Reader Henrique "Henrycat" Catarrunas got his hands (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6320) on the iRex iLiad reader during a conference (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6320) at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar in Portugal, and he was kind enough to send us a picture of his new baby. From the picture (attached to this post) it's obvious how much better the 1024x768 screen (with 16 grey scales) works for e-content compared to the 800x600 screen (with 4 grey scales) of the now slightly outdated Sony Librie.

Some nifty features of the iRex we didn't discuss before:

Native support for PDF documents loaded straight from a CF card or even from a USB pen.
Auto conversion of color pictures to grey scale.
HTML documents are displayed as one page, which you can "flip" down.

For those miserable about the delayed launch (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6379), Henrique was able to get some more information about this too. As we mentioned before, there's a problem with the iRex Web store which doesn't seem to be quite ready yet (according to Henrique, problems are related to processing and authorizing payments). But there are also still some unsolved software issues. The company who does the embedded Linux OS hasn't delivered a final version yet. The software reader, apparently called Apabi Reader and made by a Chinese company (http://www.apabi.com.cn/) (check out this flash presentation (http://www.apabi.com.cn/image/apabi%20reader%20demo.swf)) renders PDF documents too slow, which can perhaps be solved by precaching content. Meanwhile iRex is building up stock and expects more iLiad devices to arrive by the first week of May 2006.

Henrique, since you were granted the iLiad as a "permanent loan" (no comment!), please keep us updated as we are all craving for more photos and information!

Alexander
Really Good News!


But I have to "put a fly in the ointment"... If "The company who does the embedded Linux OS hasn't delivered a final version yet", folks from Irex have to update firmware in each from thousands device they produce.

I see 2 variants:

- all Iliads are still at a factory (Philippines), not packed in retail boxes. It can take couple of days to udate firmware (if it is already finished), and to pack them in boxes. +shipment to Europe - 7-10 days by a ship. (I doubt, they will deliver Iliads by plane).

- thousands of Iliads are already at Irex, they need much more time to unpack them, make updates, then pack them all "as they were".
So, as I think, the optimistic time for real selling Iliads from their webshop is 15-th May...

And I didn't count time for testing Iliads with new firmware...

You know it is with Linux... it's never really final ;) Seriously, I cannot imagine iRex to hire some people to unpack each and every iLiad device just to run the update. Instead, they will probably include a note that upgrades are available through their wireless IDS service.

Btw, thank Henrycat for the good news, for he is the chosen one by iRex to have received a free iLiad reader!

You know it is with Linux... it's never really final ;) Seriously, I cannot imagine iRex to hire some people to unpack each and every iLiad device just to run the update. Instead, they will probably include a note that upgrades are available through their wireless IDS service.


Then why did they called it as a reason of delay??? They could sell them and update later, of course. (I think it takes near a minute). But they told it themselves...

Then why did they called it as a reason of delay??? They could sell them and update later, of course. (I think it takes near a minute). But they told it themselves...
Well, I think it's really the Web store issue that has been causing the delay.

The other issues Henrique were pointing out are merely software-related and could always be fixed at a later stage.

Then why did they called it as a reason of delay??? They could sell them and update later, of course. (I think it takes near a minute). But they told it themselves...

Just got a little time and decided to write something :)

The Iliad will update itself through IDS, the user only needs a wireless connection or wired connection, push the button and get the latest OS version, with optimizations, viewers, etc.

I talked with mister Henzen and i have to reluctanly agree that they should sell the device with a "core" set of functions working.

If they say in the box the device reads PDF, XHTML and MP3, it should do those things.

Right now it does, haven't tried mp3 yet :|, but not smoothly.

Although people here at the forum wouldn't mind that, just imagine if the general public heard the Iliads were less than perfect.

Has an owner of a Librie i have a good idea of how the first impressions counts, even when later all the problems got "fixed".

Irex is simply waiting to garantee the quality of it's products.

One of the biggest problems i encountered is that this OS version doesn't have any power management, so the device "only" lasts 5-7 hours with everything on (CF and SD on, wireless on, processor at full, writing on, etc).

When i asked Alex told me power management could reduce battery use 95 up to 99% in the next OS, to be released this week.

Not too bad i think :D



What would you like for me to do in the review??

Just present your questions and when i get home i start working on it.

- The html page on the pic is offline, i just saved it to the CF card.

- The pdf has it's own viewer, it doesn't use Apabi. Alex said the name of the open source viewer but i don't remenber it -_-'

- I don't if it has been mentioned before but the Iliad screen is way bigger than the Librie screen.

If you rotate the Librie screen it's the same width of the iliad screen.

Librie - 12x9 cm
Iliad - 12x16 (almost double)

I like the screen of the librie for text, has you can see i use it without almost any "inside" margin, but the Iliad is great for comics, manga, and "uncroped" pdfs :D

You know it is with Linux... it's never really final ;) Seriously, I cannot imagine iRex to hire some people to unpack each and every iLiad device just to run the update. Instead, they will probably include a note that upgrades are available through their wireless IDS service.

Btw, thank Henrycat for the good news, for he is the chosen one by iRex to have received a free iLiad reader!

I think the fact i have been talking with mr. Henzen since february 2004 helped a lot :)

I have also presented the device to the company i'm currently working and other portuguese publishers.

You could say i'm they sales representative here in Portugal :D

Wow thanks for all the details, Henrique!! I am not so happy that the power management issues, but it's good to hear that they are working on it.

What I'd like to see: more photos!!! ;)

well first of all...thanks for doing this.

Review questions?

Well...more photos would be great, especially pics of the Iliad next to the librie, paper and maybe an LCD screen.

You said the Mobileread page was offline...could you view it online as well? I'm going to use this as a book reader, but having occasional access to the web would be pretty cool as well.

The device has power management problems...very bad...why did iRex tell me (or rather tell branko) that the device will last for 10000+ pageturns when they haven't even implemented any power management at all?

Oh yes...another one...

if you read a book (say in PDF or TXT format) and want to jump to page 224...how is that organized? Can you search a book? how well (if at all) does annotoation work, and in which fashion?

Is the screen, apart from bigger (which I love!), noticeably better than the Librie? Pics often show some quirky pixels, but I don't know if that's just from photographing a screen, which is always hard, and/or me seeing a 160dpi screen on my PC monitor (like seeing an ad for a better TV on a not-so-good TV, LOL).
From the picture which shows the list of books on the iLiad (from the Irex page): is this something like the tag (ID3) one can put on mp3's in Winamp, so any book I load on the iLiad can have this information updated (by me)? Or will this only be available on books received from the IDS server or otherwise prepared by the publisher?
You say it "only" lasts 5-7 hours (hehe) with everything on, can you actually have everything "off", or at least some of the functionalities, or is that what they're working on?
Can you have folders/subdirectories in the file directory, to be able to organize your books, or is everything in one big bag?
How does it manage html files with accompanying folders (where all the images, css files, etc. are)?

That's all for now, MANY thanks for taking the time to review it for us. :)

Sorry for the delay but my internet provider is messing around with the internet connection :(

It worked ok yesterday, but today it's acting up again...

Right now i'm using a laptop from a friend of mine that is "borrowing" a wireless connection :)



Anyway time for some answers, but first you have to consider some points:

- My Iliad has the final hardware, but not the final software. This is important because right now i'm more of a beta tester than a final user.

According to Alex Henzen, most of the problems, like the power managment are alredy fixed. My device doesn't have the last version because it's still being tested, but when it is released next week i just have to update the device.

I decided to write things like i have found them, but a few days from now they will be diferent. I could have waited a few days and then write something up, but somehow i thought you would prefer if i didn't wait :)

Please keep this in mind when you read everything i write ;)
I hoped not to create negative publicity when i decided to write about the device has it is.





Questions

- Online viewer?
The iliad was never meant to be an online viewer, but since it has been talked about a lot, iRex is considering some sort of web capture. Basicaly there would be a web server catching the user requests, and creating/sending an offline page.

It isn't final that it will be created, but it is planned to begin the study of it's implementation around the end of the year. It's not first priority, because anything that would require constant wireless will be a major power drain.



- Power management

Like i already said the power management isn't working yet, but that gives a good idea of how the device would behave in max settings let's say.

I seriously doubt anyone will be using the reader at full processor speed, writing with the stilus, reading CF and SD cards, and connecting through the wireless.

The page count given by iRex was made using the xhtml reader constantly fliping pages. The page number is actually higher if you would consider only reading. But they had to also consider casual wireless use, CF SD use, and ocasional annotation.

The page count will have to be updated for the "final" OS version, and i was told it will probably be higher because of all the optimizations.

When they mention time instead of pages, they are considering you are writing on screen, using heavily the processor and CF SD cards.

Has you can see it's two very different things.



- Navigation bar
I will have to show pictures, but this laptop doesn't have a card reader :( so it will have to wait maybe tomorrow my connection will be ok.
Also, any picture that i show of the menus will be temporary because they are being updated for the "final" version.

I can already input the page number using the screen keyboard, and in the "final" OS version use character recognition.

They have also arranged an ingenuous way for the problem of page numbering in various zooms. Basically you have a "fixed" numbering. When you zoom in/out the program breaks the page in various sub pages.

You can still say go to page 244. if it is zoomed you start at the first part of the page, and you can go to the following parts, and the following "page".
The reader shows an icon representation when a page is broken in subpages.



- Annotation
Annotation will create an image file that is "anchored" in the text. Although i can write onscreen but i can't save it yet (one of things working already on the final version).

It will depend on the viewer it the images are seperate or encapsulated. if i remenber correctly only the apabi reader will encapsulate the notes in the book.

Since the device uses independent viewers it is possible annotation will vary in other readers.



- Screen quality
I can see a big diference when reading on the Iliad. It has much better contrast between the black and white. It is also quicker changing pages (after the caching delay).

This is because the Iliad and Sony reader use the "second version" of eink screens. I don't know about Jinke, but it probably also uses the same.




Any other questions? Lets hope tomorrow i will have the internet working ok :)

What would you like for me to do in the review??

Just present your questions and when i get home i start working on it.

- The html page on the pic is offline, i just saved it to the CF card.



I like to read a lot of web news . If I used a program, like Webzip and saved a site like CNN or Fox plus all links within the sites to a CF card, would I be able to click onto those links on the Iliad while offline?


BTW thanks for taking the time to answer any questions. I know it must be difficult to tear yourself away from your prized possession. :wink:

How's the display rate when you're writing? Is it difficult to write notes, or does the screen keep up?

How ist the bookmark Management? I think that will be very important for me.
Do they have a dictionary implemented? Would be very helpful some times.
Anything like Calendar, Addressbook and usual PDA stuff planned or integrated?
Can you stor stuff directly on the Iliad by ftp or the like?
Can you install your own fonts? If so, which type of fonts (TTF, PS, OpenType)?
Can you provide your own styles for XML files?

You wouldnt believe, how jealous I am of you at the moment ;)

Thanks for your work :) Well, fun would be more precise, wouldnt it?

According to Alex Henzen, most of the problems, like the power managment are alredy fixed. My device doesn't have the last version because it's still being tested, but when it is released next week i just have to update the device.
It's great to hear that they are working round the clock to get make this beauty shine ;)

When they mention time instead of pages, they are considering you are writing on screen, using heavily the processor and CF SD cards.
So if I understand correctly, with the final software version, you could turn everything completely off when you only want to read a book, and thus maintaining a battery life similar to that of the Sony Reader?

I will have to show pictures, but this laptop doesn't have a card reader :( so it will have to wait maybe tomorrow my connection will be ok.
Thank you!! Cannot wait to see them.

can see a big diference when reading on the Iliad. It has much better contrast between the black and white. It is also quicker changing pages (after the caching delay). This is because the Iliad and Sony reader use the "second version" of eink screens. I don't know about Jinke, but it probably also uses the same.
The iLiad has slightly fewer ppi (158 compared to 167 of 6-inch screen devices). But I guess from your account that this doesn't have a visible negative impact.

Any other questions? Lets hope tomorrow i will have the internet working ok :)
Here is one: How is the feel factor of the device? It looks a lot bigger than the other readers, and I wonder if your arm gets tired from holding it for a longer time. Also, how easy is it to "flip" pages? I remember fondly back in the past the good old scroll wheel of my Sony Clie.

Thanks for taking the time, Henrique. You rock! :D

Henrique,

Thanks for the info!

Just one question:

What book formats does it support in total (Does it support eBooks that use the Adobe eBook format? Does it support the Microsoft format eBooks?)? Do they plan on implementing such support?

The reason I ask is, what is the point of having a super-car without gas to power it.

Thanks!
Sam Krupa

Hello Henrycat, thank you for your information, and your kind offer for taking questions!

I want to know if the iLiad is capable of displaying multibyte characters (especially Japanese) in it's PDF/TEXT/XHTML browsers.
There are some downloadable files to test this:

Multilingual PDFs

http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/unicodeexample.pdf
Sample Outputs of Many Languages in the World, File 1 (Languages in Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States) (http://www2.tba.t-com.ne.jp/ing/ing/smpl_1.pdf)
Sample Outputs of Many Languages in the World, File 2 (Languages in Europe, South and North America, Oceania, etc.) (http://www2.tba.t-com.ne.jp/ing/ing/smpl_2.pdf)

Sample PDFs for Japanese "top to bottom, right to left" writing direction

http://www.let.osaka-u.ac.jp/~kinsui/tex/hokok98/1213c/keika2e.pdf
http://www.let.osaka-u.ac.jp/~kinsui/tex/kunkai.pdf
http://monju.elec.ryukoku.ac.jp/abe/AFC/Mojikyo/shousinng.pdf

UTF-8 plain text (more can be found in openi18n's testsuite (http://www.openi18n.org/subgroups/testsuites/interactive/im-tests/im-tests-scenario.html))

http://www.openi18n.org/subgroups/testsuites/interactive/more-tests/more.test1.txt
http://www.openi18n.org/subgroups/testsuites/interactive/more-tests/more.test2.txt

HTML

http://homepage2.nifty.com/PAF00305/lib/unicode.html
http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode-example.html
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/utf8.html
http://www.macchiato.com/unicode/Unicode_transcriptions.html

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a multilingual test page written in valid XHTML.
But FYI, there's HTML Tidy (http://tidy.sourceforge.net/) to convert (and tidy up) HTMLs into XHTML.
I tested it using a Windows binary (http://dev.int64.org/tidy.html), and converted http://homepage2.nifty.com/PAF00305/lib/unicode.html by doing:
tidy -utf8 -asxhtml -m unicode.html
It worked fine, and gave me a valid XHTML in UTF-8. :)

I hope it's not too much trouble for you...

