Sony Reader outside US

[nathansmith]

Originally Posted by woldinghamuk

That´s what happened to me as well but on a different order, which had been sent by the "normal" US post but somehow in the process the the UPC took over (have no idea why ?? did not ask for it) and charged me a hefty sum ... I was furious and could do zilch about it..

i got my reader yesterday, it was sent via USPS and handled by parcel force, i had to pay £39.** in charges and handling (not bad for parcel force).
the only problem was the usps tracking site showed an attempted delivery on 6:32 on saturday morning (yeah right!) but showed very little detail.
i went to the post office depot(monday) and they had a look around for me and gave me parcel force's phone number and told me what the charge would be, paid the charge moday night and had the reader at 3pm yesterday, ironically just as the royal mail delivered a letter from parcel force telling me they had the package and i had to pay a charge

[woldinghamuk]

Originally Posted by nathansmith

i got my reader yesterday, it was sent via USPS and handled by parcel force, i had to pay £39.** in charges and handling (not bad for parcel force).
the only problem was the usps tracking site showed an attempted delivery on 6:32 on saturday morning (yeah right!) but showed very little detail.
i went to the post office depot(monday) and they had a look around for me and gave me parcel force's phone number and told me what the charge would be, paid the charge moday night and had the reader at 3pm yesterday, ironically just as the royal mail delivered a letter from parcel force telling me they had the package and i had to pay a charge

Well, why on earth does parcel force handle USPS mail?

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by woldinghamuk

Well, why on earth does parcel force handle USPS mail?

USPS (note, not UPS) normally hands it off to the 'local' mail service once abroad. As I posted earlier in this thread, mine came that way, but I found that the USPS tracking code also worked in the UK ParcelForce tracking system & showed me the 'in-country' steps it went through.

It's reported that the chance of getting stopped by Customs is (significantly?) lower than with UPS - the downside is that if it does get stopped by Customs, PF send you a letter to tell you about it, which adds to the delay.

[ahseng77]

aaaaaaattttt lllleeeeaaasssttt!!!!
my reader has come today!!! i have been waiting for 18 days....
people at mobileread forum!!!, silver colour case is good with the screen, at first i think that the screen is a little gray, but when i see it for my self, the screen is "almost white",
so if you can imagine it, all will look white (include the body) except the letter on screen (which is dark grey) so is more easy to read, right now coverting my manga collection

[NigelS]

My Sony ereader also arrived today (PRS505); was delivered by Fedex from the US to the UK in under 48 hrs - not bad!

Now I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop (the extra "bill" with duty & VAT etc)....

I was a bit surprised that it didn't come with an external PSU (which is an optional extra), especially after reading in this thread about people discussing the input voltage and all. Anyway, I expect any DC adaptor from Maplin would do the trick so long as the correct polarity, DV Voltage & plug size is observed.

Regarding the Li-Ion battery. I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the fact that LIKE APPLE, Sony have made the Li-Ion a Service Centre replacement only job. This is going to be bad news for us non-US, non officially Sony supported owners in about a year from now when the LiIon batteries start to fail. What do other owners think about this matter?

NigelS

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by NigelS

Regarding the Li-Ion battery. I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the fact that LIKE APPLE, Sony have made the Li-Ion a Service Centre replacement only job.

It's been mentioned MANY times; I'm surprised you've not seen it!

This is going to be bad news for us non-US, non officially Sony supported owners in about a year from now when the LiIon batteries start to fail.

The battery should have a lifetime of at least three years.

What do other owners think about this matter?

A "non issue". I've never owned ANY electronic device long enough for the "limited" life of a LiIon battery to be an issue.

One could always buy a CyBook (which has a user-replaceable battery) should this be a concern.

[NigelS]

Well being totally new here, I have been avidly reading all over the Mobileread forums over the past few days, but I must have missed the Li-Ion discussion. My apologies.

I must say that I haven't had good experiences with Li-Ion batteries in general. Laptop ones have rarely lasted me much longer than 12-18 months and I just replaced the one in my ipaq hx4700 after only 14 months use.

Anyway, I know what you mean about the limited lifetime of electronics toys!

NigelS

[HarryT]

Rumour is that the Reader is being launched in the UK in early 2008, so you'll perhaps be able to get it officially replaced by Sony UK.

[igorsk]

I beleive Reader's energy usage pattern is pretty different from a laptop or PockerPC, so I hope it will last longer. That said, you can buy a battery and replace it yourself if you're brave enough

[greylin]

Originally Posted by Anhunedd

The refresh flash is initially a bit odd, but as has been reported before, you soon don't notice it - I hit the page turn button just before reaching the end of the sentence at the bottom of the page, and by the time I've absorbed the last 2-3 words and moved my eyes up to the top left, it is just coming back.

Interestingly, this is a technique that generations of musicians have used. You have to read ahead so that you can keep the music going while the page is being turned.

[nathansmith]

so, being a book and a half in to my time with my sony reader i have to say i'm very impressed!

i've found some cracking public domain books to keep me occupied but i would like a couple from the connect store-do any of our friends over the water help out in that regard, you know-vouchers

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by nathansmith

so, being a book and a half in to my time with my sony reader i have to say i'm very impressed!

i've found some cracking public domain books to keep me occupied but i would like a couple from the connect store-do any of our friends over the water help out in that regard, you know-vouchers

Contact Leaping Gnome, who will buy sony connect vouchers for non US residents.
He will accept Paypal.

[Jeeves]

I got my 505 3 days ago - and so far - I love it.

[gingercat]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Contact Leaping Gnome, who will buy sony connect vouchers for non US residents.
He will accept Paypal.

Nah - just buy em direct from Sony. We've never had a problem.

Just entered our correct address and as they only allowed US for the country option we of course had to say our country of origin was US (Not New Zealand)

[stustaff]

Gingercat can you post a link to exactly what you bough from Sony on their site?
Thanks