DR1000 RC1 firmware review

splendor · 06-04-2010, 04:49 AM

1 the contrast rate is better than beta, but still not as good as 1.71.
2 faster to open folders and menu, but page-turning speed for PDF with pictures or scanned books is much slower.
actually, i happened to think that the most useful functions of 2.0 in comparson with 1.71 is the short cuts at the tool bar. otherwise, there are more cons than pros.

SplogSplog · 06-04-2010, 06:05 AM

Here is my own review (copied from another thread). It was written after just one hour with RC1, after which I switched back to the beta version because of the "cons":

Just been playing with it on my DR1000 for about an hour. My very early feedback:

Pros:
- Page turning on cached (i.e. previously viewed) pages seems to be a lot faster. I can't see much improvement on non-cached pages though (in fact, see cons below).
- Contrast is much improved, so that faint text that was hard to read on the beta is now very legible. I would say contrast is as good as the old 1.7 release, which is great.

Cons:
- All my notes and scribbles from the beta version are now misaligned - they are no longer in the same place on the page and even have a different pen thickness. This is particularly troubling where I had underlined or circled words - since I now just have circles and lines at random places on the page. This was a serious disappointment since I have made notes on hundreds of pages since the beta release. Having said that, I did know the beta was a beta, so cannot complain too much.
- Page turns in portrait mode for non-cached pages do not seem to be faster. They seem, in fact, to be slightly slower, but that may be my imagination. In landscape mode the situation is worse in that pages turns for some documents are now much slower than before - in fact, sometimes they may even be hanging the system (twice in the past hour I have rebooted the device because a page turn was taking more than two minutes).
[Very minor] The rotate icon (which I use frequently) is no longer on the toolbar, and has been replaced with a page thumbnails icon (which I never use).

So, I have mixed feelings. The improved contrast is a help, but not at the price of the cons. I am going to switch back to the beta release (if I can).

EDIT: I successfully went back to the beta release, and to my joy all my notes and scribbles are back where they should be.

myprecious · 06-04-2010, 07:54 AM

Image based pdfs are much slower indeed

whopper · 06-04-2010, 08:19 AM

Maybe a Bug?

when you block all the buttons and use full screen mode, you cant go back or change page, because you cant select the menu again and the buttons doesnt work, so you will need to reboot the device.

pthwaite · 06-04-2010, 08:28 AM

I too noticed that. Especially awkward as I'd locked the bottom Menu button. However touching the side buttons brought up the lower "menu bar" again.

The locking of all buttons and full screen ode has been an issue almost since the beginning with the original firmware. It would be good if you could permanantly enable a "hot" zone that would always bring up the menu, espcially for full screen mode.
Howard

whopper · 06-04-2010, 09:09 AM

And the contrast for me is much worse than 1.71

We need another boost on this to read better technical pdfs.

pthwaite · 06-04-2010, 05:13 PM

I must admit I don't seem to have a problem with contrast and believe me my eyes are hopeless. Can't see I've noticed any difference.

H

Gwaihir · 06-05-2010, 08:42 AM

Hmm.. widely different opinions on the all important matter of good contrast! Different types of documents perhaps?

whopper / splendor: would you per chance be able to post an example page (as a pdf)? I'd hope that the iRex developers visiting here can be persuaded to look into this, if we can get them material to work with.

timezone · 06-05-2010, 02:23 PM

I wish I could test this version. I refuse to drop my Mobipocket books and lose my dictionary. At the moment I will be saying goodbye to iRex this Fall when a large number of Window's tablets will come out. I wish iRex would realize what they have done to us. They need to open talks with Amazon. Kindle is on the iPad. This should be an easy fix.

Erminio Mostacci · 06-05-2010, 06:56 PM

This 2.0 RC1 seemed to have bricked my DR, it installed and when it was about to restart into the new firmware. Nothing. Screen is all blank and only the power (orange) up led and bottom middle led are lit. Tried all kind of resets as well. I tried also to use a new SD card and original IREX SD card formatted. Nothing. DR1000 is completely blocked.
I tried all possible downgrade to beta 0401, 0408 and to firmware 1.7.1, nothing, always a blank screen and the power (orande) up led and bottom middle led are lit.
I opened a case at iRex American support.
By the way, for now, I think that it's better to not use new release of firmware

Trickereader · 06-07-2010, 08:34 AM

Hi there,
My first message on this forum.