I have another, rather specific question:

Did iRex tell you anything new concerning how much information will be available for developers? I'm no programmer myself, but I see what all those freelance and semi-professional programmers out there did and still do for other devices, so my hopes are high, that there will be freeware apps for things like calender (a simple one would be enough for me) and additional reader software. Branko Collins gave us some insight on this, and things sounded pretty hopeful, but I'd love to hear some confirmation.

The newest rumour: Iliad will be on sale at the end of May...somebody over in the webshop-delay thread just apparently got that information from iRex by phone...can somebody (Henrycat?) please confirm this?
Thanks.

There are two new messages in that thread, both by new members, one of them calling the Iliad "vaporware" and the other claiming this further delay...call me paranoid...but somehow I'm not sure I should believe them...or maybe it's just wishful thinking...

:vulcan:

Sorry for the delay but:

- Internet not working
- So reinstall windows
- but Windows cd no bootable (i'm not at home so don't have access to my usual cd's)
- so install longhorn beta and prayed (bootable and given by a friend some time ago)
- so far OK
- write answers, take pictures
- when uploading internet down (2 times!!)
- This beginning to look like work :P

Internet is working so i will post everything i have got so far. I'll break it in posts. (Alexander feel free to mess around with the posts :rolleyes: )

The following pictures illustrate what user's asked, and what i answer in the posts.



http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1424.JPG http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1428.JPG

http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1430.JPG http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1431.JPG

http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1435.JPG http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1437.JPG

http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1439.JPG http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1441.JPG

http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1442.JPG http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_IMG_1445.JPG

http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_with%20flash.JPG http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/s_without%20flash.JPG


Big pics:

http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1424.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1428.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1430.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1431.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1435.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1437.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1439.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1441.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1442.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/IMG_1445.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/with%20flash.JPG
http://ilimas.com.sapo.pt/without%20flash.JPG

From the picture which shows the list of books on the iLiad (from the Irex page): is this something like the tag (ID3) one can put on mp3's in Winamp, so any book I load on the iLiad can have this information updated (by me)? Or will this only be available on books received from the IDS server or otherwise prepared by the publisher?

So far all my files only show their name, so i suppose it probably will have to be a specific format to show this extra information.

I don't remenber if it appeared on mr. Henzen device. I'll have to ask him.


You say it "only" lasts 5-7 hours (hehe) with everything on, can you actually have everything "off", or at least some of the functionalities, or is that what they're working on?


That's one of the things that is being finished for the update of next week.


Can you have folders/subdirectories in the file directory, to be able to organize your books, or is everything in one big bag?


You can have subdirectories. My OS version doesn't present any "quick" way to go back more than one subdirectory, but i think the new had a generic directory structure similar to the one from Windows Vista.


How does it manage html files with accompanying folders (where all the images, css files, etc. are)?

Right now it show all the files by alphabetical order, even files in formats the device doesn't work yet.

File filters are to be added later :P

That's all for now, MANY thanks for taking the time to review it for us. :)

Here to help with what i can :)

I like to read a lot of web news . If I used a program, like Webzip and saved a site like CNN or Fox plus all links within the sites to a CF card, would I be able to click onto those links on the Iliad while offline?


I download Webzip and saved the Wired magazine.
I copied the directory it created to the CF and opened it in the device. Then i tried opening links but couldn't get it to work :(

I then decided to create a simple "website":
- 1.htm
- 2.htm
- level/3.htm

Copied it to CF and tried it. It works but you have to do some "point and click" to use text links since you have to "click" on the text :P
I'll have to ask mr. Henzen if they are planning on creating auto hotspots for text links...

So if the simple website works why not wired? I was looking at it in the PC browser and noticed it creates fixed links:
c:\website\1.html -> c:\website\2.html -> c:\website\level\1.html

Instead of relative links (1.htm -> 2.htm -> level/3.htm)

Does anyone know any setting in webzip to do relative linking from the root were the site is saved? or other program that does it?


BTW thanks for taking the time to answer any questions. I know it must be difficult to tear yourself away from your prized possession. :wink:


I'm glad to do anything i can to help the device appeall to the public, except disassemble it :)

Alexander feel free to mess around with the posts :rolleyes:
Heh, "mess around", I hope you don't feel that way ;)

I'll reupload the pictures here asap.

How's the display rate when you're writing? Is it difficult to write notes, or does the screen keep up?

It is fast but i had to write a little slowly than usually. I can easely write/draw on screen.

When i borrowed the device to a friend of mine he actually wrote at full speed without waiting for the screen to update. It was a little weird but he liked it...

I could make a video with my (photo) camera to give an idea of the speed but it doesn't have a lot of quality :(

You can see the quality of video in the videos i made from my librie:
Librie Boot (http://www.freewebtown.com/henrycat/files/videos/files/boot.rar)
Librie working (http://www.freewebtown.com/henrycat/files/videos/files/screen_refresh.rar)

I don't have the stand for the camera right now, so the image will be shaky :P

How ist the bookmark Management? I think that will be very important for me.


The device on-screen toolbal has a button to bookmark, and another to show the list of bookmarks of the book you are reading.

I think i'm remembering correctly, my device doesn't have it yet but i saw it working on Alex device which had the latest OS version.

It seemed easy enough :)


Do they have a dictionary implemented? Would be very helpful some times.
Anything like Calendar, Addressbook and usual PDA stuff planned or integrated?


Right now it isn't planned. Irex was aiming at making only an ebook reader, so no "PDA" functionality was to be included.
But, it has been mentioned a lot so they are planning of including it till the end of the year.

The device doesn't bring a dictionary because they consider it "content" that publishers could sell. I got the impression it could be offered through IDS after the lunch, but it was more of a maybe than a certainty.


Can you stor stuff directly on the Iliad by ftp or the like?

The device can be connected to a PC and is recognized has an usb disk. I have no idea if this allows it to be shared for ftp :P

Could you give an example of how i can check this?

Also, the device wasn't planned to access a library in the PC by wireless. But guess what? Since it has been talked, it's also one of the things that is being studyed :)


Can you install your own fonts? If so, which type of fonts (TTF, PS, OpenType)?


I can't install fonts on my device, but i can create PDFs with any font i want. See picture with a list of fonts ;)

It's one of the things they are working on the final version, but it seems it is giving them some problems. I'll have to ask to see how it working :P


Can you provide your own styles for XML files?


Do you mean if i can create my XML file with my styles? Or if i can change an existing XMl to what i like?

Yes to the first, anything that a browser can do the Iliad should be able to do, if you are thinking XML only without use of plugins.

The second is trickier since it would require a lot of convertion (which can easily go wrong).


You wouldnt believe, how jealous I am of you at the moment ;)
Thanks for your work :) Well, fun would be more precise, wouldnt it?

Yes i have heard that a lot recently :D

Like Alex told me, if the market doesn't show some support for this Black and White device, then there won't be any faster/color/video devices in the future.

I'll just do what i can so it won't come to that.

Is that Gisele on one of the photos, Henrycat?

So if I understand correctly, with the final software version, you could turn everything completely off when you only want to read a book, and thus maintaining a battery life similar to that of the Sony Reader?

Or even better ;)

Its hard to give certainties, because it all depends on how the OS and viewer is optimized. Even if the OS is 100% the viewer can only be 50%, some viewers might need more power, etc...


The iLiad has slightly fewer ppi (158 compared to 167 of 6-inch screen devices). But I guess from your account that this doesn't have a visible negative impact.

Unless you are using a microscope it should be neglegible. Just the fact that the background is "whittier" in the Iliad improves the reading. Add to that the 16 greys and you have a much better legibility than the Librie.


Here is one: How is the feel factor of the device? It looks a lot bigger than the other readers, and I wonder if your arm gets tired from holding it for a longer time.

I find it as easy to hold as the Librie and not heavy at all. 390 might seem a lot but compared to Davinci codes... ;)

Also, how easy is it to "flip" pages? I remember fondly back in the past the good old scroll wheel of my Sony Clie.


With the flipbar it's very easy to flip pages, even with only one hand (use it almost all the time). The only doubt i have would be for left handed users...

Thanks for taking the time, Henrique. You rock! :D
You said it not me :D

Is that Gisele on one of the photos, Henrycat?

Yep, Victorias angels pdf i think. Just tried for something "nice" to look at :D

Henrique,
What book formats does it support in total?

The device reads pdf and html/xhtml.

I have been reading pdfs i already had, or created pdf's from regular text, because right now it gives the best formatting (hiphnization, page layout, etc).

Viewers will become available with time. Alex told me they will invest heavily on it after the device begins selling.

Formats like mobypocket are expected, but they (mobipocket) haven't responded to Irex yet.

The suport for Apabi and Openreader is also being studied, but don't know how far it is.

There is also the possibility of users creating viewers.


(Does it support eBooks that use the Adobe eBook format? Does it support the Microsoft format eBooks?)?
Do they plan on implementing such support?


Right now it only reads normal PDFs. Support for encripted PDFs is only expected end of the year (there is already a company working on it).

I asked about support for LIT files, and was told Microsoft hasn't answered to any of the requests from iREx. :angry:

Will probably have to wait for a "user" viewer. Or just convert to html files...

Hello Henrycat, thank you for your information, and your kind offer for taking questions!

I want to know if the iLiad is capable of displaying multibyte characters (especially Japanese) in it's PDF/TEXT/XHTML browsers.
There are some downloadable files to test this:


Multilingual PDFs

http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/unicodeexample.pdf
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/unicodeexample%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/unicodeexample.JPG


Sample Outputs of Many Languages in the World, File 1 (Languages in Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States) (http://www2.tba.t-com.ne.jp/ing/ing/smpl_1.pdf)
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Sample%20Outputs%20of%20Many%20Languages%20%28240x 180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Sample%20Outputs%20of%20Many%20Languages.JPG


Sample Outputs of Many Languages in the World, File 2 (Languages in Europe, South and North America, Oceania, etc.) (http://www2.tba.t-com.ne.jp/ing/ing/smpl_2.pdf)
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Sample%20Outputs%20of%20Many%20Languages2%20%28240 x180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Sample%20Outputs%20of%20Many%20Languages2.JPG




Sample PDFs for Japanese "top to bottom, right to left" writing direction

http://www.let.osaka-u.ac.jp/~kinsui/tex/hokok98/1213c/keika2e.pdf
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/keika2e%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/keika2e.JPG


http://www.let.osaka-u.ac.jp/~kinsui/tex/kunkai.pdf
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/kunkai%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/kunkai.JPG


http://monju.elec.ryukoku.ac.jp/abe/AFC/Mojikyo/shousinng.pdf
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/shousinng%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/shousinng.JPG



UTF-8 plain text (more can be found in openi18n's testsuite (http://www.openi18n.org/subgroups/testsuites/interactive/im-tests/im-tests-scenario.html))

http://www.openi18n.org/subgroups/testsuites/interactive/more-tests/more.test1.txt
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/test1%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/test1%20%281024x768%20pixels%29.JPG


http://www.openi18n.org/subgroups/testsuites/interactive/more-tests/more.test2.txt
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/test2%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/test2.JPG



HTML

http://homepage2.nifty.com/PAF00305/lib/unicode.html

http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/unicode2.JPG
http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/unicode.JPG


http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode-example.html

http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/unicodeexample2.JPG
http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/unicodeexample.JPG


http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/utf8.html

http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/utf82.JPG
http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/utf8.JPG


http://www.macchiato.com/unicode/Unicode_transcriptions.html

http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/Unicode_transcriptions1%202.JPG http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/Unicode_transcriptions2%202.JPG
http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/Unicode_transcriptions1.JPG
http://ilimas2.com.sapo.pt/Unicode_transcriptions2.JPG






Unfortunately, I couldn't find a multilingual test page written in valid XHTML.
But FYI, there's HTML Tidy (http://tidy.sourceforge.net/) to convert (and tidy up) HTMLs into XHTML.
I tested it using a Windows binary (http://dev.int64.org/tidy.html), and converted http://homepage2.nifty.com/PAF00305/lib/unicode.html by doing:
tidy -utf8 -asxhtml -m unicode.html
It worked fine, and gave me a valid XHTML in UTF-8.

http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Tidy1%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Tidy2%20%28240x180%20pixels%29.JPG

http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Tidy1%20%281024x768%20pixels%29.JPG
http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Tidy2.JPG

I hope it's not too much trouble for you...

Finished editing

I have another, rather specific question:

Did iRex tell you anything new concerning how much information will be available for developers? I'm no programmer myself, but I see what all those freelance and semi-professional programmers out there did and still do for other devices, so my hopes are high, that there will be freeware apps for things like calender (a simple one would be enough for me) and additional reader software. Branko Collins gave us some insight on this, and things sounded pretty hopeful, but I'd love to hear some confirmation.


I asked about the development of programs. And it seems to be a delicate issue because of security.

iRex wants to give access to programers, but also be able to convince publishers of it's security.

I got the idea iRex would release software tools to create/test the viewer. If a user creates a "stable" viewer he can send it to iRex, and it is OK, iRex will deliver it to all devices through IDS.

