Creating the perfect e-book reader device is no walk in the park, but iRex Technologies nearly reaches the market with its Iliad e-book reader ER 0100 (http://www.irextechnologies.com/shop/products/iliad.htm). Yes, that's the "iRex reader" we've been so feverishly talking about in the last few days. Thanks to Henrycat and our savvy readers we digged out some more tantalizing details for you. We already knew the Iliad would come with a reflective 8.1-inch XGA E Ink-based display; what's new is that the screen is touch-enabled thus accepting user input with a stylus. Other features include support for external SD/MMC and CF II memory cards, USB 1.1, wired (10/100mbit) and unwired (802.11b) Ethernet connections, and - this is the final death blow for the Sony Librie - support for various (audio-)e-book formats (Pdf, xhtml, txt, mp3, other formats in the future). The Iliad is powered with an ARM-based 400MHz Intel XScale which should be more than fast enough for snappy page turns. It comes with available 64MB RAM and 224MB Flash memory. Dimension: 155x216x16mm, weight: 390grams.

More information in the product specification (http://www.irextechnologies.com/downloads/Productleaflet-Iliad.pdf) (PDF).

We hold our breath for this to come true, but according to iRex, e-book fans will be able to buy this device in April 2006 through their web store (http://www.irextechnologies.com/shop/index.htm).

Related: iRex next-gen e-book reader based on e Ink (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5569) (discussion), iRex new eink device (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5561) (Henrycat's hi-res image of the Iliad)

Doesn't that look like a great way of reading the NY Times?

http://www.mobileread.com/upload/custom/iliad2.jpg

http://www.mobileread.com/upload/custom/iRex.jpg

Noticed the four buttons on the bottom?

- News (feeds?)
- Books (Library?)
- Docs (our conversions/texts?)
- Notes (index of annotations/bookmarks?)

Will have to buy one when it comes out, this way i can show the Librie and create a great impression, then i show the Iliad and bring everyone to their knees :D

It seems to be targeted at business users, so I guess it'll have a significant price tag. They describe it as a "first generation" device, so let's hope this is just the beginning and they have the resources to carry this through the next few years.

If it supports XHTML without any restrictions (like a proprietary archive format), it should be easy to let Sunrise generate output for it. (I already have 4bpp grayscale image conversion in place.)

Will have to buy one when it comes out, this way i can show the Librie and create a great impression, then i show the Iliad and bring everyone to their knees :D
Stop bragging :smash:

(btw, whatcha going to do with the Librie? You want to sell it to me for cheap?)

Stop braggingI'd say if you have the technology go ahead and flaunt it!

(btw, whatcha going to do with the Librie? You want to sell it to me for cheap?)

Na, i'm going to use it to start my ebook bookshelf.

This way when they talk about how they like their bookshelf i'll show them the beginning of my (e)bookshelf :D

Besides, the Librie is a good example of how the ebooks shouldn't be (when it was released), and of how it has to answer the users needs (like it is now).

Great to prepare the more sceptical when i'm "selling" the ebook idea.

Iliad in school:

http://www.mobileread.com/upload/custom/iliad3.jpg

Iliad at a construction site:

http://www.mobileread.com/upload/custom/iliad4.jpg

They could have gotten more attention if the picture was of a detailed map marked "Area 51!"

I just hope that the forward/back buttons are responsive to the touch.

They do seem bigger than the ones in the Librie...

I'm encouraged by their marketing strategy: They're showing the application of the Illiad across several markets. They are aiming fairly high and not limiting themselves to "just" the niche e-book enthusiast market. If they can strike the right balance of content (open formats that aren't laden with restrictive DRM), price, and usability, they just might succeed where the Librie failed.

It mentions in the spec http://www.irextechnologies.com/downloads/Productleaflet-Iliad.pdf
8.1 inch screen, but the visible area must be smaller than that, because the DPI for 8.1 and the given resolution is SQR(1024^2 + 768^2)/8.1 = 158DPI, not the claimed 160.

Anyhow, this is minor, but i'm expecting plenty of buggying "features" from any high-tech spin-off like this one...

The end of 2006 should open new niche for this line of product on a level of acceptable quality, imho...

It mentions in the spec http://www.irextechnologies.com/downloads/Productleaflet-Iliad.pdf
8.1 inch screen, but the visible area must be smaller than that, because the DPI for 8.1 and the given resolution is SQR(1024^2 + 768^2)/8.1 = 158DPI, not the claimed 160.
Netherland Inches or Imperial, surely not US.

The end of 2006 should open new niche for this line of product on a level of acceptable quality, imho...
Remember that the e-book "niche" has existed for many years. Until now, it failed to pick up though.

In fact the whole pen-tablet "niche" has been around since mid-90. I remember some pre-release announcement of an ARM-based machine and even a prototype to read newspapers, but then Apple bought ARM (or invested heavily on it) and aimed the chip for its own production line (Apple first declared it was to be used for "peripheral devices", suggesting printers but preannouncing the Newton).