Mother's Day Blowout on all EZ Readers

[Robertb]

Dear All:

Starting today, prices for the EZ Reader Basic and EZ Reader Pocket PRO will drop to their lowest ever. AND... we are including a FREE 2GB SD card with 700 classics preloaded... including 200 titles just for that special mother of yours (though there are plenty of titles for you too):

EZ Reader 6 inch Basic.......................... $199.00 plus freight

EZ Reader 5 inch Pocket PRO.................. $175.00 plus freight

We are trying to blow out even our best EZ Readers! That 2GB card and the preloaded titles are gravy!! Taxes still may apply.

This sale ends promptly at midnight on May 16... so you do not have long to do this. Don't keep mother waiting!! MOTHER wants to READ!!

This is NOT the start of lower rates. Get them while they are in stock. Prices will go back up immediately after this sale.

The sale applies to www.theEZreader.com and www.astak.com. That means it applies to both the 50 states AND Internationally! All colors on the Pocket PRO are in the sale WHILE THEY LAST. This offer is subject to stock on hand, folks, and no rain checks. If we are out of your color... better choose another quickly. Slate Blue and Maroon are already low.

You do NOT have to have a mother to take advantage of this SALE! Pretend your kids are buying you one, if you like! OR... HIRE a mother for the day!! Just purchase while you still can! 12:01 a.m. on May 17 will be too late!!

[Katerina1623]

Oh no way...
So I'll be completely honest, I have been debating buying the EZ Reader Pro since August of last year. I FINALLY broke down and used my bonus money to buy one.. on Sunday. Literally two days ago and now there's a sale that would have made a huge difference for me. lol! Just my luck
If I call customer service do you think they'll be able to help me a bit considering that I *just* (5 minutes ago) eagerly opened my freshly delivered unit? *plead*

[SmartyPants]

wow, great timing, as my mum have been hungrily eyeing my PP ever since i got it...
now might be a time for her to get one of her own!
She is leaning towards a 6" model though, so i have very quick question - does the 6" model have the wheel on the right side for turning pages?

thanks!!

[Sylver]

Originally Posted by SmartyPants

wow, great timing, as my mum have been hungrily eyeing my PP ever since i got it...
now might be a time for her to get one of her own!
She is leaning towards a 6" model though, so i have very quick question - does the 6" model have the wheel on the right side for turning pages?

thanks!!

I have a quick answer for you: no, it does not. Not only the existing model does not have it, the planned EZ Reader Plus will not have it either based on Robert's reply in another thread.

[Sylver]

I do have a question for any of you who tried both the 6" and 5" models. The spec says 6" model has 4 levels of grayscale as opposed to 8 levels in the 5" pocket pro. I will mainly use this for read text, I read somewhere that says 4-level is even better than 8 or 16 levels as the text will appear darker, if anyone have seen/used both the 6" and 5", can you compare and let me know which screen has better contrast or they are virtually identical?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Sylver

I do have a question for any of you who tried both the 6" and 5" models. The spec says 6" model has 4 levels of grayscale as opposed to 8 levels in the 5" pocket pro. I will mainly use this for read text, I read somewhere that says 4-level is even better than 8 or 16 levels as the text will appear darker, if anyone have seen/used both the 6" and 5", can you compare and let me know which screen has better contrast or they are virtually identical?

The number of gray scales (6" has 4, 5" has 8) is correct. I have both and in practice I don't see much difference for text. I like to use heavy fonts though, and that may reduce the difference. There have been threads on a lack of contrast on the Pocket Pro (e.g. My suggestions on getting the device to look blacker.) but the fix, if any is needed, is to change the font. To do this on DRMed ePubs you would first need to remove the DRM (encryption).

The 8 gray scales helps for images, but a 6" screen gives you a bigger picture, so this is mostly a wash. The 6" is old technology, but it is "good enough" for reading ebooks and it has been around so long that there are more firmware options than with the 5". Even though they have a similar layout, I think the Pocket Pro looks better proportioned. Overall, it is tough to choose between them. I switched back from the Pocket Pro to the Basic because the latter runs OpenInkPot firmware, which I like a lot. If OpenInkPot was ported to the Pocket Pro, I would probably switch back to it - but I don't feel limited by the Basic.

[Sylver]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

There have been threads on a lack of contrast on the Pocket Pro (e.g. My suggestions on getting the device to look blacker.) but the fix, if any is needed, is to change the font.

