iRex DR800S Ereaders Now Shipping

It's taken a while but the first iRex DR800S ereaders are finally shipping out to preorder customers.  Over in the MobileRead forums owner mgmueller has been sharing some first-impressions and comparison shots between the 8.1-inch iRex and the Kindle DX, as well as answering questions about the roughly €500 ($706) device.

Build quality is reportedly good, though the unit is a little heavy overall as a result, but slotting in-between the Kindle and Kindle DX in size makes a decent compromise of bulk versus display scale.  The DR800S powers back up from standby in just 3 seconds, though to get access to the microSD card slot you have to unscrew the battery compartment.

Best of all, though, is that screen quality is reportedly very good, with the touchscreen layer not impeding visibility.  Page turns are slightly faster than on a Sony 900 ereader, but there's no "intelligent zoom"; previous iRex iLiad ereaders allowed you to outline an area of the page with the stylus and have it automatically zoom in, but that's missing from the DR800S.  More impressions here.

[via MobileRead]