Unboxing iRex 800 and first impressions

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

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

The new irex site for the dr800 shows an updated comparison chart that now includes the nook. It still shows the price at $399 so I hope they will eventually sell it at that price.
http://www.irexreader.com/comparison.html

Also, they have this picture on the site:


Does that look like a real photo or something that is 'shopped'? I mean, does the amount of content shown reflect what is possible with a 768x1024 device?

[Kolenka]

Looks accurate for NewspaperDirect stuff... The text on screen will be hard to read (as you can see in the image), and you are expected to tap on headlines and get the full article as text. It is interesting in concept at least.

[professzore]

Originally Posted by badbob001

I'm guessing the newspaper being viewing is using PaperDirect's client.

You're right. It's not mentioned on the video, but early press releases tells that iRex's newspaper supplier will be Newspaper Direct.
BTW I don't like this, compared to Que's browse--tap--read conception it's a dinosaure. See it from 2:25

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by professzore

You're right. It's not mentioned on the video, but early press releases tells that iRex's newspaper supplier will be Newspaper Direct.

That's who they're using for the DR1000, so I assumed the DR800 would be the same.

[astra]

Originally Posted by badbob001

The new irex site for the dr800 shows an updated comparison chart that now includes the nook. It still shows the price at $399 so I hope they will eventually sell it at that price.
http://www.irexreader.com/comparison.html

Also, they have this picture on the site:


Does that look like a real photo or something that is 'shopped'? I mean, does the amount of content shown reflect what is possible with a 768x1024 device?

How very convenient!
There is no trace of battery life in the table of eInk ebook readers.

[professzore]

Originally Posted by DeReader

And panning without zooming beforehand does not make sense. So the feature was in there before the release

Well. This is not a PDF feature. It's a "third party" format used by the provider of on-line newspaper content.

[professzore]

Originally Posted by badbob001

Does that look like a real photo or something that is 'shopped'? I mean, does the amount of content shown reflect what is possible with a 768x1024 device?

May be possible. Both. One vote for real picture by the way.
(Most press-images of Nook are fake.)

See this sample ("PrtScn" from Newspaper Direct's Press Display) reduced to 768 px wide.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...1&d=1264451607

Readable (for me, since this is Hungarian). (See the attachement atop.)

[zerospinboson]

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

Perhaps newspaperdirect doesn't use the ADE PDF viewer? (Assuming the newspapers are delivered as PDFs)

[mgmueller]

Quite a coincidence: While I was uploading my first newspaper onto iRex 800, you guys have been discussing about newspapers.

It's the PressReader application. Choose your newspaper and upload to iRex. It doesn't matter, in which folder you're uploading. It always shows in "News".

Sorry again for the bad pics.

Pic1: Newspaper style.
Hard to read (still no newspaper-sized screen), but you get an idea about the content.

Pic2: Here the touchscreen comes in handy. Simply tap into the article of interest. It does reflow perfectly.
In the top left corner there are 2 symbols: Table of content and zoom.

Pic3: Table of content.

Pic4: Zoom, keeping original newspaper layout intact.

First impression: Phantastic.
I've bought a single issue for testing, which was $ 0,99. About same prices as on Kindle, it seems.
But given iRex' touchscreen, it's way more convenient.

BTW: You can upload to Kindle and Sony as well, maybe I'll try that later on as well. For Sony 600/700/900 it should be as convenient as for iRex. For Kindle, without touchscreen, I'm a bit less enthusiastic.
Very nice application. Only did try it once on iRex 1000S about 9 months ago. Don't remember why I didn't like it then.
If only those units would have WiFi to (automatically) download my daily newspaper in the morning, similar to Kindle's Whispernet....

[professzore]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

First impression: Phantastic.

Bought (the idea). Great solution. One more point for DR800.
I think, you downloaded the content to your PC and then transferred to the reader(?)!
Not as happy and easy as with wireless, but may work. (Just a question of automated tasks.)

Ps.: Use light. A lot more light.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Perhaps newspaperdirect doesn't use the ADE PDF viewer? (Assuming the newspapers are delivered as PDFs)

They use the PressReader viewer, which was written by NewspapersDirect.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by professzore

You're right. It's not mentioned on the video, but early press releases tells that iRex's newspaper supplier will be Newspaper Direct.
BTW I don't like this, compared to Que's browse--tap--read conception it's a dinosaure. See it from 2:25

Newspaperdirect likes to present the paper in its original layout as opposed to the kindle-like version with just article links. Either format have their appeal. I believe newspaperdirect has a table of contents view we well.

Here is their app running on several devices:

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

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.

Well, from earlier comments it looks like a quick slide of the power switch puts it into a suspend mode similar to the Sony and Kindle. Time to come back from that mode is a few seconds. The second option is to slide the power switch for a few seconds which completely shuts it down, again similar to the Sony and Kindle and time to boot from that mode is about 55 seconds.

Now the big question is how low is the power consumption in the suspend mode and can it last in that mode for an extended period of time. From memory, my old 505 would drop about 25%/week in that mode so if the 800 is even close to that I'll be pretty pleased. Somebody posted earlier that they've been using it quite extensively from the initial charge and they're still around 50% and that their impression was that it was a big improvement from the iliad.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by astra

How very convenient!
There is no trace of battery life in the table of eInk ebook readers.

Either it paints the 800 in a potentially bad light, or the differences are small enough to not matter. I'd love to see some battery data from mgmueller or one of the other lucky owners on that front.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by professzore

Bought (the idea). Great solution. One more point for DR800.
I think, you downloaded the content to your PC and then transferred to the reader(?)!

Yes. Bought on PC. Then chose "send to reader". Then chose "iRex" (they have a pic of iRex 800, but iLiad and 1000S should work as well). (Kindle, Sony and another one are available as well). I've been a little bit surprised: Although choosing "send" and having connected my iRex 800, it asked me to save. I chose root of SD card and it did show in "News".

I wouldn't consider it a point for iRex 800. The application can be used for Sony and Kindle as well. But it's certainly more convenient on a touchscreen unit. And the bigger the screen, the better. Maybe I'll try Kindle DX later on...