[firekat]

I think that overall the initial marketed expectations of the iLiad have been overwhelmingly lacking in the current realized implementation.

We did sign an agreement that was an understanding that the device was not ready for prime time, so in some way we should show some understanding of that fact.

There does tend to be a lack of patience in waiting for improvements in the device. iRex is a very small company and certainly does not have the resources that Sony would in either developing or marketing the device and this should be taken into consideration. I just think that at this point in time whatever amount of patience we have is beginning to wear thin.

Inherently the e-ink technology seems to have some major obstacles that make the immediate profitable marketability of e-readers a difficult task. The delays incurred by both the iLiad and the Sony Reader point to that fact.

With the lack of timely, frequent or updates with a lot of added functionality received from iRex, the feelings of frustration will continue to build. Right now I feel that I have half a device for the price of at least two. The growing sentiment and frustration that I sense from people on this forum is that they feel that this thing is going to be dropped like an orphan child sometime soon or that the original design specifications will never be even partially realized.

I like the iLiad, I have not had the opportunity to work with it as much as I desired. I just wish it would be more than what it is now. There are a number of shortcomings that make it cumbersome and inconvenient, these specifically are but should not be limited to:

The absolutely painfully long start up time. I was hoping for a PDA kind of start up, waiting for the start is almost ridiculous. I would be interested in knowing what the startup interval is on the Sony Reader.

Bookmark support in PDF's. Without this, the purpose for which I bought this device is moot. The size of the documents I have to navigate are totally impractical to work with without this function.

Connectivity. I have to build my content on my laptop then transfer it to an SD card and then to the iLiad. This is all very time consuming and cumbersome. There has to be an easier way.

The Travel Hub. Let's be frank this thing is an abortion of design. It dangles from the connector in a manner that invites it to either falling or getting ripped out of the connector. Hanging additional cables off it at those angles makes it even worse.

Support for other formats. I was looking forward to playing MP3's while I read. When if ever will we see MP3 support as promised? Text lacks wrapping. I have not tested it too much but when I did try it the font was pretty tiny as well.

Being charged for Scribble support. I thought that this was all supposed to be part of the deal and not cost me extra. Using it is sort of like a joke, the writing that I get on the iLiad does not look anything like what I write on paper.

I guess all of those that have made the purchase of the iLiad felt that they were putting their money into the purchase of a potentially more powerful and capable device that up until now has yet to demonstrated. Unfortunately at this point in time there does not appear to be anything other than small incremental steps in meeting the intial release goals of the device. This is very frustrating and makes the purchaser feel like they are being left out in the cold with half of a very expensive device in their hands.

Do I feel like in some way I was bilked? Do I regret my purchase? To a certain extent yes to both cases. Right now I am hoping that some sort of revolutionary update will pick up this device out of the current quagmire that it is in now. Will that happen? I don't know. The optomistic side of me says yes, the realist side says no way. The only thing that I can do now is be patient, something I think that we all are getting short of especially when considering the premium price.