Also about security.

All content delivered through IDS will be locked to the user, and incrypted with the code of the device that receives it.

If a user breaks his device his content still belongs to him, and when downloaded will just be encrypted for the new device.

A backup file from the old device will not work in the new.


The newest rumour: Iliad will be on sale at the end of May...somebody over in the webshop-delay thread just apparently got that information from iRex by phone...can somebody (Henrycat?) please confirm this?
Thanks.


I'll have to ask, but since it seemed they were having problems with the software companies i can't say i wold be surprised.

It's very likely the chinese Iliad will sell first, because it has the SO and viewer (APABI) almost finished.


There are two new messages in that thread, both by new members, one of them calling the Iliad "vaporware" and the other claiming this further delay...call me paranoid...but somehow I'm not sure I should believe them...or maybe it's just wishful thinking...
:vulcan:

Well i know what i'm holding isn't vaporware :D

Has for the delay i'll ask around, but don't expect quick answers because its out of iRex hands, they did their part with the hardware, but the software...

Remember they are a startup Hardware company.

I appreciate the efforts you went to to answer my question Henrycat.

I do know that some sites out there block programs like Webzip from harvesting the site to be saved. Usually subscription sites do this, but sometimes free ones do too. Perhaps Wired is such a site. I do know that CNN.com and Foxnews.com don't have this problem. After you answer everyone elses questions and if you have the time and desire, could you try one of those sites? Whatever you decide, excellent work on the answers you did provide.

Hopefully if Mobipocket works out a deal with Irex, this won't be an issue because I can then create a news page.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer all our questions, as TadW said, you rock! I'm buying it anyway, as long as it can read html nice and clear and the screen is the right size I'm happy really, lol, and the writing part is very interesting too, so here's one customer ready to promote development. :)

Hi Henrycat!

Thanks alot for your detailed answers. Now i am even more jealous. The device looks great, and it seems to have a lot of potential on the softwareside.

Good thing tha i am a very patient person (NOT!)

Have fun with your new toy.
Falk

One more thing:

I looked at all the photos, and on most of them I noticed, that the text wasn't really black! The device can display black quite well as far as i can tell from the comics, but the website looked very gray, especially in comparison to the LCD.

Oh and by the way...thanks for doing the comparison shots!
The vids of the Librié are pretty good as well...only the high-pitched noise was a bit disturbing... :wink:

First of all, thank you so much for answering all my questions! This is really a unique opportunity to find out what's going to be my next e-book reader.

I asked about the development of programs. And it seems to be a delicate issue because of security.
You know what they say... there ain't no security through obscurity. By keeping the SDK away from the crowd, they won't make the system any more secure. On the contrary, if hackers find out that the SDK is being kept away due to security issues, it's just one more incentive for them to start attacking the iRex.

It's very likely the chinese Iliad will sell first, because it has the SO and viewer (APABI) almost finished.
Hmm, I even considered getting a Chinese unit first, since it's probably going to sell for less than the "Dutch" version. The question is, of course, would I still be able to upgrade with an English firmware? I am afraid I already know the answer to that ;(

The website is a photo with flash, any p-paper would look greyed out in a close-up with flash.

ok...that would be nice.

I'm not sure, but I think I'm seeing this in other photos as well...like the one with the fonts...but here only some fonts are gray so it's probybly to do with the font-rendering or something there...

but here only some fonts are gray so it's probybly to do with the font-rendering or something there...

That might be the antialiasing there. The Courier seemst to have to thin lines, so they render grey.

Just a thought.

Does anyone know any setting in webzip to do relative linking from the root were the site is saved? or other program that does it?
I've never used WebZip, but am using a program with a similar feature, wget (http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm). It downloads files from the website relatively and recursively (so must be careful not to overload the web server by requesting too much files).
For instance, you could retrieve the whole Wired Magazine Issue 14.05 by running:
wget -r -l 0 -np -k -E http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/
This downloads all the files under http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/, and converts it to relative links. Although this sample doesn't retrieve some thumbnail images, you could do so too. There are more informations and usages in the GNU Wget 1.10 Mannual (http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/manual/wget.html).
Hope this helps. :)

Looks like there is where I'd login if I actually owned the iRex:

https://myirex.irexnet.com/userlogin.php

One more thing:

I looked at all the photos, and on most of them I noticed, that the text wasn't really black! The device can display black quite well as far as i can tell from the comics, but the website looked very gray, especially in comparison to the LCD.

Oh and by the way...thanks for doing the comparison shots!
The vids of the Librié are pretty good as well...only the high-pitched noise was a bit disturbing... :wink:

Some of the text on the website weren't black, and if you have really thin text, it get's some "interference" from the white background. This also happens on my Librie and probably on every eink display.

You can see that happen in the "fonts" pic. All the text is Black, but the courier appears almost gray.

Thanks for the info Henrique! You have quite a cool toy (-:

Finally finished the post/answer to bicradash. Just go back to page 2 of this thread :D

Henrique!

I just read over your posts again (I thought I might have missed something).

Anyway, you never actually said if you think the iLiad is cool gizmo or not. Yes/No?!

That should be a good summary of the device (-:

Thanks for your time!

I don't know if you have access to a Mac Henrique. If you do could you test whether a Safari webarchive is viewable. If you don't have a Mac I've uploaded a .webarchive file to HERE (http://www.ultim8fury.f2s.com/images/Hands-on with the iRex iLiad.webarchive)

I appreciate all the work you've put in on testing this device.

Thanks

Finally finished the post/answer to bicradash. Just go back to page 2 of this thread :D
Thank you very much for your photos, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry that my question took so much time for you. I should have made a selection for each of the PDF/TEXT/XHTML samples, before posting it. Hope I could repay you some day. ;)

Looking at most of your photos, it seems that the iLiad is capable of displaying multibytes, but does not seem to have Japanese fonts. :(
Although most of the characters in the Japanese text looks like it's displayed, in some spot it shows the Unicode code point for the character instead. I think this is because the iLiad have the fonts for Chinese, but not for Japanese. Chinese font includes many characters from Japanese, but not quite all of it. It lacks numbers of character needed to read Japanese.

On the other hand, when I look at http://ilimas3.com.sapo.pt/Sample%20Outputs%20of%20Many%20Languages.JPG, I can see that there's no lack of fonts, and is completely readable. I think this is because the fonts in http://www2.tba.t-com.ne.jp/ing/ing/smpl_1.pdf is embedded to the PDF. So maybe, if I convert the HTMLs to a PDF file with Japanese fonts embedded inside, I may be able to read Japanese texts (although this will significantly increase the size of the PDF file).

Oh, and it seems that the iLiad can't display UTF-8 plain text. I somehow had a wrong idea that the iLiad have a text viewer.

I just hope there will be some way to include Japanese fonts to it's OS... In this current status, to read Japanese texts, I would have to convert it to a PDF file /w embedded fonts. That will increase the file size a lot, not to mention the needless troubles to do so. :(

Again, thank you very very much for your photos. The information meant a lot for peoples eagerly waiting to buy iLiad in Japan. :)

I also thought it would read .txt files...says so in the data-pdf after all...:-)

I hope they add that before release...I hate using PDF...too bulky in my opinion....

Absolutely great information! Thanks so much for your time and effort!

My question - how does the Iliad feel to sit and read with it for several hours? My interest is in reading books so I am wondering how comfortable it is to use in that fashion. Are the pages as comfortable to read as a paper book? Is it easy on the eyes in good lighting?
My problem is that I can't read books on small screens - I need to "see" the whole page - at least paperback size.

I do NOT expect you to sit and read for hours - please just your thoughts on this based on your use so far. Thanks so much!

About annotation, how thin and accurate are the drawn lines? PDAs always have annoyingly thick lines and hence lousy "notetaking" resolution. With wacomm (sp?) technology the Iliad could be much better at this....is it?

My internet is down again :angry:

But i found a bit of here at work :D

Henrique!

I just read over your posts again (I thought I might have missed something).

Anyway, you never actually said if you think the iLiad is cool gizmo or not. Yes/No?!

That should be a good summary of the device (-:

Thanks for your time!
It's amazing hoy you can forget the important stuff :p

The Iliad:

- Has a beautiful box with a great design

- Turns a lot of heads because of size, functionality. Some of my friends though the Librie was a big PDA. The Iliad looks like a mini laptop.

- Makes it easy to read my ebooks. I just have to copy them to a CF card, or connect the device has an USB hard drive.

- Is definitely a cool device :deal:



I don't know if you have access to a Mac Henrique. If you do could you test whether a Safari webarchive is viewable. If you don't have a Mac I've uploaded a .webarchive file to HERE (http://www.ultim8fury.f2s.com/images/Hands-on with the iRex iLiad.webarchive)

I appreciate all the work you've put in on testing this device.

Thanks


The Iliad needs a file extension to "know" what viewer it will use.

Tried renaming to htm, but it shows code not page layout (same in a browser pc).

Will probably require a dedicated viewer.





Oh, and it seems that the iLiad can't display UTF-8 plain text. I somehow had a wrong idea that the iLiad have a text viewer.


Actually i changed the txt to htm because the device wasn't recognizing the format. Think the text viewer is off in my OS :blink:

So it's the xhtml viewer in the pics.




I also thought it would read .txt files...says so in the data-pdf after all...:-)

I hope they add that before release...I hate using PDF...too bulky in my opinion....

Usually i would agree but since i can easily import text to Indesign and export the pdf, i'm giving it a thumbs up.
I can easily create static texts with formating, hiphenization, titles, italics and bolds (Baen docs for instance are great).

Of course the regular user could simply use a program lke "WinPDF" to print to a pdf file. Just remenber to set page size to 12x16 cm ;)

Now i just have to find a tool to make auto pdf's from a series of images (comics and mangas) .




Absolutely great information! Thanks so much for your time and effort!

My question - how does the Iliad feel to sit and read with it for several hours? My interest is in reading books so I am wondering how comfortable it is to use in that fashion. Are the pages as comfortable to read as a paper book? Is it easy on the eyes in good lighting?

Sofar i have only read Flag in Exile (Hornor Harrigton from BAEN). I'm used to the contrast of the Librie, so the Iliad is even easier to read.

When i showed the device to friends they agree it is has easy to read has paper.

The more light the easier it is to read, that's the great advantage of eink ;)

My problem is that I can't read books on small screens - I need to "see" the whole page - at least paperback size.

I do NOT expect you to sit and read for hours - please just your thoughts on this based on your use so far. Thanks so much!

Keep in mind you can paginate your texts to the 12x16 cm.

Simply print something to this size and imagine it's eink.





About annotation, how thin and accurate are the drawn lines? PDAs always have annoyingly thick lines and hence lousy "notetaking" resolution. With wacomm (sp?) technology the Iliad could be much better at this....is it?

My OS version only allows default thickness, i can't make it thinner or bolder.

The final version allow's it, but i can only guess at the "quality".

Are you a Librie owner? Go take a look at:

http://librie.2ya.com/Looks like it's time to change your sig line, Henrycat :D

You mentioned lefty readers and the flip bar -- is there a way to invert the screen (turn it upside down) on the iLiad? That would effectively put the flip bar on the other side....

I'm not a lefty (though some of my best friends are lefties :rolleyes5), but I like to hold my books with either hand, so being able to put the bar on the other side would be a boon.

And thanks for taking the time and (considerable effort, given your PC issues) to share!

Looks like it's time to change your sig line, Henrycat :D

You mentioned lefty readers and the flip bar -- is there a way to invert the screen (turn it upside down) on the iLiad? That would effectively put the flip bar on the other side....

I'm not a lefty (though some of my best friends are lefties :rolleyes5), but I like to hold my books with either hand, so being able to put the bar on the other side would be a boon.

And thanks for taking the time and (considerable effort, given your PC issues) to share!

Don' know but it should be easy to do in the OS.

The only thing would be the direct access buttons, which would be upside-down :p

I still have my website, but since i stated working i havn't had much time.

Maybe i should find someone to take it up for the Sony reader. I think it can read the same files...

Any news yet when the new OS version should be available?

Any news yet when the new OS version should be available?

Nothing yet, but believe me when i say i'm expecting it more than anyone else :rolleyes5

Hi Henry, thanks for all the info and pics.
One dissapointment though is that you can't browse files on a PC using wireless. The PDF brochure on iRex site shows that as a feature. Maybe it will be on the release OS. Did they mention that?
I wonder if it is possible to flip the screen to a landscape mode, so that you can for example read large format comic books, or any other file where too much scaling is undesirable. Is that possible? Did they mention plans to add such a feature?
again, thanks

About annotation, how thin and accurate are the drawn lines? PDAs always have annoyingly thick lines and hence lousy "notetaking" resolution. With wacomm (sp?) technology the Iliad could be much better at this....is it?


My OS version only allows default thickness, i can't make it thinner or bolder.

The final version allow's it, but i can only guess at the "quality".

Is the default thickness the same as a PDA then? I haven't seen any pictures of this and I don't think you've made any direct commentry on this. If you can put up a pic that would be nice. : )

Hey henrycat!

I just sent a PM with two links to PDFs I'd like you to try on the Iliad. One of them is a bit problematc, so it would be interesting to see how well it works on the Iliad. I can't post them here because anybody would be able to DL them and I think that would be rather illiegal...^^

If you have the time, please take pictures of page3 in both "books" and put them up here in the thread.

Thanks!

More answers :)


Hi Henry, thanks for all the info and pics.
One dissapointment though is that you can't browse files on a PC using wireless. The PDF brochure on iRex site shows that as a feature. Maybe it will be on the release OS. Did they mention that?
I wonder if it is possible to flip the screen to a landscape mode, so that you can for example read large format comic books, or any other file where too much scaling is undesirable. Is that possible? Did they mention plans to add such a feature?
again, thanks

They only meant to say you can put your content on the device, not that you could browse contents wirelessly.