I recently acquired the Irex DR1000S in v1.7.1.
I'm very happy to see beta versions and feedbacks for this reader.
If you don't mind me asking some questions about this RC1.

I'm interested in the Epub format.
What is the feedback for this format ?
As I understand the epub could be viewed before only by adding the soft FBReader.
What are the advantages of each one ?

Is there a width zoom for PDF, now ?
How is scribble improved in this version ?

It looks like many problems are coming from integrating the Adobe rendering engine...

As for Mobipocket is it possible there'll a new and different version.
Coming from Bookeen Gen3, that's what they did because there was some commercial rules forbidding them to have both formats on one reader.
Anyway on Bookeen there wasn't beta released and we waited over a year for a new firmware...

CoolDragon · 06-07-2010, 12:26 PM

Weird, they have pulled off the dr1000s RC1 blog.

repods · 06-07-2010, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolDragon

Weird, they have pulled off the dr1000s RC1 blog.

mmm.. but why ?

SplogSplog · 06-07-2010, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolDragon

Weird, they have pulled off the dr1000s RC1 blog.

Wow! That is very strange. There could at least be an explanation in place of the removed RC1.

ThR · 06-07-2010, 02:44 PM

Be cool, downloading the rc1 is still possible...

06-04-2010, 04:49 AM	#1
splendor Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: irex	RC1 firmware review 1 the contrast rate is better than beta, but still not as good as 1.71. 2 faster to open folders and menu, but page-turning speed for PDF with pictures or scanned books is much slower. actually, i happened to think that the most useful functions of 2.0 in comparson with 1.71 is the short cuts at the tool bar. otherwise, there are more cons than pros.

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06-04-2010, 06:05 AM	#2
SplogSplog Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 336 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Prague Device: Irex DR1000S	Here is my own review (copied from another thread). It was written after just one hour with RC1, after which I switched back to the beta version because of the "cons": Just been playing with it on my DR1000 for about an hour. My very early feedback: Pros: - Page turning on cached (i.e. previously viewed) pages seems to be a lot faster. I can't see much improvement on non-cached pages though (in fact, see cons below). - Contrast is much improved, so that faint text that was hard to read on the beta is now very legible. I would say contrast is as good as the old 1.7 release, which is great. Cons: - All my notes and scribbles from the beta version are now misaligned - they are no longer in the same place on the page and even have a different pen thickness. This is particularly troubling where I had underlined or circled words - since I now just have circles and lines at random places on the page. This was a serious disappointment since I have made notes on hundreds of pages since the beta release. Having said that, I did know the beta was a beta, so cannot complain too much. - Page turns in portrait mode for non-cached pages do not seem to be faster. They seem, in fact, to be slightly slower, but that may be my imagination. In landscape mode the situation is worse in that pages turns for some documents are now much slower than before - in fact, sometimes they may even be hanging the system (twice in the past hour I have rebooted the device because a page turn was taking more than two minutes). [Very minor] The rotate icon (which I use frequently) is no longer on the toolbar, and has been replaced with a page thumbnails icon (which I never use). So, I have mixed feelings. The improved contrast is a help, but not at the price of the cons. I am going to switch back to the beta release (if I can). EDIT: I successfully went back to the beta release, and to my joy all my notes and scribbles are back where they should be.

06-04-2010, 07:54 AM	#3
myprecious Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 28 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Nowy Targ, Poland Device: DR1000S	Image based pdfs are much slower indeed

06-04-2010, 08:19 AM	#4
whopper Addict Posts: 350 Karma: 22726 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Europe Device: Boox max 2	Maybe a Bug? when you block all the buttons and use full screen mode, you cant go back or change page, because you cant select the menu again and the buttons doesnt work, so you will need to reboot the device.

