Thanks mgmuller,
I've just finished reading the 44 pages of your irex 800 unboxing thread <whew>. Here in the US they have the same price. So, for me, I have come to the following comparison conclusions (I'm ignoring those things that do not matter to me or are acceptable as is) - please correct me if I'm wrong:
irex 800 - I really, really like the display size.
I also like it's ability to have many, many books on it - I do remember now (as you said) it took a very long time on my prs700 to index my books (because it reindexes everything whenever any books are added), so I now only have unread books on it - but I'd very much like to carry my entire library on my ereader. If the irex indexes just the newly added ones and is much faster that is a great plus for me.
And I do like it's open OS.
My only negative (given that I don't have one in my hands to compare the ease in holding one over the other) is its inability to zoom pdf files - that may not be as much of a problem as on my Sony 700 due to the irex's larger screen.
Sony 900 - I can get one right away. It does have pdf zooming capability.
I've also heard that the irex may become available around the middle of this month, so I'm going to wait a bit before finally deciding.
Again, thanks so much for your work in comparisons.
Lynn
Quote:
Originally Posted by mgmueller
I prefer the form factor of Sony 900. Actually, that's one of the main reasons why I'm ranking it #1.
And I simply love Sony's minimalistic though elegant design.
Usually, I read with covers on the readers.
With Sony 900, that's no problem at all. Neither the reader, nor the opened cover to the left in any way are distracting or annoying.
With iRex 800, it's slightly different.
First of all, I urgently need another cover. I absolutely don't like the white one from iRex. Eagerly waiting for M-Edge, Noreve or whomever.
Second, iRex 800 is significantly wider and the opened cover the same. It's within the acceptable range, but to me it's at the upper limit (Kindle DX being above that limit).
Without the cover, it wouldn't be a problem at all, but that's not my usual reading habit.
To sum up:
If you don't care about the price, it's really a close match.
If you put screen clarity and crispness above all, iRex 800 clearly ranks first. It's extremely close or maybe even to my benchmark readers without touchscreen. Probably one of the main reasons for the higher price...
If you put the "cool factor" and design above all, to me Sony 900 definitely ranks first. Not just against iRex 800, but against most of all other readers (maybe nook comes close, but not quite).
In speed and usability they're about equal.
If you care about open OS and 3rd party applications, you probably can expect lots of efforts on iRex 800. Haven't seen anything similar on any Sony unit so far.
What I'd like to mention extremely positively: iRex' developers did join the discussion. They gave us tips right in this forum and even did solve one problem (initially, no folder support) for us.
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