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

[griffonwing]

This is great news for me. I have been holding off purchasing the EZ Reader for when the Mentor lines comes out, but if the EZ Pro is the right price, then I will most likely be purchasing one.

[roncri]

Robertb, is there a mailing list that people can sign up for to get more information when the information is available?

[mobelby]

RobertB,

Thanks for all the information you have been able to disclose and for the news that it's still on track for release by March.

The fact that you and bebook were willing to let us know the timeframe for release and that it hasn't changed has helped me wait it out rather than compromising on a non-wireless device

[pkovak]

Well, I will see what it can do when it comes out. I think I will wait for Mentor, compare them and their price and then I will buy the winner. Robertb, can you tell us if you have some eReader owners on testing team? I mean, people here seems to know a lot about several eReaders, things you can only understand when you are using them. Such people can be great advantage to you during testing and deciding what to improve.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Robertb

You can imagine that the hardest task in the wworld for me is to sit on key information.. So, the information on EZ Reader PLUS and PRO is key info and treated like a National Treasure.

I think it's an art to only tell so much that people are dieing to know more without telling anything you're not supposed to tell

Originally Posted by Robertb

So, what IS the plan. The plan is to only show the PRO in private meetings with some huge markets. Soon after CES, I would hope to give more info. Photos will probably be released in early February with release coming in late February. Price discussion is only in the most elementarytalks right now but should firm during CES.

Part of the reason for the secrecy is to firm everything up BEFORE telling anybody what it has and what it does. The last time I gave preliminary info and then the changes came. THIS time we cement the product and then give accurate details!! Get ready to see this thread start heating up again real soon!!

Hmmm, maybe I should postpone the buying of an eReader right now... And wait for more information about the Pro reader...

Unless it will take years before it will be available in Europe..

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by roncri

Robertb, is there a mailing list that people can sign up for to get more information when the information is available?

Dear Roncri:

On www.mobiebook.com there is a page under FORUM section called Robert B's Corner. THAT will be the first place to show the latest info after CES that we can release. I am anxious; but Jinke wants no pictures or clarification until they are ready to release. I aim for Robert's corner to be the first to unveil pictures of the PRO and to talk price (and NO discussion on price has been made to date). I aim for Dale of MobileRead Forum to publish the full release info and full pictures. No info list is available yet!!

I do thank those who are already showing an interest but PLEASE hold off until you have full details. Yes, I think you will LOVE it; but please wait until it all comes together with a firm price and pictures and specs PUBLISHED in Robert B's Corner. What is important is that YOU and all others judge it fairly and then make an informed decision!

Robert B

[miki]

It would be great if Jinke updated the software for the EZ Reader to do the following things:

- Sort by physical file name (this is important for serialized HTML books - example below)
- In the booklist/bookshelf display (say you had 200 books), add the ability to jump directly to the 5th page in the display, instead of having to keep hitting next to go to page 5.
- While in the reading book mode, you can choose to go directly to the next book in the list (instead of having to go back to the list, scroll to the page, and select).

Basically, I read a lot of serialized books, where each "chapter" numbers 20 pages, and there are hundreds of chapters per book. I like to use the booklist / folder method as a sort of chapter of contents for each serialized book.

Unfortunately, the method of sorting by name doesn't work for me, since the chapter numbers are spelled out "one", "two", "three", instead of "1", "2", "3".

Neither does sort by date modified, since chapters sometimes get updated and need to be redownloaded, changing it's "modified" date to a more recent date than later chapters.

So it would be great if you could have the option to sort HTML files in the list by file name, which are ordered sequentially, in addition to the book "title" and date modified.

It's also a bit annoying to have to go back to the book list to select the next chapter (or, rather, "book") to read. It'd be great to have an option to "Jump to the next book" if you were in a browsing mode (or, for me, reading a serialized book).

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by pkovak

Well, I will see what it can do when it comes out. I think I will wait for Mentor, compare them and their price and then I will buy the winner. Robertb, can you tell us if you have some eReader owners on testing team? I mean, people here seems to know a lot about several eReaders, things you can only understand when you are using them. Such people can be great advantage to you during testing and deciding what to improve.

