DR800 on BestBuy

[Shaggy]

It was mentioned in a post burried down in another thread, but I thought people would be interested and see it better if it had it's own thread.

The DR800SG-US is back up on BestBuy's website again. The price is $399.


Still doesn't look like they're taking orders on it yet, but it's a good sign that it's back on their website.

[Mr. Goodbar]

COOL

[Alex_muc]

Hello,

Do i have to sign a contract if i want to buy the device?

Is it possible to put a german UMTS Card in the DR and use 3G based features in germany?

thx

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Alex_muc

Hello,

Do i have to sign a contract if i want to buy the device?

No contract for the 3G service, if that's what you mean. Do you have to sign something saying that you're in the US? I don't know, I guess that's up to BestBuy.

Is it possible to put a german UMTS Card in the DR and use 3G based features in germany?

I don't know what a UMTS card is, but they've said that it doesn't support SIM cards (same thing?). I assume the 3G will not be supported outside of the US. They tried to negotiate with European carriers, but were not successful.

[Kolenka]

The big problem is that Verizon doesn't use SIM cards, and uses a different radio tech than most other carriers (built off of CDMA rather than GSM). Since there is no dual CDMA/GSM radio chipset that I'm aware of, there isn't much they can do other than offer another wireless model with a GSM radio chipset as well.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I don't know what a UMTS card is, but they've said that it doesn't support SIM cards (same thing?). I assume the 3G will not be supported outside of the US. They tried to negotiate with European carriers, but were not successful.

On the dr800sg manual, it does show a sim card slot in the battery compartment. In the US version, verizon is the carrier and thus the 3g radio will be configured for cdma and the sim slot is not used. To connect to a gsm carrier, one would need to re-configure the 3g radio for gsm and to enable the sim slot. The qualcomm gobi 3g radio in the dr800sg can support both cdma and gsm 3g.

Now if irex decides to switch from verizon to say at&t, they would just need to send out sim cards and a software update, unlike kindle users who had to buy a new device to get international coverage.

Of course, all of the above is in theory...

The dr800s manual doesn't show a sim slot. It would be interesting if the slot is still there or if the dr800s is really a physically different device from the dr800sg. We will need a teardown to see if the 3g radio module has been removed as well.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by badbob001

On the dr800sg manual, it does show a sim card slot in the battery compartment. In the US version, verizon is the carrier and thus the 3g radio will be configured for cdma and the sim slot is not used. To connect to a gsm carrier, one would need to re-configure the 3g radio for gsm and to enable the sim slot. The qualcomm gobi 3g radio in the dr800sg can support both cdma and gsm 3g.

Yes, officially they don't support use of the SIM slot. If you read the knowledge base article on their support site though, they seem to at least hint that it would be possible to put in a SIM card and get it to work with another carrier, but they are not "officially" supporting such a use and access to the ebook-mall, etc, may not be compatible.

I don't know if it would really work or not, but we'll likely have to get somebody else to try it and find out. It doesn't sound like iRex is going to give an official stance on it.

[nikkie]

Just when I had given up on it too...now I need to decide if I want to buy this *and* the iPad. Or just the iPad. Or just this.

The iPad is much closer to what I want out of a device in terms of functionality. The only thing the DR800SG really offers is less chance of eye fatigue.

What do you guys think?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by nikkie

Just when I had given up on it too...now I need to decide if I want to buy this *and* the iPad. Or just the iPad. Or just this.

The iPad is much closer to what I want out of a device in terms of functionality. The only thing the DR800SG really offers is less chance of eye fatigue.

What do you guys think?

If you want a media tablet, get the iPad or, even better, something that is a real computer (windows or Linux tablet). But really, you have a smartphone and you probably have a laptop. Why do you need this thing to do what you can do better on another device you already own? A reader can display text files better than anything you own now. It weighs less, it never gets hot, the battery lasts and lasts.

Don't get fooled by the $499.-. That is for 16GB, ridiculous for media. So you are looking at 599 - 799. Additionally you will have to exchange batteries often if you use it a lot for reading, which will cost you dearly. You can get a lot more computer for a lot less. This is just a huge PDA. And like the iphone, no background apps, no non-Apple approved apps. No flash video on the web!

[nikkie]

I have a laptop but would never ever read books on it. (It's a 13" Macbook.) Because of the keyboard I can't hold it in a manner such that I can have it close enough to my eyes to get the size font I want. Also, there aren't any good eReader apps that has an interface that's truly optimized for reading on a laptop screen - hint, I don't want to read black text on white ever on LED. Only grey text on black, and with the brightness turned way down. In general though, laptops just too ungainly to read on. It might work for others with a tiny netbook, but I'm not a fan of the protruding keyboard either way.

I've never regretted not having flash on the iPhone as there are tons of retarded games in the app store if I want them and I don't watch much flash video other than youtube, if at all. The lack of backgrounding really doesn't bother me. The tasks I would be using this device for don't lean well towards multi-tasking meanwhile, and to the extent it might be useful the push notifications are perfectly sufficient for IM, twitter, etc.

My iPhone is perfect for reading everything but technical books. If I bought either the iRex or iPad (or both), that is the hole those devices are meant to fit in for me.

I'm not worried about the battery problem. I never exchange batteries on my iPhone or ruin the battery, and have owned an iPod, iPod Touch, MacBook, and iPhone and so don't worry about battery performance degradation with Apple devices nearly as much as I did with the multiple Dell laptops I owned before.

As far as the space, for books it is irrelevant. For everything else, I will likely only sync my favorite items. So I'm not too worried about it.

Really, both devices fit the same market, with the iRex edging for screen technology and the iPad edging for operating system capabilities. I'll probably have to just use both and see what I end up utilizing more over a month or so.

[electrotype]

I don't see how the ipad can be a good device to read ebooks. It doesn't have an eInk screen or even a mate screen, it's a glossy one (if I'm correct).

Try to read outdoor with that!

[Mackx]

Originally Posted by nikkie

My iPhone is perfect for reading everything but technical books

Well for reading technical books (any more for technical A4/B4-sized magazines and papers) I think nothing beats the DR1000. The big screen allows you to read small prints and figures/diagrams without zooming. But offcourse this comes at a price. But you might want to add it to you 'short-list', seeing that your budgets includes Quote:"to buy this *and* the iPad".
Good luck making the 'right' choice.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by electrotype

I don't see how the ipad can be a good device to read ebooks. It doesn't have an eInk screen or even a mate screen, it's a glossy one (if I'm correct).

Try to read outdoor with that!

So does the iPod Touch, and lots of people read on that.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by HarryT

So does the iPod Touch, and lots of people read on that.

I read on my pda's for years before eink even existed. Palm's and pocket pc's with the old ipaq 4700 being about the best pda device for reading given it's large hi resolution display.

They are fine for casual reading for me and the kindle app on the iphone has been nice with it's syncing ability, but for extended reading I personally don't think anything currently available beats eink. But again, that depends on your needs. If you need color then eink is not going to cut it at this point in time. The same thing would go for extended battery life. If you need more than 8 hours away from a power socket then I don't think the ipad is going to cut it. I know they quote 10 hours, but we also know how optimistic vendors typically are with their quoted battery life.

[Mr. Goodbar]

It looks like it's now only going to be available online, at least according to the Best Buy site. Either that or it's just a temporary status since they don't yet have any in stock.