iRex DR800SG offers many features at a steep, but not unreasonable price. The 8.1 inch display is an impressive 1024 x 768 pixels at 158 ppi, with 16 greyscales. Though this is a large reader, it has a much more sleek, if boxy design than iRex's previous efforts, which had substance, but lacked style in our opinion. That said, one big pet peeve is a big blue LED light on the front.
The back of the DR800SG is plain black plastic, while the front is matte gray. The main control is a single, long rocker button along the left of the screen, which navigates iRex's complex operating system with ease. The flip bar can easily be operated with your thumb as you read one-handed, though the unit is a bit heavy to do so long-term. While the unit does have a touchscreen, you cannot use your fingers--a stylus is required as the touchscreen is based on Wacom tablet behind the screen to avoid the glare issues that plague e-ink screens with the touchscreen on the outside.
The iRex DR800SG's main feature is a touchscreen (Integrated Wacom® Penabled® sensor board--the best in use in an eBook reader on the market today in our opinion) in lieu of buttons, accessed via a stylus, and the manufacturers emphasize its use as a writing tablet of sorts, for jotting notes, annotating documents, etc. It has been criticized for having a fiddly interface with many icons, but a long-term user will probably get used to that. With MyScript Notes, a PC application, you can convert the handwritten notes you make into digital text that can be used with text editors, spreadsheets and e-mail clients. It certainly does excel at these tasks, and we imagine would be very useful for business applications.
Like its predecessors, this eReader is very good with file formats--iRex claims that anything you can print from your PC you can use. The memory capacity (already a generous 2 GB out of the box) can be increased simply by inserting a microSD card, but this is tucked away with the battery behind a screwed-in panel, so swapping out is not easy. You can insert your USB-stick to quickly read content. It's possible to switch from portrait to landscape viewing, but as there are no accelerometers, as with the Kindle DX, you'll need to press some buttons to do so.
The DR800SG was announced in October 2009, as a follow on to the Iliad and Digital Reader before it, and is produced by Dutch iRex company, a spinoff from Philips which has worked with e-paper since 2006. It is expected to be ready for release in January 2010.
Connecting: The DR800SG has a USB port for direct connection to a PC, and it also has wireless Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities. Also, in a first for iRex, it has a cellular network access for free, using Verizon's network in the US and apparently also capability abroad as well. The unit doesn't appear to allow internet browsing, but does allow the ability to wirelessly download digital books from Barnes & Noble's e-bookstore in addition to over 1,100 newspapers from Newspapers Direct.
Users create a free MyiRex account which allows you to make use of the iRex Delivery service (iDS) to download your daily newspaper, RSS feeds, and such. The service mainly relies on the Mobipocket reader service for purchasing ebooks. However, the selection of recent, popular books pales in comparison with the Sony PRS-600 or especially Amazon's Kindle 2, and unfortunately, you cannot use their content on the DR800SG.
Accessories: The DR800SG comes with a USB charger, leather cover, and stylus. After release, there will no doubt be other accessories to choose from.
Price: The price is a hefty $450--much cheaper than their excellent but overpriced Digital Reader 1000SW, and only slightly cheaper than the Amazon Kindle DX (though the DX is considerably larger).
The DR800SG is a welcome departure from the overpriced, styleless offerings iRex has had in the past, and with excellent features.
eBook Reader Basics