PRS-650 My first impressions

dminoz · 10-03-2010, 07:46 PM

I'm a new PRS-650 owner (I guess there's no other kind, really.) After a week with my new toy, I've posted my impressions:

http://dminoz.posterous.com/sony-psr...st-impressions

It's all good...

/d

doreenjoy · 10-03-2010, 07:53 PM

Great review, thanks for sharing it.

SeaBookGuy · 10-03-2010, 07:55 PM

Nice review! As I'm not champing at the bit to buy a book from Sony, the WiFi aspect would be useless in that regard, and I have a new netbook for surfing.

dminoz · 10-03-2010, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Nice review! As I'm not champing at the bit to buy a book from Sony, the WiFi aspect would be useless in that regard, and I have a new netbook for surfing.

Thanks.... for me, it's not even a case of wifi being something that I can tolerate not having on a reader. I actually don't want it -- it distracts me, gets in the way, gives me too many choices about stuff that doesn't matter and has nothing to do with reading. I can wait until I get in front of a computer to check up on all that. But knowing me, if it's there on the device, I'll do it...

I'm as big a technerd as anyone, but I doubt that I'll buy a tablet any time soon, just because I don't want my every spare moment taken over by the damn net...

viviena · 10-03-2010, 09:19 PM

Nice review, and I'm glad somebody else feels somebody the same way about WiFi -- knowing me though, it's probably because I'm weak-willed, heh.

Interesting points regarding jump-to-locations and adding notes though. Do you really find them that labourious to use? Jump-to-locations is easily accessible, though I wish there was some way to access a book's TOC quickly too. Adding notes seems reasonably quick to me, and I've made a fair few typed notes; is another device such as the Kindle capable of taking notes even more quickly?

david72 · 10-05-2010, 10:42 AM

Thanks for the great review. I'm waiting for mine to arrive, hopefully by the end of the week.

fafaforza · 10-05-2010, 01:15 PM

Yup, adding wifi/3g would only distract you into checking forums, feeds, etc. It's bad enough that I can barely get through one article without losing focus. I started reading more and bought my reader to regain some of that attention span I lost in all the tech stuff I have today.

And I never understood people's complaints that it can't play video. Clearly this isn't the device for you. Move on and get an iPad or an android tablet.

Latinandgreek · 10-05-2010, 01:24 PM

Thanks for sharing your review! I hope that you continue to enjoy your Sony 650. I'm dying to get one of the new Sony models, but I'm still undecided as to what size.

dminoz · 10-05-2010, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fafaforza

Yup, adding wifi/3g would only distract you into checking forums, feeds, etc. It's bad enough that I can barely get through one article without losing focus. I started reading more and bought my reader to regain some of that attention span I lost in all the tech stuff I have today.

That's exactly it. For me the danger lies in always wanting to check my subscriptions in Google Reader. Most of which are, of course, about ebooks...

On another topic -- I did try, yesterday to set up an account with Borders (one of Sony's partners here in Australia), to see what the ebook-buying experience is like.

What a disaster, I couldn't even follow it. First install this, then log into that, then click on that... soon I couldn't tell whether I had the right software installed or not, and exactly what account I was trying to log in with what details ... and I'm not (normally) thick when it comes to this stuff. Oh the humanity...

First there was Sony's layer of 'stuff', and then there was Borders layer of 'stuff' (which somehow ended up also involving Kobo's layer of yes ... 'stuff' ... in the end the instruction "open your library" left me with glazed eyes and the phrase "which f***ing library?" echoing round my bsod'ed brain.

Someone needs to explain to these folk that they need to make buying their ebooks simple, not an exercise similar to navigating a maze.

Perhaps I missed something, I'll have another go at it sometime soon. Unfortunately for Borders, there's no rush. I have plenty to read, gathered from sources which involved clicking on a link to an epub file, then watching it automatically load into Calibre. How tricky is that...

doreenjoy · 10-05-2010, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fafaforza

Yup, adding wifi/3g would only distract you into checking forums, feeds, etc. It's bad enough that I can barely get through one article without losing focus. I started reading more and bought my reader to regain some of that attention span I lost in all the tech stuff I have today.

