Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Instead we're getting pretty much "same-old same-old." It's a good device but it's nothing new. It's essentially the same as the BeBook and even the Cybook Gen3. Same format support, same approximate price point, same basic screen.

The implementation of the MobiPocket Reader on the Hanlin V3 and the BeBook is, by all accounts, not terribly good at the moment. One can hope that it will be improved in the future, of course, but if that is the version of it that the EZ Reader is going to use (which seems very probable) then it's nothing to get excited about.

The Mobi Reader on the CyBook is enormously better.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by xor

Well, people, don't you feel as if you have been fooled by Astak with the Mentor now?

If you mean "have Astak deliberately misled people", then the answer is, I think, certainly not.

I think, however, they've made the classic mistake that so many people in this business have made: that of enormously underestimating the magnitude of the project that they were undertaking, and being overly optimistic in terms of timescales and costs. That might be considered poor project management, but it's not dishonesty.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by xor

Well, people, don't you feel as if you have been fooled by Astak with the Mentor now?

No.
I VERY much like the idea of manufacturer asking us for help while defining what we want to see in a version of the device he is preparing.
I am still waiting for their mentor. Not holding my breath at the moment, but I am sure that sooner or later we will see a great device from Astak.

It is exactly the same situation as it was with openpandora.
look at
http://openpandora.org/
they have designed a portable game console (*) to the exact specification of the comunity and the opening of the preorder crashed their servers with number of buyers *magnitude* higher than the most optimistic estimates.

Besides, I personally like this thread very much. I want to see what happens when number of messages exceedes 65535 (**). Will we crash the server?

(*) by the way, the Pandora console would make an ideal book reading device for those that prefer back-lit screen.

(**) see 65535 in Hexadecimal

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you mean "have Astak deliberately misled people", then the answer is, I think, certainly not.

I think, however, they've made the classic mistake that so many people in this business have made: that of enormously underestimating the magnitude of the project that they were undertaking, and being overly optimistic in terms of timescales and costs. That might be considered poor project management, but it's not dishonesty.

Dear Harry:

Thank you. What has happened over the last 6 months or so has not been dishonesty... it is a matter of completely underestimating the task ahead of us, underestimating the capability of factory engineers, and overestimating the ease and cooperation of the power brokers (no offence intended) in this business. It has been a humbling and immensely frustrating task. Please remember we started from scratch. We had no prior experience and were not ever selling eBook Readers before. We have had to go from neophyte to "expert" in 6 months.

The Hanlin V3 is a good first effort for us. It is a well-built machine that took EIGHT years to engineer (not six months). We like where it is headed and the company that produces the Hanlin V3 have a fabulous engineering staff with all manner of experience. To be able to work with these people is amazing. WITH this experience available, we can take our ideas to market much faster. Instead of promising something in two years, we can take good concepts and develop that to a solid idea and have it engineered in record time. THAT is the benefit to MobileRead Forum people. Maybe we can finally take your good feedback and do something with them.

Also, we did not try to fool anybody. We were honest and laid it out as a Hanlin V3 only with USA support and inventory and techncial assistance. Now, we have brought out a good solid eBook Reader that can be and will be advanced in short order. We will be able to improve the eBook Reader market by offering unique and interesting features in shorter time.

Is The Hanlin V3 perfect and an end product? Of course not. But... it is a solid and dependable platform and a lot of even MobileRead Forum people want only that. Essentially... "give me something totally dependable that handles all the basic functions well". Will this meet all the needs of the MobileRead Forum audience? Of course not! But wait and see where the future leads. You want additional fonts... we will do that. You want touchscreen and wi-fi and maybe note-taking... that is also planned pretty soon. You are tired of Black and White machines... we are getting the liveliest of colors. You want Adobe Digital Editions... it is in the works. You want eBooks... we are opening our site soon and will sell for less.

I have bought the first EZ Reader that arrived as promised. I am overjoyed with it and take it everywhere. For me, at least, it is light and thin and comfortable... and the crush-resistant case that comes with it is fabulous.

So, please do not see dishonesty where there is none. Call me stupid and I will not argue. Call me a lousy project manager to date... I will not say you are wrong. Call me a disinterested and non-interested fellow... and there we fight. You do have someone trying hard to give you all a voice in the next generations of eBook Readers.

