Who Will be First to Get theirs???

[ekaser]

Originally Posted by slm

it arrived!!

Just a quick reminder: don't forget to edit your DEVICE field in your MR user settings...

[Lucky so-and-so... still waiting for color-plastic unit... ]

[slm]

A couple--well three--other notes.
1. The pocket pro is really, really small. It fits into my suit's breast pocket and might fit into a large shirt pocket, though not in my current shirt. (I'm not using the case they sent--I've wrapped a moleskin small reporters flip notebook over the screen which adds very little volume.). It is MUCH smaller than the 5" Jetbook, for example.
2. As a result it is comfortable to use one-handed for long periods; some of this is that it is very light as well.
3. Held in my left hand, the standard page buttons are easy to access with that hand. When held my right hand, the thumbwheel is usuable with that hand, but is a little bit of a stretch, the "9" and "0" page turn buttons are not really useful for one-handed operation.

[wallcraft]

I also got 2-day shipping, and it arrived today. I could not stay home from work, but they left the package without a signature.

The only weird thing so far is that a standard USB cable did not work to connect to my laptop. The provided USB cable worked with no problems.

[slm]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I also got 2-day shipping, and it arrived today. I could not stay home from work, but they left the package without a signature.

The only weird thing so far is that a standard USB cable did not work to connect to my laptop. The provided USB cable worked with no problems.

Congradulations.

Was the problem that plastic on your standard USB cable is too wide to fit all the way into the recessed USB connector on the pocket pro or was it something more serious?

[frozennorth]

Originally Posted by rling

I wonder if Australia is part of the NAFTA. There was a lot of hue and cry about John Howard (previous PM) selling out to the US a couple of years back. Will wait and see what happens with my PocketPro

NAFTA stands for North American Free Trade Agreement which includes Mexico, US and Canada. So no, Australia is not part of it. If it were they would have to change the name too.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by slm

Was the problem that plastic on your standard USB cable is too wide to fit all the way into the recessed USB connector on the pocket pro or was it something more serious?

Windows XP reported the USB device (i.e. the Pocket Pro) as defective. There is a ferrite core on the supplied USB cable, but the other cable worked ok with the EZ Reader Basic.

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by rling

I wonder if Australia is part of the NAFTA. There was a lot of hue and cry about John Howard (previous PM) selling out to the US a couple of years back. Will wait and see what happens with my PocketPro

Australia is not part of NAFTA, of that I am 100% sure (it means north american fair trade agreement )
Australia could have it's own laws about importing goods from other countries

edit:
frozennorth beat me to it

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Astak pays all freight and customs from China to San Jose, California. You pay only to have it shipped from San Jose to you.

China does not enter at all into your shipping costs and either does China customs or USA customs to get them to San Jose, California.

Please try not to create rumors (although I am sure you are well-intentioned). Rumors start very easily on MR and we are trying to give you facts.

as others said, we are talking about it being shipped to Mexico. I don't know how much they will get charged, but I understand it may be as high as 50% for Chinese goods

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by Chiron

Well, i think he was talking about me, not that you pay custom when you receive the Pocket Pro =D

Thats what i hate about MY country, they make us pay customs for EVERY thing we import or buy online =(

my friend google helped me find this link, i recommend you read it and follow also the link of merkalink. Of special interest is this paragraph

Por otro lado, si lo solicitas por una empresa de paquetería global como puede ser Fedex o UPS, siempre pagas impuestos y te pueden llegar a aplicar el máximo, en una ocasión tuve que pagar como $1,500 pesos mexicanos de impuestos por un juego que costaba USD$ 98 dólares, lamentablemente es algo que no podemos evitar y depende del criterio tomado por el agente aduanal.

link


i followed merkalink estimates and this is what I got


Algunos electrónicos de origen Chino aplican cuotas compensatorias del 129% Más información( aqui habia un link)

A continuación la cotización detallada del costo total de la importación.