And I never understood people's complaints that it can't play video. Clearly this isn't the device for you. Move on and get an iPad or an android tablet.

This reminds me of old complaints about the original Palm Pilot. Reviewers would complain that the Pilot was only good for one thing: Synching contacts to a PC. That was true, but the Pilot did that one thing better than any other device on the market and it was enough to make the Pilot a huge success.

I think the Sony readers are in a similar space: they're only good for reading books, but they do that one thing better than the other readers on the market. (I know this is my opinion, before everyone jumps on me).

The one thing Sony fell down on was the pricing. But if they're aiming for a world market (not just a US market), even the pricing might work out in the long run for them.

harriska2 · 10-06-2010, 11:30 AM

Sorry for asking here - just read the great review. Is there a good link on using Calibre? I'm trying to figure out fonts and line spacing and would also like to figure out feeds. Great write up. I was also going to ask you if you thought someone could get away with using only Calibre but you even answered that!

elcreative · 10-06-2010, 06:16 PM

Try the calibre forum in mobileread...

Quote:

Originally Posted by harriska2

Sorry for asking here - just read the great review. Is there a good link on using Calibre? I'm trying to figure out fonts and line spacing and would also like to figure out feeds. Great write up. I was also going to ask you if you thought someone could get away with using only Calibre but you even answered that!

10-03-2010, 07:46 PM	#1
dminoz Enthusiast Posts: 27 Karma: 30000 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650	My first impressions I'm a new PRS-650 owner (I guess there's no other kind, really.) After a week with my new toy, I've posted my impressions: http://dminoz.posterous.com/sony-psr...st-impressions It's all good... /d

10-03-2010, 09:19 PM	#5
viviena Evangelist Posts: 411 Karma: 520610 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Canberra, Australia Device: Kobo Glo, Sony Reader PRS-350	Nice review, and I'm glad somebody else feels somebody the same way about WiFi -- knowing me though, it's probably because I'm weak-willed, heh. Interesting points regarding jump-to-locations and adding notes though. Do you really find them that labourious to use? Jump-to-locations is easily accessible, though I wish there was some way to access a book's TOC quickly too. Adding notes seems reasonably quick to me, and I've made a fair few typed notes; is another device such as the Kindle capable of taking notes even more quickly? __________________ 'This short watch that is about to come, or rather these two short watches--why are they called dog watches? Where, heu, heu, is the canine connection?' 'Why,' said Stephen, 'it is because they are curtailed, of course.' ---Patrick O'Brian, 'Post Captain'

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10-03-2010, 07:53 PM	#2
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,855 Karma: 293916 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	Great review, thanks for sharing it.

10-03-2010, 07:55 PM	#3
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 1,720 Karma: 1059655 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Seattle, USA Device: Sony 650	Nice review! As I'm not champing at the bit to buy a book from Sony, the WiFi aspect would be useless in that regard, and I have a new netbook for surfing.

10-05-2010, 10:42 AM	#6
david72 Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650	Thanks for the great review. I'm waiting for mine to arrive, hopefully by the end of the week.

10-05-2010, 01:15 PM	#7
fafaforza Zealot Posts: 125 Karma: 26780 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Brooklyn, NY Device: PRS650	Yup, adding wifi/3g would only distract you into checking forums, feeds, etc. It's bad enough that I can barely get through one article without losing focus. I started reading more and bought my reader to regain some of that attention span I lost in all the tech stuff I have today. And I never understood people's complaints that it can't play video. Clearly this isn't the device for you. Move on and get an iPad or an android tablet.

10-05-2010, 01:24 PM	#8
Latinandgreek Warrior Princess Posts: 4,876 Karma: 8504847 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-505; PRS-350, PRS-T1, iPad 2, HP Touchpad	Thanks for sharing your review! I hope that you continue to enjoy your Sony 650. I'm dying to get one of the new Sony models, but I'm still undecided as to what size.

10-06-2010, 11:30 AM	#11
harriska2 Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 472112 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Corvallis, OR Device: None	Sorry for asking here - just read the great review. Is there a good link on using Calibre? I'm trying to figure out fonts and line spacing and would also like to figure out feeds. Great write up. I was also going to ask you if you thought someone could get away with using only Calibre but you even answered that!


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