dictionary on demand

[GiulioP]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Sony PRS-950 is only sold in the US.

I thought so,... too bad!!!! :-((

The Sony wins when it comes to being supplied with built-in translation dictionaries, but they are not replaceable. The Kindle's dictionary can be replaced, and its dictionary interface works well. The fact that you say that you cannot imagine it bring as good as a touchscreen rather suggests to me that you haven't actually tried it .

I tried it only once, for a few hours. I couldn´t check this option I am interested in.
But that is not the only bad thing about kindles, as I said above.... I don´t want a product that force me to buy books from a specific webstore and does not support epub....

there are many people around here which are enthusiastic about kindle, anyway....

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GiulioP

But that is not the only bad thing about kindles, as I said above.... I don´t want a product that force me to buy books from a specific webstore and does not support epub....

there are many people around here which are enthusiastic about kindle, anyway....

I have both a Sony and a Kindle so I have no bias either way. The dictionary interface on both devices works well.

You're not confined to buying books from Amazon, by the way. The Kindle will read any DRM-free Mobipocket-format book. Given, however, that I find that Amazon has the best selection and best prices, it is where I buy a lot of books.

[polly]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Sony PRS-950 is only sold in the US.

Did that change with this release? I remember seeing the PRS 600 at the Metro electronics store in Germany and just assumed that Sony sold them in Europe.

GiulioP, you might want to ask over in the Sony forum about ways to get the reader overseas. We have some international folks over there who have them so I know it can be done, but I don't know how.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by polly

Did that change with this release? I remember seeing the PRS 600 at the Metro electronics store in Germany and just assumed that Sony sold them in Europe.

GiulioP, you might want to ask over in the Sony forum about ways to get the reader overseas. We have some international folks over there who have them so I know it can be done, but I don't know how.

The PRS-950 is only sold in the US. The PRS-650 and PRS-350 are sold internationally.

[paola]

Originally Posted by GiulioP

oh, in another italian forum they told me that it is a product only for us...
where can I find it in UK and Germany? I looked on sony.de and .co.uk and there isn't this reader. are you really sure that I can find it in these countries?
for sure it's not present in Italy, nor in Austria.

as Dulin said above, Pocketbook does that, too, and the 603 and 903 models have a stylus. In Italy teh 603 is sold as "Leggo" by IBS.

[GiulioP]

Originally Posted by paola

as Dulin said above, Pocketbook does that, too, and the 603 and 903 models have a stylus. In Italy teh 603 is sold as "Leggo" by IBS.

and regarding the dictionaries, how do they function?

[Papi]

One thing I don't like much about Sony's dictionaries is that the translation / definition always appears on the bottom of the page, so if you have several words to check in the lower part of the page, you have to close the dictionary window each time. Other than that it's very well done, though I wish I could add / replace dictionaries.

[GiulioP]

Originally Posted by Papi

One thing I don't like much about Sony's dictionaries is that the translation / definition always appears on the bottom of the page, so if you have several words to check in the lower part of the page, you have to close the dictionary window each time. Other than that it's very well done, though I wish I could add / replace dictionaries.

ah, so you cannot update and change the dictionaries that are already installed?
I wonder why in these products there is not much flexibility....

[ApK]

If I understand correctly, some Sony models allow you to install custom dictionaries, other do not, but there is custom firmware (PRS+) that let's you use custom dictionaries on those other models too.
For the Kindle, I know you can create your own dictionaries with bit of effort and knowhow.

[polly]

I just saw on the Sony forum a link to a Dutch company that sells the 950 in the Netherlands. You can find it here.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GiulioP

ah, so you cannot update and change the dictionaries that are already installed?
I wonder why in these products there is not much flexibility....

I already told you that in post #15 above . That's right; the Sony has no facility to replace the supplied dictionaries. On the Kindle, you can replace the dictionary.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

If I understand correctly, some Sony models allow you to install custom dictionaries, other do not,

No, that's not true. The dictionary is not replaceable on any model of Sony Reader.

but there is custom firmware (PRS+) that let's you use custom dictionaries on those other models too.

If I recall correctly, PRS+ allows you to use some sort of simple word-list look-up, but not proper commercial dictionaries. Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

For the Kindle, I know you can create your own dictionaries with bit of effort and knowhow.

The Kindle uses standard Mobipocket dictionaries.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, that's not true. The dictionary is not replaceable on any model of Sony Reader.

Ah. The feature matrix for PRS+ made this a bit confusing for me.

[idraw22]

Hi,

Welccome to Mobileread, hope you're enjoying it here. Jetbook will let you look up words in other languages, no touchscreen tho. You may want a Sony reader.

[paola]

Originally Posted by GiulioP

and regarding the dictionaries, how do they function?

I am not too sure about the Leggo version, but for the Pocketbook you can call up the dictionary with a button (you are free to associate buttons with many many functions), then tap on the word to see its meaning. And yes, you can install your own dictionaries, and yes, you can swap between all the dictionaries you have. For instance, suppose I check a word in English on the Oxford dictionary, but I still do not understand what it means, then with another two taps of the stylus (one to call up the list of dictionaries, the other tap to select the dictionary I want) I can swap to the English-Italian dictionary to check the word's translation into Italian.