ripping HTML files apart into single pages is what I call inadequate handling of HTML...every PDA I know can do better than that with an ebook software...
The shell-script hack is OK, I said there was a way, but it's not as user-friendly as the PDF viewer or gnuchess...no "click and go" solution...
About the reading...well...you can of course read text...or look at pictures. But the long startup times and low battery life even now make it little different from earlier ebook readers that all failed due to similar issues. There is the eink advantage, but that could hardly go wrong now could it? eink is supposed to bring the ebook closer to the "real" book, the Sony Reader and the Hanlin V8 can do that, mainly due to the eink screen and the long battery life. The Sony also has the ebook store, something I'm still waiting for as an Iliad User.
i'd like to get a Sony Reader or something similar, but since they're not selling in Europe and the ebook store probably won't work for me either in Germany, there would be little advantage for me there.
What I'm hoping for is that somebody starts a "new" Iliad software that does something useful with all that Hardware potential.
The Firmware is improving, no doubt, but apart from the "last opened file" feature that got added in 2.8 I have seen little progress in making the Iliad a better ebook reader.
The Iliad could also be a great PDA or internet Tablet, but since not even the basic features like battery-life, File-Viewers and "smooth" navigation through the library (the search feature is a start at least) and menus have been included after a huge development time I'm not counting it and am now waiting for an alternative that makes it to Europe. I'm putting my hopes on Amazon, but who knows when they will come out with their Kindle (or something else) and when that will make it to Europe...
And as to your last argument...I am also not new to "beta" devices, but I'm used to seeing progress...and getting at least some of the features that were promised sometime down the road. It's possible that the Iliad will still be easy to use, comfortable and "paper-like" sometime, but I'd like to know when, especially since iRex has moved the official SDK (full release) once again...
I guess we'll never agree on this Jaed, but never mind, it doesn't mean we can't still get along just fine...on other topics...
I hope you'll be right and the Iliad will finally manage to fulfill at least part of our (OK, MY) requirements. Matthijs and his collegues are doing a good job, but the priorities of iRex are still a big mistery, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime I'm using the Iliad every day and have already have finished about 15 books, so it DOES work...even though I often resent the inconvenience of having to boot and recharge a book...but I promised myself never to buy another paper-book when I bought the Iliad and so far I've stuck with that rule.