Get ready to add another big time e-reader partnership to the list: iRex is set to announce later today a deal that will bring its latest DR800SG E-Ink slab to Best Buy with unlimited Verizon 3G data on board. The $399 e-reader with 8.1-inch touchscreen
arrives as rumored with the ability to wirelessly download digital books from Barnes & Noble's e-bookstore in addition to over 1,100 newspapers from Newspapers Direct -- it'll also handle any books downloadable in the
ePub format. The 3G goodness comes via a Gobi radio from Qualcomm -- right, that means HSDPA data too, allowing owners to download data while traveling abroad. Take
that Kindle. The DR800SG is expected to arrive in US Best Buy stores next month. We'll be going hands-on with it later today where we'll have plenty of pics and the full suite of specs.
Update: iRex has dropped a picture onto its
home page. Is that stylus to scale?
[Thanks, Tom]
posted September 23rd 2009 1:26AM
Well that would explain the new Gadgets & e-Readers section in Best Buy.
I picked up my Sony Reader PRS 300 yesterday at BB. They had none of them on the stand, but it was up by the registers in a metal cage. lol. Anyway I love it and I think it's all anyone needs, especially at 200$. With Callibre it becomes an amazing device. Finally the ebooks I've gathered have a home.
About B&N's device up above, well I bought the Gathering Storm prologue off of B&N and can't use it with my Sony Reader (wasn't expecting too). What I did expect was the ability to crack that format. I couldn't. So what did I do? Downloaded the book off a torrent instead in .pdf format. There are also even easier ways to get my hands on ebooks.
You get it Amazon, B&N, Publishers? If you don't provide it in formats I can use (make a wise choice and choose the standard .epub that everyone should support) on whatever the hell I want to use it on, I will simply get it in other less legal ways. So be smart. It's not too late to get off the RIAA route.
Cool. This will be the one to beat--until the Plastic Logic device comes out. Can't imagine anyone buying a Kindle DX as opposed to either of those two...
R.I.P. Kindle 200? - 2009
Well, this will finally show the Kindle for the ugly brick it is.
The king is dead; long live the king.
Yeah, but is Verizon going to give you service for free like Sprint does with Whispernet, or are they going to charge you for it? Being that Verizon is much more expensive than Sprint, I'd think they'd try to charge for it.
with that -- if verizon will provide that connection with a one time purchase price, why can't they do the same with other data connections?
Very likely, like the Kindle, the seller of the device and service (B&N) eats the cost of the wireless service through their contract with the wireless provider. Sprint DOES NOT provide the service "for free." It may appear to be free to the consumer, but that's because Amazon pays Sprint for the service. They then in turn hope to make it up plus some with purchases off their store.
"with that -- if verizon will provide that connection with a one time purchase price, why can't they do the same with other data connections?"
Talk about pipe dreams not based anywhere near reality.
Even if the device allowed web browsing, it would utilize less data traffic BY FAR than a modem attached to a computer or even a smartphone. Cellular data modems are not meant to be used as a primary internet connection, but as a temporary on-the-go type of service. Network maintenance and upgrades cost money constantly, not to mention the salaries of all the people it takes to perform the work. That cost gets shouldered in one of two ways: by either the many or the few.
In the case of the eReaders, it's shouldered by the few, namely, the companies selling the device and content.
In the case of 3G data modems and smartphones, it's shouldered by the many, namely the consumers who utilize the service.
In the case of the former, the cost is normally large payments as part of a corporate contract.
In the case of the latter, the cost is normally (relatively) small payments as part of a consumer contract.
Another soon to be abandoned e-reader on the dustbin of ebook history.
@Joe H
From the NYT article:
"Its new consumer product offers some techie features that rivals do not. It contains a 3G Gobi radio from Qualcomm, the wireless component manufacturer, which will allow iRex owners to buy books wirelessly when they travel abroad. By contrast, the wireless modem in the Kindle works only on Sprint’s network in the United States. As with the Kindle, the price of the iRex includes unlimited wireless access."
Why does everyone forget sony's offerings? I hear kindle this, kindle that. Hell I havent even seen a kindle yet its the only ebook reader anyone ever remembers.
But competition is good, will be interested to see this one. Global 3G is good, but I dont see any other features that set it apart.
The Kindle is the only ebook reader I've seen in the wild, not that I look too hard. But I take public transportation to work every morning and, on the specific trains I take, I've seen maybe four or five people with Kindles, add one on to that number as I'm a Kindle owner too.
