Quote:
Originally Posted by kacir
[...] If I ever consider buying a device with screen larger than 6", I would not give up 6 or 5 inch device for reading fiction.
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I am sure most users of the DR would agree with you. People who get the DR do it for various oddball uses and really *need* that screen real estate, and are willing to pay for it. I don't think its meant to replace the smaller readers.
Unfortunately, economies of scale etc. haven't hit the niche products iRex comes up with, and the consumer has to pay for this. This is fake money we're paying just because of the way the market works, and not because the DR is built from solid gold or something. Can't be helped right now. The 6'' e-ink display and related hardware is mass produced with a well defined consumer base, and can possibly create large new markets (online bookstores etc.) They are bound to have more investment and be a lot more, as you put it, interesting.
Most people who already have the DR and complain about it aren't complaining about the price exactly (although some might say that a buggy cheaper product wouldn't hurt them as much, and so wouldn't complain as much). The annoyances are, incredibly, small problems and design decisions that have a large impact on usability, and it seems that iRex *should* be able fix them without spending a ton of money. Hence the great deal of frustration, added to the fake price we're paying (even though the second is not iRex's fault).
Right now, DR users are paying for being too small a consumer base and having a not-so-large company make it. But I for one am
extremely glad
someone made the DR, and I'd rather have this buggy device with folder management, open software and large screen than no device at all! The bugs, I will either wait for iRex/Third part devs to fix, or fix them myself. Of course, not many are happy with this arrangement, and would like a more polished product for the $$$ they paid. In that case, perhaps they really should wait for Sony, Plastic Logic, Amazon, Nokia or whoever to come up with a mass produced, cheap, and aesthetically pleasing device that works out of the box.