New Irex Reader 1000

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

That's an interesting thought. If they really are abandoning feature enhancements to the Iliad, would they be willing to release all of the code? Including things like the content lister and how it interacts with the hardware that has previously been closed. That would give third party developers the information they need to design a new UI themselves.

iRex don't own the rights to all the code. Things like the Mobi Reader, for example, belong to MobiPocket.

[nekokami]

But do they own the rights to the drivers, etc.? That's for their hardware, isn't it?

I would also expect the VisionObjects HWR code to be restricted, but if we can access the libraries in new projects, that would be extremely cool.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

iRex don't own the rights to all the code. Things like the Mobi Reader, for example, belong to MobiPocket.

True. But I wasn't thinking about the Mobipocket application, mostly the rest of the UI stuff that iRex does own, but has kept closed up until now.

[HarryT]

OK, I see. I hadn't appreciated that the code for things like the ContentLister hadn't been released - thanks for the clarification!

[cjp]

Hello from St. Louis, Missouri!

I tried to purchase the iRex 1000S from the US retailer, eReader Outfitters, just yesterday, which was to have been released this past week. However, they are telling me that the shipment from iRex has been delayed because they (iRex) are working out a few 'bugs' with the new DR1000S.

Should I be concerned about buying it as soon as it arrives? (I'm a doctoral student, not $$$$ rich, and so to invest this much cash must be a sound decision. I can either A) condier the DR 1000S a good deal if I can put all the hundreds of readings and PDF journals on it and not lug around the stacks of papers I must read daily,

or B) ...choose another product. But which one? I've searched, and although Readers are great for leisure,(Kindle, Sony, even iLiad) I need something to primarily read (easily) PDF full size (8.5 x 11") pages.

Any advice is welcome!
CJP

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by cjp

or B) ...choose another product. But which one? I've searched, and although Readers are great for leisure,(Kindle, Sony, even iLiad) I need something to primarily read (easily) PDF full size (8.5 x 11") pages.

Any advice is welcome!
CJP

The DR1000 is probably the best available for full size PDFs. However, many use the iLiad to... which makes things a bit smaller. Someone with an iLiad would have to give you the full scoop.

The only other eInk device is not out yet, just announced. The Plastic Logic Reader. I think they were saying Spring 09 for this device. Also, no idea on price.

You other option would be to get a Netbook like an Eee PC, or Inspiron Mini or MSI Wind. They are full featured yet light laptops. You won't get the same battery life and you will have an LCD screen.

BOb

[timezone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm curious as to why you want a device with a touch screen; the very last thing I want to do is to read from a screen with fingerprints all over it. I far prefer hardware buttons to a touch screen for reading.

I'll give you my answer. The hardware buttons are great for moving around to access Books, Docs, etc and moving down the screen to choose an item and then hitting the button to open the book. I hate the fact that I have to pull out the stylus to click the dictionary icon and choose a word to bring up the dictionary. Or enlarge the area to name a few items. It drains the battery and is a pain in the neck to always have to retrieve and return the stylus each time when a touch would accomplish the same thing.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by cjp

Should I be concerned about buying it as soon as it arrives? (I'm a doctoral student, not $$$$ rich, and so to invest this much cash must be a sound decision. I can either A) condier the DR 1000S a good deal if I can put all the hundreds of readings and PDF journals on it and not lug around the stacks of papers I must read daily,

or B) ...choose another product. But which one? I've searched, and although Readers are great for leisure,(Kindle, Sony, even iLiad) I need something to primarily read (easily) PDF full size (8.5 x 11") pages.

I'm a doctoral student in education. I use my iLiad to read journal articles, as well as to take notes in class (and now I can upload the notes to Evernote and search them!) The screen is smaller than the DR1000, but there's more community developer support, as it's been available for a while and many applications have been ported to the iLiad, whereas the SDK for the DR1000 hasn't been released yet. One example of a useful application for the iLiad is a custom version of the PDF reader that allows you to mark selections of text for extraction. There are also PDF readers that navigate multi-column documents. I'm still hoping someday to see a combined community-developed PDF reader with all the enhancements in one version.

Because the DR1000 has just been released, you might be able to get an especially good deal on an iLiad right now, from someone else who absolutely must have the latest new gadget. That's how I got mine (when the Sony Reader first came out). That could make the iLiad a very good deal for you.

Good luck with your doctoral program, regardless of your choice in devices!

[axel77]

Originally Posted by cjp

Hello from St. Louis, Missouri!

I tried to purchase the iRex 1000S from the US retailer, eReader Outfitters, just yesterday, which was to have been released this past week. However, they are telling me that the shipment from iRex has been delayed because they (iRex) are working out a few 'bugs' with the new DR1000S.

Should I be concerned about buying it as soon as it arrives? (I'm a doctoral student, not $$$$ rich, and so to invest this much cash must be a sound decision. I can either A) condier the DR 1000S a good deal if I can put all the hundreds of readings and PDF journals on it and not lug around the stacks of papers I must read daily,

or B) ...choose another product. But which one? I've searched, and although Readers are great for leisure,(Kindle, Sony, even iLiad) I need something to primarily read (easily) PDF full size (8.5 x 11") pages.

Any advice is welcome!
CJP

I too am trying to a be a phd student (just don't quite feel like it) and I am with an iLiad. Also I have this issue of wanting to read a lot of PDFs you download with your university account from journals.

The academic market is IMHO quite a reasonable big market with premium paying costumers which isn't tabbed at all. Reading PDFs on the iLiad still just isn't quite as comfortable as reading papers. So I'm still printing out papers.

One solution would be that journals would provide their data in other flowable formats as well, so you could view it comfortable on a handy mobiledevice without any tricks. To some degree it feels brain dead as making columns on a A4 paper, because smaller width aspect text is easier to read, but on the same time having problems with a device just wider enough to view a column, because they are designed side by side. However I expect journals to be the slowest to adept to anything, so hoping for a solution from this side is quite futile.

Another issue, as academic you often do a lot of skimming, that is either quickly skim through a paper if it is relevant to you at all, or writing a little paper is often actually to 90% rearranging of existing texts for a new aspect. And with this I often skim through my collected literature stack, jumping forth and back and between articles all the time. And the eReader devices are yet just for me a little to slow (page turning, swtiching articles, putting things side by side), giving me the feeling of slowing me down instead of making me more effective.

I happily use the iLIad however as premium notetaking device. As this gives me quite some order in my notes, while on paper I usually lose it sooner or later, or they get totally mixed up with little hope to get any order in it. Paradoxily enough when I'm using some of my iLiad notes to write a text, I do print them out. As I want to clutter my desk with all kind of notes so I can very quickly switch papers by moving my eye, so hoping to see some patterns, similarities or other comparisions between notes and other texts.