iRex iLiad reader too slow for "live" websites

[timmins]

Originally Posted by Jaapjan

Of course. But during my reading of a book, I do not want to be accessing network connections. I most certainly do not want to check my fuel administration with excel while reading my novel. As you say, needs differ and this irex is meant at one or the other group.

I'm not countering you in any way , just wanted to add that what I meant by network connection brings me to an example last night. While reading there was something that I just had no idea about, I flipped on Wifi and went to Wikipedia. I did another 2-3 minutes of reading there, and then hopped back into my book.

Excel? There's no way my little tablet, "biblio", would ever see the likes of Office. My tablet is dedicated to two sole tasks... reading and in a rare moon note-taking.

[bingle]

From the company's point of view, it's possible there's a "good" reason for them to prohibit unauthorized third-party software. There are two ways to make a profit on devices: selling the hardware, and selling a platform. Selling the hardware means you want to get the actual device in as many hands as possible, and you don't care what they do with it. It also means you have to have a price point somewhere above the manufacturing/distribution costs in order to make a profit.

Selling the platform means you get the hardware in as many hands as possible, but use the platform to sell something else. Video game consoles use this approach; the manufacturers make money by licensing game developers to produce content and selling the content, they don't make much of a profit on the hardware. In fact, usually they lose money on the hardware for a while.

So, based on the statements about development and the huge number of expensive features they packed into the hardware, my guess would be that iRex is subsidizing the cost of the device by selling the platform - the newspaper subscriptions are one way to do that, and they might have other things lined up. So they don't want people doing something with the platform that doesn't make them any money, perhaps. Or perhaps they're worried about unlicensed developers competing with the licensed ones, making companies less willing to pay for the license.

Sony will probably go the same way, since they already announced their intention to sell content, and since that's the way Sony works.

In any case, it seems like the Hanlin device is going to be the hackers' choice, since Hanlin is probably selling the hardware, not the platform. They will be eager for people to buy the device for any reason, whether they're planning on just reading books, porting DOOM, or just blowing it up with explosives. That's kind of a refreshing attitude these days...

[CommanderROR]

I'm not so sure what iRex is playing at...

They have a nice product in the pipeline, but their information politic is...slightly lacking...and instead of offering an open reader (they do say that they want to support as many formats as possible) they restrict 3rd party apps to their "partners".
They then announce the IDS (or whatever) to bring content to the customers, but never give any details on what they will be offering. And in addition they want to focus on "business" customers...but are also open to private customers...so what will they be offering for the privates?
They state that they'll be selling their device in april, but never say what they will be charging, if there will be local distribuion in other european/american countries...no information about "subsidized" devices...

and the funny thing is...according to the Teleread poll they are Nr.1 on the wishlist of the users at the moment...and I'm rather interested mayself...even though the device has obvious drawbacks as a "book replacement" in comparison to Sony and Hanlin...it just seems so...geeky...maybe that's it...

[shiggie]

Okay, how long have they kept us waiting for this thing with NO contact! I was all set to buy one in April, then in May and look now it's September.

All I want is an intelligent pad, I want to be able to store books and make notes, I want to be able to make use of things like the WiFi and Linux environment to develop small apps to tie with a database or my own automated filing systems.

I'm sick of the unprofessional approach of iRex with regards to the launch of this product. They're going to kill the market for ePaper devices before it's even got off the ground and I am NEVER going to get my A5 tablet!

Get your act together iRex, you couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery!

[vvoi666]

Originally Posted by shiggie

Okay, how long have they kept us waiting for this thing with NO contact! I was all set to buy one in April, then in May and look now it's September.

All I want is an intelligent pad, I want to be able to store books and make notes, I want to be able to make use of things like the WiFi and Linux environment to develop small apps to tie with a database or my own automated filing systems.

I'm sick of the unprofessional approach of iRex with regards to the launch of this product. They're going to kill the market for ePaper devices before it's even got off the ground and I am NEVER going to get my A5 tablet!

Get your act together iRex, you couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery!

two words: nokia 770

[Riocaz]

Thats not, technically, 2 words.

And Shiggie was talking about epaper devices.

[vvoi666]

Originally Posted by Riocaz

Thats not, technically, 2 words.

that is, technically, correct

Originally Posted by Riocaz

And Shiggie was talking about epaper devices.

from his description, the 770 is the closest thing to his needs. he won't get what he wants from any of the upcoming epaper devices.

[Riocaz]

Originally Posted by vvoi666

that is, technically, correct

Sorry I forgot to put a smiley on the end of that so.

It was meant to be "tongue in cheek", not "pedantic ass" :-)

from his description, the 770 is the closest thing to his needs. he won't get what he wants from any of the upcoming epaper devices.

True. But the Nokia is nowhere near a5 sized.

[Jaapjan]

Added to that, we might not want something with backlight..we want ePaper. Nothing else.

[shiggie]

What I am specifically after is a replacement for a notepad. I've owned a number of PDAs and tested tablet PCs and so far found nothing in the vain of what I want.

The reason that the iRex appeals to me is because it seems to be nearing the specifications I have longed for.

The Nokia 770 looks like an interesting gadget, but about as useful to me as a chocolate condom; it's trying to be too much, convergance is nice, but I already have a PC and I'm looking for a companion device, not a replacement. I may be misinformed, but I believe that it is going to fail in my expectations like most other pda's have. I don't require a colour screen since most of the books I have in PDF format are mono, and I never carry coloured pens around so I'm used to writing black. The absence of a backlit screen is also a bonus, since I've never been able to comfortably read those in sunlight, and although Britain is overcast 90% of the year, it can still be a major problem.

The wacom-based touch-screen appeals to me because I use a wacom tablet all the time and I love how solid it feels compared to standard touch-screen interfaces. Anyone who has written on the surface of a tablet PC knows how crap the text looks with jagged edges, and how difficult it is to write like normal on the zero-friction surface, (why the hell can't they just roughen the screen a little so the pen doesn't glide as effortlessly, clumsy people like me have real trouble with those!)

I don't want anything more than an electronic pad, so it's a means of recording and displaying data, but it seems to me that if you're going to put a 400mhz processor in something and you aren't going to use it to it's potential, you should allow others to further your efforts; unless they're afraid of giving away important copy-protection info.

... Everything else aside, I wish they'd just made the damned thing square... I HATE that slanted top edge.