Hopefully they will be able to add that possibility till the end of the year :P





Is the default thickness the same as a PDA then? I haven't seen any pictures of this and I don't think you've made any direct commentry on this. If you can put up a pic that would be nice. : )

You can see the picture on iRex website. Just be carefull because it's a really big picture. It also gives a good idea of how the grey background is.

http://www.irextechnologies.com/photos.htm

More answers :)

Originally Posted by LittleTalker
One dissapointment though is that you can't browse files on a PC using wireless. The PDF brochure on iRex site shows that as a feature. Maybe it will be on the release OS. Did they mention that?

[QUOTE=Henrycat]
They only meant to say you can put your content on the device, not that you could browse contents wirelessly.



May be I'm stupid enough, but what does this answer below mean?

Quoted from Irex faq:
http://www.irextechnologies.com/faq.htm

"Is the E-reader restricted to feeding by iDS only?"

"No, The E-reader is an open system that also works with your laptop/PC (wireless/wired). The E-reader is also fit for reading from a USB stick, SD cards and CF2."

Do they mean, to "work with your laptop/PC (wireless/wired)" - but no browsing files? But there is no sens in such work! :rolleyes5

I guess they mean "the device works with your PC/Laptop...much like a PDA actually...ever seen a pda that can browse data on your PC?
(there is software for this, but out of the box, all you can do is sync...)

at least that's the way it is with my PDA

Thanks for the reply Henry.
I think the brochure is kind of ambiguous, it certainly led me to confusion. I have never used a palm or the like. Anyway, if it can access my computer wirelessly, it must mean that I can get something from my hard drive wirelessly. So (let's guess even further), I suppose some software a-la-sonicstage will be running on the PC to forward the files to the iLiad. So whatever you add to that program is either
(a) available (virtual browsing) or
(b)sync'ed (ie everything gets transferred with no chance to choose what files you need).
If it's (a) then we're talking about some kind of 'library' which is almost as good as browsing. In a way, it is the same.
But seems we'll get (b) (at least until the end of this year), which to me makes it pointless to have wireless at all. Right now, the wireless feature needs improvement since it's only purpose right now is to connect to IDS (to spend yet more cash!).
Well, they don't lie when they say the first batch is for the geeks, in a year either they have closed the business or we have a feature-rich device :sleepy:

But seems we'll get (b) (at least until the end of this year), which to me makes it pointless to have wireless at all. Right now, the wireless feature needs improvement since it's only purpose right now is to connect to IDS (to spend yet more cash!).

Well, actually they NEED the wireless for their business model. Since the Iliad is made for the B2B market, its needs to bee easy to handle for the customer. So the customer gets his Newspaper fed via the iDS Wireless whenever he is in reach of a suitable accespoint with just a press of a button. So its not pointless from their point of view. All us geeks want to use the wireless connection for more than that.

But lets wait and see what happens. Got my cash ready, just need the shop to open :) Guess you can call me a geek the.

Got another couple of questions :)
Do the Memory Cards fit completely in the device or do they stick out?
Can it handle Memory cards with more than 1GB?
How long is a recharge?
How does the network connection via Ethernet work?
Does the Iliad power down completely, when you do not switch it of? Can you read the last shown page, while it is powering up again?
Do you already have a manual? If so, are you allowed to share it?

Ok, there will probably be mor questions later :)
Thans for feeding the information hungry poor.
Falk

Henrique,
I can't believe how much info you have given us in this one thread!

Hmm. I guess the only reason I am not in line to buy the iLiad is simply because of eBook compatibilty questions. Is the encypted PDF support working decently yet? Are the rumors of Mobipocket support being stable true? I know Henrique that you probably can't answer these questions. Do you know anyone that I can get in contact with?

Sam Krupa

Dear Henrycat,
Thanks for all the information you have posted already. I am trying to learn which of the e-ink readers might work well for scientific papers - I hate carrying around lots of these, and killing trees to do so, when I could put a few hundred on one of these, and read them anywhere.

Could I impose on you to try one on the Iliad? I am curious to see how they are rendered, and how readable the figures and columns etc are.

Here is a link to an open access pdf of a typical paper:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/103/18/6958

Would you be kind enough to load it onto the Iliad and give me your impression? :happy2: Can the grayscale figs still be made out. How readable is the paper if it is all on one page?

Thanks!

Oliver

More answers :)


Hey henrycat!

I just sent a PM with two links to PDFs I'd like you to try on the Iliad. One of them is a bit problematc, so it would be interesting to see how well it works on the Iliad. I can't post them here because anybody would be able to DL them and I think that would be rather illiegal...^^

If you have the time, please take pictures of page3 in both "books" and put them up here in the thread.

Thanks!
Here's the pics. The first pdf does take more time to load (+10secs)
http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/s_IMG_1464.jpg
http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/IMG_1464.jpg
http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/s_IMG_1465.jpg
http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/IMG_1465.jpg




Got another couple of questions :)
Do the Memory Cards fit completely in the device or do they stick out?

I only have CF, and the card enters totally. It makes a button pop-up, which sticks out, but you can rotate it to the right.

You can see in the picture the CF slot the button on the left, and the place to where it rotates.

http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/s_IMG_1466.jpg
http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/IMG_1466.JPG


Can it handle Memory cards with more than 1GB?

I have no idea, but if someone sent one to me i could find out!


How long is a recharge?

I would say around 4 hours.


How does the network connection via Ethernet work?

Simply plug the device to a modem with ethernet cable. No connection through USB.


Does the Iliad power down completely, when you do not switch it of? Can you read the last shown page, while it is powering up again?

This isn't finished yet because it relies on Power management. When finished it should do everything of the above, but not by default i think, the user will have to choose in the settings.


Do you already have a manual? If so, are you allowed to share it?

They are updating their manual after i told Alex some aspects i though could be inserted. Right now i can't say more, but when i can i'll let you guys know ;)


Ok, there will probably be mor questions later :)
Thans for feeding the information hungry poor.
Falk
Glad to keep anyone from dying of starvation :D




Henrique,
I can't believe how much info you have given us in this one thread!

Hmm. I guess the only reason I am not in line to buy the iLiad is simply because of eBook compatibilty questions. Is the encypted PDF support working decently yet? Are the rumors of Mobipocket support being stable true? I know Henrique that you probably can't answer these questions. Do you know anyone that I can get in contact with?

Sam Krupa

When i talked with Alex it seemed Adobe would be making the default PDF viewer later this year, but they won't support encrypted PDF. Weird decision, but if that's what they want.

It's only later this year because they are updating the PDF format, and that has to be done before any viewer.

Has for Mobipocket support i can't give a final confirmation, but let's say it is very likely you will hear something about it this or next week ;)

Dear Henrycat,
Thanks for all the information you have posted already. I am trying to learn which of the e-ink readers might work well for scientific papers - I hate carrying around lots of these, and killing trees to do so, when I could put a few hundred on one of these, and read them anywhere.

Could I impose on you to try one on the Iliad? I am curious to see how they are rendered, and how readable the figures and columns etc are.

Here is a link to an open access pdf of a typical paper:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/103/18/6958

Would you be kind enough to load it onto the Iliad and give me your impression? :happy2: Can the grayscale figs still be made out. How readable is the paper if it is all on one page?

Thanks!

Oliver

Just loaded it in the device and works ok. Everything i can see in the PC i can see on the Iliad.

I would suggest you print the pdf to 12x16cm. It will give you an idea of the text size.

Although it's readable on the screen the text is tiny. When the viewer can rotate the page to only show half the screen it will be a lot better for A4/Letter page PDFs :p

Henrycat, you are awesome. :)

One hing i see, is that many PDF Files hav a large paperborder. Any idea, if they will give us the ability for a software page crop (even better if you could do that automatically, with a choosable margin)? That would make those papers a whole lot easier to read. :)

PS: Henrycat, you need uppercase .JPG in those Imagelinks above.

And another question. Dont really expect an answer here though. :) Do you have any idea, why they didnt make the backside smoother? Any usefullness there? Would have looked a lot slicker with a smoth backside.

The device on-screen toolbal has a button to bookmark, and another to show the list of bookmarks of the book you are reading.

I think i'm remembering correctly, my device doesn't have it yet but i saw it working on Alex device which had the latest OS version.

I'd be very interested to know how this works in the latest OS version.

Can bookmarks be set in any document type? Is there a maximum number of bookmarks for a single document?

In envision this type of device to be used for both my reference books and the books I read for pleasure, so bookmark setting will be very important.

Just loaded it in the device and works ok. Everything i can see in the PC i can see on the Iliad.

I would suggest you print the pdf to 12x16cm. It will give you an idea of the text size.

Although it's readable on the screen the text is tiny. When the viewer can rotate the page to only show half the screen it will be a lot better for A4/Letter page PDFs :p


Thanks!!

Answers

Henrycat, you are awesome. :)

One hing i see, is that many PDF Files hav a large paperborder. Any idea, if they will give us the ability for a software page crop (even better if you could do that automatically, with a choosable margin)? That would make those papers a whole lot easier to read. :)

PS: Henrycat, you need uppercase .JPG in those Imagelinks above.
Don't think they will provide any software for cropping margins :(

If they added it to the viewer i think it would require some extra processor power...

Are there any problems with Linked images?



And another question. Dont really expect an answer here though. :) Do you have any idea, why they didnt make the backside smoother? Any usefullness there? Would have looked a lot slicker with a smoth backside.

I think "slick" is a dangerous word to use with this kind of devices, and personally i'm more interested in the front of the device :)

Personally I like the uneven back when holding the device.



I'd be very interested to know how this works in the latest OS version.

Can bookmarks be set in any document type? Is there a maximum number of bookmarks for a single document?

In envision this type of device to be used for both my reference books and the books I read for pleasure, so bookmark setting will be very important.
This would depend on the viewer used for the format. Only time will tell, but at least you can expect updates for the viewers :)

Don't think they will provide any software for cropping margins. If they added it to the viewer i think it would require some extra processor power...

Wouldn't mind the extra processor time, if i get a larger font without reformatting the document.

Are there any problems with Linked images?

http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/IMG_1464.JPG
http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/IMG_1465.JPG
The Links with .jpg dont work, with .JPG they do :)

I think "slick" is a dangerous word to use with this kind of devices, and personally i'm more interested in the front of the device.
Personally I like the uneven back when holding the device.

If it gives you a better grip, then thats ok. And slick shouldnt be slippery :) I just like the simple elegant design of the frontside and would hae liked it on the other side aswell.

What does the material of the iLiad feel like? Bad plastic feel or nice to hold in your hand? I love the feel of real books. especially hardcovers, but you cant have everything, right? At least not yet ;)

Good work, Henry.

Wouldn't mind the extra processor time, if i get a larger font without reformatting the document.


I don't think the device will be able to auto-crop pdfs, but you never know :)


http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/IMG_1464.JPG
http://ilimas4.com.sapo.pt/mobimas/IMG_1465.JPG
The Links with .jpg dont work, with .JPG they do :)

I just clicked them in IE and Opera, they worked and didn't think the file extension in CAPS would be a problem :p

If it gives you a better grip, then thats ok. And slick shouldnt be slippery :) I just like the simple elegant design of the frontside and would hae liked it on the other side aswell.

What does the material of the iLiad feel like? Bad plastic feel or nice to hold in your hand? I love the feel of real books. especially hardcovers, but you cant have everything, right? At least not yet ;)

Like i said i like to hold the device. The device is painted with a material that gives it a good grip, without the plastic feel.

Thank you for trying my files Henrycat!

I'm amazed the first file worked at all...^^

Acrobat PC version always complains about some error (too many arguments) and then displays it anyway...but I can't make any changes or add reflow-tags because it then always refuses and repeats the error...so the Iliad PDF viewer seems to be sound.

So the iLiad is actually nice to hold, without a plastic feel?! Wow, I never even expected iRex to do something like that. I guess that's what happens when a company works on a single product for 5 years (-:

I have been lurking on this site for a while watching the proceedings relating to the iliad.

I am interested in getting one, mostly for work. Currently I carry around a number of company manuals in pdf form on my laptop computer. The problem is that I would like to have fast access to these manuals. With them residing on the laptop getting them out for reference is a hassle. Drag out the laptop, start it up, wait for it to boot, then select the appropriate pdf file, wait for acrobat to open, then open the pdf and go to the appropriate section/chapter by bookmark and then browse that chapter as required. When the laptop is not connected up to "Shore Power" it of course runs even more slowly in battery mode. All this takes relatively a lot of time. One of the things I like about the Palm devices is that you turn it on it is ready to run. Period. Unfortunately battery life is limited, and the screen is just too small, and there is not to my knowledge any decent pdf support for the Palm to facilitate the viewing of these rather large company manuals.

Reading the reviews and all the information I have been able to cull from the web it seems that the iliad might be a good alternative to keeping the documents on the laptop and even though the device startup is around 30 seconds it would seem that it is a lot faster than dealing with the laptop.

My questions about the iliad would be the following:

With pdf documents can you easily access all the bookmarks for navigating within the document?

Is the pdf "Search" function operable, or do you have to manually just go through the document?

Does the iliad have the capability of having a list of "Favorites" or "Recently Opened Documents" so that you can just easily jump to a frequently used reference?

I would also like to be able to download from the web graphical weather images. Is this a possible function? This would be an example of the weather site that I would like to get satellite images from: Weather (http://aviationweather.gov/obs/sat/intl/) Is it possible to load a image file such as this:Pacific Satellite Weather (http://aviationweather.gov/data/obs/sat/intl/ir_ICAO-I_bw.jpg) ?

I imagine that in the above case I could just connect to the web download that image to the laptop then either load it to memory device and then install it on the iliad. This would certainly be more cumbersome and it would be more convenient and advantageous to be able to access it directly using the iliad wireless capability, would that be a possibility?

