Sony Preparing New E-Book Reader to Challenge Amazon - Page 7

sun surfer · 08-03-2011, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flip Martian

Wow, I actually really like the colours. The slow page turns on that demo would drive me mad I must admit. But it will be interesting to see costs when they start to appear. Thanks for the link.

Others already pointed out the pages can be turned fast instead. But I hope the new Sonys have these "like a real page turning" feature like the device in the video. I bet they won't, but I'd definitely use it; it'd make me feel more like I'm reading a paper book and I wouldn't mind the pause.

Ripplinger · 08-03-2011, 06:17 PM

And to me, that cute page turning animation is just eye candy... totally unnecessary and I would imagine the animation would be slower than no animation, and would get annoying after awhile waiting and watching the page flip. But that's just me.

I'm one of the basic people who uses it for reading only and don't really care if they add wi-fi or not. I wouldn't not buy another Sony if they did add wi-fi and expansion to the 350, but any of those items wouldn't be a selling point to me at all, and I doubt I'd ever actually use the wi-fi since I prefer using Calibre and keeping the reader library in sync with my PC library.

I like the build quality though of the Sony readers, how it feels in my hands and absolutely love the touch screen. I wouldn't ever get a reader without a touch screen in fact.

Phogg · 08-03-2011, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flip Martian

Aha, many thanks. Hopefully it (or something like it) will appear before too long. Tech for reading/watching in colour that doesn't use back lit screens can only be a good thing for those of us with middle aged eyes...!

... And comic book collections.

EatingPie · 08-03-2011, 09:41 PM

Qualcomm says the Mirasol eReader is dead. And this sucker is dated June 2 2011.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/4028...mirasol-canned.

Quote:

Qualcomm boss Paul Jacobs has confirmed that the first Mirasol product, which was an ereader originally scheduled to land in the first quarter of 2011, has been cancelled as he wasn't happy with the device...

"We were getting ready to launch a low volume ereader product, but I didn't like the whole system. I didn't want to launch our first product and have it be something that we didn't really like, so we basically decided not to launch it, and instead just focus on the next version of it."

Reviews I read from CES were that the colors were not vibrant... At. All. Qualcomm seems to agree.

But the good news is that it looks like they are trying to get the colors on line with OLED.

Quote:

But now the Qualcomm supremo has bigger plans for the tech, hinting that a Mirasol screen featured tablet could even be on the cards.

"We have a really interesting roadmap - we're starting out on ereaders because we figured having E Ink as a competing technology was a good way to get started," he said

"But if you think about the power consumption of the screens that are out now [on tablets], they're very bright OLED screens that use up a lot of the power of the battery.

"We don't today have as vibrant colour as an OLED display - but we have a roadmap that gets us to a much brighter colour."

So this is good news... kinda. Okay, not really.

I have seen OLED. Sony's 11'' screen. Since I'm a videophile, trust me when I say it was amazing. The colors were bright and incredibly well-saturated, to the point it looked like it much better resolution than its 800x600 (IIRC).

There is no way Qualcomm is going to meet a goal of matching OLED! Crap, OLED can't even match OLED; meaning the technology is totally impractical pricewise beyond the tiny 11'' (or 24'') displays. AFAIK, nobody is even working on an OLED HDTV any more. It's purely a cellphone technology at this point -- not even e-Ink sized of displays!

But because Qualcomm needs to make money, I'm hoping they improve the color saturation, but not hold themselves to matching OLED.

-Pie

Prestidigitweeze · 08-04-2011, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EatingPie

There is no way Qualcomm is going to meet a goal of matching OLED!

My Samsung Epic uses an AMOLED and the saturation is fun but overamped.

If Jacobs wants to compete with OLED in his own head, that's fine. Improving the brightness of Mirasol's colors can only benefit eInk users (so long as the screen remains backlight-free).

==================

Quote:

Originally Posted by EatingPie

Wait, the PRS-650 is already a Pearl display.

JS already knew that, since he owns a PRS-650 and has posted about its Pearl screen numerous times (have a look at the Device field under his avatar).

By going Pearl, I believe he meant he feels Sony will be staying with Pearl.

I tend to agree. We've already read that this year's eInk ereaders from Sony, Kobo, Amazon and B&N will be about value-added features and faster processors, not major display innovations like Mirasol.

khalleron · 08-08-2011, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

That has to be one of the dumbest and most illogical statements I've read! If you make a few thousand readers for the USA market and sort of sell out of them that somehow means you out perform a competitor who makes and sells millions of readers? You need to get over your lovefest with Sony and look at the facts.

You do realize it is possible to make a point without insulting people?

Why spend so much time on the Sony threads if you exhibit so much disdain for both the product and the people who like it?

What's in it for you?

jocampo · 08-10-2011, 03:46 PM

I bet with SCION, two months ago when Nook Touch came out, that Sony was going to drop prices ...

... and this is basically the confirmation.

The price, when not the only factor, it is an important one when taking that final purchase decision. Take for example HP and its most recent Touchpad. They just made the $399.00 a permanent price, and that's a tablet, not a eink reader, so you can do much more than just read books.

Now, being USA one of the biggest market for ereaders and with all these economic problems we have at this moment, keep pushing Sony readers above $200.00 barrier is just a mistake.

I do like Sony readers, good quality, nice firmware, etc, but they are not for me, for two reasons: not same selection of books like other online bookstore offer and expensive, too expensive for being an eink reader.

