So how does everyone feel about SONY now?

[mcrmama]

I also had a pocketbook to start with and have to say I didn't love reading with it. I often lost my page due to freezing and was just frustrated with it etc. When I switched to Sony, I was so much happier and really have increased my reading tenfold. I just enjoy reading on a reader that just works. I have a 650 at this point but am curious about the T1's, especially since my Dad is looking for a reader for my mom and my dh needs his own reader. I know some of the features would be exactly what my mom and dh would like, so we'll see what happens the next little while to see if a firmware update etc. happens to work out some of the bugs as I think it looks to have the potential of being a really nice reader.

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Just in case it makes you feel better, I don't think the PocketBook range would necessarily have made you happier. Whilst PocketBook had some very good ideas about how to make an ereader which was great for user-customisation my own experience was that every firmware update they released seemed to break as many things as it fixed. The latest one for my PB model is still labelled 'beta' over a year later and is unusable for the things I find important. In short, it was very frustrating.

As far as PDF reflow mode was concerned I gave up on it when I found I could only page forward not backward. It's possible they fixed it in later models but I won't be spending any more money with them to find out.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by CedroRosso

Ummm. I can page both forward and backwards on T1 pdfs.

Just in case I confused anyone with my earlier post. The problem I detailed with paging backwards in PDF reflow mode was with my PocketBook not the PRST1. I don't use reflow mode in PDFs anymore. I've had better results using margin-cropping tools. My test cropped PDFs seem to read reasonably well on both the PRST1 and the PRS650. However, they are novels not scientific papers.

[ring0_event]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Just in case I confused anyone with my earlier post. The problem I detailed with paging backwards in PDF reflow mode was with my PocketBook not the PRST1. I don't use reflow mode in PDFs anymore. I've had better results using margin-cropping tools. My test cropped PDFs seem to read reasonably well on both the PRST1 and the PRS650. However, they are novels not scientific papers.

May I ask which cropping tool you've used? I'd like to try it out and see if it works for me, but I doubt my eyes would be up to the task, unless landscape mode were used (viable for the T1, but broken IMHO on the 950).

[Bookworm_Girl]

BRISS is one of the more popular tools. There is a discussion thread under the MR subforum E-Book Formats > PDF. I use Adobe Professional.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by ring0_event

May I ask which cropping tool you've used?

Briss is pretty good. You have to 'draw' the crop area(s) yourself using the GUI interface.

Calibre's own 'pdfmanipulate' combined with GhostScript (free) has an option which does a very neat job (but can be a little slow) at precisely removing all the outer margins for each page. However, it is a commandline utility, i.e. no GUI. It can be wrapped into a Windows batch file to make it a one-button option.

I've also experimented using pdfmanipulate combined with some other free utilities and some of my own code to split every page into 2 equal-size pages (top and bottom)

Originally Posted by ring0_event

I'd like to try it out and see if it works for me, but I doubt my eyes would be up to the task, unless landscape mode were used (viable for the T1, but broken IMHO on the 950).

Yes, in all cases I read them in landscape mode. The text is smaller than ideal, but it's been readable (for me) on the PDFs I've tried so far, especially with a little tweaking of the Contrast/Brightness settings. I wasn't aware that there was a problem with landscape on my PRS650? Unless you mean that you don't like that the Sonys only split each page into 2 parts (top/bottom) which often means that the full width of the landscape screen isn't used.

[ring0_event]

Thanks Bookworm_Girl and jackie_w for that info.
jackie_w, I consider landscape on the 950 to be broken because each view in landscape mode overlaps a bit, i.e. no clear division at a line, so after a page turn in landscape mode, I can't start reading at the topmost line, but at one several lines below. Very annoying. The T1 evenly splits at the same point so that there is no overlap in page views in landscape mode. The T1 is definitely better at some stuff, anyways.

[Garry Lancaster]

Originally Posted by ring0_event

jackie_w, I consider landscape on the 950 to be broken because each view in landscape mode overlaps a bit, i.e. no clear division at a line, so after a page turn in landscape mode, I can't start reading at the topmost line, but at one several lines below. Very annoying. The T1 evenly splits at the same point so that there is no overlap in page views in landscape mode. The T1 is definitely better at some stuff, anyways.

The overlap is necessary for scanned-image type books (of which I have quite a few), as the "half-page" boundary could occasionally split a line of text in half.