Sorry if I have asked questions that might have already been addressed.

Thank you for you time and consideration Henrycat!

Hi Henrique,

Could I please ask you to try out page #2 of a rather big pdf file (http://www.humuku.de/html/education/downloads/etc/PACD/material/pdf/09_K.pdf)?

Thank you very much!

R2D2

Henrycat said -
When i talked with Alex it seemed Adobe would be making the default PDF viewer later this year, but they won't support encrypted PDF. Weird decision, but if that's what they want.

Why would they not support encrypted PDF? This may limit access to library books - although many library books are both PDF and Mobipocket. But not all.

And what about purchased etextbooks? I was hoping to use the reader for these as well and assume that the files are somehow encrypted.

Is the default thickness the same as a PDA then? I haven't seen any pictures of this and I don't think you've made any direct commentry on this. If you can put up a pic that would be nice. : )

I'd really like to see some screenshots of taking notes from a blank page. This would be half of the reason I'd be buying this, to replace paper notes, so it's quite important. Thanks! :happy2:

Why would they not support encrypted PDF? This may limit access to library books - although many library books are both PDF and Mobipocket. But not all.

Well, no support for encrypted PDFs is going to make PDF support for it pretty much worthless.

One of the things that make the Iliad attractive was the idea that I could head over to O'Reilly and download PDF versions of manuals so that I could have them all in one convienent package. But I just looked at one of my O'Reilly PDFs and it says "This document has been encrypted..."

Checking all the other (legal) commercial PDFs that I have and they say the same thing.

I'm pretty sure that somebody will add support for encrypted PDF...at least I hope so...

I'm pretty sure that somebody will add support for encrypted PDF...at least I hope so...


It's in their best (commercial) interest to support encrypted PDF.

To allow the buyer of the ebook to do what he pleases with the content? :uhoh2:
Oh, no that will not happen; it conflicts with their plans of ripping off the customer.

Any ETA for the updated OS and the opening of the webshop?

:-)

hi,

thanks for all your work henrique.
one quick question:

do you know what kind of wlan encryption (wep,wpa ...) the iliad is capable of?

thx
frank

Still no news concerning the new OS and Release Date?

Still no news concerning the new OS and Release Date?

You're not the only who's anxious about the release ;)

We'll see no release soon... But I'm sure they will call a new release date. As they like to say: "Later. This year". :rolleyes:
First they wiil finish their field trial with e-paper in June (http://e-paper.i-merge.net/field_trial.htm)

But, the irex webpage claims it is to be released in May. Are they lying?

But, the irex webpage claims it is to be released in May.

Would you please show us where exactly they say that it wiil be released in May?

http://www.irextechnologies.com/home.htm
http://www.irextechnologies.com/shop/index.htm
"As the implementation of our Web Shop caused some unforeseen technical problems the opening has been postponed from April to May 2006."

Do you understand the difference - opening has been postponed and will be released?


Are they lying?
No, but some optimist are reading not quite attentively... ;)

And from this statement (implementation of our Web Shop caused some unforeseen technical problems) we could suppose, they only have technical problems with their site and webshop, not with Irex itself, but now all we do know, it is not so. ;)

Here they say you can order Ilad right now.
http://www.irextechnologies.com/faq.htm

Where can I buy the iLiad E-reader?
Although the business focus of iRex Technologies is Business-to-Business solutions, we will also make our product available for individuals, who can order via our iRex Technologies web retail. (April 2006)

Are they lying? :D

Sorry, I'm not a native english speaker so I'll politely expand my logic here:
1. The faq you pointed to says literally: "Although the business focus of iRex Technologies is Business-to-Business solutions, we will also make our product available for individuals, who can order via our iRex Technologies web retail. (April 2006)". If I understand correctly, "web retail" is the same as "web shop", and "product" means "iLiad" (what else are they making?). When I said "release" I meant "release for individuals", which I omitted since most posters here are indiduals speaking for themselves.
2. I understood the web shop was announced to open by mid April. Since the purpose of the shop is to sell the device to individuals, I inferred that opening the shop is the same as releasing the iLiad for individuals.
3. It follows (please correct me if I'm wrong) that if they announce that the web shop is delayed from April (original opening date) to May, then they are announcing that the iLiad will be for sale on May, unless they mean to open the shop with no items for sale (which is absurd), or that they include IDS in the webshop release concept, which is pointless unless your company gets you a unit (or you are Henrycat :happy2: ). So if they don't believe the iLiad will be ready for May, then they are at least lacking in transparency towards individual users.

Sorry, I'm not a native english speaker
So am I ;)
But "opening has been postponed from April to May 2006" means that now they have only postponed to May opening of webshop. Nothing prevents them in May from postponing to June, for example, because they didn't write at their site, they have everything (hardware+software) ready for selling through webshop.

Now we know, they at least didn't have normal software for Iliad, but they don't mention this info at their site...
I would be glad to be mistaken, but everything what is happening around Iliad confirms my suspicions :(

Let's wait for some input from Henrycat...he's been very quite in the last few days...

The new software for the Iliad should have arrived by now, but I'm pretty sure he would have posted if he had received it.
But maybe his Internet connection is down again...wel'll see...

I don't think that you will ever see the open marketing of this device. The delayed opening of the webstore is a complete ruse, to think otherwise is patently absurd. This deception is probably being used to cover up deficiencies in either the device, software or their business model. I would not be surprised to see the company sold, probably to a larger asian company. A number of years later there may be a device sold. It will probably be much different than what we see now.

I would be interested in knowing how many people have left their email addresses for notification of opening the webstore. Every day I check my email with anticipation of an email from iRex Technologies. I then check the website.

I am getting very disappointed with the situation. I would think that the company would be more than happy to liberate us from some of our hard earned money. Since that is not happening and the only excuse being levied is that of "webstore development problems", I question the intent of company management. One would think that as soon as possible they would want to get a completed and functional device in the hands of people that could in an off hand way increase their marketing dramatically just by word of mouth and exposure of their product to the masses for absolutely no cost. I think there are bigger issues here than just a dysfunctional webstore.

Even though there have been some people that have actually had the opportunity to get touchy feely with an actual device I am getting the definite impression that this will remain to the general public, "Vaporware".

Sorry for my pessimism, I am getting very frustrated with this situation. With the lack of recent communication from iRex Technologies one can only jump to these conclusions.

It is my sincerest hope that I am very wrong in all my assumptions.

Irex should offer the iliad on ebay :-)

Sorry, I'm not a native english speaker ....

Well, you used the word "inferred" correctly, that puts you up on about 90% of us "native" english speakers. :scholar:

Check this link - not sure how accurate it is though.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/05/07/boebook.xml&sSheet=/arts/2006/05/07/bomain.html

Nice article...
But I wonder what the "more competitive Price than the Sony Reader" line is supposed to mean...my last information was, that the Iliad is a lot more expensive...

Did I misread or did they actually get that quote from iRex???

Henrycat...can you commetn on the pricing issue? Or on anything else...^^

I dont believe the pricing statement. I guess it will be 550,- Euro + VAT + shipping.
Guess the competition is in the additional features an the better update possibilities for applications and content.

But i do sincerely hope, they open the webshop soon, because i do want to buy one :)

But it is likely that Sony will be pipped to the post in the West by iRex, whose iLiad will be available online later this month with, iRex claims, a more competitive price tag than Sony's proposed £250.

Wasnt the iLiad supposed to cost 540 Euro?
Seems that the info in the article is inaccurate (at least this bit is)

Hopefully they are right though; 250 is a lot more affordable than 540 ;)

Hopefully they are right though; 250 is a lot more affordable than 540 ;)

Hehe, 250 BP are about 350 Euro, which ist still alot less than 550 Euro. Especially if it includes VAT, which the iRex price is not supposed to.

I whish we had some confirmation on all this...the whole waitig and speculating stuff is starting to wear me down...I thouth that after Henrycat received a "review" model it couldn't be long...but somehow it has become very quiet once again...too quiet.

Somebody promised more information "on the 10th of May", but that has now been and passed and we still know no more.

Depressing really, that in our modern timescommunication between company and customer seems to be getting worse and worse and deadlines seem to be something the people responsible decide with dice instead of on the basis of the real production/development facts!

...but somehow it has become very quiet once again...too quiet.


Maybe the silence before the storm ;) ...

I hope there is some response from henrycat soon (os update etc.).

Sorry for the silence treatment, but i still don’t have internet at home, and i have been having a busy week here at work so not a lot of time to browse the internet.

I'll try to make up in the weekend when i return to my home (real home, not working home).

I'll also make videos of the device ;)

Check my Librie videos to have an idea of the quality.

What would you like to see in video? Annotation is the only thing i think right now.

I'm currently updating the device, but haven't really had time to see the differences...

About the price above, it's possible if any publisher is willing to subsidize the device with something (subscriptions for instance).

Irex is trying to bring the price down with content publishers, but they tend to consider the device "only" has a book, not a library or content delivery system :|

Well gotta go. Cya later.

Thanks dor this statement.
I think what most of us are really interested in knowing (apart from the imporvements with the new OS) is any news about the Release of this device.
iRex is losing it's lead fast with the Hanlin V2 and the Sony Reader both on the way...being first could have secured many early-adpoters, exactlthe people who would be willinf to actually pay 650Euro for a book..^^

Hey!

News on the News-page of irextechnologies.com

so they are still alive...:-)

"Agreement reached between L'Espresso Group and iRex Technologies."

Whatever that means...reading now

Here's the link: http://www.gruppoespresso.it/gruppoesp/eng/comunicati.jsp?idCategory=3555&idContent=1615264

It's a short article, but interesting:

For your convenience I'll paste it here:

"Gruppo Espresso informs

April 27, 2006
Agreement reached between L’Espresso Group and iRex Technologies to test the e-paper: la Repubblica will be the first Italian newspaper on electronic ink

L’Espresso Group has reached an agreement with iRex Technologies to create the first mobile newspaper on electronic ink.
The agreement is regarding la Repubblica, which, in the next weeks will test a first panel of 300 readers, who will receive the daily and several further updating on a special device called “electronic reader”, by the name of iLiad.
The wireless device provided by iRex is based on an innovative solution of electronic paper on a display, operated through easy manual controls or with a touch pen. The display is 8.1 inch size with 16 levels of grey which make it easily readable in every place and with every light. Features of the newspaper are accurately reproduced by the interface.
To the Espresso Group, which since 2000 has invested in the start-up E-ink, creator of the prototype of the basic technology of the electronic ink, this represents the development of product innovation, which has marked the Group’s strategy over the last years.
In a test stage, the device will allow innovative ways of presentation and delivery of the newspaper.

Rome – Eindhoven, April 27, 2006"

Thanks dor this statement.
I think what most of us are really interested in knowing (apart from the imporvements with the new OS) is any news about the Release of this device.
iRex is losing it's lead fast with the Hanlin V2 and the Sony Reader both on the way...being first could have secured many early-adpoters, exactlthe people who would be willinf to actually pay 650Euro for a book..^^

correction: 650 euro for a reader...not even a book yet lol

well I suppose they'll give you one or two public domain books to play around with...^^

Sorry for the silence treatment, but i still don’t have internet at home,...
Any way how we can support you?

Interesting things that would make good content for a video of the iRex iLiad:

1. Size comparisons.

2. Show the speed of loading PDFs.

3. Show picture quality.

4. Show making notes on HTML and PDF files.

5. Show the user interface in action.

Thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to do this!

Sam Krupa


EDIT: CommanderROR would add:

6. Show writing/drawing on screen (not just annotation)

add: show writing/drawing on screen (not just annotation)

- how about a comparison to typewritten text on paper in different lighting situations?

Hmm, I even considered getting a Chinese unit first, since it's probably going to sell for less than the "Dutch" version. The question is, of course, would I still be able to upgrade with an English firmware? I am afraid I already know the answer to that ;(
You probably won't. The MSRP of the Chinese version is 9980 RMB which is about 1200 USD. How much is the dutch version?

You probably won't. The MSRP of the Chinese version is 9980 RMB which is about 1200 USD. How much is the dutch version?

Holy smokes! Who will afford that? I sure cant afford to pay that much and i'm quite sure that even for most geeks is too expensive.

Are you sure that's not a typo???

I always thought the 549Euro All exclusive were a lot...^^

I calculated my T3 this way:
400 Euro + 80 Euro 1 GB SD card / 150 free ebooks from Baen = 3.20 Euro per book.

I calculated my T3 this way:
400 Euro + 80 Euro 1 GB SD card / 150 free ebooks from Baen = 3.20 Euro per book.
SD card is cheap now. Just bought a 2G 150X for 52 USD.

Are you sure that's not a typo???

I always thought the 549Euro All exclusive were a lot...^^

It's said by the CEO of the company in the release press conference.

SD card is cheap now. Just bought a 2G 150X for 52 USD.
How does that influence the calculation for a card bought early last year?

Sorry but you guys will have to wait a little more for the videos of the Iliad -_-'

Last friday my boss asked if he could borrow the device to show it to authors and publishers in a fair/conference/reunions that happen this weekend, monday and tuesday.

Like i already said here, i will do anything i can do to help spread the word, so i let him take it. Hope to get some good feedback from some publishers.

Again sorry for the delay -_-''

well, you at least have your Librie that gives you a little comfort, while your beloved new toy spreads attention :)

Just a few tidbit's before work :)

- 1G CF/SD cards works. 2G should also be OK. And CF microdrive should also work although it uses more power.

When i asked about porting one of the open Comic viewers for Linux:
"About the viewer: We'll be issuing a development pack where everyone will be able to develop their own viewer. They will be able to put it on the device and use it. Catch: it won't be formally supported. However, if a viewer is particularly good, we can take it up in the standard distribution, if the writer agrees.
Exact implementation is still being discussed, but this is the general approach. We want to make the system as open as possible for users."

well, you at least have your Librie that gives you a little comfort, while your beloved new toy spreads attention :)

For reading texts the Librie is OK, although i will have to convert the books i was reading to lRF :p

The problem are the comics. I was reading the bleach, naruto and 666 manga, and now it will have to wait :(

Found a great program to convert cbr to pdf automatically (well almost).