Dear Pkovak:

You have a very valid point! We have Dale DePriest of MobileRead Forum as a tester and commenter and we have several people who buy EZ Readers as soon as they are available and then stay in almost daily feedback with me. This has helped: as what they uncover I feed to Jinke, get an answer that same night, and then put up on our FAQ sheet on www.mobiebook.com. YES, I may get approval for having two or three official testers before release for the PRO. YOU, for example, would seem great for this... but I am NOT yet making ANY decisions so please do not volunteer yet. IF I did it it would be maybe two people who have continuously led the discussions on the EZ Reader on this forum!! They would not be paid and they MAY need to retrun the units in exchange for a deep discount on buying outright.

This is pure conjecture!!

Robert B

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by miki

It would be great if Jinke updated the software for the EZ Reader to do the following things:

- Sort by physical file name (this is important for serialized HTML books - example below)
- In the booklist/bookshelf display (say you had 200 books), add the ability to jump directly to the 5th page in the display, instead of having to keep hitting next to go to page 5.
- While in the reading book mode, you can choose to go directly to the next book in the list (instead of having to go back to the list, scroll to the page, and select).

Basically, I read a lot of serialized books, where each "chapter" numbers 20 pages, and there are hundreds of chapters per book. I like to use the booklist / folder method as a sort of chapter of contents for each serialized book.

Unfortunately, the method of sorting by name doesn't work for me, since the chapter numbers are spelled out "one", "two", "three", instead of "1", "2", "3".

Neither does sort by date modified, since chapters sometimes get updated and need to be redownloaded, changing it's "modified" date to a more recent date than later chapters.

So it would be great if you could have the option to sort HTML files in the list by file name, which are ordered sequentially, in addition to the book "title" and date modified.

It's also a bit annoying to have to go back to the book list to select the next chapter (or, rather, "book") to read. It'd be great to have an option to "Jump to the next book" if you were in a browsing mode (or, for me, reading a serialized book).

Dear Miki:

Thank you. I will take your entire comment and relay to Jinke to get their engineers hopefully working on a solution!! It will go today!

Robert B

[miki]

For anyone who's interested, I put up a pretty detailed review of my experiences with EZ Reader on MobileRead https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35366

There are also plenty of other reviews available. In my (admittedly biased) opinion, mine is the most detailed, but does not cover every format supported.

[mobelby]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Roncri:

I do thank those who are already showing an interest but PLEASE hold off until you have full details. Yes, I think you will LOVE it; but please wait until it all comes together with a firm price and pictures and specs PUBLISHED in Robert B's Corner. What is important is that YOU and all others judge it fairly and then make an informed decision!

Robert B

Robert, I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned price. Whilst we can safely guess that this will be an improved hanlin v3 with wireless (and touchscreen for the pro) we cannot guess the price.

For Australians like myself we always add in exchange rate (currently 0.70) and postage (eg USD69) when we compare the price and that inflates things just a little, ie your current EZ package is approx $570 in AUD. The only good thing about a slightly more expensive version is that the postage will still be the same

[pkovak]

Robertb, I may be good tester, one of the reasons is because I was tester in the past, but only if you are looking for one tester that has no experience with any eReaders. I think one such tester can be useful, to watch responce and initial reactions to the functions, sometimes new view helps. Generaly, I prefer to use more experienced people that know "products" - I don't like this word - similar to the one they are testing.

[dki]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Dargref:

I cannot speak about Generation 3, but the EZ Reader is a breeze. There is only one screw to remove to get at the battery; and the package even comes WITH the screw driver! Charge time is about three hours. The thing I tell people is the battery is so small and light that you can buy a second battery and keep it as a power extender. You CAN use the EZ Reader while it is being charged! You get 8,000 pages of text to a single charge!

Robert B

Are you serious about the device being usable while charging?? Kudos to you, then, others do not cut it. Honestly, I don't understand why Cybook or Sony cannot be used while charging, but this is a VERY strong point against them, in my opinion. I hope Mentor will have the same option and I will be able to read in bed while my ebook is connected to the charger. And the battery is important too. I'd love to be able to change the battery, you should have a package with additional battery & a charger that is just for the battery. My old Axim had that, and it came very handy. Admittedly, it could only go for about 10 hours on the charge, but with two batteries I could make it through the longest airplane trips.

And the problem with even 3 hour charging time is this - there is never a good time . Sometimes I can go on without a book for an hour or two, but three is a no-no. Therefore - a spare and a charger for it would be the way to go . Keep up the good work, this is shaping up to be an excellent device.

Dorota

[kacir]

Our member imagitronics has spotted a video from CES featuring the Astak device http://https://www.mobileread.com/for...975#post323926
direct YouTube address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3gshDchF-o

[echoleaf]

Nothing new :-(