First look at DR800SG (video review)

[Starlicy]

Edit on 02/20/2010 9:29pm:

Here's the 2nd review I posted on youtube as promised:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrS1ZppOTWA

I've learned a lot from this forum and was very well informed before I made this purchase (esp. much thanks to mgmueller ). I'm in love of the display, and though it's missing the anotation and go-to-page function I still like this better than Sony's PRS-900. Hopefully this review can give you more insight of how this device performs in action, and help those who still can't make their decision.


Eariler post on 02/19/2010:

I'm one of the lucky ones that received the device today . This is my first review ever and here's the link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8TYC3RACfo

I played with it for like 15 minutes. It doesn't allow me to access the ebook yet because of low battery level. I like it so far (better than PRS900) because of the awesome quality of the screen. However, from what I can see now there is no dictionary and no anotation capability.

Let me know what you want to perform on this device. I will post another video review later.

[SCION]

Good job. Thanks for taking the time!

[AlpGlide]

thank you so much for sharing.
Can it crop white margin of pdf files?
Thanks

[nikkie]

Thanks!!! It looks great. Can you test B&N downloaded books as well as books from Sony? (They both ought to work.) Is there a browser? Can you download books with the browser from calibre-server?

[OrcaBlue]

Awesome job on the video and thanks for sharing.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by nikkie

Thanks!!! It looks great. Can you test B&N downloaded books as well as books from Sony? (They both ought to work.) Is there a browser? Can you download books with the browser from calibre-server?

B&N and Sony work flawlessly, as intended. Even on the "S" version, you can configure your B&N account for PDB books (user name and credit card number to decrypt).
Very interesting: I'm using the B&N PDBs on iRex 800 and on nook.
Sometimes, author's name or book title have differences on both units. For about 25% of my B&N titles, iRex 800 shows flaws (*) whereas nook shows what I'd expect. But nook only does so in the original B&N library. In nookLibrary (the softrooted one), it's the same as with iRex 800.

(*) No author's name, strange author's name like "dll", book title in capital letters, ...

[Starlicy]

Thanks all, glad if I helped

AlpGlide - Yes, you can choose page margins from 1/2", 1/4", 1/8" to no margin at all in settings. I briefly tested it w/ pdf, and it works when you specify the font size (small,medium,large & x-large), which cuts off margins, rearranges the text and may puts pictures in a different position (kind of works like Sony's PDF reflow). But when you view the document using original layout, the margins are not chopped and you'll be looking at the page as if you're using adobe on your computer. I'll show the difference in the video review tomorrow.

Nikkie - Books fron Sony works fine. I only tested Barnes & Noble to download the free MW Pocket Dictionary from the ebook mall and it works great so far. The ebook mall kind of works like a browser, but for now it can only connect to B&N and Newspaper Direct.

[nikkie]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

B&N and Sony work flawlessly, as intended. Even on the "S" version, you can configure your B&N account for PDB books (user name and credit card number to decrypt).
Very interesting: I'm using the B&N PDBs on iRex 800 and on nook.
Sometimes, author's name or book title have differences on both units. For about 25% of my B&N titles, iRex 800 shows flaws (*) whereas nook shows what I'd expect. But nook only does so in the original B&N library. In nookLibrary (the softrooted one), it's the same as with iRex 800.

(*) No author's name, strange author's name like "dll", book title in capital letters, ...

From what I recall, the Nook had that bug out of the door, but they fixed it in a software update. Hopefully the same will be true with the iRex. I have to admit that I'm very tempted to pick up the iRex and a Nook at this point, even though I'd been leaning toward the iPad and the Alex...the problem with the Alex is that it won't support wireless download of the B&N content because it will use Kobo's books. Then again, it's running Android, so I'm guessing you could get B&N books on there regardless with calibre-server. Hm........

Too many good devices coming out right now!!

[Starlicy]

I've posted the link to my 2nd youtube review on top.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Starlicy I couldn't agree more. I think they really did a nice job with this device. Build quality is top notch and the speed, screen and ergonomics are just great.

[AlpGlide]

Originally Posted by Starlicy

I've posted the link to my 2nd youtube review on top.

Thank you for your wonderful work!
If we can combine DR800 hardware with Sony prs900 software, it will be best of best

[professzore]

Originally Posted by Starlicy

I've posted the link to my 2nd youtube review on top.

Great review again.

BTW you mentioned an ePub maker application. May I ask you to share a link to this? At this time, Google couldn't help me a lot.

Thanks in advance, and have great experiences with the device!

Professzore

[akey]

No go to page function?

Why in the world would that be left out, I have a couple PDF books that approach 1200 pages each. I would be there all day holding down the flip bar!

Oh well. One more strike against the DR800 for my usage

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by akey

No go to page function?

Why in the world would that be left out, I have a couple PDF books that approach 1200 pages each. I would be there all day holding down the flip bar!

Oh well. One more strike against the DR800 for my usage

It is a rather odd omission, but not one that really impacts me. I usually just use the table of contents to get close to where I need to be and then use the long press to jump forward or backward 5 pages at a time.

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by professzore

you mentioned an ePub maker application.

You might want to try this one out:
http://www.juliansmart.com/ecub