A few Sony questions..

Coffeee · 03-10-2011, 07:06 PM

Hey all, long time reader, first time poster

I'm trying to decide between the Sony (350/650) and the Kindle 3g... not an easy task I'm finding.
My reasons for the Sony is mainly the touch screen - I'm used to reading on my iPhone and the flicking of a finger to change pages is just normal to me. My other reason for the touch screen is that I often read books with a lot of internal links, such as footnotes, and figured these would be much easier to use with a touch screen (petty reason, yes, but this is what it's come down to, otherwise it's a dead heat between the two).
However (unfortunately), I also love the 'x Pages Left' on the iBooks app, gives me a good idea of if it is worth starting the next chapter at 3am or not. This is where the Kindle is tempting, with it's 'location bar'.
Does the Sony have anything like this?
I know the Kindle files require a bit of tweaking to make the chapters show up on the bar, but I'm fairly happy to get my hands dirty with coding - being a web designer, I love opening up the ePubs in Sigil to sort them out... so simple to me.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks,
C.

SeaBookGuy · 03-10-2011, 07:25 PM

I, too, sometimes like to know whether to plow ahead to the end of the chapter or not. It takes well under a minute and a few taps to go to the Table of Contents to see where the next chapter begins: press the OPTIONS button, tap GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS onscreen, (see the next chapter page start: "Hmmm ... I'm on page 114 and the next one starts at 132, I'll finish the chapter later."), and tap the onscreen RETURN button in the upper left corner to go back to your book page.

Unlike Kindle, where I understand T of C has links to chapters, etc., Sony's ToC's show actual page numbers, which can be very useful for non-fiction with lots of endnotes, etc. Footnotes are a matter of tapping the stylus to get to them, and tapping the footnote to return, but I'll be honest that as the asterisks/numbers can be rather small it can often take two or three tries to get a perfect "hit" with the stylus!

pidgeon92 · 03-10-2011, 07:33 PM

The Kindle has TOC available if the file is formatted that way by the publisher. Most books that I have on my Kindle have no TOC.

Rizla · 03-10-2011, 11:44 PM

The Sony displays something like "page 132 of 200 pages". Something like that. It's clear enough. The only catch is a "page" as defined by the above description can cover more than 1 page. So three or four pages can show "page 10 of 1000" before it changes to "page 11 of..." It's consistent though and I find it adequate.

FYI the touch screen is very good.

Re: links and other advanced features in e-books, be warned that the Kindle doesn't support epub. If you want advanced features and like to tinker with files, I would think epub support is a must. Obviously Sony supports epub.

Coffeee · 03-11-2011, 08:13 AM

Yeah I had a feeling the Sony might come out a bit better from this..
Next question is, do I wait and try to find a cheap (£150ish) 650? or dive in with the 350??

polly · 03-11-2011, 08:58 AM

Just decide where you are on the spectrum of screen size versus portability. The 350 will fit in a pocket, so it's easy to take everywhere. The 650 has a larger screen, so you turn the pages less often. If you like/need some of the larger fonts, that can make a difference.

HarryT · 03-11-2011, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polly

Just decide where you are on the spectrum of screen size versus portability. The 350 will fit in a pocket, so it's easy to take everywhere. The 650 has a larger screen, so you turn the pages less often. If you like/need some of the larger fonts, that can make a difference.

It doesn't have to be a case of one or the other. I have both a Kindle and a Sony PRS-350.

Coffeee · 03-11-2011, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It doesn't have to be a case of one or the other. I have both a Kindle and a Sony PRS-350.

How do you find the difference between the screen sizes? Do you have a preference or?

HarryT · 03-11-2011, 10:58 AM

I prefer reading on the Kindle. The dictionary and annotation facilities are much easier to use, and buying books couldn't be easier. The 350, though, is made better made, and has the feel of real "quality" (which the Kindle doesn't). As the ultimate portable reader, the 350 is hard to beat.

The screen size doesn't really make all that much difference - you have to turn the page somewhat more frequently, but that's no big deal.

If I were to only buy one, though, it would be the Kindle, without doubt.

treetotree · 03-11-2011, 11:45 AM

I have both. I love the touch screen on the Sony. The ease of buying books is great on the Kindle. I like being able to get books from the library on the Sony. I think you need both. If I were to get just one it would be the Sony, because of the portability.

polly · 03-11-2011, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It doesn't have to be a case of one or the other. I have both a Kindle and a Sony PRS-350.

