Classic Nook vs Sony PRS-505

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by stangri

Bob,
in a world where anything different from what Sony does is wrong, screensavers can't be right.

Well, the Sony blanks the screen after a period of inactivity which uses just as much battery as changing it to an image.

BOb

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kennyc

If it is a "screensaver" that runs on the processor and rotates images constatly them yeah, it's going to use battery,

Agreed... but I very much doubt that is the case.

BOb

[cob666]

Originally Posted by beartard

You could always try the original case the nook shipped in. I guarantee nothing will protect it (or keep you away from it) better!

Makes it kind of tough to use as a reader when it's behind a solid wall of plastic

[Klaatu]

I "upgraded" to a Nook from a Sony PRS505 and after I get home from an extended business trip I'm going back to the Sony. The Nook simply doesn't live up to what B&N promised. The reading experience on the 2 devices is identical, of course, with Nook's screen being a little sharper since it has twice the number of shades of gray.

My biggest complaint is Nook's extremely poor battery life. I barely get 3 days between charges and this simply is not acceptable when I was promised "up to 10 days" from B&N. Nook's battery actually went dead on me towards the end of a trans-continental flight. I could get up to 2-2.5 weeks out of a battery charge on the Sony.

I also miss the Sony's Collections that are built off any tags applied to the ebooks. Nook does not support tags, or any other organization at all. It is only possible to sort content by Author or Title. If there are more than about a dozen books loaded on to Nook this makes finding what you want to read kind of tedious.

Additionally B&N has decided for some strange reason to segregate B&N purchases from side-loaded content into two separate Libraries. I've found I just don't like the way this is done.

There is also no global bookmarks list which makes reading multiple books at once a little difficult. The bookmarks are per-book, so if you are reading a B&N purchased book and a side-loaded book at the same time there's a lot of tapping of the touch screen and clicking of page turn buttons to switch back and forth.

I like the Nook, but it simply isn't what I had hoped it would be and B&N just doesn't seem to have put enough thought into the device to keep me using it. So it's back to Sony for me. I may even buy a PRS900.

Regards,
Michael

[kennyc]

Thanks for the followup Michael!

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Klaatu

I "upgraded" to a Nook from a Sony PRS505 and after I get home from an extended business trip I'm going back to the Sony. The Nook simply doesn't live up to what B&N promised. The reading experience on the 2 devices is identical, of course, with Nook's screen being a little sharper since it has twice the number of shades of gray.

My biggest complaint is Nook's extremely poor battery life. I barely get 3 days between charges and this simply is not acceptable when I was promised "up to 10 days" from B&N. Nook's battery actually went dead on me towards the end of a trans-continental flight. I could get up to 2-2.5 weeks out of a battery charge on the Sony.

I also miss the Sony's Collections that are built off any tags applied to the ebooks. Nook does not support tags, or any other organization at all. It is only possible to sort content by Author or Title. If there are more than about a dozen books loaded on to Nook this makes finding what you want to read kind of tedious.

Additionally B&N has decided for some strange reason to segregate B&N purchases from side-loaded content into two separate Libraries. I've found I just don't like the way this is done.

There is also no global bookmarks list which makes reading multiple books at once a little difficult. The bookmarks are per-book, so if you are reading a B&N purchased book and a side-loaded book at the same time there's a lot of tapping of the touch screen and clicking of page turn buttons to switch back and forth.

I like the Nook, but it simply isn't what I had hoped it would be and B&N just doesn't seem to have put enough thought into the device to keep me using it. So it's back to Sony for me. I may even buy a PRS900.

Regards,
Michael

Have you tried soft-rooting your nook? This addresses many of the issues you mention, such as organization and the segregation of materials. You can sort the books by folder with the apps that come with the soft-root. It's also easy to restore the nook back to the factory firmware if you still want to take it back. Also, I've found that search is useful for getting around organizational/lack-of-go-to-page issues. I still might take the nook back (I have over a week left before 14 days is up) in favor of the $199 505 I found at a local store, but it will be a tough choice (I don't want to have to change the Sony's battery when it comes time, yeesh).

Luqman

[Lawyerman]

This is my first post here.....My Nook experience was THE SUCK. I bought one before Christmas....well, I PAID for one before Christmas and of course didn't get it until February. Luckily my wife is an understanding woman as it was a present for her.

