Hands-On With The iRiver Cover Story: Will The Extra Features Make Up For The Extra Price?

Remember the iRiver Story? That slim and cute 6-inch eReader that the company showed off at CES this year but which never launched in the U.S. That wasn’t a huge surprise as the eReader market here is getting pretty cutthroat. If you can’t deliver 3G or Wi-Fi or touch or something else to differentiate your product along with a sub-$200 or, even better, a sub-$150 price point, then perhaps it’s better to not bother. That’s why I have little hope of seeing the new iRiver Cover Story hit U.S. shelves even though it has several great features, many not seen on popular models.

I’m disappointed that the Cover Story probably isn’t coming to the U.S. because of its functionality beyond eBook reading. The device can read several book and document formats including EPUB, PDF, TXT, Word, Excel and even Power Point, which is more than most mainstream eReaders can handle. In addition to playing MP3, WMA and OGG audio files, the Cover Story will also record voice memos in MP3 format.

The Wi-Fi version will incorporate an e-mail app that can pull and send emails from over 3 different POP accounts. Via the e-mail app users can send their notes, memos, highlights and more from within books as an attachment. While it’s just a screenshot and not actual text, I can see several uses for this function. This feature-set isn’t as robust as what Plastic Logic promised with the Que, but I can see this device being very useful for the business market.

As you can see from the hands-on pics, the display has some issues with reflection. That’s because of the layer over the e-ink screen that makes touch possible — a problem the last generation of Sony Readers suffered from. Contrast appeared pretty deep and the screen was definitely readable, but that reflective thing can be really distracting, especially in the sun. Beyond that, I found the touch screen decently responsive when tapping within menus, selecting text, and drawing in the memo area.

The 6.6 x 5.0 x 0.5 inch device is pretty light — just 9.9 ounces — and has the same 6-inch screen as the Story and just about every other mainstream eReader. The Cover Story has a smaller footprint since it’s touch-based and thus needs fewer buttons. The buttons it does have are mostly on the top and left edges except for a multi-use button/bar on the front left. With this you can turn pages by flipping it forward or back (similar to the iRex DR800SG) and access the Home and Back functions.

The Cover Story is so named because it comes standard with a plastic cover, just like the PocketBook 360. They each have an attractive checked design and come in White, Blue Silver, Lime Green, Hot Pink, Baby Pink, Beige and Titan to match the eReader’s color choices. But there may be an opportunity to buy decorative or skinned covers in the future similar to the wall display at iRiver’s IFA booth.

Another similarity to the PocketBook 360 is the built-in G-sensor that will automatically flip the orientation in all four directions. So whether you’re right or left handed, you can use your dominant hand to turn pages. I heartily approve of this approach.

The two biggest drawbacks of the Cover Story are the big ones: performance and price. While it’s not a total slug, the device didn’t react instantly to taps or button presses, took longer than I liked to load screens and open books, and turned pages in about 2 or 3 seconds. Long enough to notice, not long enough to be ridiculous. Still, that’s a big problem for an eReader that costs over 200 euro, and that’s without the Wi-Fi. The price on that version isn’t set yet, but either way both are more expensive than the Kindle and Nook. Yes, it includes features those competitors don’t have, but are they enough to draw consumers away?

Despite its drawbacks, I hope we do get to see the iRiver Cover Story or a future version of it in the U.S. someday.