We’ve known that iRex Technologies, a spinoff of Philips, would be releasing a nice ePaper device sometime in 2006. The company has finally revealed details of its first product, the ER 0100 (codenamed Iliad), a 8.1-inch ePaper reader with 1024 x 768 resolution and 160dpi fidelity. That’s just a hair under the Sony Librié’s 170dpi, but with greater resolution.
Inside, the specs are modest but seemingly ample, with a 400MHz Xscale, 64MB of RAM, and 224MB of flash storage (not to mention USB, CF, or SD card storage). It has a touchscreen for input and built-in Wi-Fi for connectivity.
But here’s the part you should have been wondering about: Yes, the iRex ER 0100 supports plain text, XHTML, and PDF out of the box—no DRM muss. At least that’s the current spec—we better hold them to it, because otherwise what’s the point?
We’ve been waiting for a solid eBook device for ages. Hopefully the ER 0100, when it’s released in April for an as-yet-unannnounced price, will be the one.
I was in Manhattan the other day meeting with Time Inc.'s director of alternative media* and got to see the Sony Librie e-paper-based e-book reader live and in person. Very cool, even if all the buttons were in Japanese. (Arrows are the new lingua franca, it would appear!) I always had problems with the e-book solutions that had thus far been devised; I never liked reading books on a PDA or a computer screen. But I was impressed with how the Librie (thanks to its reflective display) was "just like paper." And it was lighter than the 700-page Vernor Vinge novel I took with me on the train.*Funny; "alternative media" now means "non-print." I remember when "alternative media" meant something else entirely!
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