Issue #69
Last Update October 31, 2010
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Business and Technology Ilead Electronic Book Reader by Sten Grynir July 15, 2007 For many avid readers, the experience of using an electronic reader of any kind, whether it be desktop computer, laptop, or specialized e-reader, has been disappointing. The screen is just not as satisfactory to the eye as the printed page, and the portability, ability to make notes and sheer convenience of a trade or paperback book is difficult to match with a gadget. A new generation of e-book readers may be changing all that. A good example is the Iliad electronic reader by iRex Technologies.
This reader is filled with surprises, all of them good. First, the displayed text and pictures are amazingly clear: black letters on an off-white background that does not strain the eye and which is perfectly visible both in room light and in bright sunlight. Second, in addition to its internal memory, the Iliad has slots for both compact flash memory cards and SD/MMC memory cards, and will accept cards up to one Gigabyte in capacity. In addition, a USB memory stick can be used through the Iliad's USB port. Considering that a standard novel requires about 1 Megabyte in plain text or HTML format, the reader can easily store several thousand books, certainly enough for summer reading. Third, unlike some older e-readers which required that the books be in some proprietary format, the Iliad will accept and display books in plain text, Word, HTML (web browser) and PDF (Adobe) formats, as well as some proprietary ones. Finally, the Iliad has the ability to connect wirelessly or by cable to your computer or the internet, making adding and deleting books from its internal library and downloading other content, such a news, a simple process. In addition, it can deal with sound.
The Iliad comes with a few sample books in Mobipocket format. To test its ability to handle other formats, I loaded several books in HTML and PDF formats onto an SD card and also onto a CF card. Inserting these into the Iliad, I was able to read them. The human interface provided by the Iliad could be improved. For example, the book list initially presented is only for the internal memory. Searching the menus (and the manual), I discovered that the Device Manager menu, which is the top-level menu, has separate entries for SD card and and CF card, meaning that you have to remember which of the three three storage media you put a particular book or document on. A Recent Documents menu entry does store links to documents you have been looking at, regardless of storage medium, and allows you to go directly to your selection. Fortunately, all manuals are included in electronic form, so you can solve problems right on the Iliad.
What is the reading experience like with the Iliad? Actually, better than one might think. The screen is clear and the type legible under all lighting conditions short of total darkness. Font sizes can be changed, helping those with limited vision. The Iliad is light weight, and about the size of a trade paperback, so it is not uncomfortable to hold. Page navigation is easy, there being several controls easily accessible by the left hand as you hold the book: a long rocker bar turns the pages forward or back, and several other buttons act as cursor controls and menu selectors. The reading experience was not too different from reading a real book, and the fact that bookmarks can be set and an on-screen keyboard can be invoked and notes can be taken and attached to the text being read, using either the keyboard or by writing directly on the screen using the included stylus, means that, for most purposes you can deal with text just as you wold with text on paper. At approximately 8 ¾ inches by 6 ¼ inches, the Iliad is a bit too large for most pockets, but then so are most books. Battery life, a key consideration for a device that might spend hours at a time on, seems to be adequate for a day's reading without recharging.
What is the appropriate market for this device? Travelers can carry an entire library with them, without the weight and bulk, use the Iliad to connect wirelessly to news sources, listen to audiobooks or music, and annotate documents using the stylus or on-screen keyboard.. At a retail price of $699, however, this device will be overpriced for all but technophiles who love gadgets, and travelers on a world tour,. especially since competing products, like Sony's reader comes in at less than half the price. Granted, Sony's product lacks wireless connectivity and a compact flash slot (it does have SD/MMC), but that is still a giant price difference.
For business and commercial uses, however, price may not be significant, and the additional Ilead features may be viewed as worth the extra money. Salesmen could carry their entire product line price catalogues in a device that weighs ounces; technicians could carry an entire library of technical manuals; lawyers and accountants could carry legal libraries, case files, regulations, anything they might find of use, with no more space and weight requirements than a paperback, while internet accessibility would allow downloading of important documents while in the field.
The Ilead is a good product. Rethinking the pricing might improve the prospects for high volume sales.
iRex Technologies Inc. http://www.irextechnologies.com/
New York Stringer is published by NYStringer.com. For all communications, contact David Katz, Editor and Publisher, at david@nystringer.com