True. I have a PocketPro and a PRS-650. I like the 650 much better, but the PocketPro is great for taking with me. If I were doing it again, I probably would have gone for the PocketBook 360 because of its accelerometer and snap on screen cover. But then, the PRS-350 is also very nice.

tm3 · 03-11-2011, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coffeee

How do you find the difference between the screen sizes? Do you have a preference or?

if you can audition the sony and K3 side by side that would be a big help to your decision, imo.

sony is more limited in font sizes than the K3, and i could not find a font size that i felt comfortable with relative to my eyesight and reading speed on the 350. similar, but slightly better, situation with the 650. the 950 was by far the best (of the sonys) but i don't think its big price tag is justified.

of course your preference re fonts may be different from mine and you may give more weight to the touch screen.

Poppaea · 03-11-2011, 03:07 PM

You get real page numbers that are according to page turns/screen size when you use the lrf. format the Sony originally used. When loading epub you will have the weird scenario that a page is two screens long or one and a half.

Same thing applies to font sizes. The moment you use lrf. the gap between the font sizes is just normal and not as it is with epubs where the step between XS-S-M fonts is so big that it is hard to find a size you are comfortable reading with.

I deDRM all my books to be able to convert them to Sonys native format or download the books from the Patricia Clark Memorial Library in lrf. format and read them in S or XS font.

The 350 is just unbeatable in portability and reading experience due to the touchscreen. That whole button push thing only distracts me. Somehow the button is never at the right place. With the Sony you can choose which way you want to swipe. Mostly I hold it in one hand and use my thumb to swipe.

If you can afford a Sony why go for a Kindle. There is a whole 12page thread of Kindle users wishing they had touchscreens and epub for library lending... thats what you get when you buy cheap. You wish you had the features of the more expensive device.

jocampo · 03-11-2011, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

If you can afford a Sony why go for a Kindle.

Because the online bookstore.

The ereader is an important piece of the equation, but you buy one to read electronic books. Being able to download those wireless directly to your Kindle is a big plus. And Amazon online bookstore is the biggest in USA and one of the biggest in the world.

I'm not saying with this the Sony is a bad ereader, so please don't get me wrong, actually Sony ereaders are a good piece of technology, but for a lot less money, you can get a comparable ereader.

Rizla · 03-11-2011, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coffeee

Yeah I had a feeling the Sony might come out a bit better from this..
Next question is, do I wait and try to find a cheap (£150ish) 650? or dive in with the 350??

Forget the idea of a cheap 650. You'll be lucky to find one at all. Personally I find the 650 pretty portable.

On another note, I believe the Kindle can be 'updated' with custom firmware to support epubs. The firmware is called Duokan. Personally I think the Kindle is very nice except for the keyboard.

I do not believe the dictionary can be as easy to use as the Sony's. I use the Sony dictionary with gusto and boast about it to whoever is around me. Tap-tap!

Re: fonts on the Sony, yes, they're crap on the Sony compared to the Kindle, a bizarre oversight, but you can fix that with Calibre.

Ultimately the Sony 650 is a better piece of kit than the Kindle, and it should be with the price differential. If I had to choose between the 350 and a K3, I'm not sure what I'd do. I think it would depend on what K3 custom firmware had to offer. I don't want to be locked inside Amazon's proprietorial box.

03-10-2011, 07:06 PM	#1
Coffeee Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: none	A few Sony questions.. Hey all, long time reader, first time poster I'm trying to decide between the Sony (350/650) and the Kindle 3g... not an easy task I'm finding. My reasons for the Sony is mainly the touch screen - I'm used to reading on my iPhone and the flicking of a finger to change pages is just normal to me. My other reason for the touch screen is that I often read books with a lot of internal links, such as footnotes, and figured these would be much easier to use with a touch screen (petty reason, yes, but this is what it's come down to, otherwise it's a dead heat between the two). However (unfortunately), I also love the 'x Pages Left' on the iBooks app, gives me a good idea of if it is worth starting the next chapter at 3am or not. This is where the Kindle is tempting, with it's 'location bar'. Does the Sony have anything like this? I know the Kindle files require a bit of tweaking to make the chapters show up on the bar, but I'm fairly happy to get my hands dirty with coding - being a web designer, I love opening up the ePubs in Sigil to sort them out... so simple to me. Thoughts anyone? Thanks, C.

