember them all.

Dale, I thought I read where the thumbwheel can also be used for Volume control. Or am I hallucinating?

I was also under the assumption that the user battery on the 5" was just as prolific as the 6". More juice, but just as easily readable as the other.

From what I read, it might be best to get a good battery from the git-go. I heard some tales of the 6" coming from the manufacturer with bad batteries. Not sure if the 5" will be the same though.

Either way, it's a step up above the competition.

The thumbwheel turns pages forward and backward. I doubt it can control volume at the same time. Perhaps in the music editor it controls volume but the Hanlin manual is silent on this point but there would seem no way to change the volume while you are reading a book except to switch to sound.

This all speculation of course, as I don't have one.

I have not heard of any standard battery for the 5" model but again I have not seen one.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

Found some more reviews while searching the net for some information. Granted, they're a week old, but the news is definitely spreading. Apologies if these were already mentioned.

http://technews.am/conversations/ube...der_pocket_pro

http://hothardware.com/News/Astaks-P...ions-Firmware/

http://gadgets.softpedia.com/news/As...e-4402-01.html

They don't look like reviews to me, just comments on the press release.

Dale

[griffonwing]

I thought Robertb mentioned it in a post, but I do not feel like searching for it. The batter is user-replaceable, so i assume it should be fairly easy to obtain.

There I go...assuming again. You know what they say...

it makes an ass out of You and Uming.. Who is Uming?

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

They don't look like reviews to me, just comments on the press release.

Dale

Ahh yes, my mistake. that what what I meant to say.

Long day. Must go home and get to bed...

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

Ahh yes, my mistake. that what what I meant to say.

Long day. Must go home and get to bed...

Yea, I do have a couple of hours on you being on the west coast.

Dale

[AJ Starr]

RobertB,

If you have finished translating the Pocket Pro, and/or the Basic Reader's User Manuals, is there any way we could have a link to download them.

I would love to have a head's up on reading it so I'd be ready when my Pocket Pro arrives.

I perfectly understand if your company decides it should not be released to the public though.

AJ