Sony PRS-650 and Kobo Wifi - why one not the other?

[Iborg]

Hi Folks

I am tossing up between the two of these readers.

I have seen and liked the Sony 650, but, in Australia, it is expensive ($300, the 950 is not even available).

I intend to look at the Kobo tonight. It is also expensive when compared to overseas ($180), but, still a lot cheaper than the Sony.

I like the idea of the touch screen and mp3 capability, but, certainly don't feel the need for them.

I mostly intend to read fiction, so primarily simple text, but, am reasonably likely to want to use pdf's as well.

Would anyone like to comment on their personal preferences?

Even better, has anyone made good use of both and can provide comparisons?

I have also considered some other readers, but, they were too expensive or had poor reviews.

Thank you for your thoughts.


Have fun

[TedJ]

I was in a similar position and ended up ordering a Kobo Touch from Borders (US) for ~$131 AUD. Unfortunately, I've heard that they're no longer accepting international orders.

[sonyreaderfan]

Hmm, if price is a consideration foremost, then get the Kobo.

But for me, Kobo's a nonstarter because

- It doesn't have a search function. The lack of this is deal breaker because I read mostly nonfiction and need to search for subject words in the text. You can't do that in Kobo.
- No dictionary or highlight on sideloaded books. Most of the books in my library are sideloaded books (pdfs, epubs from 3rd party).

There are speculation that a beta firmware will fix this, but why wait.

- This is an issue that annoys me personally. From reading the forum, Kobo's firmware is buggy. There are bug reports that Kobo doesn't always access footnotes, weird justification, etc. (Just look in the Kobo forum for all the bugs reported.) Once again, there is report that some future firmware will fix the bugs. But really, my view is that the customers shouldn't be working as a product tester and reporting bugs to the MR forum, and having Kobo reps responding to it. (I owned a K3 and Sony and never encountered bugs on the device. The Sony Library software is another story.) Some people say having this response is a strong point of Kobo, but I just want a device to work out of the box.

Strong points of Sony over Kobo
- Very fast operation. I can read comics in it (using the picture viewer app to go through folder of jpegs) and large pdf files and the operation is pretty smooth
- Better pdf support
- Collections

Strong points of Kobo over Sony
- Price
- Can have your own fonts, control over line spacing.
(But you can have your own fonts with PRS+ firmware for Sony.)
- Lots of firmware updates. (But I don't see this as a plus, necessarily, if it's because the firmware needs a lot of bug fixing to being with.)
- Reading Life?

What about a Kindle? It's cheap and bug free and the ebookstore is cheaper than Kobo's. Is it selling in Australia? If touchscreen is what you want, in September Amazon will release a touchscreen Kindle, while older ones will mostly drop below US $100.

[Iborg]

Hi Folks

Thanks for the thoughts.

I tried to look at a Kobo at Borders last night, but, found that it too had closed.

I think I will save my pennies and go for the Sony. Who knows, they might pull their finger out and have the 7" by the time I will be buying. Although it will be cheaper to buy from overseas and ship it here!

I am still interested in any other thoughts.

Bye for now

[Rizla]

Kobo has one single button. I think that's a mistake. I use a 650. It has seven button (incl. volume buttons at the button which I rebind with Prs+). Double that up to 14 with secondary functions again using Prs+. I use ALL the buttons as well as the touchscreen. I imagine having just one button to be a pain in the butt. You can't have too much control.

[vishcompany]

I was very interested in the Kobo, but having no button to turn pages was a big no-go. So I went for a PRS-350, installed PRS+ and that's it. I am pretty happy.

[jshzh]

Is it a good time to buy Sony PRS *50? Sony will launch new models very soon.

[sonyreaderfan]

Originally Posted by jshzh

Is it a good time to buy Sony PRS *50? Sony will launch new models very soon.

Well, I would wait just to see what new features the new models have. There might be some lifesaving features that you want.

otoh, the PRS *50 is still very viable. They're still better than the new NST, and Kobo Touch in terms of features, imo. So if you can buy a PRS *50 for 50-60% off, that's a great bargain. Sony products are very reliable. Used ones are just as good as new ones. Personally I would take advantage of the new Readers to depress the resell value of the old PRS and buy the old PRS, if I didn't care for the new Readers.

