Possible new Sony ereader with Glo

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Kaitou Ace

...
I'll be honest though, my absolute, ideal reader would be the PRS-650 with a modern high-res eink screen and a light.

I'd be thrilled if Sony would make the x50 readers with a front light. As for screen res, I really don't see the need for the 2048 that some are coming out with this year. Honestly, I see no difference at all from my 350 with 800x600 than on the Kobo Glo with 1024x768 (in fact, the Sony 350 has darker saturation of the text and looks sharper because of the higher contrast). If you were viewing color images I could see it, but not just for reading text.

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I'd be thrilled if Sony would make the x50 readers with a front light. As for screen res, I really don't see the need for the 2048 that some are coming out with this year. Honestly, I see no difference at all from my 350 with 800x600 than on the Kobo Glo with 1024x768 (in fact, the Sony 350 has darker saturation of the text and looks sharper because of the higher contrast). If you were viewing color images I could see it, but not just for reading text.

I skipped the x50 line, but I love my T1. I will have to compare my T1 with a T3 to see if the screen shows enough of a difference to upgrade.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by Kaitou Ace

I'll be honest though, my absolute, ideal reader would be the PRS-650 with a modern high-res eink screen and a light.

Same here. Although, I got used to Kobo so much now, that I'll miss it if I were to change.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by samhy

Same here. Although, I got used to Kobo so much now, that I'll miss it if I were to change.

Like getting hit on the head with a hammer, it feels so good when you stop?

Helen

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Kaitou Ace

......
I'll be honest though, my absolute, ideal reader would be the PRS-650 with a modern high-res eink screen and a light.

+ 1

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by samhy

Same here. Although, I got used to Kobo so much now, that I'll miss it if I were to change.

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Like getting hit on the head with a hammer, it feels so good when you stop?

Helen

[Kaitou Ace]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I'd be thrilled if Sony would make the x50 readers with a front light. As for screen res, I really don't see the need for the 2048 that some are coming out with this year. Honestly, I see no difference at all from my 350 with 800x600 than on the Kobo Glo with 1024x768 (in fact, the Sony 350 has darker saturation of the text and looks sharper because of the higher contrast). If you were viewing color images I could see it, but not just for reading text.

Actually I'd be surprised if you could see the difference between the screen resolution of the 350 and the Glo! Because the 350 had a physically smaller screen it had a ppi (pixels per inch) of 200, while the Glo has a ppi of 212, just a tiny bit more. Now Glo vs a 650 or a T1, that I can definitely see, but they had a ppi of 166.

I am not sure if there's a real need for the 2048 res, but 1024 I definitely enjoy having.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Like getting hit on the head with a hammer, it feels so good when you stop?

Helen

You're very right More seriously, I have close to no bugs* on my ereaders so I have not much to complain about.

* Since January turning more pages than expected happened a couple of times, the devices have frozen maybe once each (same as the 650). The Mini had problems with some updates that were going on and on, but it didn't happen lately.

[jersysman]

No sale for me. How does Sony expect to get the "new" readers for their devices. They would be competing between Kobo and Amazon. That new T3 is already behind the devices that these two have out now and we have not even heard of the specs on the new ones yet. Since I will not get a Kobo, I'll just see what Amazon has to offer. This realy disappoints me with Sony.

[dhaberer]

Wow, I'm going to make the prediction that the T3 will be Sony's last ereader and it will flop. First, their price is higher than just about every single other reader on the market. No built-in light, no good. And the lower resolution screen. I don't think the higher resolution is really necessary, but when consumers look at them side by side and see that they get more for less, it's a simple decision.

I was truly hoping that Sony would bring a Z series reader out that's waterproof. Think of how easy it would be advertise against tablets (mainly the ipad, don't want to cannibalize the z tablet market) showing people reading at the beach/pool and in the tub while others can't even see a tablet's screen outside.

So, the T1 will be the last of 5 sony readers that we've owned (in addition to 3 nooks with glow). I think it may be time to make a jump over to Kobo with the Aura HD next.

[AnotherCat]

Personally I think the days of lit E Ink readers in the market is very limited. The only one I have had much of a play with has been the Kobo Glo and my reaction was that it really was a poor excuse for a lit handheld device. I read ebooks for a decade on colour screen PDA's and I would rather use one of those than a lit E Ink reader (even though their screens were smaller) and have the benefit of colour and the versatility for the many other applications that could be run.