If you install PRS+ (v2.0.13 or higher) then the bit of the page which is shown on both screens is greyed-out a bit. This makes it very easy to keep your place when switching halves. I've found reading these types of PDFs on my 350 much more pleasurable with this feature.

[Garry Lancaster]

Originally Posted by mcrmama

I also had a pocketbook to start with and have to say I didn't love reading with it. I often lost my page due to freezing and was just frustrated with it etc. When I switched to Sony, I was so much happier and really have increased my reading tenfold. I just enjoy reading on a reader that just works.

I'd have to agree with this. I'm much happier with my 350 than with the PB360, even though the PocketBook did have some really nice features. Mine eventually broke, due (I believe) to a poor design of the clip-on cover which meant that you tended to have to apply a bit more pressure than was good to fix it in place. One day, I took off the cover to find the screen broken...

[ring0_event]

Originally Posted by Garry Lancaster

The overlap is necessary for scanned-image type books (of which I have quite a few), as the "half-page" boundary could occasionally split a line of text in half.

If you install PRS+ (v2.0.13 or higher) then the bit of the page which is shown on both screens is greyed-out a bit. This makes it very easy to keep your place when switching halves. I've found reading these types of PDFs on my 350 much more pleasurable with this feature.

Hmm, the T1 does away completely with this, and the K3 (my old FW) does not have it either. Maybe my PRS+ version is old, and I should upgrade. I found that scanned books are so, very, very slow, but then perhaps I should optimize them for mobile use with Adobe Reader. I would have appreciated the ability to turn this off, as most of my PDFs are text PDFs, but I see your point.
Maybe I'm missing it...IS there a way to turn this off??

[Garry Lancaster]

Originally Posted by ring0_event

Hmm, the T1 does away completely with this, and the K3 (my old FW) does not have it either. Maybe my PRS+ version is old, and I should upgrade.

It's quite a recent innovation, I think - v2.0.13 came out mid-September.

I found that scanned books are so, very, very slow, but then perhaps I should optimize them for mobile use with Adobe Reader.

Strange. On the 350, the speed for me is almost as good as ePubs - only fractionally (and hardly noticeably) slower. On the 505, it does take a good number of seconds to change (so I usually press the page turn button when I'm a few lines from the bottom!) but presumably the processor in the x50 series is significantly faster.

I use briss to crop the margins on my books, but I'd be surprised if this made any difference to the speed.

I would have appreciated the ability to turn this off, as most of my PDFs are text PDFs, but I see your point.
Maybe I'm missing it...IS there a way to turn this off??

I don't think so.

[ring0_event]

Thank you for the update, I'll upgrade my PRS+ version at home. I have not tried with many graphically scanned books, but this one was a large one, with Greek on one side, and English on the other. Even a relatively smaller one was pretty slow. Well, I feel a bit foolish because I've only tried with a handful of such scanned books.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Garry Lancaster

If you install PRS+ (v2.0.13 or higher) then the bit of the page which is shown on both screens is greyed-out a bit. This makes it very easy to keep your place when switching halves.

I agree.

IIRC the PRS505 had this 'greying-out' as standard I'm not sure why they disabled it in the later models. Anyway the PRS+ guys found the way to give us the option to switch it back on again

[Garry Lancaster]

Originally Posted by ring0_event

Thank you for the update, I'll upgrade my PRS+ version at home. I have not tried with many graphically scanned books, but this one was a large one, with Greek on one side, and English on the other. Even a relatively smaller one was pretty slow. Well, I feel a bit foolish because I've only tried with a handful of such scanned books.

Well, admittedly the speed could be quite dependent on the size of the PDF. Mine are scanned in b&w (not greyscale), and a typical 200-300 page novel from hardback form (~22cmx14cm) weighs in at around 25-35MB. If yours are significantly larger than this, it could explain the difference.

[ring0_event]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Possibly because the T1 is the first Sony model, for sale outside the US, with internet access.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

BRISS is one of the more popular tools. There is a discussion thread under the MR subforum E-Book Formats > PDF. I use Adobe Professional.

Wow, thank you, I had excellent results tagging and cropping a PDF which never displayed well on my 950, but now looks great! Adobe Professional gave great results, thank you for the recommendation!

[ring0_event]

Small update: I tried the same PDF file on the T1, and it lagged like *crazy*

It's only 7.9 MB!