Every feel that books are just taking over your shelves, want to have access yo your reference materials on the run?
Well here is your answer. I have owned by one e-reader for 2 weeks now and all i can say is wow, it really is the future.
The illiad while more expensive than its rivals the amazon kindal and the Soney E-reader, It is they only reader Available in Australia.
I bought mine from dymocks for $900 AUD, expensive i know but well worth.
Unlike other e-readers the iliad is more like a pda with stylus doing most of the control. The supported formats, out of the box are pdf, html , txt and mobie-pocket, however it will not support .lit or adobe digital formats.
However to my surprise non encrypted pdf's that require a password are supported with a virtual keyboard.
Sites like feedbook allow RSS feeds to be merged into usable content for the illiad, useful for a tech head like me. The Iliad has a Wi-Fi Connection that can connect to a home network , or by use of a travel hub an ethernet connection.
The firmware is updated often with new features there are plans by Irex (manufacture) for content downloads through a portal service but there is yet date for release.
My experience with the battery has found that nightly charges are needed with the average life of 10 hours while not using the wi-fi connection. Other e-readers advertise there life time in pages eg. the sony e-reader quotes 15,000 page turns.
The Iliad however is not able to manage that feat, manly due to the stylus. The cpu is required to be always waiting for commands consuming greater resources, its a fair price to pay for the extra flexibility that this device allows imop.
What gives these e-devices there long batter life compared to pda's and laptops is there screen. There is a good article on the wiki maintaned by mobile read. The short gist is the screen technology called E-ink only uses power when the screen changes state, with no back light this gives the screen the look of paper.
In my opinion one could read for 10 hours and not sustain sore eyes, try doing that on a LCD screen. The trade off is dependence on local light sources and a very slow refresh rate and its not colour.
Useful links