iRex Technologies, an Eindhoven (NL) based high-tech and research company, has announced its Iliad ER 0100 ePaper device for April 2006. Good news. Sony had already moved the crowds a year ago with its Librié (yes, with an accented "e", don't ask me why, it is no French technology) but this is Japan market only, although content and manuals have already been converted (it uses Sony Linux), also that you can obtain it through Japan Direct (click here to do so). iRex technology is a spinoff of Royal Philips, the Dutch giant that has heavily invested in the so-called "eBook" segment, which until now, looked pretty much like a tiny niche.
However, based on research conducted a the MIT, the Massachusets-based high-tech firm e-Ink has developed a number of technologies that are gradually making the e-ink less dark, or better, more visible to potential customers... Sony has been the first to tie-up with them to launch the Librie, and e-Ink is offering numerous flexible display solutions that have been selected by companies such as Citizen or LG Philips, or even Microsoft... iRex Technologies is one of their customers, and the outcome looks brilliant indeed.
It's a flexible tablet display... from e Ink
The Iliad is an 8.1-inch (about 20 cm) reader that is a 1024X768 160dpi device (the Librié is 170dpi, but has a lower resolution). In addition, it boasts 64Mb RAM, 224 Mb flash storage, USB, SD or CF card storage, and Intel 400MHzXscale. The touch-screen is an e-Ink one, and Wi-Fi capability is on board. One of the major critics against the Librie was the DRM (Digital Right Management) policy, often qualified as "awful" on the blogs, because the -very strong and strict- alliance formed between Sony and powerful Japan-based publishers and Press groups left no capacity to edit or transform, and only a 60 days life window was open to any downloaded document. This shouldn't be a problem with the iRex, since it supports plain text, HTML (so, browsing?), and PDF "out of the box". So no fuss about DRM here?
Indeed, the iRex iliad looks much more gorgeous than Sony's Librie, which was quite disappointing from a company that has accustomed its customers with nicely designed production. The touch-screen allows for the presence of a stylus, as demonstrated on the picture below.
Cute isn't it?
Dimension: 155x216x16mm, weight: 390grams.
Summary of specs
• Reflective 8.1-inch XGA (1024x768 = 160dpi) E Ink screen
• 16 grey scales (versus 4 grey scales of the Sony Librie)
• Rechargable battery (lasts for one week when reading 3hrs/day)
• Wifi + USB connectivity
• Distributed by iRex Technologies bv, a Philips spinoff
• Release date set for 2006
Visit iRex here
Visit e Ink here