New iliad Book Edition

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Good to meet a fellow pilot... I assume you are grounded by the prices as I am (Still getting a license was a great experience and I hope to use it again someday... perhaps under sport pilot rules.)

We have three kids also, but first two were sons, so I had to have a daughter... I think if the second was a girl we would only have two kids... I still can't believe my eldest starts college next year.

BOb

Likewise. The sport pilot is interesting to me as well, although the airport I used to fly from has grown dramatically (primarily corporate) and has lost some of it's appeal. I need to find a nice grass strip somewhere!

[firekat]

No Vizplex? If not, it then it is not even worth the bother. Probably was a bunch of stock that was left over that they couldn't sell so they just re-treaded the basic looks & function to make sound new and exciting. Totally underwhelming.

[axel77]

Originally Posted by firekat

No Vizplex? If not, it then it is not even worth the bother. Probably was a bunch of stock that was left over that they couldn't sell so they just re-treaded the basic looks & function to make sound new and exciting. Totally underwhelming.

Well it was a price-drop, people asked for so much.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by firekat

No Vizplex? If not, it then it is not even worth the bother. Probably was a bunch of stock that was left over that they couldn't sell so they just re-treaded the basic looks & function to make sound new and exciting. Totally underwhelming.

There are no VizPlex 8" screens. iRex can't supply something that doesn't exist .

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by firekat

No Vizplex? If not, it then it is not even worth the bother. Probably was a bunch of stock that was left over that they couldn't sell so they just re-treaded the basic looks & function to make sound new and exciting. Totally underwhelming.

You seem to think there's a big difference between the current iLiad screen and a vizplex screen. The iLiad screen isn't really the same as other first generation eInk screens, they do a lot of custom work themselves on the display. I've seen technical specs comparing the iLiad and the vizplex, and there's not really that much difference. The vizplex is slightly brighter (a couple percentage points) and has a faster refresh rate, but the iLiad screen has a slightly better contrast. Both of them have the same 16 grey scales (first gen eInk only has 4).

What improvement do you think iRex would make switching to a vizplex screen on the iLiad? Just because it's the latest eInk buzz word?

[Mr. Goodbar]

My comments from another thread on a similar topic:

I have a prs505 and an iLiad v2 and about the only noticeable difference, other than more gray levels, is the faster refresh on the viziplex. The iLiad does seem to have better contrast, but that could also be related to different fonts etc showing more boldness.

I think my perfect ereader would be the iliad screen size and gray levels with the faster viziplex refresh rates, the sony thickness/thinness and the kindle wireless functions. I wonder how long I'll have to wait?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

You seem to think there's a big difference between the current iLiad screen and a vizplex screen. The iLiad screen isn't really the same as other first generation eInk screens, they do a lot of custom work themselves on the display. I've seen technical specs comparing the iLiad and the vizplex, and there's not really that much difference. The vizplex is slightly brighter (a couple percentage points) and has a faster refresh rate, but the iLiad screen has a slightly better contrast. Both of them have the same 16 grey scales (first gen eInk only has 4).

To be strictly accurate, VizPlex devices have either 4 or 8 grey-scales, depending on the controller being used (the Gen3 and Kindle have 4 grey-scales, the Sony has 8). There are no 16-grey-scale VizPlex devices on the market, to the best of my knowledge; the iLiad is alone in offering that.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

To be strictly accurate, VizPlex devices have either 4 or 8 grey-scales, depending on the controller being used (the Gen3 and Kindle have 4 grey-scales, the Sony has 8). There are no 16-grey-scale VizPlex devices on the market, to the best of my knowledge; the iLiad is alone in offering that.

Yep, my mistake. I thought I had read somewhere that vizplex was 16, but checking eInk's website just now shows 4 for the 1st gen screens and 8 for the vizplex. So you're right, the iLiad is the only one with 16. Sorry about that.

[firekat]

The only Vizplex screen that I have seen is on the latest & greatest Sony Reader. To my eyes a MAJOR difference than the iLiad screen. Faster refresh and less ghosting than what I have. Be it 4, 8, 16 bit, who cares, as long as what looks and works better. I don't know if the Vizplex screen is available in the size of what's on the iLiad. I can tell you that there are a lot of other devices planned out there that have large screens and will NOT be using old technology.

Too many times people get wrapped up in the specifications, when in reality sometimes the "lesser" specs does a better job. It's like digital cameras - a 10mp camera with a sensor the size of a pencil eraser will NEVER do as well as a 6mp sensor at the APS size.

I will admit that the 16 grey scale pulled me in. Reality is that since MOST of what it done on the iLiad is straight off black & white, you don't really need anything more than what the other readers have.

Just make the device work like it should. The current iLiad isn't 80 % of the initial design goals or stated specifications. Hey, I am still looking forward to being able to read a newspaper on it like it was initially marketed.

The biggest positives that I see about the iLiad are the screen size & the ability to handle PDF's better than the competition. Otherwise that is about it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by firekat

I don't know if the Vizplex screen is available in the size of what's on the iLiad.