That aside, I'm glad to see competition ramping up on the reader front.
I love that eBook readers are coming out with fancy new features, but how about a plain vanilla reader for those of us who want to dip our toes in the water but are on a budget? No wifi, no 3G, no touchscreen, just a simple eBook reader, for under $200. My main interest in one is to use when I'm traveling, when you can't access 3G anyway and wifi may be hard to come by. And oh yeah, good PDF support would be useful.
I picked up my Sony eBook at Best Buy for $199.99 (I know, BB is for newbs, but the price was the same online and then I would have had to wait 3 days for shipping). It has no WiFi, no 3g, and natively supports PDFs extremely well, just hook up to USB and import your books or you can add them through a file explorer. It also supports ePub, so you can grab 1,000,000 Google digital books.
Overall, after reading 15 or so free books, it's paid for itself.
like Draaaainage! suggested, pick up a used sony prs 500/505 reader. those can be had for about $150~200 on ebay. They have no fancy features besides being able to read books (and that's really all you want in a device that's meant to read books)
Wise Tonicboy is Wise.
Seriously, I can take the time to plug in an ebook to my computer (gasp!), and transfer files directly to said ebook, if it'll lower the price point to something not so ridiculous.
What a crap, for this price tag I prefer a netbook.
What's missing is a plain vanilla and simple ebook reader like this - old ideas from 2007: http://www.olpcnews.com/content/ebooks/the_lightbook_ebook_reader.html
I wonder whether they finally managed to design this thing in a way such that they can support suspend/hibernate (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8372). Just so one can get more than 8-10 hours battery life.
If battery life is 8-10 hours, that's a real deal-breaker! I assume it handles PDFs?
Can someone explain to me why in the world none of the eReaders include a browser? I'm fully aware of the fact that eInk technology doesn't lend itself to fast-changing content (e.g. videos or even an oft-refreshed web page), but there are millions of static web pages out there that could be surfed with such a device.
My wife and I are into new technology - we used to while our nights away surfing the web via our laptops (yes, we've been married for awhile, so that's what we do instead of watching the idiot box (aka TV). For the past year, we've set aside the laptops and are now surfing using our iphones. But as good as the iphone is as an instant-on web browser, the screen is just too small - we constantly move around within web pages to read their content. I recently started downloading a couple sample books from Amazon and reading them on the iphone's Kindle app. That is pretty pleasant (so, since I'm not an avid book reader, a $400 eReader doesn't provide enough "value" by simply showing me a few more lines per page).
So, for my wife and I *instant on* and browsing the web & reading online news magazines would be the most important draw. We would both happily plop down $400 for en e-Reader IFF it had a decent browser on it.
Re: browsing on a reader -
Even browsing a static web page - scrolling makes your 'view' of the page change, which requires screen updates. The Sony reader batteries last about 7500 page changes, so how quickly would that be used up by scrolling through web pages?
Like the Kindle, Barnes and Noble uses a proprietary DRM solution. So once you've bought books from them, you're stuck with their devices forever. This is the biggest problem I see with the Kindle as well. Personally, I like Amazon, but I don't want to be married to them. Sony apparently will sell books in the ePub format - which is supported by the iRex. I don't think the Kindle can read ePub documents.
I just want the option to change my mind later and still be able to migrate my already purchased books to any new device I desire. Apparently, vendors prefer to lock you in.
While you are right, the upside is that B&N is using eReader as their base. So right off the bat you now have access to the same content on this reader, Windows, Mac, WinMo, Blackberry, S60, iPhone.
That's a hell of lot better than the 2 options you get with Amazon (Kindle/iPhone).
Almost all the ebook sellers use some form of proprietary DRM, not just Amazon and B&N. Will Sony's DRM'd ePub be readable on the IRex? Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it.
I like to see side by side comparison with the sony daily reader. Size, format support, battery life. Those are the 3 main ones. Don't care too much about being online if battery is poor. Notes, and dictionary and maybe a few utility is a plus.
Can anyone tell me if the DR800SG wireless service will enable complete web browsing, as is offered for free on the Kindle? Or will it only link to the store and newspaper service?
touch screen quality, format support and battery life. these are the only factors im concerned with. who needs unstable 3g when you have wifi hotspots everywhere?
Was gonna pull the trigger on a K2 this week, now I have to wait...