DR800 "page view continuous" mode disabled

[catharsis]

Gertjan, what about the academic user? How would this fit to the categories you mentioned? And the price? Would you think 500 EURO is for the f-ing average reader? (the US price I payed, about 350 Euro, might be)

I think iRex management/marketing just has a talent to annoy people by removing features that would make the DR800 easy to use and by announcing false deadlines. They want the DR800 to be as less functional as possible, so people would still buy the DR1000, despite the fact that DR1000 morally (and maybe technically) outdated and that DR800 has a price which other companies would target the premium user, not the average book reader (WHO WOULD BE HAPPY WITH A 6 INCH DEVICE WHICH IS ALSO CHEAPER, BTW, not to mention that there are 6 inch models on the market who have some features not present in the DR800). Also, what's with the deadlines? Announce the release of the DR800 for September (I think) and release it in January (or was it February)? Announce firmware for April and release a buggy version in freaking June?

Don't get me wrong, I love my DR800, but there are small things that irritate me, despite the fact that my overall impression is that it's a great device. But the iRex management and marketing is either formed of fresh graduates who have no freaking idea what they are doing or irresponsible bastards who deserve only to manage some company which does cheap iPhone or iPad rip-offs on a ship.

[CoolDragon]

Originally Posted by Gertjan

During the introduction of DR800, IREX make perfectly clear that this device would target a different user group (lets say the average book reader) than the DR1000 (business professional, power user). This obviously lead to design decisions including user interface and feature set.

We know some of you use the 8" device not only for book reading, and miss features the 10" device carries. Although you could have known they were not part of the product, you can still hope, I know. A few of them are brought back as an advanced option in 2.0 (folder view, scribble and zoom options in PDF), others may follow later.

Thank you! Gertjan, for such an honest answer!

I will have to say I feel really really sorry about IREX management and marketing. Such good devices since iLiad, to DR800, yet they simply don't know how to marketing and sell them. Wake up guys, I know you have been in this market even longer than Sony, look around the competitors! Granted, you still have a very competitive device, but good marketing and management are the ultimate solution for increasing revenue! Judging from the constant delay and mis-press release, I will say you have an unfortunate marketing and management team, bad PR, bad supply chain management, bad relationship with manufactures, bad marketing, bad develope management. The only good thing: a pretty good develope team, both hardware and software. The SDK decision is probably a good exception by the management.

Anyway, guys, now the decision for the user is easy. For people who haven't bought it, you have your choices ( a lot! ). For those who want to keep it and make it better, you can either wait (for the official improvement in the future), or do it by yourself. Never ever wish the management change their mind.

There is OpenInkpot for DR1000 http://openinkpot.org/wiki/Device/DR1000, should be easy to support DR800 (quite similar hardware). And we have TechPDF.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Gertjan

During the introduction of DR800, IREX make perfectly clear that this device would target a different user group (lets say the average book reader) than the DR1000 (business professional, power user). This obviously lead to design decisions including user interface and feature set.

From the IREX website:

Boasting an impressive 8.1 inch display, the IREX Digital Reader is loaded with a display that is almost twice as large as other electronic reader displays-ideal for graphic-rich books, newspapers, magazines and much more.

This doesn't sound like it's targeted at the average book reader, it sounds as though it's targeted at people who want to read newspapers, magazines and much, much more as well as average books.

Myself I am a book reader, but my book reading tends to be confined to academic books. These are not books that have a lot of diagrams and graphics, but they are often not in a standard paperback equivalent format. I expected that a reader that promises that it is ideal for newspapers, magazines and much, much more would have handled these better than it does.

But it is still probably better than anything else out there at the moment.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Gertjan

During the introduction of DR800, IREX make perfectly clear that this device would target a different user group (lets say the average book reader) than the DR1000 (business professional, power user). This obviously lead to design decisions including user interface and feature set.

We know some of you use the 8" device not only for book reading, and miss features the 10" device carries. Although you could have known they were not part of the product, you can still hope, I know. A few of them are brought back as an advanced option in 2.0 (folder view, scribble and zoom options in PDF), others may follow later.

