I'm just about to buy the DS1000s, but...

[hanche]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Right. All they did was basically announce the date of when they will be announcing the release date.

Reminds me of an episode on the Daily show, you know at the end when he often talks to Colbert? Well in this episode Colbert announced a date on which he would announce whether or not he was going to think about running for president.

[Shaggy]

Yeah, sounds kind of silly, but it keeps their name in the News, which is probably the main goal.

[tjdean256]

And it keeps some people from buying a competing but existing product.

[SaraD]

Originally Posted by Over

I'm just about to buy the DS1000s, but... I'm having some last minute doubts.

I've been waiting to see what the competitors will bring to the table next year, but except Aztak, they all are aiming for the business market. That translates to "more expensive". If I consider that Aztak is USA based and that means I'll have to pay an extra 40% at customs if I import it, the price ceased to be the main factor in my decision.

Astak is a reseller for Netronix and Jinke. If they come out with a larger devive from one or both factories, chances are very good that a European distributer will have it as well. It makes sense to buy from a distributer close to you in case service is needed.

[kleykenb]

Originally Posted by Over

Thank you for all your input, guys!

The only thing that is stopping me from buying the DR1000s right now is because of the CUE, to be presented just less than two months from now. I would really just hit my head several times if the QUE would be cheaper than iRex's ereader or if its launch would make iRex reduce their prices. 700€ is a lot... If we were talking about 400 or 500€, I would buy it anyway, but for 700€...

I know there will always be something better in the horizon, but January is very close.

Almost everyday I'm tempted to just order the iRex, and almost everyday I have to force myself not to. That's why I'm coming here less often. Everytime I read you, I have to stop myself from ordering it.

Well, keep forcing yourself not to buy it. Yes, the DR1000s is still the only eInk reader that can do A4 PDF's comfortably but it is no way near the dream-gadget you probably are imagining it to be. Keep in mind that people that comment to your thread, people that still follow this forum regularly, are those that are still using their DR. Many others that had a DR, like myself, have broken it in no time - look in other threads on this forum to get an idea. You see, apart from the firmware bugs, the battery draining that is going to make a battery replacement necessary rather a lot sooner than you'd expect (and remember, you can't do this yourself, it's gonna be costly), there's also the bad choice of putting the USB port at the underside and you can not be warned enough about how fragile this hardware truly is - in fact, even iRex warns you about it on their website. Both software and hardware design are absolutely below par with other eBook vendors. Have a look at dr1000s.blogspot.com , I have ripped my DR apart so people like you can see exactly what they are really getting themselves into. Notice the small battery, notice the poor design, recognise that this is a lemon you will NOT buy.

[Over]

Originally Posted by kleykenb

Well, keep forcing yourself not to buy it. Yes, the DR1000s is still the only eInk reader that can do A4 PDF's comfortably but it is no way near the dream-gadget you probably are imagining it to be. Keep in mind that people that comment to your thread, people that still follow this forum regularly, are those that are still using their DR. Many others that had a DR, like myself, have broken it in no time - look in other threads on this forum to get an idea. You see, apart from the firmware bugs, the battery draining that is going to make a battery replacement necessary rather a lot sooner than you'd expect (and remember, you can't do this yourself, it's gonna be costly), there's also the bad choice of putting the USB port at the underside and you can not be warned enough about how fragile this hardware truly is - in fact, even iRex warns you about it on their website. Both software and hardware design are absolutely below par with other eBook vendors. Have a look at dr1000s.blogspot.com , I have ripped my DR apart so people like you can see exactly what they are really getting themselves into. Notice the small battery, notice the poor design, recognise that this is a lemon you will NOT buy.

Thanks for the warning. I'm really waiting for January to decide the best course.

[Over]

Well, the QUE presentation was a disapointment. Not only pricewise (same range as iRex), but because it's only for USA. But on the other hand, Amazon made it's Kindle DX available in Europe as well.

I'm still waiting for some more information about Skiff and Jinke's A9, but it seems my choice will fall between Kindle DX International and iRex DR1000s.

I know I'm in iRex's sub-forum, but could you give me your objective opinion about these two, in comparison? Reading manga/comics and some PDFs would be my main uses for the device. Touchscreen/note taking is not important.

Since you've told me a lot about DR1000s, I think this will be more about if Kindle DX measures up to it or not.

Thanks in advance.

[HarryT]

If you just want to display PDFs, I'm sure you'd be fine with the Kindle DX. The basic issue with it comes if you want to do anything more than that - use hyperlinks or a table of contents, look up words in the dictionary, or annotate them, for example. None of these things can be done; they all can on the DR1000.

[Over]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you just want to display PDFs, I'm sure you'd be fine with the Kindle DX. The basic issue with it comes if you want to do anything more than that - use hyperlinks or a table of contents, look up words in the dictionary, or annotate them, for example. None of these things can be done; they all can on the DR1000.

iRex's uses dictionary lookup in PDFs?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Over

iRex's uses dictionary lookup in PDFs?

Yes; on the DR1000 you can look up words in a PDF document in your Mobipocket dictionary.

[Over]

That's nice.

So, besides hyperlinking and word searching, is there anything else I should know? Screen quality, battery life, speed...?

[owl123]

You get no wi-fi or 3G connection with DR1000S. Battery life is just about 10 hours.

I heard there's no zoom option in Kindle DX.

[HarryT]

The DR has 32 grey scales, compared to 8 for the Kindle; I guess that could be significant if you're viewing comics.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The DR has 32 grey scales, compared to 8 for the Kindle; I guess that could be significant if you're viewing comics.

It's actually 16 for the DR, not 32, but you still have a valid point.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

It's actually 16 for the DR, not 32, but you still have a valid point.

I stand corrected; thank you.