How much is Iliad HW reliable?

[jæd]

Originally Posted by markiehill

With Sony, Iriver and others chasing the same market, the Iliad is already looking functionally poor and it has had a years advantage.

Not quite sure how you get that... What with the Iliads network connectivity and being to add and record notes...

Originally Posted by markiehill

I think the negativity on these forums is partially due to fustration with what could be a fantastic device, at least we care !!! Its the lack of others we should be concerned about ,

I realise this, but sometimes it just feels like this fantastic device and the work the Irex team have put into it isn't appreciated...

Originally Posted by markiehill

i cannot help but notice the tumbleweed blowing through these forums.

Well... A lot of topics on the Sony Reader side seem to be things that are taken for granted on the Iliad... Reformatting pdfs, USB connectivity, etc...

[markiehill]

lets be constructive here, what can we do to make the situation better ?

is there anything we can do on the windows platform to make the creation of well formatted PDF'S a one click process ? This is probably one of the single most annoying things that we could sort out.

[jæd]

Originally Posted by markiehill

is there anything we can do on the windows platform to make the creation of well formatted PDF'S a one click process ? This is probably one of the single most annoying things that we could sort out.

For the Iliad... Since Zoom/Pan there's not much that needs to changed...

[markiehill]

it doesnt work well on mine, its not user friendly and seems to give me loads of blank space and an unpredictable zoom

[narve]

Originally Posted by markiehill

lets be constructive here, what can we do to make the situation better ?

is there anything we can do on the windows platform to make the creation of well formatted PDF'S a one click process ? This is probably one of the single most annoying things that we could sort out.

That depends on what source you have got -- are you thinking of reformatting PDFs?

If you have text, open-office makes this a breeze. HTML should be a breeze as well, haven't tried it in a while.

[Mambo]

On PDF formatting and zoom/panning:

I want to make it clear to others unfamiliar with the iLiad, that there is no problem with PDF viewing whatsoever. There has been issues, when landscape viewing or zooming did not work properly but it is the past now. These functions work as perfectly as possible with an eink device (that gives you no immediate feedback on what you are doing, because takes time to refresh the screen - I know it is an inconvenience but it is not such an unsurpassable problem).

With any books I had (even with A4 documents downloaded from the web) I managed to zoom and pan them to eliminate wide margins and make fonts readable. I realised that I am able to change the zoom for virtually any document to make it readable, and I never failed so far.

Here is the process for you:

1. Turn on the continuous mode, so that you can see the real margins of the page

2. Select "Zoom" icon, and select a range of the screen with the stylus, that you want to see, but make sure:
-- you allow for a small margin still (2-3 mm)
-- you don't select vertically the whole visible area, you rather focus on what you select horizontally, because the aim is to eliminate left and right margins, rather than top and bottom margins (remember you are in continuous mode)

3. After zooming, if you don't get exactly what you wanted you have 2 options:

- go back to full page and start zooming all over (step 2)
- go to pan mode and slightly move the page left or right, so that nothing would go off the page, then turn off pan mode

4. Finally when you are ready, with zooming you have to do nothing else just to remeber:
when you exit from the file, the zoom setting will be saved and next time you can continue with the zooming, so that it does not matter how difficult it was to set up the zooming, once you have done properly, you don't need to redo the whole process again.

I think this is a child's play.
I think there is nothing to complain about.
I think it's not necessary to reformat or reflow PDFs any more.
IMHO

By the way I am currently moving to the UK, I will live near London area. Would anybody be interested to meet and set up kind of an "iLiad users club". We could discuss how we use the device, what we read and maybe form a strategy how we communicate to iRex to get done what we wanted.

[mtas]

Originally Posted by markiehill

Jaed,

If it were easier to port software without the risk of bricking etc then i am sure that the community would embrace it.

Yes to have "unbricking" functionality would be important but IMHO what's even more important is a complete SDK and release of the kernel sources. With those I'm quite sure that not only me but a lot of other people would be willing to take the risk of bricking the device now and then.

With Sony, Iriver and others chasing the same market, the Iliad is already looking functionally poor and it has had a years advantage.

Functionally poor? As far as I can tell the iLiad have at least the functionality of the Sony reader (except wendor-locked DRM). Regarding other future readers, who can tell?

[Flinx]

Originally Posted by jæd

Is that 500 euros or $ 500...?

Euros. Not that I think this would be a suitable price for the mass market, but I would have it then already...

[-RenE-]

This movie may be of interest to you.

The movie (an "unpack party") itself is in Dutch and it will show you the company Irex on the Philips Tech Campus. The interesting part comes to the end, where there is a comparison between the Iliad and a laptop, including a drop on the ground of the Iliad, which the device should be able to hold without damage. You'll find this apart at 5"40'

[Kirys]

the drop it on grass , is different that drop on a normal floor

[-RenE-]

Originally Posted by Kirys

the drop it on grass , is different that drop on a normal floor

Sure, but still I wouldn't want to drop my notebook even if it ware grass.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Kirys

the drop it on grass , is different that drop on a normal floor

True, on grass, it could have falled on horse dunk (definitely b-a-d for the electronics).