PRS-950 Thinking to buy a 950 tonight... - Page 2

lstroyan · 06-04-2011, 09:34 PM

Call them, and ask if they have a display model. Mine was in perfect shape, and I got another $20 off.

My hint: don't wipe the devices memory, just reset the settings. Wiping it wiped off the pretty pictures and I'm still trying to figure out where to find them again

anamardoll · 06-04-2011, 09:49 PM

They WILL sell the floor model, but they don't have the power adapter. Are those something that can be gotten from a third party? Hastily googling now.

jswinden · 06-04-2011, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamardoll

They WILL sell the floor model, but they don't have the power adapter. Are those something that can be gotten from a third party? Hastily googling now.

You can use most any microUSB charger. My blackberry charger works well as will most cellular phone chargers. You can also trickle charge with the microUSB to standard USB cable. The Sonys use industry standard cables!

lstroyan · 06-04-2011, 09:53 PM

It's just a micro-USB -- tell them they have to give you a new one

I don't know if it is a different power profile than, say, my Motorola Droid, though. (My Kindle was the same and I could use my car charger for either). But they could open it up, plug it in, and see if it is charging...

And how do they have it on display if they don't have the power adapter?

They are Best Buy. Keep asking until someone figures it out

Lisa

anamardoll · 06-04-2011, 09:53 PM

Awesome. Car. Now. Thanks!!

jswinden · 06-04-2011, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lstroyan

It's just a micro-USB -- tell them they have to give you a new one

I don't know if it is a different power profile than, say, my Motorola Droid, though. (My Kindle was the same and I could use my car charger for either). But they could open it up, plug it in, and see if it is charging...

And how do they have it on display if they don't have the power adapter?

They are Best Buy. Keep asking until someone figures it out

Lisa

Excellent points! As a USB charger it will use 5 volts but the milliamps might be slightly different between devices. That isn't a problem though as worst case scenario means it will charge slower. 500 milliamps will charge just fine as that is what my BB charger uses.

EDIT: I looked up the specs and the 950s charger is 5volts at 1500 milliamps. My BB charger is rated at only 500 milliamps and it charges well but theoretically will take apps three times longer. But each charge is good for 20,000 page turns!

anamardoll · 06-04-2011, 11:13 PM

GAH. Best Buy guy YANKED the security device off and wrenched the device into two parts. I was not impressed with the manly display.

Will have to try another Best Buy tomorrow.

lstroyan · 06-04-2011, 11:17 PM

That's INSANE! I'm so sorry you have to go through all this mess.

You could always spend tonight cleaning up all your Calibre tags and making sure everything is in epub or pdf, though, if you want something to do

Oh, and going to "The Screensaver Thread" on the forums and picking up a few pretty pics...installing the Reader software, although mine didn't force me to do so like others have reported so maybe see if you can get away without it, unless you are going to download library books in which case you need it. If you are still bored, you can browse Overdrive for your local library

Poppaea · 06-05-2011, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lstroyan

...installing the Reader software, although mine didn't force me to do so like others have reported so maybe see if you can get away without it, unless you are going to download library books in which case you need it. If you are still bored, you can browse Overdrive for your local library

You can load library books either with ADE or with RL. If you don't like RL there is absolutly no reason to use it.

Also you can convert all your epubs to LRF and use the embedded fonts. This way you'll kill three birds with one stone as LRF also downsizes the gap between the S and the M font and does not need new fonts installed on the Sony. You'd be able to bulk convert all your files.

lstroyan · 06-05-2011, 09:52 AM

The wiki says that ADE requires RL be installed even if you don't actually use it, because it uses one of the libraries? Maybe that's no longer true.

Thanks for the tip about LRF, I'll take a look at that!

jswinden · 06-05-2011, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamardoll

GAH. Best Buy guy YANKED the security device off and wrenched the device into two parts. I was not impressed with the manly display.

Will have to try another Best Buy tomorrow.

Sorry that happened! Those BB sales people are not the brightest, even among retail peers. It probably would have made a good Youtube video though.

I hope you find a 950 in your area. I read in this forum of one person who was able to locate a 950 in a BB about 30 miles away and was able to wist a few arms at her local BB and the one which had the 950 and got them to ship it to her store. Doesn't hurt to try.

anamardoll · 06-05-2011, 12:42 PM

Phew, Best Buy saga over.

