Astak announces 5 inch Pocket PRO for $199 - Page 11

mklynds · 06-22-2009, 07:54 PM

I second Slayda's idea. Great idea slayda! I think most people would be happy with having a back up color and if they are not, you could always have the option to wait for your color to come into stock.

Robertb · 06-22-2009, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slayda

An alternate to 6charlong's suggestion would be to allow a "second choice of color" on the order form. That way if the first choice were sold out you might still get your reader in the second choice color. And if you really only wanted your first choice you just wouldn't make a second choice.

Dear Slayda:

I like this. Allowing a second choice would save a lot of time and effort. Let me try to make this happen.

Thank you for great insight!!

6charlong · 06-22-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slayda

An alternate to 6charlong's suggestion would be to allow a "second choice of color" on the order form. That way if the first choice were sold out you might still get your reader in the second choice color. And if you really only wanted your first choice you just wouldn't make a second choice.

I thought about that too, but I thought that when I buy one, say I want a blue one but I see it's out of stock and if I want to wait they'll send me a blue one in 10 days or something, then I have the choice to pick another color--one that's in stock--or I can wait the 10 days. This way I'll know what's going to be in the box when UPS drops it off.

That way just seems better for me.

Robertb · 06-26-2009, 01:45 PM

Dear ALL:

I do not want to jump the gun and say all is worked out... but we are seeing some hurdles cleared and feeling VERY enthusiastic and optimistic about the EZ Reader Pocket PRO.

I THINK Jinke has peeked on MobileRead forum and seen the wild enthusiasm.

The latest word is we should have two each of the four colors (plus black and white) done in our PMS colors by next week. We will then see how our colors look on the actual plastic halves for the Pocket PRO and can fine tune at that time if we need to do so.

The schedule is that we should receive the actual release and shipment no later than August 15. As soon as they arrive they will be up on the website and selling.

Yes, I am planning a pre-order sheet on our website. Not sure how to do that yet but cannot be that hard. Maybe another 2-3 weeks.

I hope by next week I can start on the User Manual and the FAQ sheet to put them into English.

Yes, I am beginning to feel a lot better about this. I do not want to jump up in the air yet... but it may not be much longer and I will.
__________________

Robertb · 07-01-2009, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by griffonwing
ya know, I really do not deserve all of this slander. *sniff* i mean, i TRY my best. *sigh*. I think I'll take a walk along the beach and kick a seal. I'm experiencing PTS (Pre Tidal Syndrome)

Robertb - Do you have any more (buried treasure) news about other features of the pocketpro? Or have you divulged everything already?

Dear Griffonwing:

I finally did get to plow thru the User Manual while rewriting it into good English. That is one great thing with the Pocket PRO... the User Manual is really useful and well written. I took my time to get it right.

There were no huge surprises but here is what I found:

It does have 8 levels of Greyscale.

You can adjust the contrast and brightness of .pdf documents readily.

For .pdf and epub documents you get FIVE (5) levels of font size adjustment. Other documents get three choices.

The Pocket PRO is much more robust on Font Type than the EZ Reader Basic. You get quite a number of good font choices already preloaded. Yes, you can easily add more.

The scroll wheel does more than just up or down page... you can push in on it and bring up the menu.

The headphone jack is still 3.5mm and is located on the bottom edge of the device.

The USB plug, however, has been moved up to the top edge by the SD card. I like this and see it a better spot for it. Jinke removed that pain in the butt rubber cover off it.

The Music Zone has been redone and the volume control now has a graphic!!

I hope that this helps!!

Robertb · 07-02-2009, 01:36 PM

Dear All:

I wanted to let you know that we are moving ahead with the Pocket PRO. The General Manager of Astak will fly to China next Monday to meet with Jinke. There he will receive the first samples of all six colors. I hope to have these posted up soon.

We are looking now at the Pocket PRO being released for sale in about 4-5 weeks now.

Yesterday I posted a very comprehensive look at the Pocket PRO revealing some nice additional findings from the User Manual. I have not seen your response. ALL of this is great news as things are moving forward now rapidly!

wallcraft · 07-02-2009, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertb

Yesterday I posted a very comprehensive look at the Pocket PRO revealing some nice additional findings from the User Manual.

