Iliad vs Sony 700

I have recently examined the Sony 700 and found to my dismay that its touch-screen, which is "anti-glare", blurs the text and actually makes the glare worse. The only other device I could consider with a touch-screen is the Iliad. But since Irex doesn't seem to have any presence in retail stores it is impossible for me, or anyone else, to examine their products in person prior to purchase.

I am hoping someone here who owns the Iliad 2nd ed. would comment about the clarity of the screen, if it uses an anti-glare, matte finish like the Sony or any other concerns for potential buyers?

Thanks.

[bazmi]

i have both iliad BE and sony PRS700 and the screen of iliad is so much better. iliad doesnt have a touchscreen like sony but a wacom tablet and it goes below the screen so there is no distortion of the screen. downside is that you can only use the wacom pen to select.

Originally Posted by bazmi

i have both iliad BE and sony PRS700 and the screen of iliad is so much better. iliad doesnt have a touchscreen like sony but a wacom tablet and it goes below the screen so there is no distortion of the screen. downside is that you can only use the wacom pen to select.

Am I understanding you correctly in that screen interaction is not done on the screen itself but on a separate tablet?

[DesiLinguist]

I just bought an iLiad Book Edition (identical to v2 but without the wifi). The wacom table is placed above the screen itself and is not a separate component. Bazmi was just saying that you cannot use your finger to interact with the screen, you need the pen/stylus that's included in the device. Of course, you can just use the buttons to move the cursor around as well. There are a bunch of videos of the iLiad here on the wiki. I would recommend looking at those to get an exact idea of how the device interaction works.

[Sonist]

The PRS-700 has a better UI, but the screen on the iLiad is obviously bigger and considerably clearer.

[RufusA]

Originally Posted by bazmi

i have both iliad BE and sony PRS700.

Hi bazmi, hope you don't mind me gate crashing the thread, but you seem to be the envious position of having / using both!

Obviously the BE has the better screen, but how do the two readers compare in day to day use.

In particular I'm thinking speed, user interface, rendering of PDFs, searching for stuff, annotating documents (and getting those annotations off again in a usable format) etc.

Knowing what you know now, which reader would you buy if you could only afford one?

Many thanks - Rufus.

[dopolo]

Tks,I wanna buy a iliad then.

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by dopolo

Tks,I wanna buy a iliad then.

iLiad is an obsolete device.
It belongs to a long gone age, and it's an unfinished product.

IMHO, it's not worth its price like it was 2 years ago.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by akira28

Am I understanding you correctly in that screen interaction is not done on the screen itself but on a separate tablet?

No, he's just saying that the iLiad's screen is made up of a stack of several layers together (one on top of the other). It's touchscreen layer is underneath the eInk layer, so it doesn't interfere with the readability of the document. There's only one "screen".

I've heard a lot of complaints about the 700's screen. It seems to be the worst of the recent eInk devices as far as clarity and contrast. Most people say it's because of extra layers that are on top of the eInk, as opposed to underneath the eInk like the iLiad does.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by RufusA

Hi bazmi, hope you don't mind me gate crashing the thread, but you seem to be the envious position of having / using both!

Obviously the BE has the better screen, but how do the two readers compare in day to day use.

In particular I'm thinking speed, user interface, rendering of PDFs, searching for stuff, annotating documents (and getting those annotations off again in a usable format) etc.

Knowing what you know now, which reader would you buy if you could only afford one?

Many thanks - Rufus.

From a use standpoint the Sony is way ahead in most areas. It's much, much faster, has search, supports newer formats, much better battery life, instant on etc. From purely a screen standpoint the iLiad is by far better. It's brighter and much sharper. If you never used the iLiad you would probably be fine with the 700, but if you compare the two you would probably never be comfortable reading on the 700.

[bazmi]

hi Rufus,

Originally Posted by RufusA

Obviously the BE has the better screen, but how do the two readers compare in day to day use.

