IREX DR 800 SG 8.1-inch Touchscreen eReader Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought the DR800 because my Kindle 2 can't borrow library books and the Sony Pocket Reader I'd originally purchased for ePUB and PDF books has been taken over by my teenager. I had planned to buy the Sony Daily Edition to replace it, but when I looked at one in the store I was turned off by the display. It isn't nearly as clear as my Kindle or my tiny Sony, and I thought that it would be less comfortable to read.
The DR800's screen is almost twice the size of the Kindle screen, but the whole unit is roughly the same size as Kindle (it's 1/2 an inch wider and 1/3 of an inch shorter). It uses a Wacom digitizer, which sits underneath the e-Ink screen, so it doesn't have any of the reduced clarity problems that other touchscreen readers have. Also, IREX does something that makes page turns exceptionally fast compared to other devices (I personally compared it to Kindle, Kindle 2, and Sony Pocket). There is no silo for the stylus, which seems like a poor design choice; if you don't use a case with a pen loop, the stylus is difficult to keep track of.
PDF is the DR800's strong suit. With the updated 2.0 (beta) software, manual PDF zoom and panning and scribbled notes are supported, as is the previously missing Go To Page function. This makes PDFs much easier to use. I can comfortably use full-size PDFs without hauling around a gigantic device like the Kindle DX. The IREX supports Adobe DRM, so I can use library downloads and purchased PDFs, too.
ePUB and PDB (Nook Book) support fall short of expectations. They cannot be annotated (other than bookmarks) and the font sizes are big, bigger, gigantic and insanely huge, so I can't put all the text on one screen as I'd like. Also, there is no dictionary lookup feature, and there doesn't appear to be a plan to add one later, which is disappointing.
The DR800 can read books purchased in a variety of stores and formats. Barnes & Noble Nook books, Fictionwise eReader books, Sony Store ePub books, and Adobe DRM ePub and PDF books from any store. A third-party program (fbreader) can be used to access DRM-free Mobipocket books and other formats as well.
The built-in wireless Mall feature is a clunky, multi-step process that I find to be inconvenient. It's simpler to buy books on my computer and transfer them via USB. It's nice that the IREX isn't tied to a single store, but the added freedom adds complexity that negates the whole reason to include 3G wireless in the first place: quick, simple e-book purchases. Since the DR800 cannot browse the web, I leave my wireless turned off all the time.
The IREX hardware is technically suburb, but the software doesn't take full advantage of the hardware's capabilities. Luckily, the IREX is quite open and has a devoted group of independent developers who write and port programs to expand the reader's base functions. I hope that someday the DR800 will have a feature set which includes annotations and highlights for all book types. Until then, it's a very good reader, but not great.

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IREX DR 800 SG 8.1-inch Touchscreen eReader: Big screen 8.1 inch; Natural paperlike experience; An entire library in your hands; Fast and easy navigation; Adjustable text size and screen orientation; 3G Wireless connection (USA only).