I wrote one post on Google's I-River Story already, but I am curious. Now that the device is out, is it worth the money? Early reviews are in, and they aren't exactly bad, nor are they exactly stellar.
Slashgear.com has already noted some of the stronger features of the device: "The 6-inch E Ink display with XGA resolution is the device’s strongest asset, boasting 63.8% more pixels than other E Ink e-readers. Comparisons with the display of the Amazon Kindle have generally shown that the iRiver Story HD’s image quality is much more crisp and rich although they both have 16 levels of gray scale."
As slashgear.com and several reveiwers have noted, "Unlike the Amazon Kindle bookstore, Google’s offering is open to all publishers, retailers, and manufacturers. It can also be accessed from any device on any platform with an internet connection."
Those are two strong incentives, but are they strong enough?
Macworld.com gave a detailed account of what it was like to use the device, praising (partly) its sharp text, but critiqued features from fonts to the lack of page-turning buttons (found on the Kindle) to the waiting time when dowloading ebooks. Slashgear.com also notes that the device fails to make any bold strides ahead of its competition.
Will this device become the e-reader of the holidays or just another failed campaign in the assault on your e-reading dollars? Critics may not be impressed, but buyers have yet to weigh in. We'll see how the device sells soon enough. As for me, I question the wisdom of making any device the color brown. It gives the critics that more ammunition.
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