Thanks all, after further consideration the portability aspect is quite important for me. I've settled on a Hanvon N516 (that I'll switch to OpenInkpot) from
http://ebookshop.com.sg/Hanvon-N516.php
The iriver looks gorgeous but big, and the thing needs to survive daily motorbike journeys. The OpenInkpot compatibility satisfy my inner freedom activist and allows me to configure/customize it to bits. And the shop can deliver directly to my wife's friend so I don't waste his time there.
I could get a kindle but it has the same size issue (and I don't even have a credit card anymore at the moment :P ).
Now I have to wait... 10 days to get my hands on it, 10 days long days...