Impuestos:
$30.00 usd. sobre el producto
$ 1.95 usd. sobre el envío USA
$ 31.95 usd. Sub-Total Impuestos
Manejo:
$ 33.00 usd. Precio Base
$ 33.00 usd. Sub-Total Manejo
3% por uso de TC:
$ 0.96 usd. (solo sobre impuestos)
TOTAL:
$ 65.91 usd.

that's on top of the 213 to ship it to Laredo....

also

China 15%
(pueden aplicar tasas
compensatorias de hasta 533%)



I hope I didn't scare you too much :P

[Egbert]

Originally Posted by slm

Just tried it, page change in pdf user manual is appreciably less than 1 second on mine.

Very strange. I tried it again after leaving it to charge for 12 hours. It seems to take at least 1 second before the actual blacking out of the display occurs when I normally flip through (spending several seconds on each page before flipping to the next). When I rapidly turn the pages by pressing the button before the display updates, the page turning does drop down to less than 1 second. Perhaps there's something in the firmware that's accounting for the time between the button press and the actual display refresh, whether this is a bug or a "feature".

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by slm

It is MUCH smaller than the 5" Jetbook, for example

This is very interesting to me, since it appears that the external dimensions are not that much different. Compare:

jetBook: 154mm x 110mm x 13.5mm
Astak: 152mm x 102mm x 9.0 mm

Depth seems the most appreciable difference; ~10% slimmer by width.

Been keeping my eyes on this reader... now hurry up with those reviews!

[slm]

Originally Posted by Kralik

This is very interesting to me, since it appears that the external dimensions are not that much different. Compare:

jetBook: 154mm x 110mm x 13.5mm
Astak: 152mm x 102mm x 9.0 mm

Depth seems the most appreciable difference; ~10% slimmer by width.

Been keeping my eyes on this reader... now hurry up with those reviews!

It's not the absolute difference but the fact that both devices are "just" small enough and so we are looking at border conditions --the Astak fits easily and comfortably into my front pocket when needed and into my hand. The Jetbook does neither, but "almost" fits my hand. I expect the difference of 8mm in width in more significant that the differerence in thickness, but both matter.

YMMV

[Faenad]

Chiron, could you tell us how much you end up paying in customs when you receive the reader? It would be much appreciated


RobertB, Chiron was refering to the fact that when you order something overseas from Mexico, you have to pay customs :

The percentage is based on the country of manufacture, that is China for the PocketPro and nearly all the others readers such as the Sony.

The percentage is normally 15% for China, but for specific categories of products it can go up as high as 533%
And I don't know in which category fall the ebooks Readers. Mexican Administration being what it is, the best way to discover it is probably to order one.

edit : http://www.merkalink.com/importacion.asp

[Chiron]

Originally Posted by SDRebel

my friend google helped me find this link, i recommend you read it and follow also the link of merkalink. Of special interest is this paragraph



link


i followed merkalink estimates and this is what I got


Algunos electrónicos de origen Chino aplican cuotas compensatorias del 129% Más información( aqui habia un link)

A continuación la cotización detallada del costo total de la importación.

Impuestos:
$30.00 usd. sobre el producto
$ 1.95 usd. sobre el envío USA
$ 31.95 usd. Sub-Total Impuestos
Manejo:
$ 33.00 usd. Precio Base
$ 33.00 usd. Sub-Total Manejo
3% por uso de TC:
$ 0.96 usd. (solo sobre impuestos)
TOTAL:
$ 65.91 usd.

that's on top of the 213 to ship it to Laredo....

also

China 15%
(pueden aplicar tasas
compensatorias de hasta 533%)



I hope I didn't scare you too much :P

So, can i expect Customs to charge 66 USD for concept of importing it to Mexico? I hope not, seems i need to wach closely how much are they gona justify those costs <_<

EDIT: heck, no wonder people says Mexico is full of rich people (that pays taxes for every little thing in the world [Tenencia everyone?])

EDIT2:

Originally Posted by Faenad

The percentage is based on the country of manufacture, that is China for the PocketPro and nearly all the others readers such as the Sony.

The percentage is normally 15% for China, but for specific categories of products it can go up as high as 533%

Well, one time someone bought a videogame that was 98 USD and ended paying 1500 Pesos as custom costs (thats like 110 USD for customs, more than the price of the game >.<)

Still, if Astak is sending international orders for USPS i dont think customs get too high, heck they may even let it slip and at the end i will not be paying anything =D

[Stensie4JC]

So jealous of those who already have theirs! I am still reading paper books like a caveman