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RobbieClarken · 12-06-2008, 08:51 PM

I was trying to hold off until the DR1000SW came out but I discovered a local business that sells iRex products and couldn't help but take a look. The sales rep was very helpful (thanks cbell!

) and I was extremely impressed by the size of the DR1000S screen so I bought one

.

Here are my thoughts:

The DR1000S is perfect for reading PDF. I am mostly reading non-fiction books with diagrams and equations and these are almost exclusively PDF or DJVU files.
The battery life is a little annoying. You definitely need to recharge at least once a day. I generally leave my DR1000S recharging whenever I'm not using it and I don't run out of power.
The long start up time is frustrating when you want to jump straight into a book. I'm looking forward to the next firmware update.
I actually find the device great for reading novels. It isn't too heavy and the screen is so clear that scanned books look beautiful.
The page turns are a little slower than the Sony but this is compensated by having more text on the screen.
I love the thumbnail view. Makes navigating much faster. The table of contents is also much nicer than on the Sony.
The dictionary is great. Definitely a feature Sony should implement. The ability to find a word in a book is extremely useful as well and surprisingly efficient.
I rarely use the stylus but scribbling is much more responsive than I thought it would be.
Navigating around the menu is a bit clumsy. I don't see any reason why the buttons on the left are identical to the buttons on the right. Plus they should have made the bottom circle a square to distinguish it from the other two circles. The interface definitely needs streamlining - why does it take six button presses to add a bookmark (three with the stylus but getting it out is a hassle)?
The most annoying thing for me has been the device freezing, not detecting the SD card or not turning on. These problems have always been fixed with a restart but hopefully future updates will resolve them.

Overall I am very happy with my DR1000S and would recommend them to anyone who wants to read A4 or diagram-heavy PDFs. If you just want to read novels, go for one of the smaller, cheaper devices.

12-06-2008, 08:51 PM	#1
RobbieClarken Addict Posts: 371 Karma: 1002274 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Australia Device: Kindle	Taken the plunge I was trying to hold off until the DR1000SW came out but I discovered a local business that sells iRex products and couldn't help but take a look. The sales rep was very helpful (thanks cbell! ) and I was extremely impressed by the size of the DR1000S screen so I bought one . Here are my thoughts: The DR1000S is perfect for reading PDF. I am mostly reading non-fiction books with diagrams and equations and these are almost exclusively PDF or DJVU files. The battery life is a little annoying. You definitely need to recharge at least once a day. I generally leave my DR1000S recharging whenever I'm not using it and I don't run out of power. The long start up time is frustrating when you want to jump straight into a book. I'm looking forward to the next firmware update. I actually find the device great for reading novels. It isn't too heavy and the screen is so clear that scanned books look beautiful. The page turns are a little slower than the Sony but this is compensated by having more text on the screen. I love the thumbnail view. Makes navigating much faster. The table of contents is also much nicer than on the Sony. The dictionary is great. Definitely a feature Sony should implement. The ability to find a word in a book is extremely useful as well and surprisingly efficient. I rarely use the stylus but scribbling is much more responsive than I thought it would be. Navigating around the menu is a bit clumsy. I don't see any reason why the buttons on the left are identical to the buttons on the right. Plus they should have made the bottom circle a square to distinguish it from the other two circles. The interface definitely needs streamlining - why does it take six button presses to add a bookmark (three with the stylus but getting it out is a hassle)? The most annoying thing for me has been the device freezing, not detecting the SD card or not turning on. These problems have always been fixed with a restart but hopefully future updates will resolve them. Overall I am very happy with my DR1000S and would recommend them to anyone who wants to read A4 or diagram-heavy PDFs. If you just want to read novels, go for one of the smaller, cheaper devices. Last edited by RobbieClarken; 12-06-2008 at 08:55 PM.