Quote:
Originally Posted by olis
I'm really impressed with the Iliad screen showed in that picture. Is there anyone who knows for sure if the iliad(latest edition) is vizplex?
I've read many posts on this subject but no one was conclusive.
thanks.
|
I doubt any response could be conclusive, unless it came from iRex. I certainly don't know for sure, and I don't know whether it matters much. But I'd say, having got the iLiad Book Edition a few weeks ago, and comparing it with the Sony PRS-505, which I've had for several months, that the iLiad's (well, this iLiad's) screen is Vizplex or something as much like it as makes no difference. The background gray seems a bit lighter and brighter than that of the PRS-505--but my PRS-505 is older, and some darkening may have occurred, so it would probably be better just to say that they're comparable. The screen refresh on the iLiad (my new Book Edition, that is) is just as fast as on the PRS-505. It's perhaps a tiny bit faster, in fact, at least when I make the most direct comparison I can, of the way they display PDFs that I've generated with pdftex---files that are the same in every way, basically, except formatted with different "papersizes" for the Sony and the iLiad. In general, in fact, the page refresh speed was a surprise--what I'd read about the iLiad had led me to expect it to be rather slow, and in my estimation it typically is not.
Keep in mind that the difference, in contrast and refresh speed, between Vizplex and the first-generation e-ink material is definite but not very great in any case. And the iLiad's font rendering, for one thing, is different and I gather always has been (16 gray scales and I think anti-aliasing that is clearly quite different from whatever it is that the Sony implements--but here I'm technically out of my depth).
I recall that when the PRS-505 was released, though it was known that Vizplex was being used, Vizplex was not mentioned in the specs or in Sony's promotional material. Similarly, iRex could have switched to Vizplex without wanting to "play it up" in any way--or maybe not, of course; who knows?
I recall, also, having read a PVI or E-Ink press release, quite some time ago--before Vizplex was actually being used in any device that was on the market--in which it was stated that Vizplex was (I'm paraphrasing very loosely from memory) easier and cheaper to make than the first-generation e-ink screens. So I'd think it likely enough that the first-generation stuff is just obsolete and not being made any more. But again, who knows? (Somebody, of course, but not me.)