The 6" is old technology, but it is "good enough" for reading ebooks and it has been around so long that there are more firmware options than with the 5".

I switched back from the Pocket Pro to the Basic because the latter runs OpenInkPot firmware, which I like a lot. If OpenInkPot was ported to the Pocket Pro, I would probably switch back to it - but I don't feel limited by the Basic.

Thanks Wallcraft! I keep on hearing changing the fonts while using bolder font does help readability, I still prefer a better contrast one to start with. I am not sure why I ever need a firmware but will research on this OpinInkPot just to educate myself.

[SmartyPants]

Originally Posted by Sylver

I have a quick answer for you: no, it does not. Not only the existing model does not have it, the planned EZ Reader Plus will not have it either based on Robert's reply in another thread.

thanks for the answer Sylver!
oh well, its a shame, but i think a slightly larger screen size is of a bigger importance to my mum due to her bad eyesight.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by SmartyPants

wow, great timing, as my mum have been hungrily eyeing my PP ever since i got it...
now might be a time for her to get one of her own!
She is leaning towards a 6" model though, so i have very quick question - does the 6" model have the wheel on the right side for turning pages?

thanks!!

Dear Smarty:

I know. I love that scroll wheel also... but it is only on the 5 inch. The 6 inch never had one and will not get one as far as I can see.

I do not think they realize at the factory how popular that scroll wheel has become!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by SmartyPants

thanks for the answer Sylver!
oh well, its a shame, but i think a slightly larger screen size is of a bigger importance to my mum due to her bad eyesight.

Dear Smarty:

The 6 inch display can be better for a person with not optimal eyesite. Cannot argue. But just keep in mind the Pocket PRO has Text-To-Speech (TTS). While it is not perfect on sound of the voice... it could be a nice feature for her also!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Sylver

I do have a question for any of you who tried both the 6" and 5" models. The spec says 6" model has 4 levels of grayscale as opposed to 8 levels in the 5" pocket pro. I will mainly use this for read text, I read somewhere that says 4-level is even better than 8 or 16 levels as the text will appear darker, if anyone have seen/used both the 6" and 5", can you compare and let me know which screen has better contrast or they are virtually identical?

Dear Sylver:

I have both a 5 and a 6 inch and in my honest opinion you will never notice the difference between 8 level (5 inch) and 4 level gray scale (6 inch) except maybe on illustrations. While I like that the Pocket PRO (5 inch) has 8-level... being honest... I cannot tell the difference when simply reading, from where I sit.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Katerina1623

Oh no way...
So I'll be completely honest, I have been debating buying the EZ Reader Pro since August of last year. I FINALLY broke down and used my bonus money to buy one.. on Sunday. Literally two days ago and now there's a sale that would have made a huge difference for me. lol! Just my luck
If I call customer service do you think they'll be able to help me a bit considering that I *just* (5 minutes ago) eagerly opened my freshly delivered unit? *plead*

Dear Katerina:

Please believe that I am always honest on this forum. When I know a price drop is coming... I always try to warn people.

This time the Program Manager floored ALL of us with this out-of-the-blue sales for Mother's Day. It caught me unaware and we are all still amazed at the pricing he dropped to. This is purely HIS decision and he does things on the fly. When he calls a meeting we get two minutes to meet in the conference room.

I am sorry that we cannot drop the price on already purchased units. Even at $199 you got a device that is a real bargain on the market... it is packed with features all other 5 inch are sadly missing.

[Robertb]

Dear All:

Many of you have posted and we are seeing our little blowout on prices is drawing some high demand.

PLEASE, do not wait too long. This sale ends May 16 at midnight and will not likely be coming this way again. We started with a pretty limited supply of some colours of the Pocket PRO and I want to see you get the color you want. There are no rainchecks. If we run out of a color then you will have to pick another. I do not love that... but I am telling you all the truth.

[SmartyPants]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Smarty:

The 6 inch display can be better for a person with not optimal eyesite. Cannot argue. But just keep in mind the Pocket PRO has Text-To-Speech (TTS). While it is not perfect on sound of the voice... it could be a nice feature for her also!

thanks Robert!
another quick q, does TTS work with non-english language books?

also, does the sale end May 6 or May 16??

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by SmartyPants

thanks Robert!
another quick q, does TTS work with non-english language books?

also, does the sale end May 6 or May 16??

Good catch! Thank you, Smarty! Sale ends May 16 at midnight.

At present the TTS works with English and Chinese. We are trying to get the factory to add Spanish and otheer languages.