I gave away my Augen The Book today. It’s a good device, but I already have a bunch and I gave it to someone who will use it.
I switched back to my Ectaco Jetbook, which is my preferred budget e-reader. As I use it right now I realize that it’s really not all that good of a value anymore. I used to like it because it was sturdy, compact, and cheap. This made up for the fact that it had limited features and it took a while to wake from sleep mode.
Unfortunately for the Jetbook (and its cousin, the Aluratek Libre), it’s no longer the best budget e-reader. Augen blew it out of the water when they released The Book for $99. The Book does have several bugs, but it exceeds the abilities of the Jetbook. It is, in almost every way, a better e-reader.
Let’s not stop there. Consider how The Book compares to the Kobo, Cybook Gen3, Cybook Opus, Hanlin V3/V5 and other basic e-readers. If you’re willing to accept a shorter battery life in exchange for a significantly cheaper price then The Book is a serious threat to their market share. Fortunately for them The Book is limited to the USA at the moment.
The latest shot in the e-reader price war has been fired by Augen. (Yes, that’s how big this is.) My guess is that Kobo will be the first to be impacted. Let’s see what happens.
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You forget the people who have become addicted to eInk (some of those haven’t even used it!).
The vocal E-ink advocates are fetishists. Ignore them.
No e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink, no e-Ink !
Also, bugs and design flaws:
http://beranger.org/post/840444722/augen-the-book-eba701-e-reader-a-failure-to-be
For $149, Nook is the best value, not Kobo. Actually, Kobo should sell for $89.
Have you ever had your hands on one?
i’ve been more than pleased despite the devices occasional confusion which is remedied by turning it off
Got a couple people on the hook to get one even though they would NEVER use an ereader