Thank you, again, for your honesty. My impression from what has been said previously about panning and continuous mode is that iRex has already decided to add this to the DR800 in a future release. Can you confirm if that is correct?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by CoolDragon

One thing I haven't expected is that you don't even understand what the diff of both filesystem means.

I understood perfectly well what it meant, but it didn't prove anything that wasn't already obvious. The real question was "why". As I have been saying from the beginning, just ask them. They're usually pretty honest about saying why a feature is missing. I'm glad they came on here and gave us the answer, even if it wasn't the one some of us wanted to hear.

My impression is that (similar to the zoom feature), they have already decided to add it. Hopefully Gertjan can confirm that as well.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by CoolDragon

Never ever wish the management change their mind.

I agree with many of the things you said, except for this. They have already demonstrated several times that they are willing to listen to their customers and change their decisions. The zoom feature was a similar example of something that they originally wanted to keep exclusive to the DR1000, but due to many requests from us, decided to add it to the DR800. So far, it sounds like they are listening to us about the panning/continuous mode as well.

We may not like some of the original design decisions they had, but they are clearly listening to us and willing to change their minds. IMO, a company that is listening to it's users and willing to change the direction they have for a product is to be applauded. Good luck getting that level of interaction with some of the larger manufacturers.

[nsr]

if they see those post and willing to make change their mind, that's good to us.good to market, if they won't, i think i won't buy IREX ereader in the future

[repods]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

My impression is that (similar to the zoom feature), they have already decided to add it. Hopefully Gertjan can confirm that as well.

good.. let's hope so.. even considering that maybe in a few of days some user could show up with an hacked version of uds.. with full screen and continuous page mode enabled and detailed instructions to install it..

[AlpGlide]

Originally Posted by repods

good.. let's hope so.. even considering that maybe in a few of days some user could show up with an hacked version of uds.. with full screen and continuous page mode enabled and detailed instructions to install it..

is it legal to change a binary file?

[Turquoise]

IREX just filed for bankruptcy. Hence I am not expecting any new firmware. We have to learn how to live with the current firmware. Or may be brilliant hackers can come up with a robust and problem free firmware...

[JRG]

Originally Posted by Turquoise

IREX just filed for bankruptcy. Hence I am not expecting any new firmware. We have to learn how to live with the current firmware. Or may be brilliant hackers can come up with a robust and problem free firmware...

Not quite: They just filed for Chapter 11. A bankruptcy filing would be later, if at all, no?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by JRG

Not quite: They just filed for Chapter 11. A bankruptcy filing would be later, if at all, no?

There are several types of bankruptcy filings. Chapter 11 is just one of them, and not necessarily the end of the company. It basically means they're having financial problems and are trying to pay off debt. A Chapter 7 is the one that essentially liquidation of the company.

[JRG]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

There are several types of bankruptcy filings. Chapter 11 is just one of them, and not necessarily the end of the company. It basically means they're having financial problems and are trying to pay off debt. A Chapter 7 is the one that essentially liquidation of the company.

Thanks for the clarification. This line

"It is not clear yet whether iRex, inventor of eInk technology and one of the first producers of e-reading devices, will resume business later on, or that the company will file for bankruptcy."

from

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86396

seemed to suggest the a Chapter 11 filing was not a form of bankruptcy filing.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by JRG

Thanks for the clarification. This line

"It is not clear yet whether iRex, inventor of eInk technology and one of the first producers of e-reading devices, will resume business later on, or that the company will file for bankruptcy."

from

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86396

seemed to suggest the a Chapter 11 filing was not a form of bankruptcy filing.

Probably just a confusion of terminology. Technically, Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 are both forms of "bankruptcy". Most people think that "bankruptcy" means that the game is over though, which is usually the Chapter 7 version. Sometimes companies can file Chapter 11 and then recover.

[CoolDragon]

All right, it is officially called "Page Flow" in the dr1000's latest documentation. This is another menu within the zoom menu.

Whatever, I personally don't believe they will enable this in the dr800 in the near future. Enhancing TechPDF is a much more practical choice.