Unboxing iRex 800 and first impressions

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by ahawk

I am so shamed for this stupid mistake.....
I connect it to a computer with suse and change using emcas, it works now.
Thanks again

By the way, is there any news about the function of taking notes using dr800s, will they add them finally?

Congratulations.
For the moment, it seems to be unclear, whether taking notes actually will be implemented at all. No biggy for me, never use it on my other units. But most users are a bit disappointed by that. And of course it's wasting some of the tablet's capabilities.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Gertjan

Don't bother training as there is no "off" mode in DR800, nor do you need it.

A brief slide of the power switch puts the device in "standby", holding the switch longer than 3 seconds causes a hard reset. In "standby", the device consumes only a few mA, so you can have it around for weeks without charging.

Just received update from iRex support (very responsive and friendly btw):

"I do apologize for the confusion.

The DR800 if "ON" will vary its power state depending on usage behavior. When "ON" and no buttons are pressed the device will go into power saving mode after some time.

When you press and hold the switch to the left for 2-3 seconds the device will go into standby mode. Finally after some time it will switch "OFF": This is also a kind of standby state however with very low power consumption to allow for the device to start up quickly."

This makes sense of course. So I actually only put my unit to standby over night. But at some stage it turned off automatically. When turning it on again in the morning, of course I was under the impression, having turned it off myself.
Puh, I'm relieved. I've been a bit surprised, not having been able to reproduce the switching off this evening.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

The DR800 if "ON" will vary its power state depending on usage behavior. When "ON" and no buttons are pressed the device will go into power saving mode after some time.

When you press and hold the switch to the left for 2-3 seconds the device will go into standby mode. Finally after some time it will switch "OFF": This is also a kind of standby state however with very low power consumption to allow for the device to start up quickly."

Now I'm even more confused. Are you saying:

1. 30 minutes idle = power saving mode
2. 2-3 second switch flick = standby mode
3. ?? minutes after standby = off (but is it not true 'off' since they say it's allows the device to start up quickly?)

So does <2 second switch flick do anything? I thought 1 and 2 were the same mode but I could be wrong.

I'm sensing there is a language problem and tech support people that are not speaking from experience with the actual device.

I'm not sure I like where this is going. Seems a bit uncertain or random. Reminds me of the reports of the iliad flipbar randomly turning multiple pages even with a short flick (I guess irex could have worked around this issue by having an option to disable the flipbar's long-flick feature).

[concord]

It is not necessary to turn off the device completely because the standby consumes only a few mA that is needed to retain the memory. By doing this you can resume using the device in 3 seconds, which is really nice feature that we have been missing in iLiad and DR1000 (suspend to memory).

To clear the confusion:
1. The device will go to "idle" when you don't use it for 5 seconds. This also saves power.
2. The device will turn itself to standby if you don't use it for 30 minutes, and this is exactly the same mode when you flick the off switch (just flick it less then 1 second, no need to hold 2-3 seconds).
3. When you hold the off switch for 5 seconds or more, or until the LED turns off, it will restart the device.

So once again, there is no "OFF" mode since it is not needed. The only way to turn it OFF is to take out the battery.

[Kolenka]

Which if mgmueller can get the sort of battery life he's talking about that way, then he's getting ~2 weeks battery by Sony's standards with wireless off. Sounds right on the money for what a device like this should be doing. Which is good news.

Again, if iRex would say something about the US launch...

[Jumpn Jack Flash]

Originally Posted by concord

It is not necessary to turn off the device completely because the standby consumes only a few mA that is needed to retain the memory. By doing this you can resume using the device in 3 seconds, which is really nice feature that we have been missing in iLiad and DR1000 (suspend to memory).

Just out of curiosity (and it is hard to frame this question), in standby is the cpu reading from the clock, eg can/could the device be set to come out of standby at the end of a timer. This would useful on the SG but useless on the S.
Any possibility of an SW, any bits of 2.0 in the 3.0 code base.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by concord

It is not necessary to turn off the device completely because the standby consumes only a few mA that is needed to retain the memory. By doing this you can resume using the device in 3 seconds, which is really nice feature that we have been missing in iLiad and DR1000 (suspend to memory).

Didn't they add suspend-to-ram with version 1.5 of the dr1000s firmware?

How long is the dr1000s able to stay alive suspended? Just curious if IREX improved the power management since the dr1000s.

[Gertjan]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Are you an iRex employee and is this an official statement?

Yes, I am employed by IREX. My word is official as far as developer statements go. When it contradicts other statements, my word means nothing

Originally Posted by mgmueller

The DR800 if "ON" will vary its power state depending on usage behavior. When "ON" and no buttons are pressed the device will go into power saving mode after some time.

When you press and hold the switch to the left for 2-3 seconds the device will go into standby mode. Finally after some time it will switch "OFF": This is also a kind of standby state however with very low power consumption to allow for the device to start up quickly."

While this is basically correct, let me clarify the various power management states as terminology gets a bit confusing here.

Like DR1000, the DR800 saves power by going into a low power mode when it is idle for a few seconds. This is completely non intrusive, as wake up is virtually instant.

The user manual only mentions an "off" state with a quick power "on", though this is technically implemented as standby (suspend to RAM). A brief slide of the power button - no need to hold it for 2-3 seconds - switches to "off" (standby). As mentioned earlier, power consumption is minimal in this mode. Another brief slide switches it back on (resume) in a few seconds, retaining the reading state.

Then there is the auto-power-off feature. It puts the device into "off" (standby) after 30 minutes of inactivity.

