Astak EZ Reader Review by eReaderGuide.info

The Astak family of eReaders had high hopes to become a viable alternative to the Kindle and Sony ebook readers, but we've been disappointed by the features, despite a relatively cheap price. The EZ Reader is one of three eReaders unveiled by Astak in October 2009--the 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket Pro, 6-inch Mentor (or Mentor Lite), and the 6-inch EZ-Reader; a whopping 9.7-inch Mentor version is reportedly still in the works. Astak gained great publicity when it announced these products were on the way chock full of features and cheap, but the actual retail versions don't measure up, so beware the many "reviews" littering the web which hype the EZ Reader's planned, but not delivered, capabilities

The Astak readers are a joint project between Taiwanese PVI (screens), Netronix (assembly and design and Touch expertise), and the California-based Astak (end design and sales). The two Taiwanese companies have extensive experience marketing many models of eReaders. The EZ Reader lite is actually a variant of the Netronix EB-600, the most copied eReader design in the world (pity it isn't particularly exceptional). It has the same basic hardware as the the European Cybook Gen 3, the UK COOL-ER and Elonex, the Russian Pocketbook 301, the South Korean Soribook, NUUT and the US eSlick and Astak Mentor Lite.

The Astak EZ Reader comes in black or white with a satiny finish, and it weighs in at 7.2 ounces. The e-ink display is rather standard, with a mere 4 greyscales displayable, as opposed to the 16 in the leading ebook readers, so graphics will look rather primitive. It has seven buttons around the outer edge, all labeled with unintelligible icons, except for the obvious power button. There is no finger feedback when you press the buttons, a minor annoyance as we prefer a satisfying click typical of most eReaders.

The battery is good for about 8,000 page flips on one charge, good by current standards. Charging the EZ Reader takes 4 hours via AC outlet or 6 hours via USB cord. The battery is replaceable by the user, part of a welcome trend with newer eReaders. However, at 512MB of memory, it is on the sparse side, but you can add up to a 4GB memory card.

The EZ Reader supports 17 file types--most of the ebook types,and a smattering of audio and picture formats. It does well with PDFs, allowing reflow of the documents. There's not too much else to say about the EZ Reader--it has the rather standard e-ink display and typical features you'd expect of a modern eReader. Oddly, this 6-inch version has less capabilities in some respects than the smaller 5-inch model--no text to speech and only 4 compared to 8 greyscales for instance.

Menu language is available in English, Spanish, German, French, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese, and Russian.

Connecting: The Astak EZ Reader has no connectivity other than a USB 2.0 cable, a serious drawback when you consider leading eReaders like the Kindle 2 and Nook have cellular internet access for less money. The mini USB port itself is recessed, and you may have trouble using cables other than the one provided.

We're rather disappointed as early press releases said the Astak readers would have optional Bluetooth or WiFi support (and we still see a plethora of reviews and blogs out there which report this is as fact), but we'd guess these features were dropped to keep the price down.

Accessories: The EZ Reader comes with a simple carrying case, USB cable, ear buds for the 3.5mm standard jack, and AC power adapter ( a rarity in a time when most eReaders ship only with USB connection for powering). The faux leather case looks good, but can be a bit fiddly to close, requiring you to align the magnets just right.

That said, Astak themselves have no other eReader accessories on sale on their website, and third party developer products are sparse.

Price: The Astak EZ Reader retails for $279, but if given the choice, we'd always opt for the cheaper, but feature rich, Kindle 2 or Sony PRS 600.