DR800S: Reasons for PDF-Zoom function (was: ePub bug?)

[OrcaBlue]

Again from Matthijs's posting, there is no technical problems.

[cartesius]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

You're suggesting that a company would design a reader device with a 8.1" screen and charge a premium price for it and yet consider it a "lower end device". You make it sound like it's on the level of a Sony PRS-300 or something. Besides which, with newer devices coming on the market for similar or less prices (such as the Que, Skiff, and the iPad), the DR1000 is effectively an end-of-life product at this point anyway, so iRex had better start readjusting their thinking about what their "high-end" product currently is. Regardless, it's a contradiction in targeted consumers to position a low end device with a high end screen and a high end price. Of course iRex intended people to do more than simple book reading with this thing - they put a big 8.1" screen on it, of course people are going to want to view PDFs on it that don't reflow well. Again, it is again just about the dumbest thing I've ever seen to have a person working for iRex actually ask people why they would want PDF-zoom on a device with a relatively large screen - that does make it sound like such uses just never occurred to them in their planning stage. If they wanted to target a lower-end user who would never want to put their reader to such uses, then why bother putting such a large screen on it and charging such a high price relative to other readers that are intended for the "lower end" consumer.

The reason for that question was probably to try to find out 'how many' customers would actually want the zoom feature. Clearly, not everyone needs to read pdf files that are anything other than simple text books for which reflow should be enough.
Maybe the target market is made out of users who want a premium sized device for just simple use and are ready to pay for it.
c.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by OrcaBlue

Again from Matthijs's posting, there is no technical problems.

Did anybody say there was? I'm not sure what you're getting at.

[OrcaBlue]

What I am saying is that if there is no problems in implement it; they should have it available to the consumers as soon as possible. Decide not to make it available will hurt the consuming public and their sale. I am trying to make a case so that Irex will decide that these are features that many people would like to have.

[glynton]

Huh, I had assumed that you would be able to zoom PDFs and scribble notes as per the Sony Reader touch.

I've said in a previous post that the UK price is a shame compared to the US price (considering the lack of 3G). And now I find out that features like PDF zoom and scribbling are not available.

iRex, you need to remove this product from sale and re-release it when it's ready and at the right price (consider the competition... Sony Reader Touch is £220). The only reason I haven't bought the Sony is because of the poor contrast due to the resistive touch-screen however a non-resistive touch screen is not worth two Sony Readers. iPad with Kindle App suddenly looks more promising.

[TGS]

As the proud owner of a DR800S for about six hours I have to say I'm really impressed by the text re-flowing. Whilst it's not going to help documents with technical notation, diagrams and illustrations, it's much better than I thought it was going to be and some of the academic journal articles that I was concerned about read really nicely. Don't get me wrong, if zooming can be implemented I think it should be, for all the reasons that have been stated here.

Now that I've got folders sorted with the help of people on this forum, all I need now is annotation and I will be a very happy chappy (relatively speaking).

[ajamudc]

I have to say, for myself, the decisions that Irex made about this device just made me purchase a Nook. I was really interested in the 800, but couldn't justify the price without having the ability to use it for technical reading as well as for casual reading. For just casual reading, I can (and just did) go for a more cost efficient choice. Maybe there is a market for it without zoom for pdf, dictionary and annotation, but I don't think I'm it. I've gotten my wife interested in ereaders now. Maybe they will implement those features before she is ready to get one, so I can support the purchase and I can give her my nook. Who knows?

[Opensesame]

I have selected Sony 900. The only reason is the lack of zoom function on Irex DR800.

[BrassMonkey]

It seems that the pdf zoom, annotations etc are not technical issues. It is also safe to assume that many of the potential purchasers of the DR800 will not require these features. I myself would like to at least have the options available and would be willing to pay a reasonable fee to enable, on an individual basis, the afore-mentioned feature requests. This is a business decision that, I believe, Irex should consider.

[Dulin's Books]

it makes absolutely no business sense to have wacom pen input and NOT be able to select text and write/scribble. thats the WHOLE point of pen/stylus input.

[Opensesame]

The list to be updated in firmware by April

• Note taking application - NO SUPPORT TO VIEW THESE NOTES ON A PC
• B&N EPUB support
• Automatic indexing of title, author and thumbnail when a file is added to the device
• Ability to import Settings and Accounts (MYIREX, Adobe) from MYIREX sign-up webpage on PC
• Improved 3G connection setup time by using QC network driver
• "Go to page" function in the document viewer
• Book Information View that shows more metadata for PDF and EPUB
• Advanced Settings that will allow to enable 'selection zoom' and 'scribble' features only on PDF documents
• IREX will be continually adding content providers to our eBook Mall. We will be offering our own “IREX Newsstand” that will contain 20+ newspapers/magazines from Libre Digital. Should be ready by April if not before.

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbt...p?Number=36148

[Dulin's Books]

well okay then

the scribble should be allowed in more than pdf but thats a good start i particularly like the Boox notes function which lets you scribble/draw on blank pages /make journal entries. I've been using it for grocery/to do lists. so thats nice if its being added here.

[Iñigo]

Originally Posted by Opensesame

The list to be updated in firmware by April

• Note taking application - NO SUPPORT TO VIEW THESE NOTES ON A PC
• B&N EPUB support
• Automatic indexing of title, author and thumbnail when a file is added to the device
• Ability to import Settings and Accounts (MYIREX, Adobe) from MYIREX sign-up webpage on PC
• Improved 3G connection setup time by using QC network driver
• "Go to page" function in the document viewer
• Book Information View that shows more metadata for PDF and EPUB
• Advanced Settings that will allow to enable 'selection zoom' and 'scribble' features only on PDF documents
• IREX will be continually adding content providers to our eBook Mall. We will be offering our own “IREX Newsstand” that will contain 20+ newspapers/magazines from Libre Digital. Should be ready by April if not before.

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbt...p?Number=36148

Is there any other sources confirming it?
They are very good news!

[repods]

you have to trust lisa..

[MobileTechReview]

And Lisa has to trust IREX management . Their North American CEO was cc-d in the email I received with the info, so I trust they mean what they say.