Quote:
Originally Posted by b5530188
@delphin - that really helps narrow it down. do you feel it is that important the flexibility of the android (which i know is cool on phones), i mean linux isnt that bad right (i have no experience with linux, but i dont shy away from new stuff). i like the sync of kobo in theory but i believe the android will cover that in the future, what do u think?
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Linux based devices are only moderately hackable, because there is no such thing as a 'standard' version of Linux. Even full blown Linux distributions like Slackware and Ubuntu have interoperability headaches due to packaging format and file system organization issues, but these are nothing compared to the differences between these larger X-Windows based Linux O.S.'s and the minimalist real-time Linux environments used by devices like the Kindle, Kobo, and PB360. For these smaller devices there is esentially no standardization at all beyond the linux kernel itself, and this means that someone has to reverse engineer the whole environment for EACH device individually, and this information is then only applicable to that specific device and tends to remain incomplete.
On the other hand, for the Android O.S., the design goals were to create an absolutely standardized environment that does everything possible to hide the differences between devices. It's not always perfect, and some apps do work better on some hardware than others, but Android has features to allow developers specify minimum hardware requirements, and to tweak their apps to run on as many devices as possible, so least they are trying.
These differences translate to the difference between being able to hack (if your lucky) a small handful of apps onto your reader, v.s. easy access to literally THOUSANDS of apps already available (many of which are FREE) that can be found in the Android marketplace.
As far as SYNC goes, there is more to this than simply remembering your page number, bookmarks, notes, etc. With Android, it should be relatively easy for B&N not only 'sync' data like page numbers etc. between their reader software on the Nook Color, Nook STR, and the various Nook Apps running on other Android devices, Macs, and PC's, but ALSO to create very similar user interfaces across all these platforms.
This is important in todays technology saturated marketplace, because it would mean that B&N users could switch seamlessly between devices, not only without loosing their page number, but also without having to deal with several different user interfaces.
B&N is not quite there yet, but this is clearly the direction that they are going.
Kobo also seems to be shooting for this 'one reader to rule them all' goal for their various reader applications, but I consider the lack of Android and page turn buttons on their new touch screen reader to have been major tactical errors.
The PB360 is not a touch based device, and is not Android based, but for a non-touch device the user interface is very nice (shows what the Kindle could have been if Amazon's programmers were any good).
The cover on the PB360 is a nice feature (though the device could have been even more compact) and I do think Sony missed the boat on the PRS-350 when they didn't include a slide on reversible cover screen protector like those that many Casio and TI calculators have used for years.
I have an old Casio calculator which has been with me for years that has simple slide on cover and it's GREAT. There are grooves down the sides of the device, and the cover slides on and off vertically. The cover is reversible, so when you are using the device, you just slide it back on facing the other way (covering the back of the device) for storage. With it's cover in place, that calculator has survived being sat on, jammed into gym bags with a dozen books, and a hundred other indignities that would destroy a Kindle, Sony, or Nook eReader very quickly. I'm not sure why the makers of 10 dollar calculators can figure this out, when the makers of eReaders costing over a hundered dollars more can't.
