Quote:
Originally Posted by emellaich
I am facing the same dilemna, and I am currently leaning towards the pocket pro for many of the reasons stated by griffonwing and wallcraft. However, there are a couple of thoughts that are keeping the Sony firmly in my thoughts.
1) I am buying this for my son, and I hear good comments on the build quality, the sturdiness of the Sony and its metal case. I'm not convinced I am really concerned, but a few folks on these forums have commented about the plastic and cheap feel of the earlier generation Hanlins.
2) I have purchased brand new products quite often, and then had to live with growing pains. My most relevant example was my purchase of a Cybook Gen 3. Truthfully I did get value for my purchase, given it was about the only choice in e-ink readers at the time. However, it also had many problems. The Sony has been performing reliably for a while and seems to be standing the test of time. The brand new Hanlin???
3) The Sony seems to be on sale at several places. Most recently I saw a report of $215 at ecost. There are also reports that you can get $150 off or more if you apply for a Sony credit card and buy from the Sony store.
The reasons I am leaning towards the pocket pro, however are:
1) pocketable: for a guy with large front pockets, I believe you will be able to slip it into your pockets when your hands are full.
2) Faster: faster controller and processor. However, I'm not sure how long it takes to start reading a book. My Cybook took 45 seconds or more, but my Kindle takes five seconds.
3) Nice colors.
4) Inexpensive.
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I'd LOVE to know how fast it boots up as well. Also, if there's an option to automatically open to the last page you reading, that also would be excellent. Is there that option in OpenInkpot?
As for the build quality, you'd need to ask an owner. It's been said that Fry's has the lowest returns of the EZ Reader line, so there's evidence that people love it. It has to be well constructed.
And as for support, the Astak crew have some of the best customer support. The marketing directer himself 'trolls' these forums, and always has an ear, or will pass information to the right hands.
The main reasons for me to get the pocket pro are:
1) Slate Blue!! Wooooo!
2) Pocketablility! I go everywhere with blazers. Corduroy, tweed, wool, matters not what time of year. Blazers have good sized pockets, but not so large as to hold a 6" reader. The 5", on the other hand, will fit nicely, inside pocket, or outside.
3) Price! I am cheap and broke, and that makes for a horrible combination. (Much better than being Rich and Stingy though, or being Poor and Spendy. Those would suck more) The price of readers has kept me away from the Sony and others. $399 for a Sony 500 when they came out, egad!
4) Formats! I like the ability of having more options to read. With 15 formats, I'm not stuck to one store, or one or 2 formats, OR stuck with mandatory DRM and converting to read. It used to be Sony could read several formats, but only AFTER you converted them with their conversion tool into BeBook format. (I think that is right. Correct me if I am mistaken).
5) Capacity! The ability to use a 16GB card is going to be awesome. However, I don't know how quickly it will access a full 16GB card. It may creep along as it chugs through the massive folder/file sctructure, or it may have an intelligent indexing feature. Either way, I'd rather carry 1 SD card in the machine than 3 cards in my pockets.
6) There is Nooooooooooo, option 6.
7) Speed! The few units that I've see videos on, or that I've tested were slow in page-turning. Big turn-off to me. I'd rather have the latest and greatest technology (Epson controller). That's why I currently wear a cell phone watch. It's not perfect, but it's very handy, and it does most everything I need a cell phone to do, and nothing that I don't need a phone for.
8) Gray Levels! See what I did there? Number 8? 8 gray levels? (HA!) More gray levels, better image quality, better to see pictures, which includes pdf comics, holiday photos, etc..
Just to name a few.
I tend to ramble, and repeat myself very often. And make very bad puns. And basically make ppl say "Oh no, he posted again".
Oh No! I posted again!