14 DAY TRIAL // A few years ago, iRiver had managed to become one of the world's best-known PMP manufacturers, but the advent of smartphones and Internet tablets has sort of pushed it out of the spotlight, a place the company strives to get back to with its various latest-gen offerings, such as the Story HD eBook Reader, that they've recently unveiled at CES 2011. First and foremost, it's important to mention that, according to iRiver, their new eBook reader is the world’s first 6-inch XGA (768x1024) eBook reader with 63.8% more pixels and faster page turns than some of the other such products available out there, a level of performance also attained with some help from LG Display, who provided the panel.
Moreover, iRiver claims that their eBook reader will deliver a very good functioning speed, since it is built around an i.MX508 eReader applications processor from Freescale Semiconductor, built on ARM CortexM technology.
Additionally, the eReader will also come with a built-in Wi-Fi module, plus a sleek QWERTY keypad and buttons located from the side to the center of the keypad, featuring the up/down layout instead of the right/left design, that should make it a bit more user-friendly.
Furthermore, we'll also have to point out that the iRiver Story HD has a 3-week battery life, making it ideal for travel, and supports Adobe EPUB and PDF formats with DRM.
Talking about the launch of the new e-Reader, Chulmin Lee (COO of iriver Ltd. and President of iriver Inc.), said that “iriver is excited to unveil the iriver Story HD at CES as a world’s first. No other eBook features a higher resolution, and users will appreciate fast page-turn performance and the chic design that is the hallmark of iriver. ”
The iRiver Story HD eBook Reader will arrive on the market in Q2, 2011 and will be competitively priced, although no specific details regarding just how much one will have to pay for it have been provided.