In particular I'm thinking speed, user interface, rendering of PDFs, searching for stuff, annotating documents (and getting those annotations off again in a usable format) etc.

when it comes to reading books, the user interface and responsiveness of sony is certainly much better - you can view the books in different ways, easier to find books, search function is better, turning pages is very intuitive, faster and reliable. in short you can make out the the device is designed by people who know consumer market.

i have about 800 books and looking for them is not easy on iliad and extremely difficult for someone to just browse the list of titles, authors etc etc

note taking however is not a strong point on sony reader. it is there but not a great thing.

the iliad would be my preference for reading pdf, annotating it, saving it etc. although merging it is not a painless task. you need a windows based machine connected to it.

where iliad really shines is its note taking application (relative to other epaper devices). really good. almost seems like that it came from a different planet than the rest of iliad software ;-)

when it comes to battery life, sony beats iliad by miles. i have read elsewhere in these forums that you can setup sony where its battery life is comparable to iliad but i can only say that for the normal use (including reading with LEDs on in taxis/trains/buses), you get at least 3000 pages or so on sony. maybe 1000 on iliad.

Knowing what you know now, which reader would you buy if you could only afford one?

the primary advantage of e-paper devices is still book reading for me. for annotation etc, a tablet pc is still far more powerful and although epaper devices have more potential for that, it is early. pdf engines on all are excruciatingly slow for all but the most trivial pdfs (compared to what you can get on laptops). so a decent pdf engine is certainly needed. what gives me hope is that in the last couple of days, a port of xournal has appeared for dr1000s. once apps like that get stable then epaper devices would be more useable for annotating and note taking.

therefore if i could buy only one, i would go for sony.

but iliad is more fun at other times because it is hackable!!!!

hope this helps. good luck!

[RufusA]

Many thanks for all the detailed responses.

By the sounds of it the PRS-700 would meet my needs best for now, and would be a more usable device out of the box. If I hate the screen I can always return it.

The problem with the iRex devices is that they are hackable, and based on past experience of small hackable linux devices (NSLU2) I'll spend all my time tinkering with it, and little time actually using it!

Thanks again - I'll go and haunt the PRS-700 forums now!

Rufus.

Some nice comments here. Thank you. One other thing does concern me. iRex marketing. It seems to me that iRex might get buried by the larger companies: Sony and Amazon. It just doesn't seem that competitive with this technology which I see leading to stagnation in development and lack of support.

Originally Posted by Format C:

iLiad is an obsolete device.
It belongs to a long gone age, and it's an unfinished product.

IMHO, it's not worth its price like it was 2 years ago.

Format C,

It does seem that the iRex is priced higher than it competitors. But I am trying to determine if the larger screen size and the inclusion of the Wacom Tablet are worth the extra cost. Can you clarify what you think is unfinished on the iRex?

[bazmi]

i think that irex iliad, as a consumer device, has the following things not well done (you could say they are unfinished):

1. battery life is quite poor - mainly because of power management - no suspend mode etc.
2. library management is poor. takes forever to browse thru the library.
3. some design issues just suck - to charge the device, you have to attach the ugly ethernet adaptor. also charging is with a 12vdc unit which means no usb charging is possible. this means that i have to carry two more items in my bag when i travel.
4. doesnt come with any cover - one of the most elegant features of sony is the absolute marvel of a cover - with the device hinged on it to make it feel like a book.
5. no support for sdhc cards - these days, any device which supports mmc cards only can only be termed obsolete.

the great innovation of irex is to integrate the wacom tablet and also the screens on their devices are much better. is it worth it even with all the problems? i think so because a lot of the issues will get addressed in future releases of software.

i read somewhere that irex are the suppliers of screens to other (sony, amazon?) manufacturers and if so, i guess they will stay a step ahead of the rest.

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by akira28

Format C,

It does seem that the iRex is priced higher than it competitors. But I am trying to determine if the larger screen size and the inclusion of the Wacom Tablet are worth the extra cost. Can you clarify what you think is unfinished on the iRex?

I was waiting, with both a V1 and a V2 in hand, for the promised "new formats" and "MP3 support", and the other "future feautres" adevrtised on the iLiad box, when iRex said: "welcome to the new 800€ device: from now on, no more iLiad updates"

So, it's unfinished (the software sucks and looks like an Alpha). And, while it was reasonabily priced back in 2006, it's way too expensive now.