iRex Digital Reader 1000 – for reading technical documentation

As is known, e-Readers with 6’’ displays keep developing – except Sony. But I’ve noticed that when you review a new eReader, you always get the same stereotype question: can you read technical documentation in PDF on this device? The answer is usually also the same: you can read the PDF format on this reader, but it’s absolutely impossible to read technical documentation, which is usually written on A4-pages. First of all, when you have a large page, the text on the display will be too small, and second, these eBook Reader don’t have the necessary features for reading documentation like this.

But time goes on, and more and more new models enter the market. iRex Technologies has released a device called iRex Digital Reader 1000S that utilizes e-Ink and, in my opinion, is mainly aimed at reading technical documentation. And not just reading. Anyway, let’s start from the beginning.

Design and Control

In the lower end of the device there is a slot for the SD-card, a power-supply socket, a miniUSB socket and a Reset button.

Control units are located on the lower panel (the menu button and two navigation buttons) and on two side panels (command button and two navigation buttons).

In the upper side there is a stylus socket. The stylus itself is provided with a special sensor by Wacom.

It’s important to notice that the device weighs almost 600 grams, and it’s practically impossible to hold it in one hand since you’ll get tired very quickly.

Operating the Device

When you start the e-Reader, you’ll see two icons: the Documents folder and the Settings icon.

Despite the fact that the device has embedded memory, the e-Reader only reads documents from the SD-card, so, if it’s not inserted, you won’t see any Documents folder. When you connect the device to the USB, you’ll be asked whether the Reader should be switched to the computer data exchange mode. If you say Yes, you’ll see a corresponding picture on the display and a new LU will appear on the computer, representing the SD-card of the e-Reader where you can upload data.

If you open the folder, you’ll see a list of documents and folders.iRex Digital Reader 1000S easily reads PDF-files.

You can turn pages pressing either the side navigation buttons (located on the control units on the left and on the right), or with the help of the stylus with which you should press page bookmarks at the bottom.

If the next page hasn’t yet loaded into buffer, the page turning speed will depend on how “heavy” each of the pages is (depending on whether it has pictures or not) and on the zooming mode. Page-turning can take from 4 to 12 seconds which is, of course, rather long. However the loading into buffer mode is done quite well on the device, so if you stop for a couple of seconds on one page, the next will show up almost immediately. The pages that are already loaded into buffer are also saved for a certain time, so when you list the pages you’ve already read, they’ll also appear very quickly. I couldn’t find out exactly how many pages are saved in buffer, but the number is definitely not less than 10.

When you press the Menu button (or a special icon at the bottom of the page with the stylus), the display menu will appear.

Unfortunately, the process of drawing isn’t very convenient, because the device doesn’t follow the stylus movement quickly enough – the line will appear in about half a second after you’ve drawn it. You won’t really be able to create something advanced, but it’s quite easy to write handwritten notes, draw basic pictures and make some tags.

The notes and drawings are saved when they are done. If you later open the document on the page with the notes, they’ll all be there.

You can erase the stylus-drawn elements with the rubber but you’ll also get blank parts if the drawings covered the text.

Zooming

The wide-range zoom of this device makes it very easy to work with PDF texts.

You can display the document in full, hide the blank borders, scale to fit the display (for large pages), turn on the page flow mode and also change the scale in different ways.

Preview mode

The device allows previewing the pages as small images.

The preview-forming process, though, is not very fast. Each page loads for approximately 4 to 5 seconds, so you’ll need about a minute for a 9-page preview.

Page orientation

Page orientation can be changed in the menu from portrait to landscape. The menu is opened from the lower control unit, as the previous menu unit becomes side.

Special features

I couldn’t find out exactly how long the reader can work on a single battery charge. The manufacturer also keeps it secret. Some reviews mentioned that it was 60 to 70 hours, but since we are talking about e-paper that uses power only when you turn the pages, the figures are quite meaningless. Pages turn rather slowly in the basic mode, so the device shouldn’t have any problems with lasting a day on a single batter charge.

The display sensitivity is similar to the pads by Wacom, and it’s not without a reason that the stylus has a Wacom sensor. On the one hand, it lets you do without the special sensor film that makes the contrast visibly worse (like in Sony Reader Digital Book with touch screen - PRS700), but on the other hand, the device only works with its own stylus and doesn’t respond at all to the touch of the finger.

Models and prices

The manufacturer mentions 3 modes of this device. The 1000 doesn’t have a sensor display. The eReader iRex 1000S(that has just been reviewed) utilizes a sensor display. The 1000SW has both the sensor display and supports Wi-Fi and 3G network to download documents directly from the Internet. As I understand it, the 1000SW model hasn’t been released yet, it’s just mentioned on the official website.

All in all, the iRex 1000 is quite advanced. Devices like this are always welcome.

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