iRex DR800SG Delayed till end of November

[Madam Broshkina]

At $499 I might consider spending the extra $150 and go with the Que even though I would not get the 3G.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

I completely missed the price increase. I'm not sure how they consider a price higher than a Kindle DX realistic. I had high hopes for this device, but the news just seems to get worse every day.

I'm guessing somebody was getting confused with the 499 Euros for the DR800S.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I'm guessing somebody was getting confused with the 499 Euros for the DR800S.

I'm hoping you're correct in that. Pricing higher than a Kindle DX in the U.S. just doesn't seem to make sense. I guess we'll find out when it finally releases. I can see them going a little higher than the Sony 900 since it still has a larger display, but I don't think they can get away with going higher than a DX.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

I'm hoping you're correct in that. Pricing higher than a Kindle DX in the U.S. just doesn't seem to make sense. I guess we'll find out when it finally releases. I can see them going a little higher than the Sony 900 since it still has a larger display, but I don't think they can get away with going higher than a DX.

I do see a reason why the price can be higher than the DX. It has a touchscreen, which the DX doesn't have. And it looks waaaaaay better too...

[catharsis]

Did anyone on this forum order the DR800 and got it? I would be very intersted to see some videos and opinions.

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

I completely missed the price increase. I'm not sure how they consider a price higher than a Kindle DX realistic. I had high hopes for this device, but the news just seems to get worse every day.

Basically, at this point there is no way I'd buy anything from iRex no matter how good the thing looked or what the price is. This company is just a disaster from beginning to end, and it sounds like they need a complete management overhaul. With all the other problems I've read about with their other products (power management issues, unending delays in promised updates, etc.) and now with this unbelievably mismanaged product launch (a 7th grader could have managed this launch better), I am at the point of having zero confidence in anything produced or promised by iRex.

I do believe at this point I'm going to buy the Skiff reader when it comes out unless it has some kind of horrible contrast ratio. It really seems like it will be the gold standard for e-readers unless you just really want something of a more compact size. I'm impressed by everything I've read about it so far; all of that in a quarter-inch thin device (I was looking over the tech specs for the DR800 the other day and was astonished to see it is more than a half-inch thick - pretty unbelievable in today's electronic world).

Good luck to anyone who forks over their money to iRex when or if this vaporware product of theirs ever actually gets off the ground.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

The original EInk Vizplex announcement included four standard screen sizes (which are actually manufactured by PVI): 5", 6", 8", 9.7". We have seen all but the 8" in shipping devices and it is my understanding that the DR800SG is the first product using the "standard" 8" PVI screen. This means that other vendors could use this screen, mating it with the Epson controller (say).

So far the DR800SG's screen looks stunningly white in videos. So there may be some secret sauce in the new Delta controller it is using (or it may be that iRex binned their screens to get good ones for the demo devices).

And now we also have the 7" screen used in the 900. And I would love the screen used in the 900 to replace 6" screens as that would be a good size increase without being too big.

[nanscy]

Hi Everyone,
I emailed iRex once more to see if maybe they made a typing error in the price of $499 in the previous emails they sent me. I also asked about the user replaceable battery and future firmware update for note taking...here is their answer :

(Email received Today January 18 2010)

Dear Nancy,

Thank you for showing interest in our product.

1. Will the battery be user replaceable, meaning can we replace the
battery ourselves ?

The battery must be replaced via our service desk who will be situated
in the States, so this might only take a week. We don't excpect that you
must replace the battery, within the first years, so this is not
something to worry about.

2. Will there be a firmware update in the near future to anable note
taking ?
This is not known for the moment.

3. Will the price for the device be $399 US or $499 US ?

The price would be $449,=

4. Will the device be available at Best Buy at the end of January 2010
or February 2010 ?

The release of the DR800SG has been slightly delayed and will be
available mid February and can be bought at Best Buy USA.

I hope this information is sufficient, if there are any questions don't
hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,
iRex Technologies

----------------------------------------

Just wanted to share this informations with you guys...

Cheers

Nancy

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And now we also have the 7" screen used in the 900. And I would love the screen used in the 900 to replace 6" screens as that would be a good size increase without being too big.

I agree. It's a real nice screen format to read on. I especially like the longer screen. I don't care too much for wider screens (= longer sentences), but with the longer screen (= more lines per page) you can read a lot of words before you have to change page. But it still isn't good for A4 (or letter) sized documents. Unless you read landscape.

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by nanscy

3. Will the price for the device be $399 US or $499 US ?

The price would be $449,=

Good God, they must have a child writing these emails. How many different prices are they going to quote? This incredible inability to even respond coherently and consistently to simple questions from customers simply makes me astonished that this company is still even in business.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I do see a reason why the price can be higher than the DX. It has a touchscreen, which the DX doesn't have. And it looks waaaaaay better too...

I agree on the looks piece and you are correct in touchscreen capability, however there is currently no advantage to the touchscreen since notations are not available at this point. I will likely get this device since my DX is feeling a little too large for normal reading and I just really like the 8" screen size. I just hope they've finally figured out the battery life and suspend features this time around. These two features have been the achilles heal of the irex products compared to their competition.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

(I was looking over the tech specs for the DR800 the other day and was astonished to see it is more than a half-inch thick - pretty unbelievable in today's electronic world).

Good luck to anyone who forks over their money to iRex when or if this vaporware product of theirs ever actually gets off the ground.

I was a little surprised at that thickness spec as well since they previously mentioned a thickness less than a half inch. Looking at the videos and pictures floating around it doesn't look that thick and comparing the edge on thickness pictures using the micro-usb as a reference point it doesn't seem much different than the Kindle DX. I guess we'll see once someone gets one in their hands.

[PhishStyx]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

Good God, they must have a child writing these emails. How many different prices are they going to quote? This incredible inability to even respond coherently and consistently to simple questions from customers simply makes me astonished that this company is still even in business.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Nanscy is someone's sockpuppet. "Her" only two posts are the same, "I emailed iRex and got back this idiotic response" kind of thing.

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by PhishStyx

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Nanscy is someone's sockpuppet. "Her" only two posts are the same, "I emailed iRex and got back this idiotic response" kind of thing.

I doubt it - I think Nancy's legit and iRex are the ones who can't get it together.

[PhishStyx]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

I doubt it - I think Nancy's legit and iRex are the ones who can't get it together.

So it's YOUR sockpuppet?