Which leads to we already have the far more versatile 8 inch Samsung Tabs with as good a screen resolution as the Glo and competitive price wise (and which would be my choice over any lit E Ink device, if a lit device for reading was wanted), and Sony have just put out their Sony Xperia Z Ultra Phone/Tablet with 6.44 inch high definition screen. While the Sony is expensive it would not seem too long away before there is the likelihood that all the phone, camera, etc stuff will be ripped out to make a much cheaper basic Tab with wireless, audio, etc. together with the versatility for use with other applications that a lit e Ink device can not match. The only disadvantage at the moment is the more frequent charging but that if just used for reading will be in terms of in excess of 100 hours.

So my suspicion is that unlit E Ink readers will survive for quite some time in the market but lit ones will be quickly overtaken by the small Tablets.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Personally I think the days of lit E Ink readers in the market is very limited. The only one I have had much of a play with has been the Kobo Glo and my reaction was that it really was a poor excuse for a lit handheld device. I read ebooks for a decade on colour screen PDA's and I would rather use one of those than a lit E Ink reader (even though their screens were smaller) and have the benefit of colour and the versatility for the many other applications that could be run.

Which leads to we already have the far more versatile 8 inch Samsung Tabs with as good a screen resolution as the Glo and competitive price wise (and which would be my choice over any lit E Ink device, if a lit device for reading was wanted), and Sony have just put out their Sony Xperia Z Ultra Phone/Tablet with 6.44 inch high definition screen. While the Sony is expensive it would not seem too long away before there is the likelihood that all the phone, camera, etc stuff will be ripped out to make a much cheaper basic Tab with wireless, audio, etc. together with the versatility for use with other applications that a lit e Ink device can not match. The only disadvantage at the moment is the more frequent charging but that if just used for reading will be in terms of in excess of 100 hours.

So my suspicion is that unlit E Ink readers will survive for quite some time in the market but lit ones will be quickly overtaken by the small Tablets.

I disagree, I think the front-lit ereaders are here to stay and will keep improving. If you read outdoors at all, all the fancy tablets and PDAs and phones are 100% useless in the sun. If I didn't have ringtones assigned to all my contacts, I'd never be able to tell who was calling before I answer when outdoors even at max brightness settings. It doesn't even have to be in bright sunlight. Even if I try to find shade under trees, I still can barely read the screen.

And I don't see any use at all for a color display when reading novels. If you only read magazines, then I could see a reason to stick to color displays, and you wouldn't want e-ink in that case. But I don't read magazines at all and I can't remember ever picking up a book to read that was in color. I just want clear text on a paper-like background, just like when reading a paper book.

But that there's just no way to read from a back-lit device outdoors in bright light means that front-lit ereaders will be around for a long long time for those who like to read everywhere.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I disagree, I think the front-lit ereaders are here to stay and will keep improving. If you read outdoors at all, all the fancy tablets and PDAs and phones are 100% useless in the sun. If I didn't have ringtones assigned to all my contacts, I'd never be able to tell who was calling before I answer when outdoors even at max brightness settings. It doesn't even have to be in bright sunlight. Even if I try to find shade under trees, I still can barely read the screen.

And I don't see any use at all for a color display when reading novels. If you only read magazines, then I could see a reason to stick to color displays, and you wouldn't want e-ink in that case. But I don't read magazines at all and I can't remember ever picking up a book to read that was in color. I just want clear text on a paper-like background, just like when reading a paper book.

But that there's just no way to read from a back-lit device outdoors in bright light means that front-lit ereaders will be around for a long long time for those who like to read everywhere.

I certainly hope so. I'll hang to my e-ink ereader with my dying breath. It would be impossible to read in the summer during the day without it.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by jersysman

No sale for me. How does Sony expect to get the "new" readers for their devices. They would be competing between Kobo and Amazon. That new T3 is already behind the devices that these two have out now and we have not even heard of the specs on the new ones yet.

Regardless of the actual specs Sony's biggest problem will be price. A non lighted ereader will be going up against the Kindle 4, currently £69 and the Kobo Touch, unless the buyer is already a Sony ereader user they will only care about the lack of a front light. I can't see any new readers being drawn to the market by a non lighted ereader. Certainly not one more expensive than ereaders with a front light.

[alvina]

That seems to be the reason why Sony is including a lightweight cover now.

An included cover is something of a high value for a normal customer when he buys an E-Reader in a store or a bookshop. Some E-Readers don't have covers at all, and some companies charge 30-50 Euros for it.

People that buy an E-Readers in a bookshop have different priorities than people that visit internet forums about gadgets on a daily basis. I'm quite sure Sony has done some research about this and personally I think they're doing right with the T3.