Irex officially unveils new wireless e-book reader

Back in August we wrote about the impending arrival of a new, touch-screen, wireless-enabled e-reader from Irex, and now the company has officially unveiled the product, the DR800SG, which boasts a 8.1-inch screen and costs $399.

While Sprint provides the Amazon Kindle's wireless service, the Irex e-reader will use Verizon for its 3G wireless connectivity. As with the Kindle, the "free" wireless plan offers unlimited e-book and periodical downloads and is included in the price of the DR800SG.

Irex DR800SD digital e-book reader

Irex reps previously said that they would be pairing their new e-reader with a large e-book retailer, and not surprisingly, the DR800SG has a tie-in with Barnes & Noble's e-bookstore. For newspaper and other periodicals, Irex continues an already established partnership with NewspaperDirect, which serves up "1,140 newspapers from 87 countries in 41 languages in their original layout."

Just as importantly, Irex has brokered a deal with Best Buy to sell the DR800SG in Best Buy stores nationwide. According to the New Times, this week "Best Buy is training thousands of its employees in how to talk about and demonstrate devices like the Sony Reader and Irex, and adding a new area to its 1,048 stores to showcase the devices."

Here are the DR800SG's highlights:

• 8.1-inch display (uses E-ink technology)
• $399
• 3G wireless connectivity (Verizon)
• Touch screen with stylus navigation
• 2GB built-in memory (1500 e-books)
• Formats supported: Adobe PDF, EPUB, Newspaper Direct, Fictionwise, eReader, TXT
• user-replaceable battery
• leather cover included
• Content available through Barnes & Noble's e-book store, Newspapers Direct, LibreDigital
• While there's no note-taking capability at launch, Irex says it will add that feature via a free firmware upgrade in the near future
• Available: End of October

One of the key things to note about the device is that it doesn't use the same touch screen as the Sony Reader PRS-600. That model is designed to be used with your finger as well as a stylus, but this touch screen only works with a stylus. The decision to go with this type of touch screen is due to the glare and contrast issues that have plagued Sony touch displays (an extra layer of glass has to be added to finger-based touch screens, which results in increased glare and reduced contrast).

Until now, Irex, a spinoff of Philips and one of the early e-reader pioneers (you remember the iLiad, right?), has mainly offered more business-oriented readers that are rather pricey and sold primarily to European customers.

At this point, it's unclear what the optimal display size will be for e-readers, but some people do want screens larger than 6 inches. However, a lot of people think the Kindle DX, which sports a 9.7-inch screen, is too large. So 8.1 inches may be the happy medium.

Sony, too, will soon begin selling a larger format e-reader, the 7-inch Reader Daily Edition (also $399), so things are heating up in the e-book reader space. In its write-up of the DR800SG, The New York Times cited market research firm iSuppli in saying that more than 5.2 million e-readers will be sold this year worldwide. Perhaps so, but the price of e-readers needs to come down significantly for these devices to move beyond niche status.

Comments?

[jazzedmurf]

I would love to have an e-book reader. The thought of carrying around a light-weight collection of thousands of readable titles is very appealing, especially as a college student. Two things that would make such a niche device a must-have would be for 1) A MUCH lower cost; and 2) The ability to write notes and documents with a stylus. Having the latter ability would allow for me to save paper, leave my laptop at home, be more energy efficient, and to lessen my load. Meet this requirement and be offered at $150-$200, and I believe we have a deal.

[panchito99]

i have sony's ebook reader & love it - yes, it's pricy, but you can make notes and embed them in your books

[lalittp]

This reader looks impressive, I am looking for reader around 8-inch screen size, 6-inch is small for most of PDFs. Any idea about formats supported on this device?

[dcarnoy]

Post has been updated with formats. PDF, EPUB, and txt...

[singhtjunior]

Is there dictionary support in this eBook reader? Can user install/select the flavor of dictionary? How about Read-to-Me capability?

[megdoot500]

the ergonomics is awesome while the resolution is optimal...........
palm pilots go for under 200 dollars and have blue tooth and 801 connectivity support...

tele-promters and far-sighted readers have similar applications but the uality makes all the difference.....

brail readers are likely to gain some ground from this market segment.............

salil

[muppetzinspace]

Personaly, I'm already sold on the Sony Reader Daily Edition, if I ever have enough money to buy it! The fact the device itself costs $400, and then to read anything you have to buy the content/subscriptions to download makes little sense when reading normal books is considerably less expensive. Atleast with the Daily Edition (which is also wireless) you have the option of downloading e-books and periodicals for free with the Library Finder application or from public domain from such sites as Google Books. So far I haven't seen any other portable e-reader that does this.

[30127cnet]

Black and white... black and white... ARGH. Do they not have COLOR screens yet? What is the point of having a "photos" icon if your photos won't display in COLOR?? I could understand having a cheap e-reader for newspaper reads, as I don't expect nice color glossy pics for that purpose, but with these you are supposed to be able to download magazines and store/view personal photos on them as well. For that, you must have a color screen or it's simply not worth the price (unless you're going to sell it for under $100.00).

Sorry - no color, no wallet coming out of my pocket.

[pcraine]

I've never read a book that was printed with anything but black text on white paper. Color is unnecessary on a device with a small screen primarily designed to display books.

