Chamber 4 reviews the Astak Pro; it gets a B+
By Paul Biba
Here is part of Chamber 4′s review. Clearly it gives the Sony PRS-300 a run for its money:
Seeing as I never cottoned to the BeBook, I was skeptical of another Hanlin ereader. But I was quite impressed by the Pocket Pro. Its big advantage is that it doesn’t sacrifice any features of the 6-inch model, except an inch of screen size. It does music, pictures, and SD cards every bit as well as the 6-inch ereaders that cost $100 more.
It has a slightly clunky interface, and a few minor annoyances, but Sony will have its share of little headaches, too, and Astak will definitely be better on customer support.
If you want a cheap, casual ereader, the choice is basically between the PRS-300 and the Pocket Pro (the jetBook enters the picture if you don’t need DRMed ebooks). If you want music, SD cards, text-to-speech, or search—or you don’t trust Sony—the Pocket Pro is definitely the device for you. Otherwise, it comes down to how much you value the interface.
If you want a touchscreen or wireless-enabled ereader, check out our ereader comparison. Personally, I think the more expensive ereaders have significant drawbacks (no library ebooks for Kindle, low contrast for Sony Touch, huge price tag for iRex), so the PRS-300 and the Pocket Pro are the first two I think you should consider.
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ebook readers, ereaders, Paul Biba, Sony, Sony Reader, TeleRead, Astak
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