Review of the iLiad - Page 3

Alexander Turcic · 03-18-2006, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultim8fury

Is it possible to turn off the WiFi completely, until such time as you want to use it ? or does it have to be on all the time ?

I already spend my life bathed in a stew of wireless noise, no need to add yet another device to it -- and why would I require WiFi for reading an offline novel?! Let's hope it's possible to turn it off.

Nick Hampshire · 03-18-2006, 04:31 PM

I think we should not confuse the initial power switch on sequence that will involve not only OS initialisation but screen initialisation and flash disk initialisation with the power down that happens after a screen is displayed. The relative slowness of the 256MB Flash memory may be partly to blame for the power switch on delay, the fact that Flash disk drives do a complete check for, and isolation of, faulty memory locations on power up. Also on the iLiad the whole OS is apparently on Flash because it can have its software upgraded by downloading a new version of the OS into the device.

When you switch the device on it almost immediately shows a screen that says iRex iLiad please wait... then there is a delay of about 30 seconds before the first, default, screen is displayed, only then is the file system, touch screen and WiFi active. Exactly the same procedure was followed on the Sony LIBRIe I tested last year.

However, after a screen is displayed the power light switches off almost immediately and only switches on again if you press one of the switches, or use the stylus. This must mean that it then simply runs a little software loop that just checks for key presses and touch screen input, whilst powering down everything else. The power light then stays on for little more than a second as the new screen is displayed.

When you switch the iLiad off using the on/off switch it goes through a screen clear procedure that tends to leave a ghost negative image of the last page viewed on the screen.

The touch screen can not be turned off.

Unfortunately have now had to return the device so can not test the maths notation capability, but iRex have promised me a full working version when the next batch is delivered to Eindhoven, this should allow me to test some of the features that I have so far been unable to examine.

Nick Hampshire · 03-18-2006, 04:33 PM

The WiFi is only active when you press the WiFi button in the iLiad, and disconnects as soon as all data transfer is completed.

CommanderROR · 03-19-2006, 05:38 PM

There seems to be a lot of stuff on the iRex Iliad on Teleread.org
Somebody there is apparently going to get a chance to review the device...you can post question that he will then try to answer when he gets a chance to play with the device.

Alexander Turcic · 03-19-2006, 05:53 PM

Teleread points to a video of the iLiad on a Dutch site: http://www.volkskrant.com/videoreportages/142#

Snappy! · 03-19-2006, 06:53 PM

Some other folks at engadget are now getting into the iliad thingie ... http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/i...ader/#comments

JimKnopf · 03-19-2006, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snappy!

Some other folks at engadget are now getting into the iliad thingie ... http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/i...ader/#comments

That's cool. Nothing new that hasn't been said before, but it's nice to see e-book devices finally picking up in major gadget blogs.

Snappy! · 03-19-2006, 07:28 PM

am watching the vid. Is it just the language or is the guy initially shoutING?

but the devices looks really cool in video! ... and refresh is pretty neat huh?

EDIT:

ok, I think he is shouting because of the machine in the background.

I like the part where the camera zooms out from the iliad and initially I really thought it was a news paper until it zooms out and its seen as the eink screen on the iliad.

And oops, the lady with a boy ... did she drop the iliad? ;O

pruss · 03-19-2006, 09:30 PM

Does it have a decent search function with decent speed? (Minimally I need to search for multiple words all in one paragraph. I'd like to search at least about 15mb of uncompressed HTML per minute--I can do with Pluckerized versions of the HTML docs on my NX.)

CommanderROR · 03-20-2006, 04:31 AM

The screen looks really good...but did you notice...the grey-tones take a lot longer to appear than the black and white parts of the display.

Watch closedly and you can see that the image is "built" in two steps...or am I imagining things?

I'd like to know whether the Iliad survived the fall...I think the woman actually dropped it...

call me paranoid...but..can it be that the toochscreen on the device the guy in the vid has does not work?

When he shows the newspaper main page and then shows how you zoom in on an individual article...he taps the screen and then moves the "page-bar" with his thumb...looks like cheating to me...

I really hope they'll manage to make their device "real" soon...because I WANT ONE!!! (if it has a usable screen-protection that is...i hate scratched screens, and I'm planning on taking the device with me just like a book...so it'll have to be able to take some close-quarters backpack action...I hope this "lack of feature" does not force me to make do with on of the "less geeky" reader devices like the Hanlin...although....maybe that wouldn't be so bad...

yeah...I know I'm crazy...

