Hey, just chiming in with my own few (nostalgic...) thoughts. I own both the T1 and the T3S (the one without the cover) and I am perfectly happy with what SONY did the last few years they've been in the market. With the T3, they fixed every issue I had with the T1:
- Glossy bezel -> went matte
- Occasional freezes -> not a single one up to now with regular use
- Not being able to see last books read on the front screen -> fixed
- 800x600 screen resolution a bit chunky -> 1024x768 makes for nice GoT maps (remember to download the free hires pdf versions!
)
- No single language dictionary in French and German -> fixed
- Some contrast improvement
And they preserved the things the Tx range of readers had going for them in the first place:
- Thin and lightweight
- Convenient infrared touchscreen for dictionary lookup
- Very good image quality, no extra layer (capacative touch, lighting) hiding the pristine display
- Capable browser + Wi-Fi allowing for book shopping/borrowing right on the device
- Appealing design (even more so the T3S!)
- Very good dictionaries (Massive Oxford's in English!)
I am using a Gecko cover for both readers. Very well made, very good customer service (I had to replace my first T1 cover due to a manufacturing issue, they were very forthcoming!). The T1 one (blue, luxury edition) conveniently hides the glossy bezel, and the T3S one (green) most conveniently supports the sleep cover functionality, just like the original cover!
I am quite a bit sad that SONY decided to leave the market (I wonder what a T4 would have looked like?), and I dread the day my trusted T3 won't be working anymore. Per chance, do you know if any of the other epub readers has dictionaries of the quality the SONY had? I am quite spoiled in this regard, still being baffled about how many words I could learn regarding medieval heraldry (Game of Thrones) or shrub denominations and dialect words in southern Africa (No. 1 ladies' detective agency series). As a non-native speaker, quality dictionaries at a finger's tip is what brought me to e-reading in the first place...
If my reader went out right now, I guess the recently announced Kobo Glo HD would seem to be the most appealing surrogate right now (no capacative touch layer obstructing the hires E Ink carta display).