ASUS DR-900 e-reader hands-on
By Joanna Stern 
posted March 2nd 2010 4:02PM
posted March 2nd 2010 4:02PM
After weeks of hearing about the DR-900 (or DR-950) e-reader, you had to know that we'd sprint (okay, walk at a brisk pace) over to ASUS' booth to finally handle the touchscreen device in person. The 9-inch ebook reader was quite light in hand, and though we didn't have Amazon's Kindle DX with us, it appeared very comparable in size. As far as the reading experience goes, the preloaded text-based PDFs looked crisp on the 1024 x 768 display and as per usual the e-ink display took about a second or two to refresh. Unfortunately, here's where we tell you that the former touch experience was less than stellar -- we had to press quite hard to select the homescreen icons and light finger taps didn't register when we tried to type "engadget" into the address bar. We got the hang of having to press firmly, but we're happy there are the up and down arrows on the right edge for alternate navigation. Perhaps it will all be fixed up once it heads into production, though we don't have details on when that will be. What we do know is that there's a just lovely hands-on video for you after the break.
"Video not available".
I'm in Canada - am I just early?
@notfred I'm in Canada too and it's working. So probably early.
@GenericGeek thanks - works now. So used to crap like hulu imbeds....
I now have a mantra of everything I see in Engadget is susceptible to be sued by Apple.
Where's the southpaw love?
ereaders arent that cool anyway. i mean why get a seperate one with the size of the tablets they are making these days just read it on those. rediculous. i hate ereaders like this!
@emopoops Several reasons:
1. Battery life: I generally like to be able to read my book for more than a few hours before having to charge it. Most e-readers will last a few weeks of normal use with the wireless off.
2. Readability (aping the -ability from budwiser): I assume that many people, like me, get a headache or eye strain from trying to read from an LCD. eInk is much more "eye friendly."
3. Heat: This is a minor one on paper but I find it annoying when my "book" heats up in my hands or lap
4. Size: Tablets may be small, but they'll never be as portable as e-readers are, they are much larger in every dimension in order to accommodate the screen size and hardware necessary to run a full OS.
5. Boot time: My e-reader (a Kindle 2) is readable within a second of pushing the power switch.
6. Availability of books: Most of the e-readers on the market come with a 3g antenna whose service costs are included in the price, allowing you to buy books anywhere without having to pay the monthly service fee you would pay to get 3g on a tablet.
7. Weight: Even the lightest tablets are no where near as light as your average e-reader (for instance, the iPad is just shy of a pound heavier than the Kindle 2) which is very important when you talk about something you will be holding for long periods of time.
@Josh S I second your points. I would also add that a reader is much nicer when reading huge books. I often read 800+ page books which are quite a burden to hold and carry around (both the weight and the space it takes up in a bag). Having my Sony Daily Edition is much nicer.
Personally, I'm not a fan of touching touchscreens LOL. I can't stand smudges all over the viewing screen. I would hope this reader has a stylus option, otherwise its a deal killer for me. Same goes for any touch enabled tablet or computer...
@Josh S sorry, goood points. WHY isnt thereinternet and such on an ereader yet?
@emopoops
Actually, there is a basic internet browser on my Kindle 2, I'm not sure about other devices.
On a completely unrelated note, isn't the Tivo event today? I've been waiting for it, and can't seem to find what time it takes place, nor have you had a post mentioning it. I would have thought that it would've been early afternoon, and considering the event is in New York, it's already after 4pm.
It looks fabulous in static pictures. Unfortunately, getting there is half the fun. Right now, it just doesn't look fun. :-/
Might be good, but will definetly be too expensive
Remind me, this one should have enabled web browser?
Finally I might upgrade my Sony PRS 500.
Or should wait for the color e-paper (for reading comics). Decisions, decisions...
@fincan I would love to have a device for reading books AND for reading various blogs/digg/fark. flash/youtube/hulu would be a big, big bonus. It doesn't have to be able to run a nuclear reactor, but good battery life and medium graphics capabilities (switchable?) would be cool.
@whiskers PDF support is a must, of course. I could print with BullZip....
@fincan
I'm not convinced that color e-ink would be good for comic books. I've never personally used a color e-ink display, but all the ones I've seen online always seem really dark. For something as rich and detailed as a comic book, you'd probably want an old fashioned backlit display because it's just the only way you're going to clearly make out all the detail of the drawings.
Sort of want. Does it come with the typos? (text at bottom of screen in this and previous post's screenshots)
The reason why the touch screen is bothering you so much is because there's no visual feedback when you've clicked on something, so you need to wait a second to see if it worked or not.
On Sony's touchscreen readers, there's instant visual feedback when you click on a button or link (the button color-inverts while it's pressed down) so even if you have to press slightly harder than you would on a capacitive screen it's no big deal because you know exactly when the press has been registered.
Way too slow and low-contrast still. Asus managed to make a nice form factor but otherwise yet another "me too" device using crappy EPD.
I hope it's just a "market feeler" before they actually develop something good.
I CAN HAZ MIRASOL KTHX?!
Joann Stern-
its not E-Ink its AUO/Sipix which is slightly less DPI but is cheaper per display currently. You were holding a device with the first actual epaper display competitor to e-ink.