CommanderROR · 03-20-2006, 08:22 AM

In case Nick is still around...

There was mention of a dictionary (english) in the review...I was wondering how that can be used.
The Hanlin V2 apparently has a chinese-english dictionary, but you can't access it directly from inside a book. (it works like a normal book as far as I understood)

The Iliad has a touchscreen, so it should be no problem to use "lookup" function like you have in mobipocket or MS-Reader on PocketPC.
This is a very nice feature, my girlfriend is using it at the moment to freshen up her english...she's reading a Terry Pratchett Novel and can simply tap on any word she doen't know to get a translation instead of asking me every 2 minutes...very good for both of us...

the question is: Does the Iliad's dictionary work that way?

CommanderROR · 03-20-2006, 04:58 PM

some more information:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/i...ader/#comments

Comment #28...somebody says he was told the Iliad was going to retail for 540Euro...still very steep, but a lot better than those 650...

Oh...i just asked my calculator...540Euro is almost exactly 650Dollar...so there could be some mix-up somewhere...
I wish iRex would finally give us a clear answer on the pricing...

proee · 03-20-2006, 11:48 PM

Nick, my interested in this device is to have a nice ebook reader for technical datasheet such as those published for semiconductor parts (i.e. computer chips). Do you think the display is too small for reading schematics and diagrams without zooming? Also, I am VERY INTERESTED in the possiblity of using this as a digital sketch pad since I'm always thinking up new inventions and need to draw some quick diagrams/schematics/calculations. Do you think this device has the potential to be an "engineering notebook?" Also, can you give a description of all the menus that were available at the bottom of the screen. There looked to be a summation sign as one of the icons, what is this feature? Any additional information you can provide for engineering/inventor applications is apprehiated. BTW, this is my first post in mobileread!

CommanderROR · 03-21-2006, 11:55 AM

There is some more hands-on information on the Iliad on teleread.org
iRex seem to be letting quite a few people touch their device at the moment...quite a good idea I believe....but the touchscreen still does not work apparently..damn...:-)

CommanderROR · 03-25-2006, 02:03 PM

http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4538

Branko Collins has psoted the first part of his "Review"
so far there is nothing really new...but more will follow "after the weekend"

03-19-2006, 07:28 PM	#38
Snappy! Addict Posts: 260 Karma: 4256 Join Date: Feb 2006 Device: SHARP Zaurus C1000	am watching the vid. Is it just the language or is the guy initially shoutING? but the devices looks really cool in video! ... and refresh is pretty neat huh? EDIT: ok, I think he is shouting because of the machine in the background. I like the part where the camera zooms out from the iliad and initially I really thought it was a news paper until it zooms out and its seen as the eink screen on the iliad. And oops, the lady with a boy ... did she drop the iliad? ;O Last edited by Snappy!; 03-19-2006 at 07:30 PM.

03-20-2006, 04:31 AM	#40
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	The screen looks really good...but did you notice...the grey-tones take a lot longer to appear than the black and white parts of the display. Watch closedly and you can see that the image is "built" in two steps...or am I imagining things? I'd like to know whether the Iliad survived the fall...I think the woman actually dropped it... call me paranoid...but..can it be that the toochscreen on the device the guy in the vid has does not work? When he shows the newspaper main page and then shows how you zoom in on an individual article...he taps the screen and then moves the "page-bar" with his thumb...looks like cheating to me... I really hope they'll manage to make their device "real" soon...because I WANT ONE!!! (if it has a usable screen-protection that is...i hate scratched screens, and I'm planning on taking the device with me just like a book...so it'll have to be able to take some close-quarters backpack action...I hope this "lack of feature" does not force me to make do with on of the "less geeky" reader devices like the Hanlin...although....maybe that wouldn't be so bad... yeah...I know I'm crazy... Last edited by CommanderROR; 03-20-2006 at 08:17 AM.

