A few Sony questions..

[tm3]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

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

easy -- because you prefer the feature set of the kindle.

at least, that was my reasoning. and i could afford either one.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rizla

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.

When a screen has the end of one page and the beginning of another, you do get something like 10-11 of 161.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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.

If you had a 650, you'd be porting it around instead of the Kindle.

[mcrmama]

I have a Sony 650 and love it. I think the touch screen is wonderful. I had a pocketbook 360 before and my dh still does and I much prefer the Sony. I thought the 5" screen was a little small at 5" on the pocketbook so went
for the 650 over the 350. I am very happy with my choice. That being said, since the pearl screen is so much nicer I can handle smaller font on the 650 so perhaps the 350 would have been fine too. If you can find a 650 I would go that route, but if not I think the 350 would be a nice portable unit.

Have fun!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you had a 650, you'd be porting it around instead of the Kindle.

No, I wouldn't. As I said, I prefer the Kindle.

[Lilly]

I think a 7-inch screen makes reading more enjoyable for me. I have 2 7-inch screen readers (Sony PRS-900 & 950) and 2 6-inch screen readers (Sony PRS-505 and Kindle 2). I always take my PRS-950 everywhere I go. But I am a girl that carries a large purse everywhere I go so for me portability is no big deal. Plus my 7-inch Sony's are actually smaller than my 6-inch Kindle (I head Amazon fixed that with the K3). Anyway, I think the 6-inch PRS-650 is great way to go. They are a little more expensive than the K3 because of the touch technology. That's why no one else is doing e-ink touch technology yet is because of this problem. Also the casing that surrounds the PRS-650 is not a cheap plastic so it's more studier built. I bought the K2 so I could shop at Amazon in 2009 and I will admit, I have not bought a book from Amazon since June of 2010 because I'm able to find it in ePub at the same price in many other places, that was not the case in 2008 or 2009.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Lilly

They are a little more expensive than the K3 because of the touch technology. That's why no one else is doing e-ink touch technology yet is because of this problem.

What on Earth are you talking about? There are numerous eInk devices on the market with touch screens. I, for example, have a BeBook Neo which has a superb Wacom touch screen.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What on Earth are you talking about? There are numerous eInk devices on the market with touch screens. I, for example, have a BeBook Neo which has a superb Wacom touch screen.

I had a Wacom technology tablet, and it required the use of the stylus, very nice, but still, if the BeBook version also requires a stylus I am not sure that we can really consider that a 'touch' reader.

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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.

I have found exactly the opposite. Nothing could be easier than tapping a word I want to look up; using the Kindle's navigation cursor to locate the word in the text is much less convenient for me.

I rarely purchase books, so the Sony's library feature is the thing that tips the scales for me.

I recently decided to sell all of my other readers and stick with the 350.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I have found exactly the opposite. Nothing could be easier than tapping a word I want to look up; using the Kindle's navigation cursor to locate the word in the text is much less convenient for me.

I rarely purchase books, so the Sony's library feature is the thing that tips the scales for me.

I recently decided to sell all of my other readers and stick with the 350.

Which just goes to show that there's no such thing as a device which is best for everybody . It's great that we have a choice.

I do maintain that the Sony's dictionary isn't as good as the Kindle, when it comes to looking up basic inflections. Eg, the first word I tried to look up, when I got my 350, happened to be the word "Published", and I was disappointed that the Sony said that it wasn't found. Of course, "Publish" is in the dictionary, but it really should be able to find such a common inflection as "Published", I think.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Which just goes to show that there's no such thing as a device which is best for everybody . It's great that we have a choice.

I do maintain that the Sony's dictionary isn't as good as the Kindle, when it comes to looking up basic inflections. Eg, the first word I tried to look up, when I got my 350, happened to be the word "Published", and I was disappointed that the Sony said that it wasn't found. Of course, "Publish" is in the dictionary, but it really should be able to find such a common inflection as "Published", I think.

This is funny. I use the English-German dictionary a lot and it does not stop to amaze me how it is able to find the words even if they are flexed, twisted or whatever!

[vxf]

My PRS950 also displays weird dictionary behavior. Occasionally, it will just fail to find words - and I am not sure it has anything to do with 'flexing'. It just seems bugged to me. The other night, neither of the two english dictionaries would find the word 'apple' (I tapped on it by mistake and was surprised it was not there...). I rebooted and now it was there. I think there are bugs with the dictionary.

But that the kindle have a dictionary search log? I just love that feature in the SONYs, as I can go back and review the 'difficult words' I looked up. English is not my mother-tongue, so I like to keep learning...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by delphin

I had a Wacom technology tablet, and it required the use of the stylus, very nice, but still, if the BeBook version also requires a stylus I am not sure that we can really consider that a 'touch' reader.

Of course it's a touch reader . Yes, the Wacom screen requires a stylus, but that makes it extremely accurate - a Wacom screen is the best touch screen technology for writing on with the stylus; it's a lot more accurate than a resistive, capacitive, or IR touch screen.

Of course if you want to use the touch screen to turn pages with your finger, it's not for you. But if you want to draw on the screen - eg to make notes - it's unbeatable.

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

This is funny. I use the English-German dictionary a lot and it does not stop to amaze me how it is able to find the words even if they are flexed, twisted or whatever!

I've been impressed with the Oxford English dictionary on the Sony as well. I looked up an odd flexed version of an antiquated term, and it found it no problem.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I've been impressed with the Oxford English dictionary on the Sony as well. I looked up an odd flexed version of an antiquated term, and it found it no problem.

I noticed that the Sony did not seem to handle suffixed forms very well, until I switched from the "New Oxford American" to the "Oxford Dictionary of English".

The first option was only so-so, but the second "Oxford Dictionary of English" is much better, and not only handles modified forms of words better, but also manages to find UK spellings, plus lots of amazingly obscure words not included in the Americanized version.