I would say $140.00 or even $150.00 is a more realistic price. The fact that they are dropping prices is a clear indicative that they are not doing well and the market pressure is getting uglier.

SCION · 08-10-2011, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jocampo

I bet with SCION, two months ago when Nook Touch came out, that Sony was going to drop prices ...

... and this is basically the confirmation...

What is?

Quote:

The Sony Reader, priced from $180 to $300, will probably be offered with hardware and software improvements in August,...

This?

JSWolf · 08-10-2011, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jocampo

I do like Sony readers, good quality, nice firmware, etc, but they are not for me, for two reasons: not same selection of books like other online bookstore offer and expensive, too expensive for being an eink reader.

You do not have to purchase eBooks just from Sony. Any shop that sells DRM-free ePub and/or ePub with Adept DRM is OK to buy and use with a Sony Reader.

As for the price, think about it. You pay say $200 and you get a device that actually works. How many firmware upgrades has Kobo done and they still have not yet fixed the problems?

jocampo · 08-10-2011, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You do not have to purchase eBooks just from Sony. Any shop that sells DRM-free ePub and/or ePub with Adept DRM is OK to buy and use with a Sony Reader.

As for the price, think about it. You pay say $200 and you get a device that actually works. How many firmware upgrades has Kobo done and they still have not yet fixed the problems?

Please Jon ... let's not start the ePub debate again, the thread is not about it.

The Kindle 3 works out of the box, and it's way below $200.00. Same goes for Nook Touch. For someone who just want to enjoy a novel using an eink device, that's much more than enough.

SCION · 08-10-2011, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You do not have to purchase eBooks just from Sony. Any shop that sells DRM-free ePub and/or ePub with Adept DRM is OK to buy and use with a Sony Reader.

As for the price, think about it. You pay say $200 and you get a device that actually works. How many firmware upgrades has Kobo done and they still have not yet fixed the problems?

Many folks in the U.S. want a device with wifi to shop. You can't get this for $200 with Sony. No need to bash Kobo. They're doing a fine job (for an entity their size) actually implementing features that users want and issuing timely bug fixes. Not bad for $129.

JSWolf · 08-10-2011, 04:44 PM

I have no idea the size or the price, but the forthcoming Sony PRS-T1 is going to have wifi.

EatingPie · 08-10-2011, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jocampo

Please Jon ... let's not start the ePub debate again, the thread is not about it.

The Kindle 3 works out of the box, and it's way below $200.00. Same goes for Nook Touch. For someone who just want to enjoy a novel using an eink device, that's much more than enough.

I did not interpret that as a dig against anyone except Kobo, which is another ePUB-reading device.

And both of you are correct in your assertions:

The Sony works out of the box and reads ePUB purchased from Sony Store, any DRM-free ePUB seller, or any ADAPT DRMed ePUB seller.

The Kindle works out of the box and reads Kindle format books from Amazon, and anyone selling DRM-free Kindle format.

-Pie

EatingPie · 08-10-2011, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have no idea the size or the price, but the forthcoming Sony PRS-T1 is going to have wifi.

Whoa Ho! You miss a few days reading the general Sony forum, and you miss everything!!

Can't wait to see how this baby obsoletes my current readers!

-Pie

BeccaAnn · 08-10-2011, 07:01 PM

Has anyone heard of a release date? Or even an official notice date? I can't remember if I read anything saying this.

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08-03-2011, 06:17 PM	#92
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,587 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	And to me, that cute page turning animation is just eye candy... totally unnecessary and I would imagine the animation would be slower than no animation, and would get annoying after awhile waiting and watching the page flip. But that's just me. I'm one of the basic people who uses it for reading only and don't really care if they add wi-fi or not. I wouldn't not buy another Sony if they did add wi-fi and expansion to the 350, but any of those items wouldn't be a selling point to me at all, and I doubt I'd ever actually use the wi-fi since I prefer using Calibre and keeping the reader library in sync with my PC library. I like the build quality though of the Sony readers, how it feels in my hands and absolutely love the touch screen. I wouldn't ever get a reader without a touch screen in fact.

08-10-2011, 03:46 PM	#97
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	I bet with SCION, two months ago when Nook Touch came out, that Sony was going to drop prices ... ... and this is basically the confirmation. The price, when not the only factor, it is an important one when taking that final purchase decision. Take for example HP and its most recent Touchpad. They just made the $399.00 a permanent price, and that's a tablet, not a eink reader, so you can do much more than just read books. Now, being USA one of the biggest market for ereaders and with all these economic problems we have at this moment, keep pushing Sony readers above $200.00 barrier is just a mistake. I do like Sony readers, good quality, nice firmware, etc, but they are not for me, for two reasons: not same selection of books like other online bookstore offer and expensive, too expensive for being an eink reader. I would say $140.00 or even $150.00 is a more realistic price. The fact that they are dropping prices is a clear indicative that they are not doing well and the market pressure is getting uglier.

08-10-2011, 04:44 PM	#102
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,740 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I have no idea the size or the price, but the forthcoming Sony PRS-T1 is going to have wifi.

08-10-2011, 07:01 PM	#105
BeccaAnn Groupie Posts: 188 Karma: 660 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Spearfish, SD, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	Has anyone heard of a release date? Or even an official notice date? I can't remember if I read anything saying this.