3 New Sony Readers announced today, apps coming this fall

[TallMomof2]

Too bad the 650 doesn't have wifi, at that price it should have that and a lot more. I use the wifi daily on my Kindle and have yet to use the USB. A couple hundred books and daily feeds sent via Calibre via the wifi and it's free.

The touchscreen is nice but IMO not worth the extra $$ without wifi.

I'm glad that there are choices for ereaders.

[etienne66]

Originally Posted by Boston

Some other personal observations:

I didn't like the note taking capability at all. I assume its just like the PRS-600 but I only know how the Kindle does it. First, I was suprised that the Sony had no keyboard entry for note taking (the popup keyboard is only for search and dictionary best I could tell). My handwriting was barely legible with the stylus input - Plus its annoying how it shows on the screen. I prefer the way the Kindle does it, which is more like Excel or word - a little icon showing there is a note which you can view in a pop up box. Again, this is a matter of preference.

You can add a typed note either to the page or to words that you have highlighted on a PRS-600, I'm assuming it is similar on a PRS-650. You can highlight a word or group of words like you are looking them up in the dictionary. Tap once and then immediately tap again sliding over all of the words you want highlighted. From the pop-up for the dictionary, choose the highlighter. Once you've done that you can click the highlighted word(s) and add a note by keyboard or drawing. Similar for bookmarks. Click the top right corner one time. Wait for it to show the page turned down. Click it again and you can add a note by keyboard or drawing.

Etienne66

[Boston]

Originally Posted by etienne66

You can add a typed note either to the page or to words that you have highlighted on a PRS-600, I'm assuming it is similar on a PRS-650. You can highlight a word or group of words like you are looking them up in the dictionary. Tap once and then immediately tap again sliding over all of the words you want highlighted. From the pop-up for the dictionary, choose the highlighter. Once you've done that you can click the highlighted word(s) and add a note by keyboard or drawing. Similar for bookmarks. Click the top right corner one time. Wait for it to show the page turned down. Click it again and you can add a note by keyboard or drawing.

Etienne66

Yes...I just looked at the user guide on-line..and it appears you can use the keyboard...neither the salesperson nor I could figure it out though. I will correct my post.

astra - My daughter had my camera. I hesitated in posting because I know cell phone pics aren't what some want (and someone would comment accordingly). But I was asked to post pictures showing how much would fit on a page and there were questions about whether the font clarity was significant. I think my shots show that so I posted. Likewise, I don't claim to have the expertise of many here and tried to make clear that these are just my personal thoughts and not a professional review.

I should also note that for those who want the features of the PRS-600, this is a huge upgrade imo.

[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Too bad the 650 doesn't have wifi, at that price it should have that and a lot more. I use the wifi daily on my Kindle and have yet to use the USB. A couple hundred books and daily feeds sent via Calibre via the wifi and it's free.

The touchscreen is nice but IMO not worth the extra $$ without wifi.

I'm glad that there are choices for ereaders.

For my use, the negatives of Wifi outweigh the positives.

+ Easy access to Reader from my Mac.
+ Buy books instantly from Reader.


- Did Sony promise to never remotely delete content without your permission? No, no they didn't! And as to Amazon making said promise... about as good as Sony NOT making the promise in my book (aka "worthless").
- Battery drain.
- Constant turning on/off when in use and not in use.

-Pie

[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by Boston

Yes...I just looked at the user guide on-line..and it appears you can use the keyboard...neither the salesperson nor I could figure it out though. I will correct my post.

astra - My daughter had my camera. I hesitated in posting because I know cell phone pics aren't what some want (and someone would comment accordingly). But I was asked to post pictures showing how much would fit on a page and there were questions about whether the font clarity was significant. I think my shots show that so I posted.

Did you see any books that had headers at the top of the page?

Most LRFs -- and all paper books for that matter -- have a top-of-page header telling you the title of the book you're reading. (And if you use a program like pielrf you can even generate LRFs with headers that tell you chapters, but I plug shamelessly.) The Nook's ADE will properly display headers for ePUBs, but the busted-assed ADE Sony uses never has.

-Pie

[astra]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Too bad the 650 doesn't have wifi, at that price it should have that and a lot more. I use the wifi daily on my Kindle and have yet to use the USB. A couple hundred books and daily feeds sent via Calibre via the wifi and it's free.

The touchscreen is nice but IMO not worth the extra $$ without wifi.

I'm glad that there are choices for ereaders.

I would not buy ebook reader with wi-fi unless as the last resort.
Screen clarity and battery life are the primary features for me.

[Boston]

They only had one sample book on the new units (Harlan Coben's Caught) and that is what I am showing.

The salesperson who helped me has a PRS-505 and bought 505s/300s for his family..and they love them. But when I mentioned that "I'm not convinced its worth it for me to upgrade", he said "We haven't been told the prices yet". When I told him what they were, his first reaction was "How do they expect us to compete when the Kindle is $140?". I mentioned that some, like me, loved their Sony's.

