In January, I received a shipment of eight REB1100's for use in the LSTA Electronic Book Evaluation Project. This has provided me with the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison of the original Rocket eBook to the new REB1100. 

Improvements of REB1100 over Rocket-

• REB1100 weighs 5 ounces less than the Rocket and the decrease in weight is immediately noticeable 
• Buttons to turn the pages are larger and further apart 
• Rubbery cover on the spine of the REB1100 allows for a better grip
• All ports are covered by attached rubbery covers, which ensure that dirt, sand, etc. cannot easily make their way into the device
• A reset button has been added
• Includes an internal modem to allow for downloading over an analog phone line
• Credit card information is protected by a user specified password. This ensures that your credit card is protected should you lose your REB1100
• Storage capacity increased from 4,000 to 8,000 pages of text
• When purchasing titles over the modem, all titles are downloaded, one after another, without the user's prompting
• When initially registering the REB1100, the user is given the option of re-encrypting and transferring titles that he/she may have purchased for a Rocket device
• Additional features have been added 
  • analog contrast setting
  • ability to reverse page-up and page-down buttons
  • date and time feature

Setbacks of REB1100-

• Screen size of the REB1100 (5.5" diagonal) is less than the Rocket (6.5" diagonal)
• REB1100's carrying case is much flimsier, offering little protection and was not designed to accommodate the uneven width of the device because of the battery in the spine-- very difficult to get the device in and out of the carrying case
• Of the 8 REB1100's purchased, I have had significant troubles with three of them-- 2 came with default contrasts that were so low that the text on the screen was almost invisible. It is not possible to set alternate default backlighting or contrast settings. However, after a combination of pushing the reset button and pressing the "on" button while holding down the up-page button (sort of an equivalent to Ctrl-Alt-Delete on a PC computer), I was able to adjust the contrast defaults. A third device simply would not turn on, in spite of having a fully charged battery. I was able to get it working with a combination of the reset button and pressing the "on" button while holding down the up-page button. I have had to use the reset button on 5 of the 8 devices so far.
• The RocketLibrarian software that accompanies the REB1100 on CD-Rom does not allow a user to upload public domain titles, HTML or ASCII documents. However, it is reported that the REB1100 will communicate with the original version of the RocketLibrarian software, which does allow for the loading of non-Gemstar titles (I have not tried this for myself)

Other features of the REB1100 to note-

• When purchasing ebooks over the modem, you have the option of first downloading subject catalogs. The catalogs allow you to browse through available titles from Gemstar without tying up your phone line. Each title in the catalog is accompanied by an order button. By pressing the order button, the title is added to an order form. The next time you dial-up using the REB1100's modem, the order form is uploaded and the titles are purchased and downloaded to either your device or online bookshelf. 

  Available Catalogs
  Art & Lifestyle Business & Investing Current Fiction Drama & Poetry  English & American Literature Family Heath, Self-Help & Religion Mystery & Thriller	Nonfiction, History & Biography Romance Science & Technology Science Fiction Social Science & Politics World Literature Bestsellers Periodicals

• At the bottom of the screen is an audio button marked by two musical notes. Although early announcements regarding the REB1100 stated that it would have MP3 audio capability, this feature has been disabled, in spite of the presence of the audio button. When the button is pressed, the following note appears on the screen-- "Coming Soon! In the future, your eBook may be able to play music so you can listen to your favorite songs while you read. Look for news about the availability of this exciting new features."