06-04-2010, 08:28 AM	#5
pthwaite Fanatic Posts: 597 Karma: 430 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Ellesmere Port, UK Device: DR1000S Sony PRS505 iPad iPhone	I too noticed that. Especially awkward as I'd locked the bottom Menu button. However touching the side buttons brought up the lower "menu bar" again. The locking of all buttons and full screen ode has been an issue almost since the beginning with the original firmware. It would be good if you could permanantly enable a "hot" zone that would always bring up the menu, espcially for full screen mode. Howard

06-04-2010, 09:09 AM	#6
whopper Addict Posts: 350 Karma: 22726 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Europe Device: Boox max 2	And the contrast for me is much worse than 1.71 We need another boost on this to read better technical pdfs.

06-04-2010, 05:13 PM	#7
pthwaite Fanatic Posts: 597 Karma: 430 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Ellesmere Port, UK Device: DR1000S Sony PRS505 iPad iPhone	I must admit I don't seem to have a problem with contrast and believe me my eyes are hopeless. Can't see I've noticed any difference. H

06-05-2010, 08:42 AM	#8
Gwaihir The Windlord Posts: 119 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Netherlands Device: iRex DR1000S, BeBook Club S	Hmm.. widely different opinions on the all important matter of good contrast! Different types of documents perhaps? whopper / splendor: would you per chance be able to post an example page (as a pdf)? I'd hope that the iRex developers visiting here can be persuaded to look into this, if we can get them material to work with.

06-05-2010, 02:23 PM	#9
timezone Addict Posts: 244 Karma: 1232 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boston, MA Device: Windows Phone7, Kindle Fire	I wish I could test this version. I refuse to drop my Mobipocket books and lose my dictionary. At the moment I will be saying goodbye to iRex this Fall when a large number of Window's tablets will come out. I wish iRex would realize what they have done to us. They need to open talks with Amazon. Kindle is on the iPad. This should be an easy fix.

06-05-2010, 06:56 PM	#10
Erminio Mostacci Connoisseur Posts: 56 Karma: 12 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: enTourage eDGe, iRex DR 1000, Cybook Gen3	This 2.0 RC1 seemed to have bricked my DR, it installed and when it was about to restart into the new firmware. Nothing. Screen is all blank and only the power (orange) up led and bottom middle led are lit. Tried all kind of resets as well. I tried also to use a new SD card and original IREX SD card formatted. Nothing. DR1000 is completely blocked. I tried all possible downgrade to beta 0401, 0408 and to firmware 1.7.1, nothing, always a blank screen and the power (orande) up led and bottom middle led are lit. I opened a case at iRex American support. By the way, for now, I think that it's better to not use new release of firmware

06-07-2010, 08:34 AM	#11
Trickereader Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Paris, FR Device: Boox M92,Irex DR1000S, Bookeen Gen3, Sony PRS500	Hi there, My first message on this forum. I recently acquired the Irex DR1000S in v1.7.1. I'm very happy to see beta versions and feedbacks for this reader. If you don't mind me asking some questions about this RC1. I'm interested in the Epub format. What is the feedback for this format ? As I understand the epub could be viewed before only by adding the soft FBReader. What are the advantages of each one ? Is there a width zoom for PDF, now ? How is scribble improved in this version ? It looks like many problems are coming from integrating the Adobe rendering engine... As for Mobipocket is it possible there'll a new and different version. Coming from Bookeen Gen3, that's what they did because there was some commercial rules forbidding them to have both formats on one reader. Anyway on Bookeen there wasn't beta released and we waited over a year for a new firmware...

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06-07-2010, 12:26 PM	#12
CoolDragon Addict Posts: 244 Karma: 124 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: none	Weird, they have pulled off the dr1000s RC1 blog.

06-07-2010, 02:44 PM	#15
ThR Tatütatuter Posts: 390 Karma: 3148 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Germany, Baden, Karlsruhe Device: Aura H2O, Glo HD, Paperwhite, PRS-950	Be cool, downloading the rc1 is still possible...