[drujivore]

The point of e-ink is that it holds still. It does not refresh. Nor does iIt does not have a flickering backlight. Therefore you can look at it without eyestrain, mental disruption, or emotional irritation, just like with paper and ink, but unlike any other kind of electronic display technology.

Stillness is the defining characteristic and central value of e-ink. Other functions of an e-ink device, while important, are secondary. The longer you look at it, the more you will _feel_ the difference between it and liquid crystal displays. In the meantime, you are being slowly driven crazy by flickering displays. $200-$400 is CHEAP for nearly anyone who reads much electronic text. The increase in productivity due to increased eye health, mental continuity, and emotional stability will more than pay for the device.

[aragorn888]

How long before someone observes that book readers aren't needed since they do nothing that an iPhone can't do better - like you could read the books in the dark AND talk on the phone at the same time :)))))))))))))

[30127cnet]

Well sure, an iPod can do it - if you don't mind reading a magazine on a 4-inch screen, have the battery run out after two hours of use, and possibly overheat and explode in your hand. cough cough. :-P

Leave it to a fanboy (or girl) to think the iphone does everthing better. The point is that e-readers have screens that are larger than an iphone plus the text is easier to read. And how is it exactly that an iphone does it better???????

[hypermark]

This stuff is interesting, but my thesis is that whereas Kindle and iRex seem to be predicated on the construct of the book as less than the current experience (i.e., mostly text), the industry is headed for a full-blown re-boot that takes advantage of interactivity, touch/tilt, social engagement, movies, pictures, animation and sound, a topic that I expound upon in:

Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time)
http://bit.ly/zOoEu

Check it out, if interested.

Mark

[photog_7]

Mark,
If Apple does a tablet, it will no doubt have a shiny screen. Right off the bat, that would make it an inferior reader, in my opinion. I have yet to see a tablet with a matte, anti-glare screen.

Books are for reading (ie, text). I understand that the "book" has gone through many changes throughout history but, sorry, adding "a full-blown re-boot that takes advantage of interactivity, touch/tilt, social engagement, movies, pictures, animation and sound" would not be a "change" it would be something entirely different (and that's ok). The point is, it would no longer be a book!!!! If you want to "watch" and "hear" a book I suggest you just turn on HBO!!

[tsinger254]

Is there a memory card slot? That would make a huge difference for me.

[wesisw_]

Yes. There's no internal storage for content, so it has an SD card slot (and comes with a 2 GB card).

[Farthing Haypenny]

Just what the world needs, another limited device to haul around that serves primarily as a means of selling you stuff. I'd rather have a net book for for much more capability, and not be locked into someone's store.

[orbit55]

After owning a Kindle for nearly two years, I still love it but I've decided that onboard storage is overrated. No need to keep on it novels I've read eight months ago, and they clutter up the directory listing. I keep a few reference books and the next few books I plan to read. Past books I keep backed up on my PC, from which I can download to the Kindle any time I want.

[QA_Tester]

I want all of my media in one place. Something like this would be more compelling: http://www.archos.com/products/imt/archos_5it/index.html?country=us&lang=en

Considering what Google is trying to do with eBooks I would not be surprised if the Reader would be added to the mix 9if they are not there yet). Specs look OK, but I'd like to see a something similar with following changes/additions:
7 inch screen
Docking station that allows following;
DVR functionality,
Use a keyboard,
Burn optical disks,
Multiple USB Ports
LAN port
Plug-in external speakers
Built in FM tuner
Full size SD slot
CF slot
HiDef video and audio recording
High speed dual core ARM procesor
Ability to hook up IM Cam and microphone
Ability to behave like VOIP videophone
User replaceable high capacity battery
etc

I am sure that the list can get a lot longer, but let me get away from this and go back to my original premise. I want one device to manage all of my media including eBooks. And this device almost fits the bill except for reading books part.

[zagato27]

How about compatibility???? Is this like the Sony, and just PC compatible? How bout Mac's?

[mightymini]

The sony reader is mac compatible with the latest ebook library.

[panchito99]

The Sony is mac compatible now - I link mine to my macbook pro

[GeoffreyDC]

Finally a device that will read the eReader books I've been buying for years. This might just be one I can buy.

[Ken Jr.]

E-reader competition is about to get ugly. Some, I think, will fall by the wayside by the end of 2010. In December we'll see a dual screen reader with a 6" e-ink screen on top for reading and a 3 1/2" LCD with Google Android for web browsing at the bottom, and there will be interactivity between screens (e.g. a NY Times article on the LCD can be sent to the 6" screen with a push of a button). Then by February there's one coming out with an Irex like folder but it has a 10" e-reader screen on the inside left cover and a 10" Google Android LCD netbook screen on the inside right cover .. and these screens also interact (e.g. highlight something on the e-book screen and the netbook part will search and display related content).

I was notoriously an early adapter when I bought my Kindle 1, but if I don't drop, right now, that notoriety I'll be dead broke within the year. As soon as I buy one of these latest e-readers, within months someone will be announcing a full color e-ink reader. There's just no keeping up any more.

[rasqual78]

Any discussion of e-readers is useless to anyone I know unless their ability to present blogs is mentioned.

If this ability is not present, the device is useless. To everyone I know.

[pravdaddy]

That's right. Everything device and every app is always defined by and rejected because of the one thing that it cannot do.