When the battery is almost exhausted, the device will go into a real OFF mode. A brief slide of the power button switches the device on. Now it will do a complete boot which takes about a minute.

Holding the power switch for more than 3 seconds resets the device. The complete boot which takes about a minute.

[mgmueller]

iRex 800 has grown on me. Because of my high expectations, given my great experience with iRex iLiad and iRex 1000S, I've had some disappointments at first. But lots of them, after 1 week in realistic mindset, have disappeared.

Pros:
- Display quality: It's extremely close to Sony 505, my "benchmark unit" concerning glare/reflection/contrast/readability. For a touchscreen unit, that's top. It's definitely ahead of Sony 900, one of my momentary favorites.
- Form factor: For me, it's a little bit behind Sony 900. But still: It's a beauty and very ergonomic.
- Speed: It's very fast. A little bit faster in turning pages than Sony 900, which already is extremely fast.
- Stability/Reliability: Not a single crash in one week of heavy experiments. Same as with iRex iLiad and iRex 1000S before.
- Standby: Has been a weakness of iRex iLiad. iRex 800 starts within 3 seconds.
- Folder support: Not active by default, but simple to add. Personally, I don't need it. But most members insist on it, though still lots of units (Kindles) don't offer it.
- Flipbar: I already did love it on iRex iLiad. Convenient to use and because of it's size, I can rest my hand wherever I want instead of aiming for a single button.

Kaizen (refuse "Cons" here):
- Cover: I've bought it separately for € 49.95 directly from iRex. In my opinion, it's a bit oversized (width) and feels and looks a bit cheap. I prefer the minimalistic and efficient covers of Kindle or Sony. Or my elegant iRex iLiad cover from M-Edge or my equally elegant cover from Noreve for Cybook Opus. Next to those, the iRex 800 cover is "one league below", for a premium price.
- Switch off: Description in the manual is misleading. You go into standby by briefly holding the switch. It turns off automatically from standby, you can't turn it off manually. Confusing in the manual and a bit flimsy/non-intuitive to do (without further information).
- No scribble/annotation: Personally, I don't need it. But of course it's a logical use of any touchscreen and many members miss it a lot.
-Price: The price expected for US seems about right. But the European price, compared to Sony 900 is a bit high. Sony 900 was about € 380 for me. iRex 800 is € 499. They're too close (in my personal ranking) quality-wise for such a gap (but I had to buy it anyway, of course). Probably Sony is able to "sponsor" via additional revenues from eBooks and licenses.
- Rotation feature: You only can rotate once, by 90 degrees (clockwise). The flipbar is on the left. So left-handed persons most likely would prefer to rotate the entire unit by 180°, which can't be done. I myself would prefer -90°, so the flipbar is on the top instead of at the bottom.
- Missing zoom: iRex iLiad and iRex 1000S did have the most advanced zoom feature when introduced (mark any area with your touchscreen and explode it to full screen. This can be activated for the entire document, whereas Sony 600/700/900 only do it for the respective page). iRex 800 doesn't have any zoom at all. As far as I understand, iRex did replace the former application by the Adobe SDK. So they didn't "leave it out". But the effect to the customer is the same: A popular feature is gone.

[professzore]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

iRex 800 has grown on me. Because of my high expectations, given my great experience with iRex iLiad and iRex 1000S, I've had some disappointments at first. But lots of them, after 1 week in realistic mindset, have disappeared.

Thanks. Based on these experiences, I found that still iRex 800 matches most of my reqiremets. I hope that iRex will improve the firmware for annotation support, which is the only thing I seriously miss at the moment.

[professzore]

Originally Posted by Gertjan

Yes, I am employed by IREX.

By on your opinion, which is the best way to force iRex for some improvements? I mean, out-of-the-box
-- folder control,
-- annotation,
-- zoom/pan/resize of PDF documents?

Based on my experiences within another era, manufacturers sometimes "hear" the voice of thier customers and do what they want. Any idea?

[ahawk]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Just received update from iRex support (very responsive and friendly btw):

"I do apologize for the confusion.

The DR800 if "ON" will vary its power state depending on usage behavior. When "ON" and no buttons are pressed the device will go into power saving mode after some time.

When you press and hold the switch to the left for 2-3 seconds the device will go into standby mode. Finally after some time it will switch "OFF": This is also a kind of standby state however with very low power consumption to allow for the device to start up quickly."

This makes sense of course. So I actually only put my unit to standby over night. But at some stage it turned off automatically. When turning it on again in the morning, of course I was under the impression, having turned it off myself.
Puh, I'm relieved. I've been a bit surprised, not having been able to reproduce the switching off this evening.

Got that, by the way any idea about the 1st charging?
I have been charging it for 24 hrs, but based on the manual which said when the orange light turns green, it is fully charged. It is still orange now.......
But the picture of battery at corner seems full already

[astra]

You have to wait until it is green.

[Gertjan]

Originally Posted by professzore

By on your opinion, which is the best way to force iRex for some improvements?

We read this board and your suggestions are being heard. You can also use the IREX forum to voice your opinions and ideas: http://forum.irexnet.com/

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by ahawk

Got that, by the way any idea about the 1st charging?
I have been charging it for 24 hrs, but based on the manual which said when the orange light turns green, it is fully charged. It is still orange now.......
But the picture of battery at corner seems full already

Never made it to the green light in this week. I charged once over night (ca. 6 hours), this should be enough. About same for the initial charge.
24 hours can't be possible, even for the initial charge (and mine came charged by about 40%, so it should be something in the range of 8 hours - 40%).