How the Tech Parade Passed Sony By - ?the end of Sony eReaders, the end of Sony?

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Lastblade

Samsung's TVs are better and cost less than Sony.

Except their colour saturation is so high and can not be well adjusted easily.

It came down to either the Sony or Samsung for us. The Sony got the gong.

Incidentally, they were the same price on the shelf.

[jmaejr]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

Sony still believes their products to be worthy of the premium price they charge. I like some of their products (have one of their TV's, their Playstation consoles, PSP, and their readers), but I'll be first to admit that they are often-times WAY too expensive out of the gate.

Quit with the Sony-tax, and people may be more attracted to them again.

That is really no different than Apple...except Apple found a way with their marketing to garner masses of fanboys that will open their wallets for anything Apple produces...

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

If that is a full size car then no wonder Sony are in trouble!

No, that's a model car.

Closed, it measures 4¼" x 2¾" x ¾".

[Ninjalawyer]

As a few people already said, one of Sony's issues was that they ran their business like an empire - individuals had their fiefdoms with only a small amount of oversight, and hoarded what they learned rather than sharing it with the rest of the organization. But another problem was that Sony never adapted their business generally as software became as important, if not more important, than hardware. The one thing that has been consistent with Sony products over the last few years is good hardware married to mediocre software.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

But another problem was that Sony never adapted their business generally as software became as important, if not more important, than hardware. The one thing that has been consistent with Sony products over the last few years is good hardware married to mediocre software.

Actually that doesn't seem to be true with Sony's cameras. The reason I exchanged my excellent Panasonic "Lumix" compact camera for a Sony "Cybershot" model is that although the two cameras have almost identical hardware, Sony's firmware is a clear winner. Eg, the Sony offers multi-exposure averaging for taking pictures without flash in low light, and an excellent "panorama" mode for taking panoramic shots; Panasonic do not.

Sony's camera division at least seems to be well-run and proactive in offering features to beat the opposition.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Part of the trouble is that all their products are separate.

Say you buy the new Sony portable gaming device, the Vita. Can you read e-books on it from the Sony e-book store? Nope. Play games from the Sony Android store from their Tablets? Nope. Or vice-versa, can you play PS1 games you bought for your PS3 on your Sony phone or tablet? Nope (though I think you can buy them again from a different store)

Uhm, I know with the PSP, PS1 games and "PS Minis" (games designed for both PSP and PS3) would work on it as well. I was under the impression they played under the Vita as well. As a PSP and PS3 owner, that is one of the features I liked the most. Both devices, and the Vita, use the same "Playstation Store" (I already have a Vita game, that I bought and is sitting on my living room PS3, waiting for when I decide to get a Vita, because it was free for a limited time). Also, I know that was a key point on the Vita, was that you could start a game on the PS3 and continue it on the Vita, with some of the big titles like MLB The Show.

But yeah, for too long, Sony has been disjointed. But I think that they're trying to change that. They've changed a few things here and there, like the Playstation Network has a new name, to get non playstation devices included (my guess, tablets and their PC games).

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sony's camera division at least seems to be well-run and proactive in offering features to beat the opposition.

The reason is that software development for Cybershot was moved to what then was SonyEricson in Lund. Cybershot was to be integrated into the new Android Xperia Smartphones and the earlier firmware versions wasn't good enough for global appeal. Ericson didn't have camera hardware that was on par with Sony, but they did have better software. Ninjalawyer has a case (pun intended) in that almost all Japanese products that become dependent on software tends to fail when they leave the shores of Honshu.
Software developers in Japan have serious problems co-operating and senior management doesn't know enough about software development so they accept any and all excuses coming from below. The youthful software developers want to make "cute" implementations to impress their girlfriends.
For examples watch
Rakuten
or for their tendewncy to squeeze in way too much, see
Manga sites

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Except their colour saturation is so high and can not be well adjusted easily.

It came down to either the Sony or Samsung for us. The Sony got the gong.

Incidentally, they were the same price on the shelf.

Some Samsung models have a much better colour. I have a B650, didn't have any problems getting it calibrated and then having enough additional tweak-ability to slightly adjust it to my preferred settings.

I preferred the display to all other model TVs that were out at the time. However, this was 3-4 years ago, so whether current Samsung models are still as good I couldn't say. I've no intention of changing mine though, the picture quality is great on blurays

As an aside our previous 2-3 TVs going all the way back to hulking CRTs have been Sony. This is the first time I've bought a non Sony TV.

One product Sony make that's really good (imho) is "Sony Vegas". It's priced reasonably £30-£80 depending on the one you get (ignore pro which has features that are not needed by most people for home movies) and for most home users has more than enough features whilst keeping price lower than Premiere/Finalcut.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

The one thing that has been consistent with Sony products over the last few years is good hardware married to mediocre software.

Good point. The mediocre software converges with their obtrusive copy protection to cripple the user experience and make that enticing hardware much less attractive overall.

I'll be interested to see how badly Sony interferes with the Android OS they've finally learned to embrace.

[Penforhire]

I bought a lot of Sony goods over the years including TV's, car audio components, and several e-readers (which I like). But my brand loyalty is weak.

I don't see Sony trying to keep me happy. I see them as very hit-and-miss. Every time they take a step forward (e.g. Playstation, PSP, Bravia TV's) they take one or more steps back (CD rootkits, Memory Stick, newer PS backward compatibility, PSP Go).

[SeaKing]

I listed my old Sony equipment earlier and it made me realize that lately it has been Samsung for me for the most part.

A Samsung TV
A Samsung phone
A Samsung 7 Plus tablet

One of my daughters was only using Samsung well pass college. I have to admit I got her started with a TV.
Originally was only Samsung phones.
((For truth in advertising, she later went to an Apple Mac but my excuse is that her husband got that for her. Also she recently got an iPad which she brags about. Makes me wonder if she has also gone to an iPhone and I just don't know about it. My lady friend said that you can take out the "from my iPhone" signature.))

Alas the children grow up and the world corrupts them.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Alas the children grow up and the world corrupts them.

Ain't that the truth!

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by afv011

Ain't that the truth!

Now we have to double up on our efforts to keep the grandchildren on the straight and narrow. Still I expect that they will rebel against their elders and distrust any technology they used.

My first VCR was a Teac. I don't think the stores sell either VCRs or Teacs these days though you can buy or order a VCR Combo DVD Player Recorder.

[JSWolf]

The T1 is better then most of the 6" readers out there. So Sony's reader tech is definitely keeping pace and in most cases, outpacing.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Unfortunately, the tech of which Sony's abreast in this case is old, and the feature set which they essentially created is now indistinguishable from that of other companies. It even appears that the Nook and the Kindle will do a better job of internally lighting the Pearl screen (though we'll see if that actually proves true once the devices are in people's grasping hands).

I would also argue that Sony's Readers are good because the tech is unaffected by the limitations we complained about earlier. The nature of the content (books) makes Sony less inclined to interfere. They might have become a music, film and gaming company in addition to focusing on hardware innovation, but their internal departments have little reason to go to war about literary rights.

Sony's tech issues can't be seen simply in the light of their e-readers, the financial future of which grows less clear daily. Which is sad, because I happen to prefer theirs to everyone else's.