After the guy at Best Buy #1 broke the casing last night, I drove to Best Buy #2 and JUST BARELY GOT THERE before they closed. Manager at Best Buy #2 refused to sell me the Sony 950, saying that it was "just a demo unit". I explained to him that the Sony is not a Kindle (thanks, Amazon, for those lovely demo units that confuse everyone) and that the device is fully functional.

Manager finally tells me that I can have the "demo unit" since I'm so stubbornly convinced that it's the real thing, but NOT at a discounted price and I have to come back tomorrow (that is, THIS morning) because the "opening crew" has the "special device" necessary to take the security device off. Then he promises me that the whole thing will be waiting at customer service.

Come in this morning, and the customer service people have never heard of me -- despite Manager writing down my name and number in front of me -- and they've never heard of these "special devices" that remove the security device. We go over to the display unit and a REALLY AWESOME EMPLOYEE NAMED ERIC THANK YOU ERIC gently pried the security device off.

(I took the security-device-to-power cable and slapped it into their PRS-350 model since it didn't have any power and was dead as a doornail. The cute little 350 powered up and seemed pretty happy about the whole thing. I swear to gawd, folks, Best Buy confuses the heck out of me.)

And a REALLY COOL EMPLOYEE NAMED JENNIFER THANK YOU JENNIFER gave me my out of box discount after all. (Which I then used to buy the extended warranty, yes, I am a chump.)

SO. Now I have a PRS-950, very pretty, but the back casing has a FLOOR MODEL sticker and it could use a good scrub. Feels a bit sticky. Sony Veterans: what's the best way to clean the back of this?

Overall, I'm very happy. Amazed I had to jump through so many hoops though. Wow.

Bookworm_Girl · 06-05-2011, 01:41 PM

What an ordeal you had to go through! I hope that it was worth it, and you are enjoying your new 950 once you get it set-up!

Hopefully someone else will chime in how best to clean the sticker residue or you might need to start a separate thread. You could check the user guide to see if it has any approved cleaning recommendations.

jswinden · 06-05-2011, 01:45 PM

Congrats!!!!

Its electronic, so be very careful if you use a liquid cleaner. If it wasn't an electronic device I would recommend mineral spirits (paint thinner) to clean off the stickiness. If you use mineral spirits just be careful. You might also try fingernail polish remover as I've heard that works for cleaning off sticky residue, but I've never tried it.

When I bought my 350 from BB last year (right after they were released), it took several trips and phone calls to various stores before I was able to convince my local BB that they actually had one in stock and to please go look in the stockroom. They kept arguing even though the managers of two other BB stores told me that their computers indicated my local store had several in stock. In frustration I decide to just give up and go home. Fortunately I ran across the manager of the camera section and since I've bought several cameras from her she came up to me and asked if something was wrong. I explained my frustration. She got on the computer and verified they had them in stock, but she too hit a rock wall with the salesman in the ereader area. So she went into the stockroom and returned a few minutes later with my 350! Unfortunately she no longer works for my local BB. BB never seems to keep anyone good for very long. I think most of the current crop have IQs that are not much higher than their ages!

(Sorry, but being a well educated intellectual type it really pains me to have to deal with such idiots in nearly every retail store at which I shop.)

RajS · 06-05-2011, 01:46 PM

Do be careful not to take the serial number sticker off. You'll need to keep that there.

Also, I'd just use a normal household cleaner - lightly and then a water dampened microfibre. The back of the 950 is supposed to feel like it has a really thin coating of rubber on it - it's not slick.

Best of luck.

06-05-2011, 12:42 PM	#27
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	Phew, Best Buy saga over. After the guy at Best Buy #1 broke the casing last night, I drove to Best Buy #2 and JUST BARELY GOT THERE before they closed. Manager at Best Buy #2 refused to sell me the Sony 950, saying that it was "just a demo unit". I explained to him that the Sony is not a Kindle (thanks, Amazon, for those lovely demo units that confuse everyone) and that the device is fully functional. Manager finally tells me that I can have the "demo unit" since I'm so stubbornly convinced that it's the real thing, but NOT at a discounted price and I have to come back tomorrow (that is, THIS morning) because the "opening crew" has the "special device" necessary to take the security device off. Then he promises me that the whole thing will be waiting at customer service. Come in this morning, and the customer service people have never heard of me -- despite Manager writing down my name and number in front of me -- and they've never heard of these "special devices" that remove the security device. We go over to the display unit and a REALLY AWESOME EMPLOYEE NAMED ERIC THANK YOU ERIC gently pried the security device off. (I took the security-device-to-power cable and slapped it into their PRS-350 model since it didn't have any power and was dead as a doornail. The cute little 350 powered up and seemed pretty happy about the whole thing. I swear to gawd, folks, Best Buy confuses the heck out of me.) And a REALLY COOL EMPLOYEE NAMED JENNIFER THANK YOU JENNIFER gave me my out of box discount after all. (Which I then used to buy the extended warranty, yes, I am a chump.) SO. Now I have a PRS-950, very pretty, but the back casing has a FLOOR MODEL sticker and it could use a good scrub. Feels a bit sticky. Sony Veterans: what's the best way to clean the back of this? Overall, I'm very happy. Amazed I had to jump through so many hoops though. Wow. Last edited by anamardoll; 06-05-2011 at 12:45 PM.