I set it up, downloaded some books....all was well, for about a week. Then they sent a software update out. It froze. I tried to power it off per the FAQ on their website, nothing doing. It finally ran out of power and then we were able to use it....for about two weeks. Then if froze again. Spent 1.5 hours on the line with support, mostly holding of course, emails sent were returned- several DAYS later....

Rebooted it and it worked for a couple of days. Then it froze again. Returned it to local BN and they replaced it. Had almost the same experience with the replacement. Not very happy, spent nearly $300 and waited several months to get it and it was pure crap. Returned it and got my money back, now I'm going to see if they will refund the money I spent on books. Not very happy with Nook!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Lawyerman

This is my first post here.....My Nook experience was THE SUCK. I bought one before Christmas....well, I PAID for one before Christmas and of course didn't get it until February. Luckily my wife is an understanding woman as it was a present for her.

I set it up, downloaded some books....all was well, for about a week. Then they sent a software update out. It froze. I tried to power it off per the FAQ on their website, nothing doing. It finally ran out of power and then we were able to use it....for about two weeks. Then if froze again. Spent 1.5 hours on the line with support, mostly holding of course, emails sent were returned- several DAYS later....

Rebooted it and it worked for a couple of days. Then it froze again. Returned it to local BN and they replaced it. Had almost the same experience with the replacement. Not very happy, spent nearly $300 and waited several months to get it and it was pure crap. Returned it and got my money back, now I'm going to see if they will refund the money I spent on books. Not very happy with Nook!

Sorry for your bad experience. I hope B&N have learned a lesson about electronic product releases, but not sure they have. Many people are very happy with their Sony, Kindle and other readers. And their is a whole batch of new ones expected to be released this year that you might want to look at.

[Schmots]

I enjoy my nook as well, the side loading is much easier on it than it was with the prs-505. My wife still has her 505, I sold mine to a co-worker. The one thing I miss from the 505 are the side buttons for the menu, I liked being able to instantly select item 7 instead of having to use the touchscreen to select down to it.

[Lawyerman]

Sorry for your bad experience. I hope B&N have learned a lesson about electronic product releases, but not sure they have. Many people are very happy with their Sony, Kindle and other readers. And their is a whole batch of new ones expected to be released this year that you might want to look at.

Thank you. As luck would have it I actually found a Sony PRS 505 in a local pawn shop very cheap, at least I thought so.... I have had it for about a week, no issues yet. I figured for what I paid- $90, even if it was problematic I was out a whole lot less. I am setting up my account, downloaded Calibre etc....just kinda feeling my way around with it so far.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Lawyerman

Sorry for your bad experience. I hope B&N have learned a lesson about electronic product releases, but not sure they have. Many people are very happy with their Sony, Kindle and other readers. And their is a whole batch of new ones expected to be released this year that you might want to look at.

Thank you. As luck would have it I actually found a Sony PRS 505 in a local pawn shop very cheap, at least I thought so.... I have had it for about a week, no issues yet. I figured for what I paid- $90, even if it was problematic I was out a whole lot less. I am setting up my account, downloaded Calibre etc....just kinda feeling my way around with it so far.

I still think the 505 is one of the best at the moment. (depending on your specific needs)

[Schmots]

a default prs-505 vs a default nook the 505 wins.. its only a softrooted nook I compare, so maybe that shouldn't count.

[Lawyerman]

Well, I guess I got lucky then! I am having a little trouble getting Calibre to recognize my device but I'll get it figured out. I did manage to transfer 3 e books from my computer to Calibre and it was really easy.....

[Schmots]

Plug in the book, then start calibre, that might help

[Klaatu]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Have you tried soft-rooting your nook? This addresses many of the issues you mention, such as organization and the segregation of materials. You can sort the books by folder with the apps that come with the soft-root. It's also easy to restore the nook back to the factory firmware if you still want to take it back. Also, I've found that search is useful for getting around organizational/lack-of-go-to-page issues. I still might take the nook back (I have over a week left before 14 days is up) in favor of the $199 505 I found at a local store, but it will be a tough choice (I don't want to have to change the Sony's battery when it comes time, yeesh).

Luqman

At one point I was thinking about soft rooting it, but the terrible power management just really turns me off and I made the decision to go back to my Sony PRS505 when I get home from an extended business trip. After I made that decision I just never got around to doing the soft root. I guess I still could. There's nothing stopping me.

Regards,
Michael