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Devlar · 08-18-2006, 07:17 PM

Considering I'm pretty much in the exact same boat as you I figure I'd give you my thoughts on one of the three choices. I recently got my iLiad. Largely for reading what you spend your days carrying around.

Pretty much everyone answered most of your points, I'd just like to fill in a few spaces.

While the iLiad is the largest piece of hardware out there it is still insufficient for reading a field manual. As you're aware most of them are A4. You can still read them if you crop off the white margins. I don't know what the eyesight requirements are in the US military but I guarantee you do not want to read 50 pages of that manual in one sitting at that size. iRex is going to eventually make this usable once they implement zooming, scrolling and turning the screen horizontally. Until those features are in the package, the device is not all that useful for your purposes.

There is one other issue I think you should consider. Durability. This is definately not something I would throw in a pack and expect not to break. While its enjoyably light, it really was not made with industrial use in mind. I've been trying to figure out for a week how to encase it so its destruction proof yet still functional, to be honest I don't have too many ideas. Maybe a rubber mold around the outside and a plastic cover.

So my recommendation is you wait, at least until december. When the SDK is released and all the features are implemented it will be more useful to you.

08-18-2006, 07:17 PM	#6
Devlar Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 397 Join Date: Jul 2006 Device: Kobo Aura H20	Considering I'm pretty much in the exact same boat as you I figure I'd give you my thoughts on one of the three choices. I recently got my iLiad. Largely for reading what you spend your days carrying around. Pretty much everyone answered most of your points, I'd just like to fill in a few spaces. While the iLiad is the largest piece of hardware out there it is still insufficient for reading a field manual. As you're aware most of them are A4. You can still read them if you crop off the white margins. I don't know what the eyesight requirements are in the US military but I guarantee you do not want to read 50 pages of that manual in one sitting at that size. iRex is going to eventually make this usable once they implement zooming, scrolling and turning the screen horizontally. Until those features are in the package, the device is not all that useful for your purposes. There is one other issue I think you should consider. Durability. This is definately not something I would throw in a pack and expect not to break. While its enjoyably light, it really was not made with industrial use in mind. I've been trying to figure out for a week how to encase it so its destruction proof yet still functional, to be honest I don't have too many ideas. Maybe a rubber mold around the outside and a plastic cover. So my recommendation is you wait, at least until december. When the SDK is released and all the features are implemented it will be more useful to you.