The Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro
Price: $199 (the EZ Reader website)
Vital specs: 5-inch E-Ink display; supports Adobe ePub and PDF DRM; SD card slot (supports up to 32GB SDHC); mp3 player; text-to-speech; search within books
Accessories: USB cord; wall charger adapter; earphones; case; wrist strap; screwdriver and extra screws (for replacing the battery).
Astak’s new 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket Pro is a surprisingly strong competitor for best casual ereader (i.e., an ereader with no keyboard or wireless). The obvious comparison is to Sony’s new PRS-300 “Pocket Edition”—which has the same price point and size—and the Pocket Pro stacks up pretty well.
The Pocket Pro offers all the extras a standard 6-inch ereader does (a cover, an SD card slot, an mp3 player), whereas the PRS-300 has none of these features (and for some that’s been a deal-breaker). The Pocket Pro also has a few ground-breaking features that no other casual ereader has, namely text-to-speech and the ability to search within ebooks. Astak is also working on eReader format support, which would make it the first E-Ink device to support eReader books.
However, there are some annoyances that come along with the Pocket Pro. Primarily, its user interface is clunkier than a Sony’s. The Pocket Pro is a Hanlin build, like the BeBook, which I never liked as well as my Sony PRS-505, even though I wanted to. Pocket Pro shares some of the BeBook’s flaws, like the interface, but it’s also fixed many of the BeBook’s issues, and it boasts significantly better firmware (and Adobe DRM as opposed to the dying Mobipocket).
The Pocket Pro works best (and very well) for ePub books, other formats have some small issues attached. More on that below, under “Reading books.”
Ultimately, I see the Pocket Pro as a work in progress, with some rough edges that could still use polishing. Astak’s hard at work, though: they’ve already released two firmware updates (available here) since the Pocket Pro debuted a few weeks ago, and they seem to have more improvements in the works. These updates have both added major features like search, and worked to refine the display of PDFs. And, of course, their customer service is much better than Sony’s.
Let’s get into the details.
