Astak 6" EZ Reader e-Book Reader with Carrying Case, Black

Pros: Finally an ebook reader that lets you sort your books into folders! You would think that this would be a minimum feature on all ebook readers. Supports an amazing range of ebook formats. Insane battery life. No special software needed to transfer books from/to the device. Just plug it into a USB port and it reads it like a drive. Alternately, plug the SD card into an SD card reader and transfer the files that way. The library updates almost instantaneously when you plug in the SD card. No lengthy "Updating library..." process. Recent Files list is convenient for jumping back and forth between books. The bookmarks are per-book (up to 6 bookmarks each). Combined with the Recent Files list, this makes a nice system. PDF manual comes pre-loaded on the device. The pre-loaded books (including the manual) can be transferred to your computer. It remembers your place in each book.

Cons: The following are all minor nitpicks, and really don't bother me all that much, but it's only fair to list them. Ergonomics. The page turn buttons are inconveniently located. I wish the screen were a little bigger, although I understand that this is a pretty standard size for ebooks readers. The mini USB port is under one of those annoying flimsy plastic flaps. Page turning is a little slow, but not annoyingly so. No indexes in HTML files. You can sort books by title, but not by file name. You can't put books in a series in the correct order unless they include the number in the embedded title. Doesn't support SDHC, so you're limited to 4 GB SD. But honestly, who has more than 4 GB of books? 2-bit grayscale means it's pointless to use this to view pictures. At least they show if embedded in an ebook, but they're ugly.

Overall Review: I was pleasantly surprised by what came in the package: 1. Reader and stylish cover. 2. 2GB SD card with 500 books already on it, and enough room leftover for my entire library of 800 books. 3. Mini (jeweler's size) phillips screwdriver to remove the battery cover and install the battery. 4. USB cable that's actually a decent length. 5. Earbuds. 6. USB AC adapter. It has the same specs as the one I already had, so theoretically, any device that charges through USB can use this to charge through an electrical outlet. Of course, YMMV, so I can't guarantee that you'll receive the same in your package. That's why I'm not listing this in the Pros. "Pocket size" is a matter of opinion. Including the cover, it's about the size of a DVD case. A little narrower side-to-side and a little taller.

Pros: Excellent screen - high contrast and matte. Readable in any light suitable for ordinary paper. Amazing battery life, with no need to suspend or turn it off. Very nice cover that has a magnetic closure. Not a great image viewer, but servicable for reading manga.

Cons: Turning pages is a bit slow and causes a "flash" as the screen inverts, which is apparently common to all e-ink devices, but doesn't take long to get used to. Getting the cover off and on (to install the battery) is a bit tricky. The firmware it comes with is garbage, and messed up formatting on several books I tried - even some of the preinstalled ones! I highly recommend installing the OpenInkpot firmware (oi-hanlin-v3ext-install-0.2.zip).

Overall Review: The firmware from openinkpot.org also seems to handle images better - it can fit manga pages to the screen without blurring the text as much, anyway. Painted and colour images show the limitations of the 4 shades of grey. I had mostly used my Nokia 770 for reading ebooks before this. While the Nokia still has the advantage of being able to fit into a coat pocket, the battery would die if I forgot to plug it in, and the e-ink display is easier on the eyes when reading for long periods of time.

Pros: Excellent product for a money! Would say a purchase of the year as measure be utility per $. 1. Excellent sreen, easy to read, quick refresh. 2. Long battery life (read a lot for more that one week without charging it) 3. Comes with SD 2 gb card and some free books 4. User replacable battery. Well, is much better than sending unit and paying $$$ for a simple operation. 5. Cyrillic support. No need to do anything to have it, in contrast to Sony models. No patching necessary. 6. FB2 support. Many books are coming in FB2 our days. Loads them in seconds. 7. Reads PDFs, though if font used in PDF is small, it is not so comfortable to read. 8. MP3 is basic, but works Ok. Full charge keeps MP3 playing for about 7-9 hours. 9. Nice manmade leather cover. Very comforable to handle. 10. Best thing for travelling, specially for reading at the airplane. Not as heavy and big as laptops.

Cons: Not enough zooming in PDFs

Overall Review: Not really a con, but if you won't to read something at night, you will need a book led light. E-ink technology used allows for a long battery life, as energy is consumed only when turning the page, but as a result there is no backlight for the screen. I don't care about all fancy 3g services for book purchase and download as offered by many competitors as there a lof of free books on the internet.

Pros: Does everythiung I want it to do (except make coffee).

Cons: No internet (but I knew that). Grey scale (but I knew that). Screen refresh takes a second (but it should).

Overall Review: For the price, you can't beat it. I'm very satisfied. (Go to the website and upgrade the firmware, though).

Pros: built for serious reader. not a toy. sturdy. great case included. opens many format and does it well. pdf reflow works great, even many double columned stuff. doesn't attract attention of thieves by being flashy.

Cons: no dictionary.

Overall Review: at this moment if you just want to read ebooks without an hassle of conversions than go for it. If you want something trendy than wait a few months for the new ebook readers to arrive with sexier form factors. so long as pdf's aren't double columned with tons of images you are fine. CALIBRE and Mobipocket reader for pc work great with this reader.

Pros: At under 8oz it is comfortable to hold for hours. There are plenty of spaces on the eReader sides to hold the unit without accidentally pressing a key. It supports more text and graphic formats than any other eReader (14 eBook formats (including ePUB, PDF, HTML, PDB, MOBI, LIT, PRC, ..., 1 music format (MP3), 5 graphic formats, and 2 compression formats (RAR and ZIP)). Battery life is excellent. Size is perfect, anything larger would make it more difficult for travel. There is no screen glare which is so common to touch-screen models and it is very readable in dim light to sunlight. Nested file structure support allows you to easily catalog your eBook downloads. Very few other eBooks allow this level of file management. A customer replaceable battery is a major plus and so is having an SD card slot for memory expansion. It comes packaged with a well designed book cover which is usually a pricey optional accessory. Screens and directories are easy and logical to Navigate.

Cons: There is no built-in dictionary.

Pros: Excellent battery life. Easy to read. I love the fact it can handle so many formats.

Cons: It can be slow navigating. If you are a fast reader, page turning can be a bit frustrating. I wish the page was a bit bigger. 8 inch would have been perfect. If you're reading anything bigger than extra small, the page would be split to the next page.

Overall Review: It can zoom in so my grandmother with her bad eye site can read stuff on it.

Pros: I checked this product by maker's web site and found out this product can read multi-language. If you don't like original font, we can use your favorite font!. As other people say, it has long battery life, and paper like display which is very easy to read. You can read many kids of major files, therefore it is very easy to use. I read Japanese using sazanami-font. This product is not like toy but like very high quality gadget. I also like firmware made by linux because it is easy to update and I expect flexibility for new formats. I studied Kindle, Sony, and this product, and finally I decided to use it because I didn't want to spend money by downloading books but wanted to read many free classic books copy right are already expired. This product exactly meets my needs. I love it so much.

Cons: This maker's name is not so famous comparing to Sony or Kindle.

Overall Review: I don't need MP3 because I already have several MP3 players. By removing MP3 function, can it reduce price to $199 to compete with Sony?