I'm not sure where the report came from, but the E-book Reader Matrix lists the Hanlin V5 (EZ Reader Pocket PRO) as including Text To Speech. Is this the case, and if so does it work in all ebook formats and with DRMed ebooks?

mklynds · 07-02-2009, 02:22 PM

I think that this unit is looking to be a very well rounded, ie good at everything, machine. Can't wait to see the photos of all the colored units. To bad you didn't get to go on the trip to China Robert.

DaleDe · 07-02-2009, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I'm not sure where the report came from, but the E-book Reader Matrix lists the Hanlin V5 (EZ Reader Pocket PRO) as including Text To Speech. Is this the case, and if so does it work in all ebook formats and with DRMed ebooks?

No yet and probably not for DRM'd books at this time. So far it is related to the Cool Reader implementation but the ultimate goal is for everything. It would partially depend on Adobe's rules for the API but I don't have a copy of the license so I can't say for sure.

Dale

ahammer · 07-02-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I'm not sure where the report came from, but the E-book Reader Matrix lists the Hanlin V5 (EZ Reader Pocket PRO) as including Text To Speech. Is this the case, and if so does it work in all ebook formats and with DRMed ebooks?

it does have text to speech(ONLY in English)... but that is all the details that have been put out by Robertb.

Robertb · 07-02-2009, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I'm not sure where the report came from, but the E-book Reader Matrix lists the Hanlin V5 (EZ Reader Pocket PRO) as including Text To Speech. Is this the case, and if so does it work in all ebook formats and with DRMed ebooks?

Dear Wallcraft:

The EZ Reader Pocket PRO certainly does have TEXT-To-Speech and it works very well. However, you cannot use it on pdf or epub yet. Now, this is not too bad a hardship as the Pocket PRO supports 14 formats. I have been listening to it in TXT and that is quite good.

IF it can be read with Adobe Reader then TTS will work, basically. This is because the TTS was done with Adobe Acrobat. You would THINK that ADE and Acrobat would be just fine together... but they are not yet.

This is from my head tech, Walter. I hope that it helps. The TTS works with English or Chinese.

Robertb · 07-02-2009, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mklynds

I think that this unit is looking to be a very well rounded, ie good at everything, machine. Can't wait to see the photos of all the colored units. To bad you didn't get to go on the trip to China Robert.

Dear Mklynds:

Yes, I concur. I would have loved to go to Jinke and see what they have. The problem is that I do not speak much Mandarin and they essentially only speak Mandarin. Besides, the Chinese can negotiate with the Chinese. My negotiation is very to the point and direct. This works well in America. It appears that expensive Chinese dinners and a bit more "beating around the bush" (no disrespect to anyone) are part of successful negotiation in China.

I am more along the lines of: "HI! It is great to meet you. We could sell a ton of your devices for you if you would just get them to us and cooperate with us. oH, LETS DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE PRICE. You want me to move volume and I do too. Give me a price to accomplish that."

In China this is NOT the way. Instead of ten minutes, they seem to negotiate over ten hours. It is a personal defect in me. I get to the point real fast and move quickly and eloquently... I give ground a bit to compromise but I arrive where both sides are happy and winners.

Robertb · 07-02-2009, 03:51 PM

To All:

I have a new blog posted today. I have been swamped lately; but my blogs will now come much more frequently.

Blog is: www.robertbEZ.blogspot.com

mklynds · 07-02-2009, 03:52 PM

Well in that case...

I sure am glad that you didn't get to go to China Robert.

I wouldn't want anything to happen to push the release back. I can also appreciate your negotiating style. I too am of the style, give a little, get a little, make some money!! Can't wait to hear how your boss's trip to the far east goes.

ahammer · 07-02-2009, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertb

To All:

I have a new blog posted today. I have been swamped lately; but my blogs will now come much more frequently.

Blog is: www.robertbEZ.blogspot.com

seem I can not post comments on your blog here at work anyway.

so this site works. think you are right about wifi if everyone needed wifi for these types of things. all mp3 players would have wifi already but most dont and still sell. given that the price point for mp3 players is lower would not be that bad to add that to them.
also I would think most people go thru music faster then books.

just thinking about it at one point all music player having wifi for a while then be moved to owning content.. it was called the radio

.