I mentioned that I also had a Kindle which I use to share books with my mom..that we shared an Amazon account and I could push books to her Kindle for download. He got excited and said "you mean they will just show up on her Kindle?" He then mentioned that for his dad, he has to go over and do the book transfers for him.

I do think there is a convenience/ease of use with the Kindle that, in addition to price, makes it more attractive to the average consumer. But like many here, I like my Sony for other reasons and don't want/need wi-fi capabilities for a dedicated ebook reader.

[Clancy_s]

Originally Posted by Boston

The one drawback on my PRS-505 is that I use a larger font than I need because the one below it is too small to read comfortably.

PMJI - I had that problem, I found there are 2 ways around it for epub files (I'm happy with left justification), both of which allow you to use a custom style sheet that specifies your own font type and style.

Either use Calibre to convert them with your own CSS (instructions on the Calibre site and in the threads).

Or use PRS+ to reflash your firmware, and then store a custom CSS on your reader, that will override the document CSS with your preferences (instructions on the PRS+ page).

I use the later, since the font size I want depends on the device / screen.

[Boston]

Originally Posted by Clancy_s

PMJI - I had that problem, I found there are 2 ways around it for epub files (I'm happy with left justification), both of which allow you to use a custom style sheet that specifies your own font type and style.

Either use Calibre to convert them with your own CSS (instructions on the Calibre site and in the threads).

Or use PRS+ to reflash your firmware, and then store a custom CSS on your reader, that will override the document CSS with your preferences (instructions on the PRS+ page).

I use the later, since the font size I want depends on the device / screen.

Thanks..good to know..I guess if it were that big a deal, I would look into it but at this point, I want to spend my time reading..not playing with my reader.

As far as the battery life - I think the touchscreen must use some power, no? And while the drain may be less than wi-fi, the touchscreen is something that you would use constantly while reading. Sony "claims" 2 weeks on the PRS-650. Amazon claims "4 weeks" with wi-fi off and "up to 3 weeks" with wi-fi on (but again less if you actually use the wifi). So for me, it's a wash. What I really want is a user-replaceable battery - I'm a heavy reader and the battery is the first thing to go.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by Boston

As far as the battery life - I think the touchscreen must use some power, no? And while the drain may be less than wi-fi, the touchscreen is something that you would use constantly while reading. Sony "claims" 2 weeks on the PRS-650. Amazon claims "4 weeks" with wi-fi off and "up to 3 weeks" with wi-fi on (but again less if you actually use the wifi). So for me, it's a wash. What I really want is a user-replaceable battery - I'm a heavy reader and the battery is the first thing to go.

The battery's lifetime is measured in charges, for good reason. It's the act of discharge/recharge that degrades the battery. A battery good for 1000 charge cycles should be able at hold at least 50% charge ~8-10 years in, assuming you have to fully recharge it every week.

On these devices, we aren't recharging it often enough that we should be killing the batteries faster than the device.

[harryE123]

these damn things are still so undeveloped that they force us to spend more time tweaking them than actually using them...

[petercreasey]

Originally Posted by astra

I would not buy ebook reader with wi-fi unless as the last resort.
Screen clarity and battery life are the primary features for me.

A, Well said! I personally am on your side.

[harryE123]

I don't see a problem having to charge the device once a week because of wifi as opposed to once per four weeks. Surely people we haven't become so lacking in time that we can't pop our devices in the charger once a week. I think wifi is sorely missing, I was looking forward to reading blogs on my reader and enjoying the text on e-ink instead of the eye strain on lcd. And surely you always turn wifi off and conserve battery if you don't want it.

Sadly it seems margins are so razor thin for sony what with amazon's dominance that they can't "afford" to put a simple wifi chip there when even dumb phones nowadays have one. I think besides the margins though they are also being greedy.

[Dan de V]

Going back to Nate's original post:

"They’re going to release Sony Reader apps for Android and iOS in November, and new PC and Mac apps in December"

Anybody heard anymore about this? I am a little confused by it because I assume Sony needed to release apps to compete with Amazon with their flexible ecosystem across reading platforms. In fact this is something I was advocating a few months ago on another thread.

My confusion is about how the Sony readers will sync their pages as 2 out of 3 readers are not even wifi let alone 3G....compare that with Amazon where the great selling point is being to pick up which ever reader and have it start at the same point in the book as you left off reading it on another device e.g. Kindle to iphone.

My initial assumption is Sony will not be able to offer that functionality or maybe just for the 950? Maybe a selling point for the 950.

[Papi]

I'd want wifi also, mainly for wikipedia search. In fact that's the only thing making me hesitate between the 650 and Kindle 3. I don't see why anyone would absolutely NOT want wifi on a reader, considering you can turn it off. Of course it adds a few $ to the final price, but other than that...