Unboxing iRex 800 and first impressions

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by astra

And permanently keeping it on is the same power consumption as actually reading?

The iLiad throttles the CPU in between page turns. So, theoretically leaving it on but not actually reading should use less power than continuously reading. However, I'm surprised it lasts "for days" as well. The best I got out of mine was a little over 12 hours. Granted, most of that time was spent reading, so maybe it really does make a big difference?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by astra

v1 had less than 10.

With continuous reading, the v1 gets around 12 hours, and the v2 should get around 15 hours.

What the other poster seems to be talking about is that they get much longer times when leaving the iLiad idle. I'm surprised by that, but haven't tested it myself. My testing was done with a v1 while reading, and I got a little over 12 hours.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by astra

This particular post was a reply to yours

testing that has been done to the previous versions of iLiad. They had only 10-12 hours of reading time and I am curious what part of it to be blamed if not the touch screen.

The iLiads don't have any power savings mode (other than throttling the CPU). They lack either a sleep mode or a hibernate mode.

The DR1000 currently has a sleep mode but not a hibernate mode. The DR800 does have power savings modes, but I don't know yet which one or if it has both.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

The v2 only gets to 15hrs when reading mobipocket; continuously reading PDFs with light annotation results in a battery life of 8-9hrs.

Annotation makes a big difference in the power drain. That's probably where most of that extra battery life is going.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by professzore

Agree.
Write them everything you vant to see in the unit from PDF zoom over
annotations to folder support. As many replies the'll got, as fast they'll upgrade the firmware and/or open the SDK. Go write letters to iRex!

As far as I know they're already planning on opening the SDK. They did so for both the iLiad and DR1000. I don't see any reason the DR800 would be different.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I think this is a mistake on iRex's part. Instead of deliberately crippling the device, they should have left in the capabilities that already had and marketed the DR800S as a semi-professional device (suitable for casual reading and some professional use). The screen size of the DR1000S is enough of a difference for product differentiation to be effective.

I agree, that's what I would have liked to see as well. However saying that if you want the more advanced features you need to buy the more expensive device doesn't surprise me.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by DeReader

I filed a support ticket on the new support.irexreader.com site and asked about future support of PDF Zoom and annotation.

The answer was a bit shocking for me, the nice support guy explained that there is no zoom function (I knew that, otherwise I would not have asked), and I should use the "font size" setting (but that will reflow the document and destroy the layout, I do not want this in most PDFs).

Further, he wrote, there are no plans to enable annotations on the DR800.

That contradicts things that iRex has specifically said in the past. I'm assuming that along with the new support site are also new support staff.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by DeReader

I filed a support ticket on the new support.irexreader.com site and asked about future support of PDF Zoom and annotation.

The answer was a bit shocking for me, the nice support guy explained that there is no zoom function (I knew that, otherwise I would not have asked), and I should use the "font size" setting (but that will reflow the document and destroy the layout, I do not want this in most PDFs).

Further, he wrote, there are no plans to enable annotations on the DR800.

If the device is feature complete now, the price point, especially in Europe, is way to high.

But I can not imagine putting out such a nice hardware and not implementing at least zoom support for PDFs. But who knows, it's Irex. And why a top notch Wacom touch-screen with a high resolution? Only for operating the menus and the on-screen keyboard this seems overkill for me.

Despite that, I have to say I do a lot of reading at the moment on the device and I like it very much. Especially the speed and stability are top.

Any update on battery life with your usage over the past few days?

[DeReader]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

Any update on battery life with your usage over the past few days?

Oh, yes, battery level is now 2 out of 4 bars. I did not charge the device, only had it plugged in occassionaly by USB to transfer books.

So far, the power management seems to be much better than in the Iliad.

[DeReader]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

That contradicts things that iRex has specifically said in the past. I'm assuming that along with the new support site are also new support staff.

Yes, I really hope that is the case, would be a waste of hardware power otherwise.

[DeReader]

Just another note, in this video Mr. Brons shows panning of a newspaper with the pen on the DR800 (at approx. 4:30). And panning without zooming beforehand does not make sense. So the feature was in there before the release

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by DeReader

Oh, yes, battery level is now 2 out of 4 bars. I did not charge the device, only had it plugged in occassionaly by USB to transfer books.

So far, the power management seems to be much better than in the Iliad.

Cool, thanks for the update. My money is burning a hole in my pocket waiting for the US version.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

The iLiads don't have any power savings mode (other than throttling the CPU). They lack either a sleep mode or a hibernate mode.

The DR1000 currently has a sleep mode but not a hibernate mode. The DR800 does have power savings modes, but I don't know yet which one or if it has both.

I hope they get hibernation working. If you don't use it everyday, you can easily forget about it and then would either need to always keep in plugged in or end up finding it powerless a week later.

I'm guessing they took out the option to have the device turn itself off (not suspend) after x number of hours?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by badbob001

I'm guessing they took out the option to have the device turn itself off (not suspend) after x number of hours?

I don't know, supposedly there were going to be two power management modes with the DR1000. The "turn itself off after X number of hours" was a temporary place holder for the second power management mode, which they have not yet added to the DR1000. The question is what modes does the DR800 have. I don't think we know that yet.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by DeReader

Just another note, in this video Mr. Brons shows panning of a newspaper with the pen on the DR800 (at approx. 4:30). And panning without zooming beforehand does not make sense. So the feature was in there before the release

I'm guessing the newspaper being viewing is using PaperDirect's client. Also, IREX's platform supports different viewers for different documents so I would not be surprised if not all viewed documents share the same viewing features.

I think using the stylus to pan around on an e-ink display can be annoying due to the guesswork and back-and-forth dragging. I hope they implement some sort of intelligent movement of a 'viewing window' using the flipbar or some sort of mini-map.