Quote:
Originally Posted by Flub
I'll certainly look into the CyBook though. My main requirement is a much better battery life than the Iliad (I hate having to switch it on and off all the time) and both the Sony and the CyBook seem to provide that.
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They do. They use their batteries in very different ways, however.
The Sony "runs" all the time (unless you explicitly switch it off via a menu item, but then there's a VERY long boot time), so has a pretty fixed battery life of about two and a half weeks, no matter how little or much you use it. Because of this it has "instant" switch on (because it's not actually swtching on at all).
The CyBook can be used either like the Sony (ie running all the time) or like the iLiad (switch on/off), or a combination of the two. If you leave it running constantly, it'll run for about 5 days before needing a recharge. If you switch it off, it takes about 20s to boot (compared with the iLiad's 45s), but obviously then doesn't drain the battery when it's off. It has an "auto-shutdown feature which will do a full shutdown after a certain length of time unused has elapsed. I have that set to an hour, which means I just switch it on at the start of a reading session, and leave it. After I've finished reading it turns itself off after an hour of inactivity.
I'm sure you'd be happy with either the Sony or the CyBook. The CyBook is more expensive, but does more (dictionary support, multiple font support, etc). Having owned both (and an iLiad!) as I say, the CyBook is the one for me, but the Sony is a very nice machine too.