B&N and Verizon Jump Into E-Reader Fray with iRex

[jotas]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Do you have a link to this information?

I think Irex will go for Wacom, no doubt, but maybe this can help, too:

http://gizmodo.com/5331567/irexs-nex...-sticker-shock

http://gizmodo.com/5365991/irex-dr80...ader-unchained

The back of the device is near-featureless black plastic, while the front is matte gray. Controls come by way of a single rocker button on the left of the screen, which gets you around the iRex's unusually complex OS without much trouble, or through a stylus (to avoid glare issues, this touchscreen is based on Wacom tablet tech behind the screen, so fingers input isn't an option) which gives you finer control over the device's buttons and menus, which can sometimes be very small. The screen is beautifully contrasty and glare-free, unlike Sony's touchscreen Readers. (Note: The glare in the shots are just the unfortunate byproduct of very powerful theater spotlights.) E-ink's hallmark black flashes between page turns have been shortened beyond anything I've ever seen before, though not by much. They're still jarring.

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I haven't seen any official announcements, and have not even heard any "unofficial" ones behind the scenes. However, I would not be surprised if the iLiad is discontinued shortly after the DR800 is released. That's just speculation though.

Isn't the whole point that they were no longer allowed to sell the iLiad in the US anyway, due to the non-replaceable battery issues? Anyway, I doubt they will discontinue the iLiad before the DR800 is available in Europe.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by jotas

I can't believe such annoying LED, as well as the SD card not being directly accessible and exchangeable from outside ... but .. after all, it's Irex!

It depends on how its arranged whether its actually a problem or not e.g. on current blackberries you tend to have the microsd card slot under the battery cover so its out of the way, but it isn't covered by the actual battery so it can still be easily changed.

[badbob001]

In this video, the Irex CEO says the battery life is 'days', but then mentions "6000 pages in a row". Now we have a hard number to test against.

http://video.foxbusiness.com/9945964...62a05c8ec92b22

So far, it looks like if the wireless is on/active, the blue light stays on. The green light acts as a busy indicator and in the above video, you can see it briefly flash as pages are turned. I guess this is better than an indicator on the screen, which may slow things down even more, and keeps impatient people from triple-clicking / pressing harder their devices to death.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Isn't the whole point that they were no longer allowed to sell the iLiad in the US anyway, due to the non-replaceable battery issues?

Huh? You can buy lots of stuff in the US that has non-removable batteries? "Wha chu talkin bout Willis?"

BOb

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Spoken like someone who has never been kept from reading their books on their devices due to Adobe's onerous server-based DRM. I could see how another _exclusive_ form of DRM could confuse the issue, but there is nothing to keep any individual device from being compatible with both EReader and ADEPT DRM. Given the choice between the two, any educated consumer will choose the EReader DRM (provided that this is used in conjunction with the epub format to address the issues with formating and image size you point out) because it guarantees them access to their books no matter what happens to B and N or Fictionwise or EReader.com.

All drm is horrible, however ade epub has the advantage of being horrible and already here, ereader epub drm isn't here yet. If devices would be allowed to support both types of epub then fair enough, but if its a choice of one or the other like you have with mobi and ade currently then introducing another type of drm would benefit nobody besides amazon.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Huh? You can buy lots of stuff in the US that has non-removable batteries? "Wha chu talkin bout Willis?"

Indeed, its one of the most common complaints with a lot of apple's hardware for one thing, but they haven't been stopped from selling it.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Isn't the whole point that they were no longer allowed to sell the iLiad in the US anyway, due to the non-replaceable battery issues? Anyway, I doubt they will discontinue the iLiad before the DR800 is available in Europe.

OMG, everything from apple is illegal!

Anyway, according to some wiki's, some sort of fcc non-compliance has halted sales in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by badbob001

Anyway, according to some wiki's, some sort of fcc non-compliance has halted sales in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad

Weird, assuming they got approval initially before starting to sell it then that would mean that they had to make some significant changes to the hardware later.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by badbob001

OMG, everything from apple is illegal!

Yea, pretty much....

BOb

[junkml]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

You won't actually be "doing business" with Verizon... you will be B&N's customer... they just use Verizon's network to provide the connectivity.

BOb

True, but I can't bring myself to do ANYTHING that might support Verizon. I would actually love to see them go out of business altogether.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by badbob001

OMG, everything from apple is illegal!

Anyway, according to some wiki's, some sort of fcc non-compliance has halted sales in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad

Don't worry, Apple has the press in their pockets, and whoever rules the press rules America.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

That's part of the spec for the iLiad and DR1000S/DR1000SW. I'm assuming it will carry over.

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Their other devices use a WACOM stylus, specifically the "penabled" ones. I would assume the DR800 will be the same.

Originally Posted by davidspitzer

oh sorry yes it definitely uses a wacom layer - they speak extensively of having to use a pen for input in all the demos and also highlighting that they use wacom technology so that it can sit behind the screen and not obscure the eink in anyway

Thanks Guys. That's what I was getting at whether it required a stylus -- sounds like the answer is yes.

Good for the screen/contrast/non-glare though.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by jotas

It's Irex so ... believe me, not only can be possible, but WILL BE in this way. No on-board memory, and no outside access to SD card.

If this has no onboard memory or needs the SD to run, then it makes sense to hide the SD port *if* they are going to showing *working* models at Best Buy.

Can someone confirm if it's SD or MicroSD? Obviously for costs and capacity reasons, I would prefer SD...

[sforce]

Originally Posted by badbob001

If this has no onboard memory or needs the SD to run, then it makes sense to hide the SD port *if* they are going to showing *working* models at Best Buy.

Can someone confirm if it's SD or MicroSD? Obviously for costs and capacity reasons, I would prefer SD...

Engadget said it does have onboard memory, Techcrunch thinks it does not have onboard memory. I think they both agree that the supplemental memory slot is SD. I can't see MicroSD, as the need(cost) for the smaller size card is not necessary.

To the onboard memory question, it really makes no sense not to have some included onboard memory. I think Techcrunch is simply wrong on this point.