Unboxing iRex 800 and first impressions

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by badbob001

In terms of screen whiteness, how does the dr800 compare to the sony prs300/50x? I've compared the prs300 with the prs600/900 and found the darker and fuzzier display on the latter unacceptable.

Wanted to compare to Sony 505, but my battery has been drained. A few weeks in suspend...
Compared to Sony 300, screen whiteness seems identical. Contrast seems identical as well. Text is extremely dark, probably because it's an absolutely new unit. And I guess they've chosen an excellent font.
I've loved this in iRex iLiad and iRex 1000S as well. No problems like we know of Sony 700. And I love the WACOM functionality, being able to rest my hand on the screen (= natural writing position).

[The Straven]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

The iLiad and DR1000 are marketed to professionals. The DR800 is intended for casual readers.

I was getting all set to argue with you when I stopped to review facts; turns out I completely misremembered something I read three months ago. You are indeed correct.

Still, the device seems unsuited to professional reading; don't get me wrong, I'd love it if someone could convince me otherwise: from what mgmueller posts, the display looks great. I just can't spend that kind of money for something I can only use for personal reading.

- James

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by 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....

EDIT: I remember now, why I didn't like the application 9 months ago (and I'm still facing the very same problem): All the major German newspapers are missing (sorry, as my daily read I don't want to have anything international, I'd prefer a regional newspaper). There are German newspapers, but it's real "exotic" ones. What use is a great application, if you don't have the content for it?
BTW: Same problem with Kindle newspapers (or Sony in the meantime). They aim for the US market. So it's either no German newspapers at all or just a few minor ones at best.
Of course I still can go for the PDF downloads, but this always has been possible (or news feeds with calibre, of course).

[professzore]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

All the major German newspapers are missing (sorry, as my daily read I don't want to have anything international, I'd prefer a regional newspaper).

Same problem here. There are a few quality newspapers I read, and it may be useful to have it on my device. On the other hand, this is not a serious question at the moment.

[professzore]

Hi there,
I recently got the answer to my question about the usable screen size of DR800. It's theoretical size is 768 x 1024 px, which is reduced by 4 pixels on the left side of the screen, and 43 pixels on the bottom (status bar). The useful screen size is 764 x 981 px.
Hope it's helpful (for me, actually it is).
With regards,
Professzore

[sonyscraretsmall]

hi there

just found a link in pixmania french site for a 800s.

http://www.pixmania.com/fr/fr/4769117/art/irex/livre-electronique-digita.html

its fucking expensive .i though it ll be 400$.its almost 500 euros.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I've sent them a question asking for this information. I'll let everyone know what I hear back, if I get an answer.

I've heard back from them that the suspend mode based on an inactivity timer and the suspend mode based off of the power switch are the same mode. However, I don't know yet whether it's suspend-to-ram (like the DR1000 has) or suspend-to-flash.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by garagumu

A resume time of 3 seconds most probably means suspend-to-RAM. I'd expect a longer resume time for suspend-to-disk/flash (not to mention that getting suspend/resume to work properly is not trivial at all).

That would be my guess as well.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by sonyscraretsmall

i though it ll be 400$.its almost 500 euros.

The US version is supposed to be $399. The European version is 499 euros.

[joblack]

Can you do a video from the device functions and put it to youtube?

[professzore]

Originally Posted by joblack

Can you do a video from the device functions and put it to youtube?

Most of the functions can be seen in Youtube. Just search for IREX DR800.
For example. See the sidebar for more.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

The US version is supposed to be $399. The European version is 499 euros.

Before iRex cancelled the November release, Best Buy had pre-made bins for them that had labels for a device price of something like $425, which isn't far off, but already it had been raised. Staci Kramer did a couple of mentions of that. That could still be a good price except that it's smaller than the DX and the latter size usually requires I go to Landscape mode (not always but then I read smaller fonts too).

However, once it ever has the Editing feature added (supposedly late Spring 2010 last I heard) then it'd be worth it if the navigation is better than the 1000s.

[catharsis]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

The US version is supposed to be $399. The European version is 499 euros.

Last time I checked 1€ was 0,7$. I know there has been a lot of talk about the European price (higher taxes and other stuff), but, for a device from an European company, it seems that iRex does not care about its European customers. Even if they sell in in the US with 450$ or 500$, the European price is way too high, especially for a device with a half-finished firmware.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by catharsis

Last time I checked 1€ was 0,7$. I know there has been a lot of talk about the European price (higher taxes and other stuff), but, for a device from an European company, it seems that iRex does not care about its European customers. Even if they sell in in the US with 450$ or 500$, the European price is way too high, especially for a device with a half-finished firmware.

If you compare iRex 800 to Sony 900, the price difference really is significant.
But the problem of course is, how to weigh better contrast and less glare.
In comparison to Kindle DX for example, the price is absolutely okay.

But you raise an important issue of course: Prices in the US in all areas of "gadgets" are way below European level. VAT is one explanation. Weak economy in the US and low Dollar value an other explanation. But still.........it's quite frustrating for European customers - especially if it's a European product. Or even an Asian product. Only for US products the gap in prices might be "acceptable/understandable/explainable"...

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by catharsis

... especially for a device with a half-finished firmware.

I've raised some negative (or let's say "not so positive") aspects of iRex 800. Maybe I've been a bit too demanding - probably because of high expectations withy every iRex product. But iRex 800 really is growing on me (same happened with Cybook Opus).
Yes, it's lacking some features. But lacking them only in comparison to iRex iLiad for example. But Both Kindles and many (most) other readers don't have them either.

It's absolutely stable, not a single crash (iRex 1000S and iRex iLiad don't crash on me either) so far. So "half-finished" can't target on reliability or something like that.
So "half-finished" only can target on lacking features.

What's missing?
- I for one absolutely miss the "intelligent" zoom. I hope, they re-integrate it, as 1000S and iLiad did have it which made them the best PDF units in the market (IMHO). But it's a feature, only Sony 600/700/900 can offer. And they only do it for a single page, which isn't really helpful in my opinion. So it's like I've written at the beginning of this reply: "High expectations". Higher as with others.
- Folder support. Personally, I don't need it. I'm not endlessly scrolling through my library, but sorting by author or searching by keyword (which is extremely fast, almost instantaneous). I've preferred the additional option of folders on iLiad and loved the option to add comments or even thumbnails to those folders. But about half of the other readers (market leader Kindle for example) don't have it as well. But iRex 800 has alternatives, for example the ruler at the right to jump to the first letter of author's name or things like that.
- Zoom in general. Not only is it missing the "intelligent" zoom of former models, it's lacking zoom in total. For PDFs, that's really a huge step backwards. But again: Kindle doesn't have it either. Do you consider Kindle "half-finished" as well?
Is there anything else missing?