06-05-2011, 01:45 PM	#29
jswinden Nameless Being	Congrats!!!! Its electronic, so be very careful if you use a liquid cleaner. If it wasn't an electronic device I would recommend mineral spirits (paint thinner) to clean off the stickiness. If you use mineral spirits just be careful. You might also try fingernail polish remover as I've heard that works for cleaning off sticky residue, but I've never tried it. When I bought my 350 from BB last year (right after they were released), it took several trips and phone calls to various stores before I was able to convince my local BB that they actually had one in stock and to please go look in the stockroom. They kept arguing even though the managers of two other BB stores told me that their computers indicated my local store had several in stock. In frustration I decide to just give up and go home. Fortunately I ran across the manager of the camera section and since I've bought several cameras from her she came up to me and asked if something was wrong. I explained my frustration. She got on the computer and verified they had them in stock, but she too hit a rock wall with the salesman in the ereader area. So she went into the stockroom and returned a few minutes later with my 350! Unfortunately she no longer works for my local BB. BB never seems to keep anyone good for very long. I think most of the current crop have IQs that are not much higher than their ages! (Sorry, but being a well educated intellectual type it really pains me to have to deal with such idiots in nearly every retail store at which I shop.) Last edited by jswinden; 06-05-2011 at 01:49 PM.

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06-04-2011, 09:34 PM	#16
lstroyan No title Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Kindle	Call them, and ask if they have a display model. Mine was in perfect shape, and I got another $20 off. My hint: don't wipe the devices memory, just reset the settings. Wiping it wiped off the pretty pictures and I'm still trying to figure out where to find them again

06-04-2011, 09:49 PM	#17
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	They WILL sell the floor model, but they don't have the power adapter. Are those something that can be gotten from a third party? Hastily googling now.

06-04-2011, 09:53 PM	#19
lstroyan No title Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Kindle	It's just a micro-USB -- tell them they have to give you a new one I don't know if it is a different power profile than, say, my Motorola Droid, though. (My Kindle was the same and I could use my car charger for either). But they could open it up, plug it in, and see if it is charging... And how do they have it on display if they don't have the power adapter? They are Best Buy. Keep asking until someone figures it out Lisa

06-04-2011, 11:13 PM	#22
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	GAH. Best Buy guy YANKED the security device off and wrenched the device into two parts. I was not impressed with the manly display. Will have to try another Best Buy tomorrow.

06-04-2011, 11:17 PM	#23
lstroyan No title Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Kindle	That's INSANE! I'm so sorry you have to go through all this mess. You could always spend tonight cleaning up all your Calibre tags and making sure everything is in epub or pdf, though, if you want something to do Oh, and going to "The Screensaver Thread" on the forums and picking up a few pretty pics...installing the Reader software, although mine didn't force me to do so like others have reported so maybe see if you can get away without it, unless you are going to download library books in which case you need it. If you are still bored, you can browse Overdrive for your local library

06-05-2011, 09:52 AM	#25
lstroyan No title Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Kindle	The wiki says that ADE requires RL be installed even if you don't actually use it, because it uses one of the libraries? Maybe that's no longer true. Thanks for the tip about LRF, I'll take a look at that!

06-05-2011, 01:41 PM	#28
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	What an ordeal you had to go through! I hope that it was worth it, and you are enjoying your new 950 once you get it set-up! Hopefully someone else will chime in how best to clean the sticker residue or you might need to start a separate thread. You could check the user guide to see if it has any approved cleaning recommendations.

06-05-2011, 01:46 PM	#30
RajS Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 21298 Join Date: May 2011 Device: PRS-950	Do be careful not to take the serial number sticker off. You'll need to keep that there. Also, I'd just use a normal household cleaner - lightly and then a water dampened microfibre. The back of the 950 is supposed to feel like it has a really thin coating of rubber on it - it's not slick. Best of luck.

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