May 15, 2007 at 02:48Impressions of the owner of all E-ink devices. Now you can read Habr on E-ink.
It so happened that the author of these lines became the proud owner of all available devices for reading books with monitors such as E-ink and not only. But the reason for a small report and great enthusiasm was the recently appeared opportunity to subscribe and read RSS in Russian in the largest and probably most convenient of them Irex Iliadhttp://irextechnologies.com Of course, you can read RSS with Sony Reader www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/itpd/reader, but so far, alas, only in English and only from the list of Sony’s e-bookstore.
The first e-paper reader in my collection was the LBook www.lbook.com.ua . As it turned out, a very nice device with its undeniable advantages, still not available to competitors. Actually, there should not be any differences in the Lbook screen itself and competitors using the same screen type, but it turned out to be not so simple.
The first and most pleasant feature of Lbook is its low power consumption and the ability to read Russian texts in 1251 coding without any problems, made from any material using the simple Save as txt function. As my Lbook filled up with books, I realized that its significant advantage over the same Sony Reader is its clear folder structure, which can only be created in three levels (for example, 1. Fantasy, 2. Stanislav Lem 3. “Solaris”), which, in all likelihood, is connected with the type of device file system used, but this turned out to be quite enough to conveniently use a library of almost 5 thousand books. That is how much can fit in plain text format on an SD 2Gb memory card, the maximum possible for using Lbook. Larger cards are not supported by the device.
Another thing Sony Reader is more white “paper” (as it later turned out not to be much, just optical illusion due to the black color of the device itself), it supports cards without volume limitations, in any case MS DUO 4Gb for sure, but it has an extremely inconvenient interface for storage of large libraries, does not support the structure of folders and with a memory card eats up its battery approximately five times faster. The promised 10 thousand pages should not be expected, this should not happen, and God forbid to distort 2000 pages with scarta and if they are in its native lrf format. If you read the PDF files, then there will be no battery charge, and even more likely, no patience to wait for when he turns the page will not be enough to the 200th page.
However, after a month of active use of the Reader, I developed the habit of not using a memory card, the internal space is enough for more than a hundred books, and you can navigate by the author in alphabetical order, or by distributing books on the shelves using the native software that comes with the kit. What is nice is that Sony, after registering the device on the company’s website, donated $ 50, which can be spent on buying books in English. There are even comics and manga that are not poorly designed and are quite readable for review. There is also the opportunity, as mentioned earlier, to use the aggregator built into the RSS program, it is a pity that only in English and only from the list offered by Connect Reader. However, among the RSS feeds I found there are many interesting things, especially the HI_TECH news first hand.
But it was IRex Iliad that pleased me most of all; its screen was produced not by PVI in its Chinese factory, like by its two predecessors, but by another completely Japanese company, which is only known that it is located in the city of Kobe (Japan). Ilad, which not only has the largest screen of all the monitored devices, is already 8 inches in diagonal with a resolution of 1024 * 768, but from the first of May it began to support * .prc files and is integrated into www.mobipocket.com. For many, this service with a free book reader for many devices, including smartphones, has long been familiar. For example, I have been using it for a long time to prepare and read e-books on my Sony-Ericson M600i smartphone, but perhaps this convenience in reading electronic news from the Internet does not provide any of the solutions in electronic ink. Firstly, there are no problems with reading Russian-language news, and secondly, you don’t even need to look for them - the program interface provides for adding RSS from a list in Russian, as well as adding your own fields. All images are also imported into the Iliad and are clearly embedded. By the way, Habrahabr is also on the list of RSS feeds. Now your eyes will thank you if you have to read a lot on the Internet or use a large number of PDF files.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the Iliad has not yet exhausted all its possibilities. For example, I found people who had already ported an Internet browser and an email client to the device, wrote a number of games, of which the game of chess seems to me the most successful. Craftsmen screwed a regular USB keyboard and use the device as a typewriter. Yes, in addition, the device has input with a stylus and a touchscreen. The presence of a network card and Wi-Fi on board suggests a much wider use of the device.
