MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Charbucks · 02-24-2011, 06:36 PM

I've done a lot of reading on this forum, and I thought I'd share my thoughts about my recent ereader adventures.

I started off in January looking for something that would be appropriate for reading papers, and settled on a Sony PRS-650. No surprise, they were out of stock everywhere, so I went home with a PRS-350. My eyes are pretty good and I figured the resolution would make up for the difference in screen size, but that was not so and I ended up returning it. I also discovered that all the Sony's fancy annotation, PDF reflow and split view, custom zoom, etc. were more annoying than useful, and it made more sense for me just to reformat my PDFs on the computer using calibre's pdfmanipulate or papercrop.

I was planning on waiting for the PRS-650, but I'm not very patient. One day in Chapters I couldn't resist temptation anymore and decided to check out the Kobo. To my surprise, after a week with each, I like the Kobo much more. Here's why:

- Screen: Kobo seems whiter and doesn't have as much annoying ghosting as the Sony
- Case: The thicker bezel at the bottom is great for lying in bed with blankets bunched up at the bottom, and the plasticy lightness is just nice to hold.
- Canadian: I like supporting Canadian companies. Plus, the big D-pad and grippy back are mitten-friendly, although I've discovered that the text fades to illegibility after a few minutes in -20 anyways.
- Simplicity: Though there are many features that I would like the Kobo to have, I think the Sony has too many. The Kobo is all about reading - I don't want to take notes, draw pictures, organize my library, etc.

Basically, the Kobo just feels better. With the Sony, I was constantly thinking "wow, this is a cool device", whereas with the Kobo I'm thinking "wow, this is an awesome book".

Sorry for the rather long-winded first post, I just thought I'd share what I like about this thing instead of just talking about problems. Of which there are, of course, several... but hopefully they'll be fixed in future firmware revisions. Right?

02-24-2011, 06:36 PM	#1
Charbucks Member Posts: 18 Karma: 84 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kobo	Why I switched to Kobo I've done a lot of reading on this forum, and I thought I'd share my thoughts about my recent ereader adventures. I started off in January looking for something that would be appropriate for reading papers, and settled on a Sony PRS-650. No surprise, they were out of stock everywhere, so I went home with a PRS-350. My eyes are pretty good and I figured the resolution would make up for the difference in screen size, but that was not so and I ended up returning it. I also discovered that all the Sony's fancy annotation, PDF reflow and split view, custom zoom, etc. were more annoying than useful, and it made more sense for me just to reformat my PDFs on the computer using calibre's pdfmanipulate or papercrop. I was planning on waiting for the PRS-650, but I'm not very patient. One day in Chapters I couldn't resist temptation anymore and decided to check out the Kobo. To my surprise, after a week with each, I like the Kobo much more. Here's why: - Screen: Kobo seems whiter and doesn't have as much annoying ghosting as the Sony - Case: The thicker bezel at the bottom is great for lying in bed with blankets bunched up at the bottom, and the plasticy lightness is just nice to hold. - Canadian: I like supporting Canadian companies. Plus, the big D-pad and grippy back are mitten-friendly, although I've discovered that the text fades to illegibility after a few minutes in -20 anyways. - Simplicity: Though there are many features that I would like the Kobo to have, I think the Sony has too many. The Kobo is all about reading - I don't want to take notes, draw pictures, organize my library, etc. Basically, the Kobo just feels better. With the Sony, I was constantly thinking "wow, this is a cool device", whereas with the Kobo I'm thinking "wow, this is an awesome book". Sorry for the rather long-winded first post, I just thought I'd share what I like about this thing instead of just talking about problems. Of which there are, of course, several... but hopefully they'll be fixed in future firmware revisions. Right?