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gmw · 11-19-2010, 06:57 PM

Hi all. As the proud owner of a Sony PRS-650 for all of ten days I have to say I am pretty pleased with it. (A few minor niggles but let's ignore those for the moment.) One thought did occur to me...

Certain people are known to go to sleep while they read (names withheld to protect the innocent). The book drops lower and lower until it falls to the floor (or the dog sleeping at their feet). These habits have made such people disinclined to try out my sparkling new toy (not that I'm sure I want to share just yet anyway). So this leads to the obvious question: How tough are these devices?

I am particularly curious about the *50 line because the new type of touch screen must surely have different properties, with regard to scratch resistance and so on, than the previous models. But if you want to share your experience with other models then that will be interesting too.

The device certainly feels quite sturdy, it was one of the deciding factors in the purchase. I've read on here about broken styluses (at this point that doesn't worry me much as I have not found I need it for my use), but in a brief browse I found little about other sorts of physical damage: scratched or broken screens, stop working after drop to carpet/wooden/concrete floor from 2ft, 3ft, 10ft etc.

I did get a cover for my 650 - one of those overpriced Sony covers (without the light). Overpriced but seems fairly well made and it certainly makes the device more pleasant to hold while reading ... I will have to tell you in another twelve months how well it has actually worn. However I am not convinced that the cover offers all that much protection - except perhaps from getting dusty sitting on the desk. The magnetic "latch" seems insufficient to protect the cover from scratches while being carried in a bag (presumably most people put their reader and cover in an additional protective bag or something), and if you drop the reader while reading the cover is likely to be open or folded back out of the way (or the reader may jolt free), and so the screen seems likely to be vulnerable despite the cover.

Obviously these are not the sorts of things we experiment on with our shiny new toys, so learning from other's accidents seems the best way to discover how tough the devices may be. Would anyone like to share their horror stories or miracle stories about how tough (or not) their Sony Reader has turned out?

11-19-2010, 06:57 PM	#1
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,809 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	How tough are they? (350/650/950) Hi all. As the proud owner of a Sony PRS-650 for all of ten days I have to say I am pretty pleased with it. (A few minor niggles but let's ignore those for the moment.) One thought did occur to me... Certain people are known to go to sleep while they read (names withheld to protect the innocent). The book drops lower and lower until it falls to the floor (or the dog sleeping at their feet). These habits have made such people disinclined to try out my sparkling new toy (not that I'm sure I want to share just yet anyway). So this leads to the obvious question: How tough are these devices? I am particularly curious about the *50 line because the new type of touch screen must surely have different properties, with regard to scratch resistance and so on, than the previous models. But if you want to share your experience with other models then that will be interesting too. The device certainly feels quite sturdy, it was one of the deciding factors in the purchase. I've read on here about broken styluses (at this point that doesn't worry me much as I have not found I need it for my use), but in a brief browse I found little about other sorts of physical damage: scratched or broken screens, stop working after drop to carpet/wooden/concrete floor from 2ft, 3ft, 10ft etc. I did get a cover for my 650 - one of those overpriced Sony covers (without the light). Overpriced but seems fairly well made and it certainly makes the device more pleasant to hold while reading ... I will have to tell you in another twelve months how well it has actually worn. However I am not convinced that the cover offers all that much protection - except perhaps from getting dusty sitting on the desk. The magnetic "latch" seems insufficient to protect the cover from scratches while being carried in a bag (presumably most people put their reader and cover in an additional protective bag or something), and if you drop the reader while reading the cover is likely to be open or folded back out of the way (or the reader may jolt free), and so the screen seems likely to be vulnerable despite the cover. Obviously these are not the sorts of things we experiment on with our shiny new toys, so learning from other's accidents seems the best way to discover how tough the devices may be. Would anyone like to share their horror stories or miracle stories about how tough (or not) their Sony Reader has turned out?