Robert B

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Is The Hanlin V3 perfect and an end product? Of course not. But... it is a solid and dependable platform and a lot of even MobileRead Forum people want only that. Essentially... "give me something totally dependable that handles all the basic functions well". Will this meet all the needs of the MobileRead Forum audience? Of course not! But wait and see where the future leads. You want additional fonts... we will do that. You want touchscreen and wi-fi and maybe note-taking... that is also planned pretty soon. You are tired of Black and White machines... we are getting the liveliest of colors. You want Adobe Digital Editions... it is in the works. You want eBooks... we are opening our site soon and will sell for less.

I wonder if you folks have considered using the open source OpenInkpot firmware and shipping it with your product? Rather than pay devs to write something totally new and from scratch it would be great to see the device officially supported and contributed to by Astak.

When will the EZReaders be shipping. I may just get one because I want to try OI.

Thanks,
BOb

[rebarnmom]

You do have someone trying hard to give you all a voice in the next generations of eBook Readers.

Robert B[/QUOTE]

I want to say that I appreciate all of the input you've given and received from this forum! Speaking for myself, the exitement of it all becomes impatience after a while. I haven't bought into a specific eReader device as yet, just anxiously awaiting for them to become available, preferably in a retail outlet, so I can make the best hands-on decision possible. I don't have the luxury of purchasing multiple devices, and I don't want to regret my purchase, but am very anxious to own an eReader! The EZ Reader is one of the choices I've narrowed it down to.

[Gester]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Harry:

Thank you. What has happened over the last 6 months or so has not been dishonesty... it is a matter of completely underestimating the task ahead of us, underestimating the capability of factory engineers, and overestimating the ease and cooperation of the power brokers (no offence intended) in this business. It has been a humbling and immensely frustrating task. Please remember we started from scratch. We had no prior experience and were not ever selling eBook Readers before. We have had to go from neophyte to "expert" in 6 months.

The Hanlin V3 is a good first effort for us. It is a well-built machine that took EIGHT years to engineer (not six months). We like where it is headed and the company that produces the Hanlin V3 have a fabulous engineering staff with all manner of experience. To be able to work with these people is amazing. WITH this experience available, we can take our ideas to market much faster. Instead of promising something in two years, we can take good concepts and develop that to a solid idea and have it engineered in record time. THAT is the benefit to MobileRead Forum people. Maybe we can finally take your good feedback and do something with them.

Also, we did not try to fool anybody. We were honest and laid it out as a Hanlin V3 only with USA support and inventory and techncial assistance. Now, we have brought out a good solid eBook Reader that can be and will be advanced in short order. We will be able to improve the eBook Reader market by offering unique and interesting features in shorter time.

Is The Hanlin V3 perfect and an end product? Of course not. But... it is a solid and dependable platform and a lot of even MobileRead Forum people want only that. Essentially... "give me something totally dependable that handles all the basic functions well". Will this meet all the needs of the MobileRead Forum audience? Of course not! But wait and see where the future leads. You want additional fonts... we will do that. You want touchscreen and wi-fi and maybe note-taking... that is also planned pretty soon. You are tired of Black and White machines... we are getting the liveliest of colors. You want Adobe Digital Editions... it is in the works. You want eBooks... we are opening our site soon and will sell for less.

I have bought the first EZ Reader that arrived as promised. I am overjoyed with it and take it everywhere. For me, at least, it is light and thin and comfortable... and the crush-resistant case that comes with it is fabulous.

So, please do not see dishonesty where there is none. Call me stupid and I will not argue. Call me a lousy project manager to date... I will not say you are wrong. Call me a disinterested and non-interested fellow... and there we fight. You do have someone trying hard to give you all a voice in the next generations of eBook Readers.

Robert B

Hi Robert, thanks for taking the time to add that, it needed saying. I've only been a lurker in recent months, but in that time I've watched deadlines expire and goal posts move. I went from enthusiastic to skeptical to somewhat annoyed.

I too dreamed of a practical sub-$200 reading device. I believe you are sincere in your conviction and hope that you might be able to make do in the future. As much as I hoped to, I will likely not be purchasing an EZ Reader. You're price is just North of where I hoped it would go. With luck that will change soon.

Now I'm just back to enthusiastically skeptical.

[Selzernium]

Robertb

I was wondering If you still plan on making/introducing the eReader(adobe?) version of your ebook reader [now that the mobi version have been released]... or is it completely scrubbed?

If so when do you plan to release it to the market?


Regards

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The implementation of the MobiPocket Reader on the Hanlin V3 and the BeBook is, by all accounts, not terribly good at the moment. One can hope that it will be improved in the future, of course, but if that is the version of it that the EZ Reader is going to use (which seems very probable) then it's nothing to get excited about.

The Mobi Reader on the CyBook is enormously better.