It isn't.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by firekat

The only Vizplex screen that I have seen is on the latest & greatest Sony Reader. To my eyes a MAJOR difference than the iLiad screen. Faster refresh and less ghosting than what I have. Be it 4, 8, 16 bit, who cares, as long as what looks and works better. I don't know if the Vizplex screen is available in the size of what's on the iLiad. I can tell you that there are a lot of other devices planned out there that have large screens and will NOT be using old technology.

Too many times people get wrapped up in the specifications, when in reality sometimes the "lesser" specs does a better job. It's like digital cameras - a 10mp camera with a sensor the size of a pencil eraser will NEVER do as well as a 6mp sensor at the APS size.

I will admit that the 16 grey scale pulled me in. Reality is that since MOST of what it done on the iLiad is straight off black & white, you don't really need anything more than what the other readers have.

Just make the device work like it should. The current iLiad isn't 80 % of the initial design goals or stated specifications. Hey, I am still looking forward to being able to read a newspaper on it like it was initially marketed.

The biggest positives that I see about the iLiad are the screen size & the ability to handle PDF's better than the competition. Otherwise that is about it.

I would tend to agree that the iLiad is certainly not meeting many of the original goals. The software is just really behind the other devices and the hardware. I'm still amazed that we have a device claiming to be a "book" and you have to wait 50 seconds for it to boot. I don't see it gaining any widespread acceptance because of that simple fact.

Now, on the positives I still think the iLiad provides the best reading experience with the larger screen and the reading ergonomics, it is just severely constrained by the poor software. All just my opinion

[saniko]

I've got both the Sony 505 and the iLiad V2 and I can honestly say there is no difference in the screens. As far as the refresh times, if there is a difference, I haven't noticed it. I actually even prefer the refresh method of the iLiad over the Sony "inversion" thing.

The Sony absolutely kills the iLiad for having a suspend mode and battery life though. I never thought it would make that much of a difference, but it is huge. If the Sony could handle PDFs a little better, I wouldn't have ever considered the iLiad. Now that I have one though, I absolutely love taking notes on it.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by firekat

I don't know if the Vizplex screen is available in the size of what's on the iLiad.

E-Ink advertises an 8" 1024 x 768 Vizplex display (High Resolution Active Matrix Displays), but it is not being used by any (pre-)announced product and is not currently available even on $3,000 prototype kits. The 9.7" 1200 x 825 Vizplex display is similarly unavailable, but will be used in announced products from Hanlin and Astak/Netronix (and probably others).

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by firekat

The only Vizplex screen that I have seen is on the latest & greatest Sony Reader. To my eyes a MAJOR difference than the iLiad screen.

That's different than what other people are saying. Alot of it is subjective though.

Faster refresh and less ghosting than what I have.

Faster refresh is probably the biggest advantage that vizplex has right now. The difference is basically a 1 second refresh on the iLiad versus a 3/4 second refresh on vizplex.

I don't know if the Vizplex screen is available in the size of what's on the iLiad.

It isn't.

I can tell you that there are a lot of other devices planned out there that have large screens and will NOT be using old technology.

As you said yourself, old technology isn't bad just because it's old. Once there are devices with large screen sizes we'll have more to compare the iLiad with. Right now they're all either still in development or just marketing ads for future products.

Too many times people get wrapped up in the specifications...

True, but on the other hand putting things in quantitative terms makes for an easier discussion than using subjective ones. There's nothing wrong with comparing the screens based on their specs. In the end though, it's up to your eye to decide which looks better. People will always have differences of opinions when it comes to subjective comparisons. I was just trying to point out that the iLiad screen is a lot closer to vizplex than the other 1st generation eInk devices, at least according to the specs. I think too many times people get wrapped up in the latest and greatest technology just because it's new. Everybody seems to be jumping on the vizplex bandwagon lately, when most people (with some exceptions) who've seen them side by side say there's not a lot of difference compared to the current iLiad display.

The biggest positives that I see about the iLiad are the screen size & the ability to handle PDF's better than the competition. Otherwise that is about it.

I definitely agree there. IMO, the main reason to get an iLiad (at least as far as ebook reading goes) is the larger screen size. If that's not important to you, then it's probably a better idea to save some money and get one of the other cheaper/smaller devices.

The other big reason is the note taking. That's not a feature I use much, but a lot of iLiad users have said they chose it because of the writing ability.

[orcinus]

I think a lot of "subjectivity" and differences in opinion come from comparing V1 and VizPlex screens of hugely different ages and under very different conditions.

For example, my brand new iLiad makes the PRS-500's screen look like utter cr*p next to it, but that's because my Reader is (over) a year old.

My colleague from work has a (fresh) PRS-505, so i'll try to get him to bring it to work and do some comparison shots side by side. I think lifting the white and black point values in Photoshop should provide a pretty accurate measure of contrast and brightness...