edit: Don't miss Branko's follow-up (http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4556) where he answers reader questions!

Teleread's savvy contributor Branko Collin managed to visit those folks from iRex Technologies (http://www.irextechnologies.com/) and to get a first hands-on glimpse (http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4538) of the iRex iLiad (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/search.php?query=iRex+or+iLiad&do=process), you know this e-book reader that has a crushing complement of features: 8.1" 1024x768 touch-enabled E Ink display, WiFi 802.11b, 64MB Ram + 224MB Flash, and support for PDF, XHTML, TXT, MP3.

Branko discovered a few new interesting details:

The display is covered with a glass plate, which supposedly protects the water-sensitive E Ink microcapsules (http://www.eink.com/technology/howitworks.html) better than a plastic covering would.
It includes a "travel-hub" with a socket for the power supply, an RJ-45 Ethernet and a USB port (a cradle may be offered as an add-on later).
The actual screen refresh appears to be slower than the previously mentioned (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6127) 0.95s. According to Branko: The device seemed to take two seconds to render a new page; one to render it in memory, and the second to refresh the E Ink layer.


Make sure to visit Teleread to see a bunch of new photos depicting the iLiad in all its beauty. Our thanks to Branko for making the trip to the iRex headquarters.

That slow refresh bothers me.

That slow refresh bothers me.
Especially when you see how nicely the Jinke HanLin readers do screen refresh. I think there are a couple of links to videos on the comparison page (http://www.mobileread.com/eink/).

Edit: Here we go: http://www.the-ebook.org/files/jinke/CIMG2367.AVI

Especially when you see how nicely the Jinke HanLin readers do screen refresh. I think there are a couple of links to videos on the comparison page (http://www.mobileread.com/eink/).

Edit: Here we go: http://www.the-ebook.org/files/jinke/CIMG2367.AVI
Actually I think it's similar to the iRex; watch when the person presses a key how it takes about a second to start the refresh and then another to finish it. The actual refresh might take around one second only, but it seems, like Branko said, there is another second involved in either rendering the content internally or transfering it from the memory to the E Ink screen.

the second part is up now.

Doesn't it render/buffer the next/last page(s) while reading the current one?

Edit: I like the idea of using a glass front. I'm hoping it is more wear resistant.

glass?
will that be better than plastic covered ones + screen protector?

no other protective case?
to my knowledge...glass breaks...

i think hanlin is better in this regard...

Shame that the Hanlin has very little in the way of anti-relecttive coating on their screen though. ( from looking at available pictures. )

Shame that the Hanlin has very little in the way of anti-relecttive coating on their screen though. ( from looking at available pictures. )

Info from Jinke V8 owner... (from first hands, so to say)

Chinese put 2 (two) coating films on the screen of V8! )))

It's realy so! One coating film can be seen and removed just like in many other devices, like pda etc.

The other film is almost "invisible".
No one can suspect, there is one more coating film.

The edges of the film are under the plastic frame of the V8's body.
It can be carefully removed with a little help of a needle.

After this the screen is absolutely pretty! Almost no reflection at all!
So a secret of V8 ))))

Since 9-th of march it was never charged! The power saving and usage of the device is tremendous!

HeyTaKir!

Could you perhaps write a review of your device for the forum?

Also...how did you manage to obtain one of these and how much did you pay???
Did you go to China directly?
Thanks.

2 CommanderROR
I realy don't have V8 yet (( But my familiar has one.

He plans to sell it in Russia and with the help of Jinke and enthusiasts from Russia and abroad now is making localisation of the device for our market. Now many troubles are gone, some changes (hardware & software) done, so the process is on it's way to the good end. ))

The Chinese from Jinke offered me to order a sample of V8 for $250 (f.o.b. Tianjin)

There is a review in russian at http://www.the-ebook.org/e107/content.php?article.96

Discussion in russian here:
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5124

Some photos here:
http://www.lbook.com.ua/foto/jinke08.jpg (first book read at Jinke V8)
http://www.lbook.com.ua/foto/jinke13.gif (the screen after removing of 2 coated films)
http://www.the-ebook.org/files/jinke/jinke2.jpg (what comes in package of V8)

I can only try to gather all present info about V8 and translate into english, or something like this...

that would already help a lot...there seems to be quite some hands-on experience in russia...but I can't even read the letters...and if I could I still would not understand a word...^^

I'd buy a V8 from china, but i think the shipping and import costs would be too high. The fact that it has no german language support would be of no great concern to me because I read 99% english books anyway...but I think I'll get the Iliad or V2 when they appear.
This would probably be a better and more sensible arrangement.