06-26-2009, 01:45 PM	#154
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	Update on EZ Reader Pocket PRO Dear ALL: I do not want to jump the gun and say all is worked out... but we are seeing some hurdles cleared and feeling VERY enthusiastic and optimistic about the EZ Reader Pocket PRO. I THINK Jinke has peeked on MobileRead forum and seen the wild enthusiasm. The latest word is we should have two each of the four colors (plus black and white) done in our PMS colors by next week. We will then see how our colors look on the actual plastic halves for the Pocket PRO and can fine tune at that time if we need to do so. The schedule is that we should receive the actual release and shipment no later than August 15. As soon as they arrive they will be up on the website and selling. Yes, I am planning a pre-order sheet on our website. Not sure how to do that yet but cannot be that hard. Maybe another 2-3 weeks. I hope by next week I can start on the User Manual and the FAQ sheet to put them into English. Yes, I am beginning to feel a lot better about this. I do not want to jump up in the air yet... but it may not be much longer and I will. __________________

07-01-2009, 05:02 PM	#155
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	Further info on EZ Reader Pocket PRO Originally Posted by griffonwing ya know, I really do not deserve all of this slander. sniff i mean, i TRY my best. sigh. I think I'll take a walk along the beach and kick a seal. I'm experiencing PTS (Pre Tidal Syndrome) Robertb - Do you have any more (buried treasure) news about other features of the pocketpro? Or have you divulged everything already? Dear Griffonwing: I finally did get to plow thru the User Manual while rewriting it into good English. That is one great thing with the Pocket PRO... the User Manual is really useful and well written. I took my time to get it right. There were no huge surprises but here is what I found: It does have 8 levels of Greyscale. You can adjust the contrast and brightness of .pdf documents readily. For .pdf and epub documents you get FIVE (5) levels of font size adjustment. Other documents get three choices. The Pocket PRO is much more robust on Font Type than the EZ Reader Basic. You get quite a number of good font choices already preloaded. Yes, you can easily add more. The scroll wheel does more than just up or down page... you can push in on it and bring up the menu. The headphone jack is still 3.5mm and is located on the bottom edge of the device. The USB plug, however, has been moved up to the top edge by the SD card. I like this and see it a better spot for it. Jinke removed that pain in the butt rubber cover off it. The Music Zone has been redone and the volume control now has a graphic!! I hope that this helps!!

07-02-2009, 01:36 PM	#156
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	Astak moving ahead with EZ Reader Pocket PRO Dear All: I wanted to let you know that we are moving ahead with the Pocket PRO. The General Manager of Astak will fly to China next Monday to meet with Jinke. There he will receive the first samples of all six colors. I hope to have these posted up soon. We are looking now at the Pocket PRO being released for sale in about 4-5 weeks now. Yesterday I posted a very comprehensive look at the Pocket PRO revealing some nice additional findings from the User Manual. I have not seen your response. ALL of this is great news as things are moving forward now rapidly!

07-02-2009, 03:51 PM	#163
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	New blog today To All: I have a new blog posted today. I have been swamped lately; but my blogs will now come much more frequently. Blog is: www.robertbEZ.blogspot.com

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06-22-2009, 07:54 PM	#151
mklynds That guy, no not that guy Posts: 337 Karma: 2846 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: PRS600 Red	I second Slayda's idea. Great idea slayda! I think most people would be happy with having a back up color and if they are not, you could always have the option to wait for your color to come into stock.

07-02-2009, 02:22 PM	#158
mklynds That guy, no not that guy Posts: 337 Karma: 2846 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: PRS600 Red	I think that this unit is looking to be a very well rounded, ie good at everything, machine. Can't wait to see the photos of all the colored units. To bad you didn't get to go on the trip to China Robert.

07-02-2009, 03:52 PM	#164
mklynds That guy, no not that guy Posts: 337 Karma: 2846 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: PRS600 Red	Well in that case... I sure am glad that you didn't get to go to China Robert. I wouldn't want anything to happen to push the release back. I can also appreciate your negotiating style. I too am of the style, give a little, get a little, make some money!! Can't wait to hear how your boss's trip to the far east goes.

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