Shipping date updated on Bookeen website

[Prospect]

Booken now states that shipment of new units will start in week 4. I guess this means that they are still alive.

Link:
http://www.bookeen.com/shop/ebook-shop.aspx

[greyparrot]

I wonder if they will be shipping the items missing from last months shipments (cases, batteries) during that week? Has anyone received the missing battery yet?

[astra]

greyparrot
I have noticed you have got both 505 and CyBook.

What is your opinion? How do you compare them?

[greyparrot]

Originally Posted by astra_lestat

greyparrot
I have noticed you have got both 505 and CyBook.

What is your opinion? How do you compare them?

I like the Sony better. It's built better and easier to use. It has two sets of page turning buttons, one set on the right side and one set on the front lower left. It also goes directly to the last page you were on when you turn the reader on, unlike the Cybook that makes you go through several pages to get back to the last page read. You can also read while charging if you use the optional charger (so they advertise, I ordered the charger but I haven't received it yet). The down side is there is no dictionary support and you're tied to Sony book store for DRM books.
I like the CyBook for use with MobiPocket books and dictionary support, but I don't like the cheap construction. Also Bookeen has been very unresponsive. I've sent them several emails and haven't received any answers. (I haven't had reason to email Sony so I don't know if they are any better at responding)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by greyparrot

It also goes directly to the last page you were on when you turn the reader on, unlike the Cybook that makes you go through several pages to get back to the last page read.

Sorry - it takes ONE key press! When the CyBook powers on, it takes you to the library screen with your current book selected. Press the centre button on the navigation pad and you go to the page you were reading.

This is a benefit if you have several books "on the go" at once, although it would be nice if there were a configuration item to choose what happened at power-on.

[diabloNL]

Frequently it takes me multiple key presses because my Cybook keeps forgetting where I was in a book a lot of times.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by diabloNL

Frequently it takes me multiple key presses because my Cybook keeps forgetting where I was in a book a lot of times.

That's odd - mine doesn't do that. Are you letting the battery go flat?

[dcalder]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's odd - mine doesn't do that. Are you letting the battery go flat?

Mine forgets about 50% of the time, too. And that's if I go back to the library screen when I quit reading. If I don't go back to the library screen, it always forgets. Bookmarks are utterly useless; they never work. I'll wait till after the supposedly-upcoming firmware update before reporting anything, though, because I know from posts here that others have experienced & reported the bookmark bug.

I have yet to let my Cybook go below 60% charge, so it's definitely not losing its teeny tiny little mind because of the battery going flat. I love most other things about it (though I'm starting to cringe everytime someone asks about landscape mode and I have to say "no, not yet, probably in a future firmware update") but this losing-my-place issue is really, really annoying. (None of which changes the fact that I've read more books in the past few couple of weeks since my Cybook arrived than I've read in a comparable time period since I was in, oh, high school...)

[greyparrot]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sorry - it takes ONE key press! When the CyBook powers on, it takes you to the library screen with your current book selected. Press the centre button on the navigation pad and you go to the page you were reading.

One key press but it goes through two screens before you get to the library. Sony starts at the last page, no startup screens.

[HarryT]

But that's just because the Sony doesn't switch off, of course. If you disable auto-shutdown on the Gen3, it'll behave just the same!

[astra]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But that's just because the Sony doesn't switch off, of course. If you disable auto-shutdown on the Gen3, it'll behave just the same!

How long will a battery hold then?

[tribble]

Mine lasts about 4 to 5 days with autoshutdown turned off.

[jayne80]

The only time my Cybook forgot where I was in the book was when my SD card was playing up, otherwise it was fine, i tend just to switch it off from where I am reading, I don't go back to the library then switch off.

[diabloNL]

I'm curious why some people experience the problem with loosing the page and others not. I don't use a SD card and I have only .prc files on the Cybook.

[dcalder]

Originally Posted by diabloNL

I'm curious why some people experience the problem with loosing the page and others not. I don't use a SD card and I have only .prc files on the Cybook.

I've tried with no SD card and with SD card. There's no apparent correlation between the location of the file, the presence (or lack) of the SD card, the type of Mobipocket (Secure or not), etc. that I've been able to determine. I've even put the same files on the SD card and in the Cybook's onboard memory and experimented - same results. About 50% of the time, when I exit back to the bookshelf before turning it off or it auto shuts off, it forgets the last read page (though, occasionally, it will take me back to the previous last-read page, the one that I started from during the previous session!). If I don't go back to the bookshelf, it always forgets where I was at when it's turned back on again. I don't think that I've ever gotten a bookmark to work, even within a single reading session. It's a major annoyance.

Fixing the bookshelf organization and the last-read-page are two of the big "musts" on my Cybook wishlist. But, frankly, what I really want is an eInk-screen device with a hardware and software interface inspired by the eBookwise-1150. I can live without the touch-screen (though it would be nice) and the backlighting (since I've found a perfectly satisfactory booklight, though having it integrated or as a low-profile optional accessory designed just for the device would be nice) but I really miss the page buttons, inverting screen (to switch from right to left handed book holding & paging), and collection management of the EB-1150. I miss the perfect last-read-page recall even more.