The manufacturer company recently hosted an SDK on its website that works great for example on Ubuntu, and you can come up with a lot more for this device if you know Linux and are friends with it. The only obstacle to its rapid distribution in Russia is price. On the manufacturer’s website for buyers from countries outside the EU its price is $ 699, shipping is another $ 50, but our wonderful customs will offer you to pay another 6,500 rubles along with a customs broker commission, which will total a little more than $ 1,000. Which, in principle, is not so expensive if you read a lot, love Linux, experiment and take care of your health.
The first e-paper reader in my collection was the LBook www.lbook.com.ua . As it turned out, a very nice device with its undeniable advantages, still not available to competitors. Actually, there should not be any differences in the Lbook screen itself and competitors using the same screen type, but it turned out to be not so simple.
The first and most pleasant feature of Lbook is its low power consumption and the ability to read Russian texts in 1251 coding without any problems, made from any material using the simple Save as txt function. As my Lbook filled up with books, I realized that its significant advantage over the same Sony Reader is its clear folder structure, which can only be created in three levels (for example, 1. Fantasy, 2. Stanislav Lem 3. “Solaris”), which, in all likelihood, is connected with the type of device file system used, but this turned out to be quite enough to conveniently use a library of almost 5 thousand books. That is how much can fit in plain text format on an SD 2Gb memory card, the maximum possible for using Lbook. Larger cards are not supported by the device.
Another thing Sony Reader is more white “paper” (as it later turned out not to be much, just optical illusion due to the black color of the device itself), it supports cards without volume limitations, in any case MS DUO 4Gb for sure, but it has an extremely inconvenient interface for storage of large libraries, does not support the structure of folders and with a memory card eats up its battery approximately five times faster. The promised 10 thousand pages should not be expected, this should not happen, and God forbid to distort 2000 pages with scarta and if they are in its native lrf format. If you read the PDF files, then there will be no battery charge, and even more likely, no patience to wait for when he turns the page will not be enough to the 200th page.
However, after a month of active use of the Reader, I developed the habit of not using a memory card, the internal space is enough for more than a hundred books, and you can navigate by the author in alphabetical order, or by distributing books on the shelves using the native software that comes with the kit. What is nice is that Sony, after registering the device on the company’s website, donated $ 50, which can be spent on buying books in English. There are even comics and manga that are not poorly designed and are quite readable for review. There is also the opportunity, as mentioned earlier, to use the aggregator built into the RSS program, it is a pity that only in English and only from the list offered by Connect Reader. However, among the RSS feeds I found there are many interesting things, especially the HI_TECH news first hand.
But it was IRex Iliad that pleased me most of all; its screen was produced not by PVI in its Chinese factory, like by its two predecessors, but by another completely Japanese company, which is only known that it is located in the city of Kobe (Japan). Ilad, which not only has the largest screen of all the monitored devices, is already 8 inches in diagonal with a resolution of 1024 * 768, but from the first of May it began to support * .prc files and is integrated into www.mobipocket.com. For many, this service with a free book reader for many devices, including smartphones, has long been familiar. For example, I have been using it for a long time to prepare and read e-books on my Sony-Ericson M600i smartphone, but perhaps this convenience in reading electronic news from the Internet does not provide any of the solutions in electronic ink. Firstly, there are no problems with reading Russian-language news, and secondly, you don’t even need to look for them - the program interface provides for adding RSS from a list in Russian, as well as adding your own fields. All images are also imported into the Iliad and are clearly embedded. By the way, Habrahabr is also on the list of RSS feeds. Now your eyes will thank you if you have to read a lot on the Internet or use a large number of PDF files.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the Iliad has not yet exhausted all its possibilities. For example, I found people who had already ported an Internet browser and an email client to the device, wrote a number of games, of which the game of chess seems to me the most successful. Craftsmen screwed a regular USB keyboard and use the device as a typewriter. Yes, in addition, the device has input with a stylus and a touchscreen. The presence of a network card and Wi-Fi on board suggests a much wider use of the device.
The manufacturer company recently hosted an SDK on its website that works great for example on Ubuntu, and you can come up with a lot more for this device if you know Linux and are friends with it. The only obstacle to its rapid distribution in Russia is price. On the manufacturer’s website for buyers from countries outside the EU its price is $ 699, shipping is another $ 50, but our wonderful customs will offer you to pay another 6,500 rubles along with a customs broker commission, which will total a little more than $ 1,000. Which, in principle, is not so expensive if you read a lot, love Linux, experiment and take care of your health.