Imagetopdf (http://www.adultpdf.com/products/image2pdf/index.html)

- Just rename the .cbr back to .rar (bat file).
- Select all rar's, right click and extract to separate directory.
- Import directories to imagetopdf, and convert each directory to pdf.

Great to create various chapters, without making one huge pdf :)

If anyone knows of a free tool that allows the same i would appreciate :p

i wonder at what point they start to split threats here...
ok, heres my question:
i was trying to find out about the princing of the irex.
heres what i got:

650€ plus
[ http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/irex-reveals-deets-on-its-iliad-ebook-reader/ ]

in case that's true, then it's way too much money.

hey, but thx anyway, this review is great!!!
so much efford+time, all you guys did great work!!!

If anyone knows of a free tool that allows the same i would appreciate :p

Hi Henry. I just found this java comics viewer (http://jomic.sourceforge.net/), which works on win/linux/mac and has a PDF export feature. I haven't tested it but it's definitely free (image2pdf looks very simplish to cost $37 in these days of open source, but that's my opinion).
PS, as with everything java, you need to install the java runtime if you don't have it already

@Henrycat:

Did your device receive the Os update before you gave it away? And can you tell us what was implemented and what is still missing?

Thanks.

@Henrycat:

Did your device receive the Os update before you gave it away? And can you tell us what was implemented and what is still missing?

Thanks.

Sorry, was planning to check everything on the weekend :P
Last week i didn't had time to read, i left it updating by night, but never ended up booting it up :huh:

Just arrive home eat something, see an ep of smallville/deadwood/angel and go to sleep...

This last few weeks to finish the school books are a lot of work. :vulcan:

Damn, have to go back to work already :deal:

Hi Henry. I just found this java comics viewer (http://jomic.sourceforge.net/), which works on win/linux/mac and has a PDF export feature. I haven't tested it but it's definitely free (image2pdf looks very simplish to cost $37 in these days of open source, but that's my opinion).
PS, as with everything java, you need to install the java runtime if you don't have it already

What i liked in image2pdf was that he automatically creates a pdf from each directory.

I just started reading the bleach manga (224 chapters i think right now):

- converted the cbrs to rars,
- extract each rar to a separate directory (last versions of winrar do automatically for each rar selected),
- imported the directories to image2pdf, and he created a pdf from each directory (inside the directory)
- do a search for pdfs and copy to the CF card
- Boot Iliad, select CF, and open the chapter
- Read ;)

:deal: YES BOSS I'M WORKING :deal:

OK...

Let's hope your boss (or the angry mob of publishers) doesn't break you Iliad so you can feed the information-hungry crowd again on wednesday (I guess you'll have it back by then?)

By the way...any guesses on when the device will be released?

I hope it won't be too loing because I'll need a lot of stuff to read during the second week of june...and i'm not going to buy paper books...no, no, no... :rolleyes5

Hwnry, with Jomic you don't need to go through all that since it works directly from the cbr/cbz files. Check their instruction page (http://jomic.sourceforge.net/user-guide.html#menu.file.convert), seems to me it will save your time for free (so I still can't believe they charge that much for image2pdf!)

If Irex doesn't release it this month then I am probably going to wait until September before I buy anything. I wanted it for classes this quarter, but pretty soon that is going to be a none issue. If I wait until September the price will probably have gone down some (from competition and such).

So...today should be the end of the torturous time we had to spend without new about the Iliad...I hope Henrycat got his Iliad back and can tell us something about the new software...

We wait with baited breath...

We wait with baited breath...

"bated (http://www.mirriamwebster.com/dictionary/bated)" -- otherwise it sounds like you've been eating worms and minnows. :D

"bated (http://www.mirriamwebster.com/dictionary/bated)" -- otherwise it sounds like you've been eating worms and minnows. :D

* yummy * you've been describing my lunch meal here.

"bated (http://www.mirriamwebster.com/dictionary/bated)" -- otherwise it sounds like you've been eating worms and minnows. :D

You are absolutely correct.

I apologise (I knew I should have checked that spelling).

Makes me sound like a participant on "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here" (A UK celeb reality show)

lol...I looked at the sentence and saw that something was not right...but somehow my brain didn't register that the mistake was a simple misspelling of bated as baited...^^

I knew I should have checked that spelling

nah, spell checker wouldn't have caught it as "baited" is spelled correctly.

Reminds me of the time I wrote in a paper about someone being "borne" on such and such a date -- it was 4:30 AM and the spell checker merrily let it through.

Fortunately that prof had a good sense of humor as that was only one of the multitude of such errors on that paper. :scholar: (you should always start your papers sooner than 6 hours before the morning they're due)

Didn't mean to be nitpicky, sometimes I can't help myself. Oddly enough, the more obscure, unimportant points seem to be more tempting for me, probably further indication of my own oddity. :rolleyes5

Tsk tsk, guys, you really know how to make new joiners feel bad.

Whether bate, bait, berate, or whatever, we get the meaning, right? ;)

Well in my (half-hearted) defence:

Even the UK press use the wrong spelling. But I had hoped my grasp of spelling was a bit better than the Daily Mirror :-)

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm

You're right, TadW, bad habit,

Riocaz, I certainly meant no offense and respectfully apologize for any I gave.

I'll attempt in the future to bate my berates, however baited I may feel. :jester:

nah, spell checker wouldn't have caught it as "baited" is spelled correctly.

No but a dictionary (or google) would have. Which is what I meant.

Tsk tsk, guys, you really know how to make new joiners feel bad.

Whether bate, bait, berate, or whatever, we get the meaning, right? ;)

True, but this is a forum devoted to mobile publishing/reading. So one should do their best to use language correctly. (On a complete tangent: When the h*ll did I turn into a member of the Royal Family?)

And anyway it was funny. :-)


Riocaz, I certainly meant no offense and respectfully apologize for any I gave.


No apology neeeded. No offence was given, nor taken.

I don't want to drive you nuts...but why haven't we heard from Henrycat yet? Maybe his internet is down once again...or his Iliad wasn't returned yet...:-)

I think it's about time we got our own Iliads...if this goes on much longer we'll pester Henrycat so much he'll drop his Iliad out of the weindow just to escape out never-ending stream of questions...and then we'll probably just go ahead and ask whether it survived the fall...^^

Hi,

As soon as we started talking about spellings and dictionaries:

I’m not a native English speaker and I’m frequently using “touch-and-translate”
feature of software I use to read the e-books (I’m using Haali Reader with my Pocket PC).

Are there any chances that this feature (instant translation of the word) might be included to iLiad OS (software pack, whatever) any time soon?

I don't want to drive you nuts...but why haven't we heard from Henrycat yet? Maybe his internet is down once again...or his Iliad wasn't returned yet...:-)
It seems quite natural that his boss doesn't want to return the iLiad to him :D

It seems quite natural that his boss doesn't want to return the iLiad to him :D

You make a fair and valid point...

Has anyone heard about a seemingly nice guy randomly attacking his Boss with a sharp implement due to him hogging a new gadget?

Henrycat probably got send away to a mission somewhere near Antactica in the last minute. Oh, and his boss just didnt have the time to give him back his iLiad. Damn, the world is sooo bad.

Boss in Spain... Maybe tomorrow he'll be back...

Shouldn't have shown him how to "print" docs to pdf, probably reading da vinci code before going to see the movie...

robably reading da vinci code before going to see the movie...

damn, that will take him a while :huh:

Not if he has the same reaction I did.

100 pages of Dan Brown's writing style was enough to make me give up.

Nice premise, shame about the execution.

And according to a documentary I saw on TV yesterday his facts are all wrong too...I would have loved to see the church taken apart for telling lies about so many things...^^

Back to Topic:

Did Henrycat's Boss really take the Iliad with him to Spain??? Doens't he have any scruples at all??? The device doesn't belong to him, but he takes it to a conference...ok...no problem there...but then he goes to Spain and "forgets" to give it back or what???

Did Henrycat's Boss really take the Iliad with him to Spain??? Doens't he have any scruples at all??? The device doesn't belong to him, but he takes it to a conference...ok...no problem there...but then he goes to Spain and "forgets" to give it back or what???

Dont forget. Spain might be just a few kilometers from where Henrycat works :)
I bet hes biting his pillow at night, to not think about it. Or maybe his boss was so kind to keep him sooo busy, that he wont have time to notice, that his iLiad is in Spain ;)

Hey, this thread became a bit "strange". We discuss where Henrycat's Iliad could be now. So, next generation of Iliad must habe a gps or galileo sender. :rolleyes5

If Irex would publish the Iliad's Users Manual, most of us will calm down.

However, thank you Henrycat for all the information you have provided.

yep...we should be worrying about iRex...where is their

"Around May 10th we'll start using our website to communicate with our customers" (not exaclta word by word, but close enough)

that Angel Ancin from iRex promised?

I think I'll call them and ask...but probably those who knwo won't be there...

and now for something completely different ...

on the irex site, there are pics of a white iliad. does anyone know if there are plans of releasing a white unit? i would definitely get me one of those, but i doubt it.

and now for something completely different ...

on the irex site, there are pics of a white iliad. does anyone know if there are plans of releasing a white unit? i would definitely get me one of those, but i doubt it.

I wouldn't care if they only released a day-glow orange version, with neon purple polka-dots -- I just want them to release the thing!

on the irex site, there are pics of a white iliad.

And i have seen an image of a red unit somewhere, dont remember where though. I personally would probably prefer the black one. Would be the best for reading in bright sunlight, because i would think the refletion of a white unit might be too much then. But the white one would be the color of choice for any medical personel i guess :)

Not if he has the same reaction I did.

100 pages of Dan Brown's writing style was enough to make me give up.

Nice premise, shame about the execution.


If you feel that way, you should try reading Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" which is about many of the same things, but is beautifully written. Eco is a fantastic writer.

Thank you. I will (and have in fact just added it to my next order from Amazon).

To get back to the thread. One of the images on their appears to show a metalic (It could be shiny black, but all the others have appeared to be a matt finish) version too.

I'd go for a purple one.

I think black is a good colour. It contrasts well with the color of the screen and should be comfortable to look at...or rahter to look past. The black Iliad doesn't look very flash and gadget-like, but I think I'll be able to live with that.

For reading it is better to have no contrast between screen and it's border. More comfortable to read without margins ;)
Sony Librie and Jinke Hanlin are more colour-considered from ergonomic point of view.

For reading it is better to have no contrast between screen and it's border. More comfortable to read without margins ;)
Sony Librie and Jinke Hanlin are more colour-considered from ergonomic point of view.

That is true. But as far as it looks on the images. The white is too bright and glossy. If it would be matte and about the same color as the EInk paper white, that would be great i think.

Any news from our Iliad Owner?

(And yes, I know it's useless to ask since he would have reported in if he had time and/or had his Iliad back, but I just can't help myself...^^)

I have it! Now i just need to buy batteries for my camera -_-'

Hope to make the moveis tomorro :p

don't worry about the movies...tell us about the new software...battery life?
Readers? .TXT support,
!!!

:-)

Thanks!

^^

@CommanderROR

hi,
did you hear anything new about mobipocket support for the iliad?
that would be way cool

No, unfortunately I haven't been able to obtain any new information on this...the latest statement from mobipocket was a "not yet".

Update:

Channel 4 News (UK) Iliad was featured along with some guy from Irex. Iliad will be available in "next two weeks"!

yeah i saw that, tried to make a recording but got itv1 by mistake lol

Update:

Channel 4 News (UK) Iliad was featured along with some guy from Irex. Iliad will be available in "next two weeks"!

about time.

yeah i saw that, tried to make a recording but got itv1 by mistake lol

No need. We can watch it online: channel4 (http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=2391)

woohoo thats good news :-) (I'm still at work so I will watch the bit in a little while)

How long do you think it will take for them to sell out on the website then? :-)

Update:

Channel 4 News (UK) Iliad was featured along with some guy from Irex. Iliad will be available in "next two weeks"!

Cutting it pretty close for their slip from April to May - but the good news is enough confidence to announce to a wider TV audience than might have found a book forum.

Indeed. It bodes well for them going ahead with sales though.

On the downside I got a load of bills today:

GBP245 - water
GBP75 - gas
GBP44 - electric

Oh and my immersion heater went bang on Wednesday evening. So I have a plumber to pay for tomorrow.

There goes my Iliad money. (Thank god for credit cards)

Oh Before I forget:

Henrycat, now you have the next upgrade have the power management features been enebled yet and what difference do they make to it's overall power consumption?

"Two Weeks" sounds somewhat encouraging, though at this point two days is too long of a wait.

I hope it is not the same kind of "Two Weeks" that was portrayed in the movie "The Money Pit".

Hmm, they said "next couple of weeks" which doesnt necessarily mean "two" weeks. But the iLiad looks great. ;)

Well, the Iliad won't be released during the weekend, so everyone can relax for the next two days at least.
Nice bit of footage on chanel 4. (thanks for the url, masc)
Got to see the speed of 'turning the pages' and writing real good this time.
Too bad about that Sudoku, I would rather have seen Irex include "Mad psycho chainsaw killers slashing everything that moves -part II".
:wink:

Hmm, they said "next couple of weeks" which doesnt necessarily mean "two" weeks. But the iLiad looks great. ;)

True, I think they are exprapolating the 2 weeks and the fact that the website still says the webshop will be open in May.