That's good to know; not having access to either device I was working under the assumption they were fairly close. However my main point still holds; namely that the new Astak isn't bringing anything new to the table.

********

While it's not the device I wanted, I do think that bringing out something is a very good idea on Astak's part. At the very least this is going to get their foot in the door with proven hardware. It also shows that Astak is credible in wanting to get into the reader market.

The first device fell through, so they got another one from a different supplier. It may not have the exact same features as the original one, but it's still a fully functional device.

I will admit that I'm disappointed.

The Mentor had features that would have made me choose it over Sony, and this one doesn't. Still I certainly don't think it's a bad device or a bad choice given the circumstances.

I certainly can't fault RobertB for his openness and willingness to talk.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I wonder if you folks have considered using the open source OpenInkpot firmware and shipping it with your product? Rather than pay devs to write something totally new and from scratch it would be great to see the device officially supported and contributed to by Astak.

When will the EZReaders be shipping. I may just get one because I want to try OI.

Thanks,
BOb

Dear BOb:

I will look into OpenInkPot firmware. Know nothing at all about it but will fully bring this to the attention of the engineers and management.

The EZ Readers are ahead of schedule and we should have them around October 24. Iris Huang has started a list of those interested and her email address is: irish@teamresearchinc.com (Team Research is the parent company of Astak). The list is short right now so it is a good time to get on the list. I mention this as I always hate "waiting lists" that already have 700 people before me. The initial color choices are white and black with hotter colors in the second batch. Iris will not answer questions, please, but will gladly add you to the short list.

By the way, the www.astak.com website has the specs and great wording on features up on it now for the EZ Reader. I love mine and purchased the first one. The quality of the stereo music playing on it, to my ears, is incredible with a good pair of headphones. It is only my opinion; but it is the best I have heard and I own an iPod Classic.

robert b

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Selzernium

Robertb

I was wondering If you still plan on making/introducing the eReader(adobe?) version of your ebook reader [now that the mobi version have been released]... or is it completely scrubbed?

If so when do you plan to release it to the market?


Regards

Dear Selzernium:

Already happening. SDK on eReader next week to us. I HOPE to have samples at CES in January and release maybe early February. Also proceeding with Adobe Digital Editions... release maybe March. Right now we are looking into EPUB and combining formats on one device.

robert b

[RWJ]

Hi Robert B,
First, I also appreciate your consistent appearances here to answer questions, and the honesty with which you approach the forums.
Second, have you any new information about the 9.7 inch Astak? All I can see on the website is that it will be released in the first half of 2009, and that it will have a flexible screen. Any more specifics about the device size and weight? Rough price level? Capabilities beyond simply reading?
Thanks again.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Selzernium

I was wondering If you still plan on making/introducing the eReader(adobe?) version of your ebook reader [now that the mobi version have been released]... or is it completely scrubbed?

BTW... eReader is NOT adobe. I'm not sure if you meant to relate them to each other or meant something else like eReader or Adobe? However, robert had never mentioned anything about Adobe support in previous messages.

BOb

[Selzernium]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

BTW... eReader is NOT adobe. I'm not sure if you meant to relate them to each other or meant something else like eReader or Adobe? However, robert had never mentioned anything about Adobe support in previous messages.

BOb

I know eReader is not adobe what I meant was eReader and adobe(will it also be added to the same unit).
I thought i read in this thread and perhaps also in the Matrix that maybe the eReader version would also support adobe that is in addition to eReader...just like Sony 505/700 supports lrx and adobe(plus epub). But since I was not so sure i put a quesion mark on the adobe part.

It seems - if i understand correctly - that Robertb is also hinting so in his reply to me(below).

EDIT : In fact nothing wrong my recollection as both DaleDe[said Astak told him they planed to add ADE support on the eReader version Post #702] and Robertb explicitly mentioned intent and planing on ADE support on the eReader version on post #716. Notice we talking about ADE support i.e. support of the DRMed version of adobe pdf [with/without EPUB] not normal pdf.

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Selzernium:

Already happening. SDK on eReader next week to us. I HOPE to have samples at CES in January and release maybe early February. Also proceeding with Adobe Digital Editions... release maybe March. Right now we are looking into EPUB and combining formats on one device.

Thanks

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Selzernium

I know eReader is not adobe what I meant was eReader and adobe(will it also be added to the same unit).

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I too think an eInk device that support eReader DRM/files is needed in the market. I know there are alot of people out there that have huge eReader library but have been reading on PDAs.

Even better would be if Fictionwise would partner with them and sell the device with a nice book bundle or credit.

BOb