iriver’s Story HD Now Available Through Target.com

The iriver Story HD, which we reviewed back in July, has officially hit Target store shelves and Target.com for $139. The device, which is fully tied to Google’s eBookstore, is touted as having one of the highest resolution displays for an eReader at 768 x 1024, while competitors such as the Kindle, Kobo, and Nook have resolutions of only 600 x 800. As a result, fonts are crisper, and small text doesn’t appear fuzzy. Book colors and illustrations were also sharper, although smaller as well.

Powered by an 800-MHz Freescale i.MX508 processor designed specifically for eReaders, the Story HD provided decent overall performance. We experienced little lag when moving between menus and flipping through pages, but opening books took longer than with other eReaders and we noticed a distinct pause between pressing the flip bar and the moment a page turned. iriver says the Story HD’s battery can last 6 to 10 weeks on a single charge. Story HD users can also sideload documents onto the device via its SD card slot or through its USB 2.0 port.

In general we found the Story HD to be an adequate eReader, but not quite as good as Barnes & Nobles’ Nook, which also costs $139, or Amazon’s Kindle Wi-Fi, which costs $10 less. For more information, check out our full review of the iriver Story HD.