03-10-2011, 07:25 PM	#2
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	I, too, sometimes like to know whether to plow ahead to the end of the chapter or not. It takes well under a minute and a few taps to go to the Table of Contents to see where the next chapter begins: press the OPTIONS button, tap GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS onscreen, (see the next chapter page start: "Hmmm ... I'm on page 114 and the next one starts at 132, I'll finish the chapter later."), and tap the onscreen RETURN button in the upper left corner to go back to your book page. Unlike Kindle, where I understand T of C has links to chapters, etc., Sony's ToC's show actual page numbers, which can be very useful for non-fiction with lots of endnotes, etc. Footnotes are a matter of tapping the stylus to get to them, and tapping the footnote to return, but I'll be honest that as the asterisks/numbers can be rather small it can often take two or three tries to get a perfect "hit" with the stylus! Last edited by SeaBookGuy; 03-10-2011 at 07:32 PM.

03-10-2011, 11:44 PM	#4
Rizla Member Retired Posts: 3,183 Karma: 11721895 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Nook STR (rooted) & Sony T2	The Sony displays something like "page 132 of 200 pages". Something like that. It's clear enough. The only catch is a "page" as defined by the above description can cover more than 1 page. So three or four pages can show "page 10 of 1000" before it changes to "page 11 of..." It's consistent though and I find it adequate. FYI the touch screen is very good. Re: links and other advanced features in e-books, be warned that the Kindle doesn't support epub. If you want advanced features and like to tinker with files, I would think epub support is a must. Obviously Sony supports epub. Last edited by Rizla; 03-10-2011 at 11:49 PM.

03-11-2011, 03:07 PM	#13
Poppaea Lucifer's Bat Posts: 2,577 Karma: 20638583 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Earth/Berlin Device: Kobo Libra Colour	You get real page numbers that are according to page turns/screen size when you use the lrf. format the Sony originally used. When loading epub you will have the weird scenario that a page is two screens long or one and a half. Same thing applies to font sizes. The moment you use lrf. the gap between the font sizes is just normal and not as it is with epubs where the step between XS-S-M fonts is so big that it is hard to find a size you are comfortable reading with. I deDRM all my books to be able to convert them to Sonys native format or download the books from the Patricia Clark Memorial Library in lrf. format and read them in S or XS font. The 350 is just unbeatable in portability and reading experience due to the touchscreen. That whole button push thing only distracts me. Somehow the button is never at the right place. With the Sony you can choose which way you want to swipe. Mostly I hold it in one hand and use my thumb to swipe. If you can afford a Sony why go for a Kindle. There is a whole 12page thread of Kindle users wishing they had touchscreens and epub for library lending... thats what you get when you buy cheap. You wish you had the features of the more expensive device. Last edited by Poppaea; 03-11-2011 at 03:10 PM. Reason: I think I made a word that does not exist in English... :eek:

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03-10-2011, 07:33 PM	#3
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	The Kindle has TOC available if the file is formatted that way by the publisher. Most books that I have on my Kindle have no TOC.

03-11-2011, 08:13 AM	#5
Coffeee Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: none	Yeah I had a feeling the Sony might come out a bit better from this.. Next question is, do I wait and try to find a cheap (£150ish) 650? or dive in with the 350??

03-11-2011, 08:58 AM	#6
polly Evangelist Posts: 454 Karma: 270240 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony PRS 650, PocketBook 360, Astak PocketPro (RIP), Tungsten T3	Just decide where you are on the spectrum of screen size versus portability. The 350 will fit in a pocket, so it's easy to take everywhere. The 650 has a larger screen, so you turn the pages less often. If you like/need some of the larger fonts, that can make a difference.

03-11-2011, 10:58 AM	#9
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I prefer reading on the Kindle. The dictionary and annotation facilities are much easier to use, and buying books couldn't be easier. The 350, though, is made better made, and has the feel of real "quality" (which the Kindle doesn't). As the ultimate portable reader, the 350 is hard to beat. The screen size doesn't really make all that much difference - you have to turn the page somewhat more frequently, but that's no big deal. If I were to only buy one, though, it would be the Kindle, without doubt.

03-11-2011, 11:45 AM	#10
treetotree Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 346 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Florida Device: Jetbook Lite, Kindle DXG,prs-350, wife k3	I have both. I love the touch screen on the Sony. The ease of buying books is great on the Kindle. I like being able to get books from the library on the Sony. I think you need both. If I were to get just one it would be the Sony, because of the portability.

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