Irex 800 Questions

[Bayah]

I was looking at getting an Irex DR800SG, but I had some questions I hope users of it could answer:

Is there a charge for the Newpaperdirect newspapers?
Also, is the NYtimes still in the ebook mall, and is there a charge for that?

I vaguely recall someone saying you could check your email on the device, but the functionality was limited. I since cannot find confirmation of that.

Does the 2.0 firmware support No-Margins zooming?

Does the DR800 give a good balance between being able to read books and A4 pdfs as one would believe?

Thanks in advance!

[pauli]

There is an "air charge" when you download a newspaper over the 3G connection. If you use the USB connection, you only have to pay the monthly subscription (I've got the 10$ = 31 issues/month subscription). The USB connection option allows you to set the zoom level (I prefer 240) so you can make the newspaper look like a newspaper and still have the same hi-res.

You cannot read your email on it.

The 2.0 firmware supports zoom. But if it will include margin cropping, I'm not sure. A lot of people are trying out the Beta 2.0 firmware and are giving feedback to iRex. The No-Margins zooming you mention is one of the items they are considering... Alternatively you can zoom in manually.

The DR800 is perfect for reading books... you get exactly the same readable area as on a normal paper book. For reading A4 pdf's you definitely need zoom. Half a A4 page can be shown perfectly on the display.

If you're adventurous go get the DR800 and try the 2.0 beta... if not... well wait until the 2.0 firmware is officially released, because you really need the zoom function if you're planning on reading A4 formatted documents on it.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Bayah

Does the DR800 give a good balance between being able to read books and A4 pdfs as one would believe?

I think it's probably as good a compromise as is possible at the moment. I read a lot of journal articles in PDF, often at or about A4. Some of them are fine as they come, but some need some tweaking before I put them on the unit. For some reason journal designers seem to think that taking up half the page area with margins is a good thing - which it might be for paper journals but is a right pain in the whatsit when you want to read the article on a reader. Certainly the zoom function will only enhance the multi-purpose useability of the unit.
If I only wanted to read books I would have gone for something different - I'm still glad I went for the DR800.