The Story HD does a great job of distinguishing itself in display quality. As its HD moniker implies, the 6-inch display carries a 768-by-1024-pixel resolution, the result of an improved electronics backplane. That higher-res backplane in turn helps the E Ink technology–which already uses dozens of microcapsules per pixel to form letters and images on the screen–look better. IRiver is the first manufacturer to ship this technology in the United States; Hanvon currently uses it in China.
The result: Text looks sharp and clear, with smooth rendering and no pixelation or artifacts. The display supports 16-level grayscale. Text appears finer on the Story HD than on the third-generation Amazon Kindle, but its black tones lack the contrast and punch of the Kindle (and the Barnes & Noble Nook, for that matter). The lower contrast may be, in part, an optical illusion caused by the Story HD’s beige bezel; the Kindle and Nook each use a dark gray, borderline black bezel. Personally, I prefer the dark bezel to the cream-colored texture of the Story HD.
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For starters, the Story HD has no page-turning buttons alongside the display; instead, those chores are left to the four-way navigation bar beneath the screen. Although that arrangement isn’t so bad for navigation, it is an awkward position for page turns, unless you’re grasping the e-reader by the lower third (only then is it clear that the approximately 2-inch long, centered button is situated so that it’s in reach of either your left or right thumb). The button does only four directions, and doesn’t allow you to push in as you’d expect; to make a selection, you must move over to the dedicated enter button located to the right. Travel between the nav bar and the enter and option buttons feels organic for navigation purposes, but I repeatedly expected the bar to push in to select something, and I disliked how stiff the buttons were.
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The reader supports PDFs and EPub files (including protected Adobe Digital Editions), as well as text files, FB2, and DJVU formats. It also can read Microsoft Office Excel, Word, and PowerPoint documents.
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Once I selected a book to purchase, I was first prompted to sign into my account. My G-mail username was pre-populated, but I had to enter my password. This screen’s design looks like a remnant from a Web browser: The sign-in is in such small text you might question your 20/20 vision, and it’s inexplicably squished up into the upper left corner of the screen.
If you don’t already have Google Checkout configured for your Google account, you’ll next be prompted to provide your credit card information. (Tip: It’s easier to enter this information directly on a computer or even a tablet.) If you have Google Checkout, you’ll skip directly to a confirmation screen showing the book purchase, any tax owed, and a drop down menu showing your payment options. Select complete your purchase when done, and your book is purchased.
However-and it’s a big however-your book isn’t downloaded. For that, you need to go back to the home screen, and make sure to download the book locally.
All of this is a few more steps than you need to jump through on iRiver Story HD’s competition. And if you’re buying multiple books in a row, it’s annoying to have to sign into the account each and every time.
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Frankly, that the U.S. market has gotten the IRiver Story HD at all is a surprise; the company introduced its first e-reader for international markets two years ago, and is only now bringing its third-generation product to the U.S. The partnership with Google Books should give this e-reader a boost, and may give Google Books a boost as well.
The iRiver Story HD design leaves feels rough compared with Barnes & Noble and Kobo, and the interface feels has some work ahead, too. But the emergence of the first Google Books-driven e-reader will surely drive competition among the players in this space, and that can only benefit book lovers.
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Pros
- Clean interface
- High-resolution XGA E Ink display
Cons
- Buttons are stiff, and poorly placed
- Sometimes sluggish navigation
Bottom Line
This e-reader offers a crisp, high-resolution display, but its chintzy design leaves much to be desired.