I read a lot of text electronically. One of my main criteria in choosing a desktop display has always been easy reading of text, weight and screen size be damned. But the human body was only designed to sit in a chair for so long, so inevitably comes the time to kill some trees. I've been watching "electronic paper" closely for some time now, and I have fallen in love with the promise of truly epic battery life. Up to now, however, the resolution of these devices has been rather low -- enough to read a novel by, but not, say, your average scientific paper or any body of text that hasn't been specifically formatted for these screens. Enter the iRex dr1000:
A display resolution of 1024x1280 pixels at 158 ppi makes this device well capable of displaying most of the documents I read on a day-to-day basis. (Your average LCD runs between 72 and 96 ppi) The dr1000s version comes with a Wacom-like stylus that can be used for taking notes. Most e-readers have their battery life quoted in number of pages (usually between 5,000 and 10,000), since the display retains its image without power. The dr1000 series boasts a 24h battery life, which, ostensibly, refers to the amount of time the device can remain interactive. This still puts anything but the most shrewd notebook to shame. Finally, synching the dr1000sw model with your desktop or notebook takes place via a WiFi or Bluetooth connection, a lovely touch.
The new kid on the block, the dr1000s goes for $749 US, with the stylus-free model soon to follow at $649. Based on the hardware specs, there's nothing particularly magical about the device, excluding the tablet, so I suspect competition and volume to drive the price down to the "dirty cheap" level we all like.
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