Well,after doing some research on various mentioned and unmentioned devices, I wanted to put some of my findings on 'paper'. Generally I'm reviewing e-ink devices here:
1- I didn't really like the hanlin OS interface and looks, it doesn't mention anything of landscape .pdf view,it has a great library and great price too. If I would get one, I would probably go with V3 or V8(in black if possible);but no thank you...
2- From Sony:
- The PRS 505 has few options (no SDK), and expensive books. But has the best sales price yet! This one is good if you don't read lots, want a quality device that you can take with you on holidays and maybe buy one or two books per holiday (less than 10 per year).
- The Sony PRS 700 is too expensive for what it has
4- From Irex:
- Iliad is what I want, only it's twice the price of a Sony, and doesn't support SD cards.. Given a much lower pricetag, I would probably go with the 'book edition', since I don't need Wifi. What I really like is the bar on the left for page swapping!
- Irex Digital reader is too large and pricey for me.
6- Kindle offers not much for it's 3G connection;Amazon and Wikipedia. Not possible to download Gutenberg books with it. I also really dislike it's looks! Buy this one over Sony if you're a reader that buys lots of books regularly. Books on amazon are on average $9.99; in the sony shop that's $14.50.
7- From Netronics:
- EB500: screensize is pretty small, despite having 800x600 pix; 128Mb flash memory.
- EB600: Identical than EB500, only with USB1.1 interface,and 6" screen.
- EB610: Identical to EB500, only with 512Mb ram, and 6" screen
- EB611: Identical to EB610, only with Wifi (pretty useless)
- EB900/EZ900: (AKA Astak Mentor) 9,7" screen, 4GB flash,64Mb ram, If I had to choose this brand it'd probably be this one, despite it's expected heavy price tag.
There's some controversy I've seen around the internet concerning this. One device will be released nov.'08,the other one around may '09.
8- Polymer Vision Readius
espite it's small formfactor, I don't like the screen to be flexible, rolled up like that. Neither the 320x240 (QVGA) screen. So I'd not enjoy this device. Besides, noone really knows if you can view books with it, or buy them...
9- Ectaco Jetbook: NO E-ink!! It almost got me! Too small screen, and priced the same as the Sony PRS550. Not interested. Has a whole bunch of dictionaries, interface languages and language support I don't need. No mention of the display resolution!
10- StareBook STK-101 is older technology sold for a price higher than the Sony PSR-700. So it's a nono for me.
11- Plastic Logic Reader: First,the reader is business aimed,so we can expect this to start selling around $800,and in 6 months perhaps drop $300. it has almost no controls,so everything needs to be done through a touchscreen. I dislike touchscreens in a sense that, if you need to use it a lot the touchscreen gets destroyed easely. If you only use it to select an item on the screen ok, but not to do both typing and swapping pages! So only the price, and then the controls say to me a big nono.
Those where all devices I found online. Anyone can add some more, I'd be delighted to search into them,and perhaps find a weak spot of the device.
It's really hard to find a good device out there. I guess there's a general rule to buy the newest is usually better feats. Older devices fabricated in 2006 for example, don't have many of the newer improvements,and often sell for a not much lower price.