Why not asking IREX customer support?

[MobileTechReview]

OK, here are the list of new features, and they ARE cool!

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbt...p?Number=36148

[akey]

YES!

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by MobileTechReview

OK, here are the list of new features, and they ARE cool!

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbt...p?Number=36148

The biggies, IMO, are:

note taking application.
ability to enable zoom and annotations for PDFs.
goto page capability

I would just caution people that this is a big list of new features, and the date really isn't that far out (couple months). I wouldn't get too excited about the timeframe, and mostly take away from this that they are adding the above features, and apparently listening to customer feedback (with the decision to add zoom). If the update isn't available on 4/1 (which it probably won't be), don't be surprised (although I'm sure people will start complaining anyway).

The fact that they're even telling us this information this far in advance is something most other companies don't do.

[MobileTechReview]

If the update is available by 4/30 I'd still be impressed! Quite a lot of features for a small company to add. Though they potentially can port some of these features from their higher end readers.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by MobileTechReview

If the update is available by 4/30 I'd still be impressed! Quite a lot of features for a small company to add. Though they potentially can port some of these features from their higher end readers.

Yes, some of those are features they're already doing for the DR1000, it's just a matter of deciding to support them on the DR800. Which, in itself, is good news. Sounds like they were definitely listening to people on here who were asking for those features.

[SCION]

It's back on my list of potentials. Will wait for updated reviews. I'm willing to overlook the missing dictionary.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Nice list, although I would prefer to see dictionary support added prior to a couple of the ones they have listed.

[JSWolf]

No way to view notes on a PC makes the note taking rather useless.

[SCION]

That did raise a flag. I wanted a DR800SG owner to mention it.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

No way to view notes on a PC makes the note taking rather useless.

My assumption is that there is an implied "yet" in there. They probably just won't have time to get that part done, and don't want to hold up the rest of the release in order to wait for it.

How is that handled on the DR1000, the companion software takes care of it?

[BrassMonkey]

Spoke to IREX tech support fellow yesterday. He said that the scribbling function and pdf zoom would be added but not necessarily in the next update. He said scribbling should definitely be there in next update.

[ThR]

Originally Posted by MobileTechReview

OK, here are the list of new features, and they ARE cool!

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbt...p?Number=36148

Do you have a laundry list for the new DR1000S firmware, too?

[CoolDragon]

If this list do get implemented, the Sony 900 will definitely be a tough sell :-).

Anyway, IMHO, promising a feature list of future firmware is a very good strategy to hold potential customers from competitors, but this will certainly damage the company image if it got slipped.

[The Straven]

Nice scoop, MTR. These updates, if they do make it out, will elevate the DR800 to "Best of Class" for me. Trying to differentiate your own products by software seems a bit of a silly idea, and I'm glad that iRex is on a different course.

The inability to jump to pages was bugging me. It wouldn't be fun to reach the end of a 400-page book only to find there's no way to go back to the beginning except by reading backwards one page at a time (although the narrative to "Memento" works well that way, once).

Originally Posted by SCION

That did raise a flag. I wanted a DR800SG owner to mention it.

It's not an issue at all for me. iRex sold software to export notes to the PC for the iLiad, but even if it had been free I doubt I would have used it. But I did need to jot some notes this morning, and while I had the 800 I didn't have a pen or pad handy. I take sticky-pad type notes, not law-school type notes, and I need to be able to refer to them when walking around, not at my desk. Maybe a 3rd party developer might write an "app for that" for more serious note-taking.

[badbob001]

Note taking application - NO SUPPORT TO VIEW THESE NOTES ON A PC

Does this mean the ability to add notes to an existing document or is this a separate application that opens a blank page for notes? Big difference since the former means possible annotation/notes support for PDfs, ePubs, Images, HTML, etc and each separate viewer possibly needs to be updated with this ability.

As for viewing the notes on the PC, IREX's companion software did something like merging the document and annotations into a new PDF file. Well, as long as the notes are in a separate single file sitting alongside the document, so it can be backed up or moved with the document, then I'm fine with the way it is, at least, initially.

I wonder if the lack of dictionary support have anything to do with licensing.

Too bad no mention of margin trimming. 'Selection' zoom is okay but I hope they work out usage issues when turning pages. For example, if I use selection zoom to trim the margins of a full page view, I would want the zoom to be persistent as I turn pages. But if I 'selection' zoom half the page, such as when viewing in landscape mode, I would want the flipbar to go to the next part of the document instead of going to the next page. What I do not want is to have to pan around with the pen or try to drive around the page with arrow buttons that move the view at arbitrary distances.