But please feel free to post all the translated information you can...we (or at least I) are absolutely happy every time we find a new scrap of information about one of these devices... :rolleyes5

But please feel free to post all the translated information you can...we (or at least I) are absolutely happy every time we find a new scrap of information about one of these devices... :rolleyes5
I second that ;)

hi once again.

I just called iRex to finally clear up the issue of page-turns/hours battery life...something that has been worrying me for some time now.
Unfortunately the lady at the phone couldn't answer me..but she told me I should send an email and wrote my name down so she could "prioritize" it's handling. they apparently have a lot of emails lying around...*Big_Surprise*
I hope i'll receive some kind of answer soon...but i'm not optimistic...

if somebody here has a good connection to iRex maybe you could ask the same question...or am I the only one who is wondering how 21hours is supposed to be the same as 10000+ Pageturns?

I imagine a huge part of the battery life issue is the number of non-page-turning features the Iliad has. If you use the wi-fi much or the pen it would drain the battery so they can't really give a strict page-turning count.

However, Irex has said that it should last more than a week if you use it for 3 hours every day, so that's something like a 24-hour battery life if you are using the device continuously. Given that, I think it should last at least 2-3 days with heavy use on just one charge; so battery life shouldn't be a problem for most people.

Personally the thing I worry most about is the refresh rate...but I think the device should be useable enough for me--I plan on putting the math and physics texts I need for class on it, and so I shouldn't need to turn the pages too quickly. For people that read very fast however, this would certainly be a major issue.

@drachasor

I think you don't understand my issue...I know that the Iliad has a lot of stuff onboard that drains battery life...but:
according to Branko Collins (via Teleread.org) the Touchscreen is only online when you take the pen out of it's holder. so that's no prob. The Wifi is only on when you press the button, so again...no worries about that...

What really worries me is that the two numbers that irex officially gives are kind of contraditory.
21+hours is a lot less than 10000+ Pageturns. 21 hours is not even 1000 pageturns...and both times iRex says "reading", not usage. If you take the stylus, use processor-intensive apps, access WiFi..then battery-life goes down...no problem in understanding that...but reading alone should not drain the battery in 21hours, especially if you are supposed to be able to do 10000 pageturns...no way...impossible.

that's what's freaking me out.

Well, the figures I have seen a quote stating "about a week's usage with 3 hours of reading per day," but that doesn't preclude it being used for other things each day--I bet this 3-hour figure is more of an "average use" statement, which includes jotting things down, perhaps marking up the text, downloading reading material, etc. I suspect the whole issue is just lack of clarity on this whole 3/hours per day business. Stating hours of use makes a lot of sense in terms of testing the product (which include non-reading activities); but I find it hard to believe they somehow had people only read with the device in such testing.

Since they did tell Branko it could be used for 10,000 page turns before running out of juice, I suspect this figure is, strictly speaking, accurate. That doesn't mean any common user is going to get 10,000 page turns out of the device on a single charge though.

Possible...I hope wel'll get an official statement soon.

I had another thought.

The Iliad can read a lot of different formats, and it will have multiple readers with more to come. Given this, and that some books will have DRM encryption and some won't, there is going to be a fair bit of variability in how much energy is used in a given period of time. That would also make a per page prediction a bit difficult--or at least, innaccurate if you only count the energy used to refresh a page and not to do the processing to render a page.

Anyhow, I hope Irex posts when they the device will be for sale soon.

Branko Collins over at Teleread.org has now put the third part of his Iliad "Review" online.

Enjoy: http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4619

Irex signed agreement with Guangzhou KingSun.

Cooperative agreement signed with Guangzhou KingSun Software R&D Center Co. Ltd.
http://www.irextechnologies.com/downloads/060406-PressRelease-KingSun-iRex.pdf

Chineese press-release:
http://www.jcnip.com/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=161

It's funny, the specs in Irex link differs from specs at chineese link :rolleyes5

In chineese press-release Irex called ER 0102, and at http://www.irextechnologies.com/home.htm they call it ER0100.

ER 0102 - special model for China?
May be all this disorder with pdf-s at Irex site is because of different specs for two models?

In that case I have a strong suspicion, it will not cost $800 in China :)