$749 electronic reader by iRex could be more user-friendly

— -- Many business people are drowning in documents at work. Dutch company iRex Technologies designed its new series of electronic readers with these folks in mind. The first device, the iRex Digital Reader 1000S, went on sale this week. Too bad it's a disappointment.

IRex, which targets business users, is more of a burden to use than the more consumer-focused Amazon Kindle or its rival, the Sony Reader. The iRex readers cost a bundle, too.

At times, the preproduction unit I tested behaved like the buggy "beta" that it is. On the positive side, iRex boasts a 10.2-inch display that's much larger than the screens on the Kindle or Sony device. It's appealingly light. Like the Amazon and Sony devices, it exploits electronic display technology from E Ink.

It also demonstrates, perhaps, how the e-book reader category might soon expand.

A closer read:

The basics.

The iRex Reader will be available in three configurations. The 1000S costs $749 and has a built-in Wacom digitizer and stylus, meaning you can make annotations on the screen. While the $349 Kindle doesn't have a digitizer, it does allow you to connect wirelessly to the online Kindle Store, at least when you're in an Ev-Do cellular coverage area. In the Kindle Store, you can browse and download digital books on the fly without being tethered to a computer.

You'll have to spend an additional $100 for a wireless version of iRex; the $849 1000SW will add Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when it arrives later in the year. IRex says you'll be able to access an iRex Delivery Server to download digital newspapers and other content. Still, it won't be anything comparable to the Kindle Store. You can use the Bluetooth, iRex says, to connect wirelessly to a 3G cellphone. But it remains to be seen how well that might work. The device will have a very limited Web browser.

Coming far sooner will be the entry-level iRex Digital Reader 1000, assuming anything that costs $649 can be categorized as entry level. It lacks the digitizer and the wireless. You'd think for those prices iRex would supply a wall charger. Instead, it's a $23 option.