[fbrII]

I have owned a Kindle, Sony and an iPad. I recently bought a Kobo Touch and have been very happy with the unit. The Sony is a good unit but in my opinion overpriced.

[Latinandgreek]

While I have played with the new Kobo and think that it is a great device (especially for the price), I do like the Sony x50 series more.

The Kobo does have some advantages over the Sony, such as the ability to add your own fonts, and it can read a few more formats than the Sony, and it has wi-fi, which the 350 and 650 don't have (the 950 has wi-fi and 3g); you can also change pages on the Kobo using a tap instead of a swipe.

The Sony has added dictionaries (12 in total) and they can be used with any books, sideloaded or not. I use them quite a bit. You can also make notes in your books, either using a stylus or with the on-screen keyboard. The Sony 650 and 950 also have the ability to play mp3s. The Sony has a better build than the Kobo, more buttons (for those who like to use buttons to turn pages and the like), and great PDF support. You can read text in landscape mode (I think that you can only do that with PDFs on the Kobo), you can reflow PDFs and it has pre-set zoom levels for PDFs with 2 or 3 columns. I personally like the fact that the Sony device can read LRFs. Although it is an obsolete format, I sometimes convert my text with foreign characters to it, because it can handle embedded fonts, and I like the way that format is displayed even better than epub for some reason.

A choice between the Kobo and the Sony readers is tough. If price is a big issue, go with the Kobo, it is a nice device. It price isn't as much of an issue, the Sony does offer quite a bit more functionality, I think. That isn't to say that the Kobo isn't without its merits. I'm thinking of getting one as a backup reader. Also, my needs are probably quite a bit more specialized than those of most ebook readers, so the added functionality that I use on my Sony may not be important to others.

[Ditchleyportrait]

between the two you might want kobo because they have ppl on this site. although if the kobo doesn't have search that's bad. i would go kobo.

[jshzh]

Originally Posted by sonyreaderfan

Well, I would wait just to see what new features the new models have. There might be some lifesaving features that you want.

otoh, the PRS *50 is still very viable. They're still better than the new NST, and Kobo Touch in terms of features, imo. So if you can buy a PRS *50 for 50-60% off, that's a great bargain. Sony products are very reliable. Used ones are just as good as new ones. Personally I would take advantage of the new Readers to depress the resell value of the old PRS and buy the old PRS, if I didn't care for the new Readers.

Bestbuy.ca has refurbished 650 on sale for 179.99. There seemed to be a lot of units in stock when I looked at the in-store availability. But I think it is still expensive for a refurbished discontinued device. I may consider it if the price drops to 120. Now I just wait to see what new features will come out this autumn.

[Latinandgreek]

Also, I really like the Sony's UI. The Kobo's isn't terrible or anything, but the Sony's is really nice. I do like that the Kobo has the 5 most recently read books on its homepage, though.

[sonyreaderfan]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

Also, I really like the Sony's UI. The Kobo's isn't terrible or anything, but the Sony's is really nice. I do like that the Kobo has the 5 most recently read books on its homepage, though.

You should look into install PRS+. It gives you a book history of recently read books (more than 5 books, don't know exactly how many is the limit).

[readingglasses]

While many things are comparable and there are pros and cons, the mutlilanguage dictionaries on the sony (for now at least, who knows what kobo will eventually program into it) are a huge advantage if you have any need for foreign languages. Although it is limited to the major west european languages only. So, in australia, if you personally never read foreign languages or if you only interact with east asian languages due to trade and immigration from china, indonesia, etc, the sony won't help you. And PRS+ firmware can't address that on the x50's.

The touch screens are not the same. Same visual quality, yes.
But for some reason, I've tried several kobos and only a couple sony's, the Sony touch screen is MUCH more responsive and smoother and solid than the kobo. The kobo is a solid device and won't break. But you feel a real difference in screen surface comfort, solidity (of screen AND body) and crisp responsiveness with the sony.
I don't know why that is. But here, the irritating premium price of the sony really does have something to draw you in.

But it could be anything. Maybe the sony retail store was more air conditioned so my fingers weren't as sticky as where I tried out the kobos.