Quote:
Originally Posted by Fortissimo
Hello everybody.
I'm a proud owner of a brand new, black PRS 650  Now I have some preliminary questions for you veterans.
1. Which is the best case for the reader? I've narrowed my search down to either the leather case from Proporta or the Sony Standard cover available at waterstones. I'm inclined to go for the Sony because, well, it's Sony! 
They should know what's best for their products.
2. The recommended operating temperature has a higher limit of about 35 degrees celsius. I live in the tropics were temperatures routinely rise above 30 degrees. Is there any risk of damage to the reader?  Especially as it is black.
3. Do you good people have any tips or advice on how to maximise my reader and keep it in good working condition for as long as possible?
I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes on. Thanks everybody.
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1. I have this
Proporta cover it is NOT real leather but some kind of 'leatherette'. I paid just over 20 dollars for it a few months back on amazon, and consider it a reasonably good value at that price. Given the same choice today, I would probably go with one of the Sony products though, given that the price on the Proporta cover has increased to nearly 35 dollars U.S. I have a family member that has the official Sony lighted cover and she loves it. Both the Sony cover and the Proporta cover are well made, but to me it looks like the clip that attaches the reader to the cover might be a little more secure on the official Sony product. Currently BOTH the Sony and Proporta products are overpriced for what you get, so you might want to consider a slip in leather cover like the one previously reccomended - no need to pay 29 dollars for one though as they are available on
amazon for about half that price.
2. The upper limit on the operating temperature range is almost certainly due to concerns about the service life of the E-Ink display and the L-Ion battery, both of which can take much higher temperatures SHORT TERM (50C) but with reduced operating lifetimes. The E-Ink panel has nano-capsule e-ink particles suspended in micro thin layer of a fluid medium. I suspect that higher operating temperatures will cause this layer to dry out more quickly reducing the service life. It's also well documented that higher operating temperatures reduce both the capacity and the service life of batteries. So it's not so much that operation above 30C will instantly destroy your PRS-650, Sony is just trying to be conservative to insure a long service life, because when either the e-ink display or the batteries wear out, the high cost of repair or replacement may not be worthwhile. Since you mentioned that your unit is black, I would definitely be very careful though about leaving your PRS-650 out under the tropical sun, even shut down, since the temperature under those conditions could quickly rise to exceed even the non-operating limits.
3. To Maximize life on you batteries and display, try to avoid elevated temperatures as much as is possible in your climate. Also since lithium batteries do no like deep discharge, and since high temperatures cause an increase in the self discharge rate on batteries, be sure to fully charge the unit, and do a complete power-down, if it will not be used for several weeks. This is particularly important in tropical climates because lithium cell batteries can be destroyed by excessively deep discharge, and heat increases the self discharge rate. The PRS-650 has an auto-shutdown which is designed to do a hard-power-down in case you try to run the battery down too far, but in tropical climates because of heat induced self discharge, the battery could continue to discharge below the safe minimum voltage if stored for weeks or months in this fully discharged state.
Other than that, as has already been suggested, just check out the "tips and tricks" section of this forum.