Still, not too long to wait. I can't imagine that they would do a TV interview with one of the UK's larger stations without some definate progress/plan.

hmm, if they open the webshop on monday, and ship the iLiads immediately, then i might be able to take the iLiad with me on my trip to Italy next week. Well, sometimes i am hopelessly optimistic :)

At least we've seems a fully functional iLiad (or something that looks like fully functional)
That is always good news. The public release cant be too far;
Im just a bit unsure about the price. Hopefully they wont scare away customers with an overly-inflated price.

well...I hope they manage to release the Iliad soon enough for me to take one along to my teacher's house on the 5th of june...I'm doing my "final practical exam" (Diplom in German) at the Music University on the 12th and I'll be spending a week at my teachers house near the Alps (middle of nowhere, no internet,...) and I'll need a lot to read because you can't practise the violin all day long...and if the weather isn't reall good then it'll be a long week without a good book...:-)

I have my finders crossed for you CommanderROR (well I have then crossed for me, but if it works then you will gets yours too).

Hell everyone. I just telephoned Irex to ask when the iLiad would available. The first thing the lady asked was how many units I required. (one) At which point she said the 'end of May' .. Seems like we could be waiting another week. I'm really hoping to have one in my hands for a business trip 1st week in June..

You forgot to ask how fast you could get a hundred or a thousand. If you can get them faster then it is a success problem, ie they have already sold all of their production.

Why are you thanking us? It would have cost me $5 to call them from the US (-:

Just recieved this from them.. At least I know what the price confirmed at.

Dear Mr. Young,

I herewith would like to inform you that we are planning to make the iLiad available for individual purchase via our Web shop before the end of May 2006.
The price of the iLiad will be EURO 549,00, exclusive VAT and exclusive transport costs.
Your e-mail address has been listed on our retail list and you will receive a notification as soon as our Web shop is open and how to place an order.

Best regards,

The iRex Technologies Team


Loeki van der Lee
Office Manager

iRex Technologies BV
High Tech Campus 46
5656 AE Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Phone +31 40 2746490

Well that puts paid to any hopes of it being cheaper (after the UK newspaper article which claimed it would have a similar price to the Sony)

Ahh well. Otherwise it all good news. We know it's at least coming.

Thanks again for this Onceways. We appreciate it.

@sammykrupa

Offtopic: Would it really have cost 5$ to call from the us???

calling the netherlands from Germany is about 1.2cent per minute, almost as cheap as calling the US (1cent)

tsts...and I always thought Germany was backward...^^

@henrycat:

Can you give us any news on the OS? I know you're probably very busy and fed up with reviewing the device for us, but a few words about the PowerManagement in the updated Os would be a real treat.

THANKS!

CommanderROR,
If you just have a standard phone plan (not VoIP) it might cost a lot. Here is a Verizon page on phone charges:

http://www22.verizon.com/longdistance/business_east/plan_ttw_rates.jsp

Looks like it would cost some $.15 a minute plus $3 monthly just for the privilege.

hmmm...are we talking mobile phones here???

That's a completely different thing then...I was talking about "normal" telephone...mobile is very expensive anyway, and calling foreign countires isn't really affordable at all...

@CommanderROR

<This portion of the message was reported and has been deleted as appropriate to maintain an atmosphere conducive to discussion.> What about leaving Henrycat a bit alone? Let him breathe, he will answer your questions as soon as possible. Patience is a virtue.

@mrbonheur

take it easy there my friend. If you want to insult me or germans in gerneral, do so in a PM, not here in the thread. Of course I'm being a bit annoying...but I'm trying to pack it into a bit of irony or humour...sorry if it got on your nerves...

Oh...and don't be to quick to judge all germans the same...I was born in Capetown, South Africa and spent my childhood there...so i'm not your typical german by any means....

@mrbonheur

Actually I think CommanderROR was just trying to ensure that the last question (mine) was still visable when henrycat gets back to us. Otherwise it may well get lost.

On the otherhand was there any real point to your responce other to be rude to CommanderROR and Germans in general?

I'm sorry for the exaggerated wording. Actually, I'm not the kind of guy who believes in stereotyped clichés, but it's fun for provoking people.

I read the whole threads in the iLiad-section for like three times and I think your ironic background is hardly detectable for an apparent humourless person like me. But "who cares", let's carry on with the discussion about the iRex iLiad.

@mrbonheur


On the otherhand was there any real point to your responce other to be rude to CommanderROR and Germans in general?

I know many Germans given that I'm an Austrian citizen who is living in France, and I like most of them, in fact, my best friend is a German. The cliché stuff is just an appropriate means for provoking people and to get their attention. The essence of my posting was the "patience is a virtue"-part, because I can't stand people who ask for the 100th time, why henrycat hasn't posted his videos yet, answered this and that ... But I'll calm down since it is not worth spending that amount of energy for banal problems like those.

To be honest I can't stand people who ask the same question for the 100th time either...^^
But somehow this whole "Waiting for the Iliad" business is turning me into a member of that peculiar species...:-)

I can understand that, CommanderROR. I am tiptoeing around my computer all the time, checking this Forum and the iRex Homepage for anything new. This is already interfering with my work. I cant eat, cant sleep, damn, i should get some therapy ;) (Reading-therapy should work, best if done using an iLiad in a nice rocking chair with a warm breeze, that doesnt always flip your pages)

That sounds familiar tribble. I'm doing exactly the same. (Just about managing to keep ahead of work though) I'm checking back here at least once an hour if not 2 or 3 times.

I will be off work tomorrow and part of the day will be spent without power... Now thats gonna be hell.

I'm checking back here at least once an hour if not 2 or 3 times.

That must be why I can always see 5 to 15 lurkers in this forum instead of the 1 or 3 in the other ones for the Sony reader and Hanlin book. :D

Lets pass the time:

You know that you are an Iliad fan if you...
1. Get trembling hands every time your incoming e-mail bell rings.
2. Check this forum more than 4 times an hour.
3. Have learnt how to say "Wanneer komt hij uit?" (When is it due out?).
4. Have a small statue of "Henrycat" in your backyard.
5. ....

This is all so off-topic...sigh. :p

4. Have a small statue of "Henrycat" in your backyard.


You only have a statue? I have a small altar which I make offerings to on a regular basis. ;)

Hi all!
I've been lurking here for a while, in the course of researching the iLiad. I'm fascinated by the device, it looks like it's exactly what I've been looking for.

In addition, I have recommended checking it out to my workplace, a small publishing house, for reviewing manuscripts. In that regard, I wonder exactly what the possibilities are for annotating for instance PDFs:

Does anybody know if it can save handwritten annotations directly into the PDF as objects or somesuch? Probably not, but then: Does the Iliad apply annotations as a sort of superpositioned mask? What I'm getting at, is that in addition to add bookmarks to a page, we would like to be able to apply notes and editing marks at an exact position in the text for later review, much like you can scribble at a printed page.

I have read the different threads in addition to searching, but couldn't find an answer to this. Sorry if it has been answered elsewhere after all, be kind :)

Thanks!

You know that you are an Iliad fan if you...
1. Get trembling hands every time your incoming e-mail bell rings.
2. Check this forum more than 4 times an hour.
3. Have learnt how to say "Wanneer komt hij uit?" (When is it due out?).
4. Have a small statue of "Henrycat" in your backyard.
5. ....


...if you...
5. Have Irex webshop page as a homepage.
6. Believe that May means exactly first week of May.
7. Absolutely sure, it is impossible to fix webshop interface in 2 months.
8. Print Iliad's photos and try to read text on them.
9. Refresh your homepage at least twice per hour.
10. Ready to kill Henrycat, if he keeps silence more than a day.

Who is ready to continue? :D

@Man Eating Duck

Welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately I can't answer your question. Annotation is possible, but I don't know how it works exactly. This feature probably varies depending on the reader sofware you use. Henrycat (who has a permanent loan deivce as you probably read earlier in this thread) could probably shed some light on this issue. Unfortuantely he hasn't been around in the last couple of days, probybly because he is busy working or something.

You can either wait for him to return or for irex to release the Iliad so somebody else can answer your question whichever event comes first...^^
I personally think Henrycat will beat iRex there....-)

You only have a statue? I have a small altar which I make offerings to on a regular basis. ;)

I wonder in non-UK readers know that "Henry The Cat" was a seminal tv series in the late 90's, following the activities and excursions (diverse, and otherwise) of the said feline.

Just to make a point High 5, more people are lurking on this thread because there is more going on here. I'm not getting an Illiad, it costs too much and I don't need all those features. But I'm not hearing anything from Sony about their reader so I'm here :)

Do you mean Henry's Cat perchance? I think of the show everytime I see henrycat's board name.

I remember that as a Kid in the 80's. Made by the same people that made Roobarb.

I remember as a young child really liking both series, but being bored senseless by them when I was in my teens (Which probably had more to do with the endless repeats rather than the shows themselves).

Anyway back to the Iliad.

Just a thought: This thread is getting so long, and going in so many different directions. When is it time to start a new thread?

Back!!

Sorry for taking so long, but:

- A very stupid family matter occupied all my weekend (no, don't ask! I'm not going to think about it!)
- My boss is on holidays this week, so more work for me :|

Anyways, i've messed around with the device using the new OS and:

- I think the battery loads faster!! Must be a wrong impression and i never timed it, but i put it to charge and when i get back it already is... 3-4 and half hours!

- The setting menu has had a face lift.

- Power maintenance isn't working ok yet, mainly because of the viewers. If i leave it turned on it last a lot. Sorry i can't give specific but i always forget to keep checking so i never know how long :P

- Annotation will vary with the reader. It's possible to encapsulate the annotations on the file, but i don't know of any format that does it yet. The first readers will only save text has images.
When the device gets its ocr package, the readers should be able to save normal text.



- The device isn’t recognizing txt yet :|

- Pdf’s are loading and working better. It seemed the device before had a size limit, but now it’s loading my big files (Berserk vol 1 75megas).


I'll try to get a definite valor for the time it takes to recharge and last.

Right now:
Recharge 3-4 hours
Use - 4-6 hours.

Any more questions???

It would be quicker if you could ask again so I don’t have to read everything again looking for things I haven’t answered :p

Nice to have you back Henrycat!

Actually the main point of interest for me at the moment is Power Management. since you said it still isn't working properly it porobably won't make a lot of sense to talk about that right now.

To clarify: you said that "if you just leave it on it lasts a lot", what do you mean by that?
Later on you write "use - 3-6 hours", so is that the time it lasts at the moment with you using it actively or is that the time it lasts without use?

On a side note...are they really planning on integrating OCR???
And: did you try the Sudoku yet? What's it like (my girlfirend willl love to hear about that...)

Thanks.
I hope your family and job troubles will leave you alone so that you can relax a bit and read a good book...^^

Nice to have you back Henrycat!

Actually the main point of interest for me at the moment is Power Management. since you said it still isn't working properly it porobably won't make a lot of sense to talk about that right now.

To clarify: you said that "if you just leave it on it lasts a lot", what do you mean by that?
Later on you write "use - 3-6 hours", so is that the time it lasts at the moment with you using it actively or is that the time it lasts without use?

Just On = turned on on top of the table while i prepare a snack, whatch a few tv eps on the computer, play a little Heroes MM 5 :)

3-6 hours is when i'm activelly reading. A little hard to check time because i'm occupied reading and forget -_-'


On a side note...are they really planning on integrating OCR???
And: did you try the Sudoku yet? What's it like (my girlfirend willl love to hear about that...)

Well i was told the Ipabi reader probably would do ocr... But if it is it will be only by the end of the year most likely...


Thanks.
I hope your family and job troubles will leave you alone so that you can relax a bit and read a good book...^^
Now you've done it, i'm thinking about what happened >_<

Don't have sudoku yet. I think it is a program they added to the device not the OS...

I think we are all looking forward to the video really (-:

Henrique,

Do all readers support annotations, just to different levels? Can PDFs be annotated?


How do you erase annotations? Do you use the other side of the pen?

Can you download files from your PC over wireless?

Thanks!

Sam Krupa

Welcome back Henrycat! Thanks for the updates.

I'm a little concerned that there is still no support for txt files. But thats a minor thing (and mainly my concern because my Zaurus does it so badly) as I'm sure someone will develop one of their own (again someone did for the zaurus and unlike Sharp's one it actually works with files over 100k).

But the power management still isn't finished? Thats a biggie. One of the main selling points (for me) is the idea that I won't have to recharge it every day or so (like my PDA).

Henrique,
One more question if you don't mind!

1. Do you think they will make the end-of-May launch date for the iLiad?

welcome back henrycat :-)

is is possible to print the annotation ?

or if is possible to fill out a "blank" pdf - file e.g. pre-printed form and print it or save it on a pc ?

Andreas

Back!!

I'll try to get a definite valor for the time it takes to recharge and last.

Right now:
Recharge 3-4 hours
Use - 4-6 hours.



Wow, what a disappointment on the time. I do international sales/long haul flights. US to Narita is 13+ hours. Four to six of battery barely gets me to Alaska.

I hope they solve the battery management/life issues. Otherwise, Pepperpad does MobiPocket and Cybook can swap batteries mid flight (though that really doesn't reduce the weight of the books so that isn't much progress, either).

Decisions decisions.

4 to 6 hours usage time is a bummer. Sounds like no powermanagement at all atm. I bet you cant do 10000 pageflips in 6 hours :) Your thumb would probably go up in flames.

Hope they fix that soon. could live with 6 hours if you use the pen all the time, but not otherwise. That problem might be a reason for them to delay the release. Customers wouldnt be happy to be promised 10000 pageflips and then only get a couple hundred.

@Henrycat: From which medium are you reading? Do you know if and how big the differences in power consumption are, if reading from CF, SD, USB or internal flash ?
And how many pages do you read per hour?

Might the WIFI or the touch screen function be turned on? I read somewhere that whenever the stylus is removed from it's resting place the touch screen switches on? Or has the battery been badly charged, is it a production spec battery? Has the power output to the screen been increased in order to make page turns faster?

