Sony PRS-T1 specs!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

That is everyone's point.

Is it anyone's point who's actually a Kindle owner? As the owner of both a Kindle and a Sony, I'm perfectly satisfied to see a Sony with a plastic case; it certainly doesn't automatically indicate a loss of quality or toughness.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is it anyone's point who's actually a Kindle owner? As the owner of both a Kindle and a Sony, I'm perfectly satisfied to see a Sony with a plastic case; it certainly doesn't automatically indicate a loss of quality or toughness.

Very true.

But it indicates a loss of "unique-ness", the debate-ending trump card: "Who cares if its store is substandard, if its PC software's a nightmare, if it lacks wireless, if it lacks crossplatform sync... It's got a METAL CASE™!"

Now it's just one of the crowd, competing on the quality of its software, its store, its pricing.
Anxiety is to be expected from such a Big.Thing.

[kartu]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is it anyone's point who's actually a Kindle owner? As the owner of both a Kindle and a Sony, I'm perfectly satisfied to see a Sony with a plastic case; it certainly doesn't automatically indicate a loss of quality or toughness.

But unlike Sony, Kindle isn't glossy, is it? What where they thinking...

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Very true.

But it indicates a loss of "unique-ness", the debate-ending trump card: "Who cares if its store is substandard, if its PC software's a nightmare, if it lacks wireless, if it lacks crossplatform sync... It's got a METAL CASE™!"

Now it's just one of the crowd, competing on the quality of its software, its store, its pricing.
Anxiety is to be expected from such a Big.Thing.

You don't need any software to put books on it (which renders software argument moot), neither are you bound to any store.
Wi-Fi is more of a marketing check point than a real feature.
Touch screen still makes it unique.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If this is for real, the only real changes seem to be the multi-touch screen and the addition of WiFi.

Also the mustache

[ Bol.com ? Must look it up.......... ]

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

That is everyone's point.

Not mine. If I didn't already have a perfectly working Sony650, I would probably have bought this new one. I don't really care if it's plastic or not.

Originally Posted by kartu

But unlike Sony, Kindle isn't glossy, is it? What where they thinking...

It's a 'shopped picture! Let's wait till the first ones arrive in the wild...

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Also the mustache

[ Bol.com ? Must look it up.......... ]

You make me wonder where the saying comes from!

I like to compare bol.com to amazon.com. It started as an online bookstore, but has grown to a website that sells everything, even second hand stuff...

[carpetmojo]

I presume no ideas yet , but what with this and Pottermore, do we think Sony will cut the x50s ?
Be a shame, but especially for the 350, which I think is a little beauty !

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

I presume no ideas yet , but what with this and Pottermore, do we think Sony will cut the x50s ?
Be a shame, but especially for the 350, which I think is a little beauty !

I suspect they will. Neither the 350 nor the 650 is now listed in the UK Sony Store; the only readers will listed are some refurbished 300s.

[Skibble]

I don't think I'd mind the plastic. Many of the plastic items I own don't feel or look like plastic, much less "cheap" plastic, so I've learned not to be biased against it.

That said, I won't be picking up this reader. So far, I haven't seen anything that makes it a substantial upgrade from my existing reader.

I do hope there will be a 5" version, though, if for no other reason than Oberon might be convinced to make a cover for it that would fit my existing PRS-350!

[Asawi]

I can't imagine they would keep the 650 in production once this is introduced. I do hope they keep the 350 or, if they don't, introduce a 5" replacement.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Asawi

I can't imagine they would keep the 650 in production once this is introduced. I do hope they keep the 350 or, if they don't, introduce a 5" replacement.

As I said above, neither the 350 nor the 650 is still listed in the Sony Store. That seems like a reasonable indication that they've now been officially dropped.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by kartu

Touch screen still makes it unique.

Uh, no...
At last count there were something like a dozen ebook vendors signed up for the same NeoNode IR touch screens Sony uses. Starting with, yes; Nook and Kobo. (It's not as if Sony invented it or own it, they just buy the tech like everybody else.)

In case I wasn't clear, I think it is foolish to focus on any single "Unique Feature" as the justification for buying a product.
If Sony is to survive as a volume ebook reader vendor they need to deliver a quality product at a competitive price. And if reaching that price requires ditching a "unique feature" or three that 90-plus percent of buyers don't care about, Sony would be well adviced to do the ditching as fast as possible.

When it comes to ebook readers, the track record so far makes it clear the bulk of the device's value to mainstream buyers comes just from providing access to ebooks and the second largest value-add is in usability. Uniqueness only matters to marketers and niche buyers.

To use a car metaphor: Sony can be a Lotus or a Honda. Lotuses are unique but rare, whereas Hondas are everywhere.

[vxf]

I, for one, am really saddened by this switch to plastic.

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by kartu

Wi-Fi is more of a marketing check point than a real feature.

Probably true for most people for a Sony and other non-Kindle services.

But for the combination of a Kindle and Calibre, it's really nice. E.g., start up Calibre, it churns away to produce the day's magazines and newspapers you specified and e-mails them to your free @ kindle.com address. No need to have your Kindle turned on then. The Kindle e-mail service waits until later, when at your convenience, you turn on your Kindle and then it delivers your magazines and newspapers.

I'm posting this OT Kindle wireless response to correct information I gave you in a long-ago post where I agreed with you, when I was just getting familiar with Calibre's automatic wireless delivery. I thought then that a Kindle had to be on at the same time as when Calibre was working. So the only difference seemed to be plugging in vs. turning on wireless. But I was wrong about the need for a synchronized connection.

Right now, I'm at my computer and started Calibre, watched it assemble all my Monday magazines and newspapers, and then quit Calibre. My Kindle is somewhere else, turned off. Later on, when I turn it on, it'll get all that content delivered automagically. A real nice convenience IMHO. But it only applies to Calibre set up to do the free Kindle delivery. (Thank you Calibre for being so wonderful.)

[Analogus]

ad Kindle & Calibre:

If that's true (and I believe it is) that would be a big argument for WiFi and Kindle.

A.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Analogus

ad Kindle & Calibre:

If that's true (and I believe it is) that would be a big argument for WiFi and Kindle.

A.

Another use for WiFi on ebook readers with good browsers is to create a private "cloud" ebook repository you can browse to and download from at will. Don't have to be fancy, either; a friend of mine just uses ftp from his Kindle and treats the onboard storage as a local cache of his full library.

Nowadays, adding WiFi costs little and brings true value to many users. It would add even more if vendors supported OPDS. Some do, but most don't.