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03-18-2006, 04:31 PM	#32
Nick Hampshire Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 150 Join Date: Mar 2006	I think we should not confuse the initial power switch on sequence that will involve not only OS initialisation but screen initialisation and flash disk initialisation with the power down that happens after a screen is displayed. The relative slowness of the 256MB Flash memory may be partly to blame for the power switch on delay, the fact that Flash disk drives do a complete check for, and isolation of, faulty memory locations on power up. Also on the iLiad the whole OS is apparently on Flash because it can have its software upgraded by downloading a new version of the OS into the device. When you switch the device on it almost immediately shows a screen that says iRex iLiad please wait... then there is a delay of about 30 seconds before the first, default, screen is displayed, only then is the file system, touch screen and WiFi active. Exactly the same procedure was followed on the Sony LIBRIe I tested last year. However, after a screen is displayed the power light switches off almost immediately and only switches on again if you press one of the switches, or use the stylus. This must mean that it then simply runs a little software loop that just checks for key presses and touch screen input, whilst powering down everything else. The power light then stays on for little more than a second as the new screen is displayed. When you switch the iLiad off using the on/off switch it goes through a screen clear procedure that tends to leave a ghost negative image of the last page viewed on the screen. The touch screen can not be turned off. Unfortunately have now had to return the device so can not test the maths notation capability, but iRex have promised me a full working version when the next batch is delivered to Eindhoven, this should allow me to test some of the features that I have so far been unable to examine.

03-18-2006, 04:33 PM	#33
Nick Hampshire Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 150 Join Date: Mar 2006	The WiFi is only active when you press the WiFi button in the iLiad, and disconnects as soon as all data transfer is completed.

03-19-2006, 05:38 PM	#34
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	There seems to be a lot of stuff on the iRex Iliad on Teleread.org Somebody there is apparently going to get a chance to review the device...you can post question that he will then try to answer when he gets a chance to play with the device.

03-19-2006, 05:53 PM	#35
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Teleread points to a video of the iLiad on a Dutch site: http://www.volkskrant.com/videoreportages/142#

03-19-2006, 06:53 PM	#36
Snappy! Addict Posts: 260 Karma: 4256 Join Date: Feb 2006 Device: SHARP Zaurus C1000	Some other folks at engadget are now getting into the iliad thingie ... http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/i...ader/#comments

03-19-2006, 09:30 PM	#39
pruss Evangelist Posts: 461 Karma: 819417 Join Date: Nov 2004	Does it have a decent search function with decent speed? (Minimally I need to search for multiple words all in one paragraph. I'd like to search at least about 15mb of uncompressed HTML per minute--I can do with Pluckerized versions of the HTML docs on my NX.)

03-20-2006, 08:22 AM	#41
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	In case Nick is still around... There was mention of a dictionary (english) in the review...I was wondering how that can be used. The Hanlin V2 apparently has a chinese-english dictionary, but you can't access it directly from inside a book. (it works like a normal book as far as I understood) The Iliad has a touchscreen, so it should be no problem to use "lookup" function like you have in mobipocket or MS-Reader on PocketPC. This is a very nice feature, my girlfriend is using it at the moment to freshen up her english...she's reading a Terry Pratchett Novel and can simply tap on any word she doen't know to get a translation instead of asking me every 2 minutes...very good for both of us... the question is: Does the Iliad's dictionary work that way?

03-20-2006, 04:58 PM	#42
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	some more information: http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/19/i...ader/#comments Comment #28...somebody says he was told the Iliad was going to retail for 540Euro...still very steep, but a lot better than those 650... Oh...i just asked my calculator...540Euro is almost exactly 650Dollar...so there could be some mix-up somewhere... I wish iRex would finally give us a clear answer on the pricing...

03-20-2006, 11:48 PM	#43
proee Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Colorado Springs Device: treo	Nick, my interested in this device is to have a nice ebook reader for technical datasheet such as those published for semiconductor parts (i.e. computer chips). Do you think the display is too small for reading schematics and diagrams without zooming? Also, I am VERY INTERESTED in the possiblity of using this as a digital sketch pad since I'm always thinking up new inventions and need to draw some quick diagrams/schematics/calculations. Do you think this device has the potential to be an "engineering notebook?" Also, can you give a description of all the menus that were available at the bottom of the screen. There looked to be a summation sign as one of the icons, what is this feature? Any additional information you can provide for engineering/inventor applications is apprehiated. BTW, this is my first post in mobileread!

03-21-2006, 11:55 AM	#44
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	There is some more hands-on information on the Iliad on teleread.org iRex seem to be letting quite a few people touch their device at the moment...quite a good idea I believe....but the touchscreen still does not work apparently..damn...:-)

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03-25-2006, 02:03 PM	#45
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4538 Branko Collins has psoted the first part of his "Review" so far there is nothing really new...but more will follow "after the weekend"