Wait! Has the backlight been left on? ;)

I'll take it with 4 hours battery life because if I have to wait more I might go have a look at those new MacBooks. Only kidding...

Wow, what a disappointment on the time. I do international sales/long haul flights. US to Narita is 13+ hours. Four to six of battery barely gets me to Alaska.

I hope they solve the battery management/life issues. Otherwise, Pepperpad does MobiPocket and Cybook can swap batteries mid flight (though that really doesn't reduce the weight of the books so that isn't much progress, either).

Decisions decisions.

Serious question: Is it allowed to use electronic gadgets during flights? Since I'm going to the US this summer, it would be grateful if you gave me this information. I would love to use my future e-paper device for the flight.

It depends. Some airline do and some don't.

Best bet is to ask the airline you are flying with.

I've never seen an airline that doesn't let you use gadgets during the flight. You will have to shut them off during take-off and landing, but otherwise there should be no problem.

I too am very worried about the power issue...
I can get 3-4 hours of reading from my puny little Yakumo PDA, and that is with backlight (and touchscreen of course) switched on...so 4-6 hours from a 650 Euro eink device is bad, even with only minmal power management.
How on earth did they arrive at the number of 10000+ pageturns if the software is still nowhere near complete even a month after the actual targeted release date.

even the 21 hours they claimed (apparently with WiFi usage included) is hard to grasp if you look at it like that.

What the **** are they playing at? Did they sit down with a calculator and divide the capacity through the amount of power it theroretically takes to update an eink screen or what? It almost seems that way. I don't have the number, otherwise I'd try that method and see whether i get the same value...I sure hope this nightmare is over soon and turns to the good...battery life is my Nr.1 reason for buying this together with the good readability.

I just did a quick calculation...if you set the screen refresh to continuos and take 1.5 seconds for a screen refresh (complete with page loading) then you get 9600 pageturns in 4 hours...so if you read VERY fast you might manage the 10000 pages on one battery... :vulcan:

Hmm, seems better to wait until September before deciding what to get. Irex will have ironed out its issues by then if they are ever going to provide timely service. Additionally information on other readers besides the current three might pop up. Frankly, the Iliad is the only one that really interests me. If I am going to have a ebook reader then I am going to want to jot notes down on it. The Iliad is the best interface for that, and the Hanlin is a very distance second-place (Sony isn't even in the running).

The Iliad has been getting very disappointing of late. *sigh*

Maybe it is best to just wait for the next generation of readers...or wait and see if a number of OEMs start picking up the eink technology now that the displays are being more widely offered.

Henrycat:

In another thread (http://http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6552&page=2), Rechard reports that the device needs 14 seconds to load a PDF, and 3 seconds to turn a page. (Also, that it crashes all the time). Would you agree or disagree with these times?

maybe a problem for irex ;

look at the product flyer on their homepage

" ... The ER 0100 is a very low power mobile device .... The operation time of the rechargeable battery is more than a week without recharging, based on an average use of three hours reading a day ..."

Andreas

@Henrycat

did iRex give you any information on when the "complete" OS should arrive, and when the .txt support (that is also mentioned in the product flyer) will finally be implemented? I always thought .txt support was the easiest thing to do, because even early DOS readers could handle it quite well and the most basic ebooks usually come in that format...
I really hope this is not going to mean that the Iliad will come out late and crippled because then I would have to go back to reading paper books after I had got used to reading ebooks on my PDA...

Answers


I think we are all looking forward to the video really (-:

Will have to wait until i have some free time on my hands -_-'


Do all readers support annotations, just to different levels? Can PDFs be annotated?

How do you erase annotations? Do you use the other side of the pen?

I think i have said it before, but right now no reader has support for annotation.

I can try it in the BMP viewer, but not on html and pdf.

I has just been delayed until the OS and Viewers are working ok.

About erasing, that way was what i was told, but i can't be certain :p

Can you download files from your PC over wireless?


Not until the end of the year, because they saw the users were requesting it they have already decided to work on it, but only later this year.



Welcome back Henrycat! Thanks for the updates.

I'm a little concerned that there is still no support for txt files. But thats a minor thing (and mainly my concern because my Zaurus does it so badly) as I'm sure someone will develop one of their own (again someone did for the zaurus and unlike Sharp's one it actually works with files over 100k).

But the power management still isn't finished? Thats a biggie. One of the main selling points (for me) is the idea that I won't have to recharge it every day or so (like my PDA).

I was told last week they were preparing another update, maybe this time there will be bigger changes. Since january there have been 23 updates so i can say they are working on it.

If only the companies making the viewers would hurry it up :(



Henrique,
One more question if you don't mind!

1. Do you think they will make the end-of-May launch date for the iLiad?

Don't see why not. I was told they had units. I think they were just waiting for when the device was working ok. That and the agreements with the ecommerce agencies for the site.




welcome back henrycat :-)

is is possible to print the annotation ?

or if is possible to fill out a "blank" pdf - file e.g. pre-printed form and print it or save it on a pc ?

Andreas

If the annotation is saved separately you just have to take the file and print it. Or print from the device if they add that capability.

You should be able to write on anything, the main doubt is if the device will recognize the text or just create an image.





@Henrycat: From which medium are you reading? Do you know if and how big the differences in power consumption are, if reading from CF, SD, USB or internal flash ?
And how many pages do you read per hour?

I read mainly from the CF from my camera. I was told it does consume more power but it's hard to be precise without power management working ok...

Pages per hour would depend:
Text - see one of my PDFS (http://iliad.com.sapo.pt/ghost.pdf) . I really have no definite idea, but maybe around 50-60 secs per page.
Don't know it that's a lot or little, just consider the page size and text amount on the pdf.



Might the WIFI or the touch screen function be turned on? I read somewhere that whenever the stylus is removed from it's resting place the touch screen switches on? Or has the battery been badly charged, is it a production spec battery? Has the power output to the screen been increased in order to make page turns faster?

Wait! Has the backlight been left on? ;)

I'll take it with 4 hours battery life because if I have to wait more I might go have a look at those new MacBooks. Only kidding...

I know it the previous OS versions the device had everything on, don't know it they have fixed some of that. have to send an email and see if they answer. Lately they have been very busy...



Henrycat:

In another thread (http://http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6552&page=2), Rechard reports that the device needs 14 seconds to load a PDF, and 3 seconds to turn a page. (Also, that it crashes all the time). Would you agree or disagree with these times?
I have answered this in the thread just go take a look ;)



@Henrycat

did iRex give you any information on when the "complete" OS should arrive, and when the .txt support (that is also mentioned in the product flyer) will finally be implemented? I always thought .txt support was the easiest thing to do, because even early DOS readers could handle it quite well and the most basic ebooks usually come in that format...
I really hope this is not going to mean that the Iliad will come out late and crippled because then I would have to go back to reading paper books after I had got used to reading ebooks on my PDA...

No idea, but will try to know more. I have to say that if you read in txt just convert it to pdf and no problem.

Doesn't it read html? Surely it's faster just to convert to that. :-)

Doesn't it read html? Surely it's faster just to convert to that. :-)

Actually that's what i did with some txt in a previous post.

i just renamed them from .txt to .htm :p

@Henrycat, thanks for the reply. If everything, including the WIFI, is switched on it would definately make a big dent in the power consumption. If I remember correctly I get roughly double the battery life on my laptop when the WIFI is switched off...

@Henrycat: Thanks for the info.
Can you try to get information on which memoryslot uses the least power? CF or SD? Then i can get the apropriate memorycard :)
And if it uses much less power if you use the internal flash? (Then i would copy my current books to the internal flash) I guess USB is only an option for short reading periods.
Can you copy files from USB, CF or SD to the internal flash?

Does anyone know what the RSS capabilities of this device are? e.g. can you sych a web.

Does anyone know what the RSS capabilities of this device are? e.g. can you sych a web.

No Rss now, unless you use the pc to capture and then transfer to the device.

@Henrycat: Thanks for the info.
Can you try to get information on which memoryslot uses the least power? CF or SD? Then i can get the apropriate memorycard :)
And if it uses much less power if you use the internal flash? (Then i would copy my current books to the internal flash) I guess USB is only an option for short reading periods.
Can you copy files from USB, CF or SD to the internal flash?

Looking on it, will update if i find something...

Just got some feeback:

- Next OS version is supposed to give you 10 hours of battery. They mention three hours for the version i have but it has lasted more than that so... :)

- To erase annotations you use a button on the pen, not the back.

- TXT will be handled by the htm viewer. They just forgot to associate the extension with the viewer :rolleyes:

Can't give any comment on release date but... :D

"Can't give any comment on release date but..."

Hmmm. Can't as in you don't know? Or can't as in you are not allowed? The suspense is killing me. ;)

Thanks for your input Henrycat!

Now i'm not going to sxplode...but WTH!!! The next OS will give you 10 hours battery-life??? What is that supposed to mean??? even the 21 hours they promise in their Data-sheet is pretty meagre...so what are they doing messing around with not even half that a month after "release-time"???
I'm just so incredibly angry right now...I don't need a book I have to reload every 3 days...

ok...deep calming breath...

do you have any Info on what kind of usage leads to those 10 hours? I'm planning on reading only (PDF or .txt/htm, I don't care, I can convert the books i'd like to take along) and not using the stylus, WiFi or anything...so maybe I have achance of actually reading riverworld to the end without recharging...?

About the "release date thing"...does the "but" at the end of your sentence signify something like "but chekc the homepage in 5 minutes and the webshop will be online"
...:-)

I suspect Henrycat is a beta-tester, or something like that, and is working for Irex tech., since he got his Iliad :D

Good news Henrycat. 10 Hours sounds alot better than 4. I hope they still have lots of powersaving options, which are unused, to get the 21 hour normal usage they promised. (and hopefully even more, if you only read with stylus and wifi off.) But i guess i could do 10000 pageturns in 10 hours :) , which would only be about 17 pageturns a minute. Thats almost as fast as the device can flip pages. Oh my god. hehe. i hope the specs are as promised and they get it done in a couple of OS updates. Fingers crossed.

I'm abit torn at the moment between anger at iRex for not delivering on their promises although they still have room for improvement probably) and "hopeful anxiety" about the launch...if it works our REALLY wellI could still take it along on the 5th of june, but somehow it probably will arrive one day after I've left or something...


But if there is a public holiday in the Netherlands today, they won't launch it today and if they really have 2 days then it won't start selling before monday and who know how long it takes them to ship...nah...I guess I'll have to buy another paper book for my travel to Murnau...because I don't know whether I'll be able to reload my PDA there...the houes is very old and some things don't work too well anymore...

I'm abit torn at the moment between anger at iRex for not delivering on their promises although they still have room for improvement probably) and "hopeful anxiety" about the launch...if it works our REALLY wellI could still take it along on the 5th of june, but somehow it probably will arrive one day after I've left or something...

They are certainly burning karma with me... If I hadn't been burnt by the PSP not being easily hackable then I would be 100% for the Sony Reader...! Its stunt like being not being communicative that are starting to make me doubt they actually have a product...!

I don't doubt that they have a product...I just get the feeling that they slightly...misjudged...the work it takes to do the sotware side of a product properly and what it takes to market it successfully.

btw. i'm still wondering what henrycat was hinting at with his "but..." at the end of his last statement...

any educated guesses? Or was he just trying to wind us up...^^

Thanks for your input Henrycat!

Now i'm not going to sxplode...but WTH!!! The next OS will give you 10 hours battery-life??? What is that supposed to mean??? even the 21 hours they promise in their Data-sheet is pretty meagre...so what are they doing messing around with not even half that a month after "release-time"???
I'm just so incredibly angry right now...I don't need a book I have to reload every 3 days...

It means they are receiving the updates from the software companies, and are finally getting the power management working, although not at 100%.

Like i have said before, one of the big hold ups was the delay from software companies.


ok...deep calming breath...

Also, keep an eye on your blood pressure...


do you have any Info on what kind of usage leads to those 10 hours? I'm planning on reading only (PDF or .txt/htm, I don't care, I can convert the books i'd like to take along) and not using the stylus, WiFi or anything...so maybe I have achance of actually reading riverworld to the end without recharging...?

If i understood correctly it's the time the device should last reading content, not just lying around doing nothing.


About the "release date thing"...does the "but" at the end of your sentence signify something like "but check the homepage in 5 minutes and the webshop will be online"
...:-)
Lets just say it seems to be a very promising but, but... :D


Also i was told the extra power needed to read from CF/SD should not be very noticeable.

did you see our new poll yet...^^

@henrycat

how is the user (eg you since ypu are the only one right now...) notified of updates for the Iliad?
Does the device connect to the internet every time you connect it to your pc via wifi (over router?) or usb or do you have to navigate some onscreen menu and search for updates manually?

Thanks.

@henrycat

how is the user (eg you since ypu are the only one right now...) notified of updates for the Iliad?
Does the device connect to the internet every time you connect it to your pc via wifi (over router?) or usb or do you have to navigate some onscreen menu and search for updates manually?

Thanks.

When a new update is ready irex sends an email to warn the user.

To update you just have to connect the device to internet, press the button on the top right corner and the device will connect to IDS and download the update.

So you recieve an email to you computer, not the Iliad, right?
Thanks.
We're all hanging around here waiting for something to happen...but I think nothing more is going to happen today.

Do you know when you will recieve the new software, and whehter the "retail" models will come with this new software installed or with the version you have (or even older)? If irex already has the devices, then it would be a lot of work to update all of them...so maybe they'll just let the user do that once the device arrives.

Do you know when you will recieve the new software, and whehter the "retail" models will come with this new software installed or with the version you have (or even older)? If irex already has the devices, then it would be a lot of work to update all of them...so maybe they'll just let the user do that once the device arrives.

Has far has i know it hasn't been decided yet. But the most likely would be for the devices to have my OS version, or if everything goes ok, the "10 hour" version.