Hands-on: iRex 1000s e-book.

[DowJones VentureWire Technology Showcase – EuroTech] I was happy to meet with iRex CEO Hans Brons who was exhibiting his great e-book at the VentureWire Technology Showcase conference. I was impressed by the quality of the 10.2″ display that looks way better than the Plastic Logic prototype that I saw at DEMO. According to Hans Brons, this is due to the 16-level grey scale featured in the iRex, the Plastic Logic e-book has only 4-level grey scale like the Kindle. Another unique feature is the ability to write and store notes on the documents, the Plastic Logic e-book had it too but not as advanced (from the demo I saw). The iRex 1000s launched in September, has no connectivity, but the iRex 1000 SW , available in Q1 2009, features Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, a proprietary web browser and may be Bluetooth and 3G (I have to check for sure, it is not on the product sheet). The battery can last several days when in the standard reading mode only (flip one page per minute). This product is targeted to the people who manage tons of documents every day like lawyers, professors or bankers. Click on the gallery photo button to see all the pictures, full specifications after the jump.

iRex 1000s specifications from manufacturer

• Display
• 10.2 Inch (diagonal) electronic paper display
• 1024 x 1280 pixel resolution at 160 pixels per inch
• 16-level grey scale

• Input and output
• Capacitive buttons with optical feedback
• Mini-USB connector
• Wacom® penabled® touch sensor input with Stylus

• Storage Capacity
• 1GB Removable SD card (replaceable with larger SD cards)
• Holds over 1000 documents or pictures¹

• Power
• Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
• Recharging time 5 hours with USB charging from powered computer

• Media formats supported
• Unsecured Text: Adobe® PDF, TXT, HTML
• DRM Text: Mobipocket PRC
• Image: JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF and BMP
• Additional formats supported in the future

• Languages
• Dutch, English, French and German
• Additional language support in the future

• System requirements
• Windows® XP or Vista®
• 800MHz processor
• 128MB RAM minimum
• 25MB minimum available hard drive space
• USB Port (optimal with USB 2.0)

iRex 1000s specifications from manufacturer

• Display
• 10.2 Inch (diagonal) electronic paper display
• 1024 x 1280 pixel resolution at 160 pixels per inch
• 16-level grey scale

• Input and output
• Capacitive buttons with optical feedback
• Mini-USB connector
• Wacom® penabled® touch sensor input with Stylus

• Storage Capacity
• 1GB Removable SD card (replaceable with larger SD cards)
• Holds over 1000 documents or pictures¹

• Power
• Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
• Recharging time 5 hours with USB charging from powered computer

• Media formats supported
• Unsecured Text: Adobe® PDF, TXT, HTML
• DRM Text: Mobipocket PRC
• Image: JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF and BMP
• Additional formats supported in the future

• Languages
• Dutch, English, French and German
• Additional language support in the future

• System requirements
• Windows® XP or Vista®
• 800MHz processor
• 128MB RAM minimum
• 25MB minimum available hard drive space
• USB Port (optimal with USB 2.0)

Eliane Fiolet
Categories: Gadgets, Top Stories
Tags: Hands-On