SONY officially introduces the new line "Reader WIFI" @ $149 asking price

[log]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Thanks for that, also it appears that sections are missing, e.g. how to connect to a wifi network, or downloading from Google Books or the public library (the parts I was most interested in, naturally).

It was posted in July, this is part of the FCC approval process.

This is not the "official" manual that will be shipping with the product, but it does give us some hints of what's coming.

[porkupan]

Originally Posted by TimW

T1 User Manual from the FCC, credit for find goes to Mike Cain. The full FCC page is here. Link for the manual is at the bottom of the list.

What looks like a good find, but really isn't. This appears to be a very incomplete hacked up version of the PRS-950 manual, a work in progress. The features present in 950 but absent in T1 have been edited out, while no new features have been added in. Everything is TBD.

What do we know about the 2-page view? Probably that it is not there.

What do we know about Google Books? Public Libraries? Anything new?

One thing I am about 99% sure about: there is no Android there. The Engadget is either lying or being misled by know-nothin' Sony marketing. We will learn more when the new Reader starts shipping, but at this point all indicators are towards the same or similar version of Linux with Kinoma environment running native. Which for me makes total sense, as introducing an extra interpretation layer (Android JVM) without acquiring any new functionality while creating multiple low level software hurdles would be a serous waste of resources.

The "Manual" mentions purchasing books directly or via "bundled Reader software". Unless Sony spent a year coming up with something totally new, I am betting on Reader Library support. That's another major pointer against Android.

Having said that, however, I may very well be totally wrong.

Update: After reviewing the obviously Android "USB Connected" screen, I am now thoroughly convinced that Sony did put Android into the T1.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Thanks for that, also it appears that sections are missing, e.g. how to connect to a wifi network, or downloading from Google Books or the public library (the parts I was most interested in, naturally).

I didn't realize until afterwards that several of those apparently handy hyperlinks don't actually do anything. A few work...but only a few. It wasn't quite as helpful as I'd hoped.

[idle]

Well, if it is

Originally Posted by porkupan

a very incomplete hacked up version of the PRS-950 manual

then it tells us nothing - might be just "we need to include something that looks like a manual, but quick, I'm sending the application tomorrow" sort of thing and the real one will be completely different.

[log]

Wow, just because I'm a new member I'm getting ignored? Not enough "karma"?

Can some here please confirm or deny that any previous version of the Sony Reader actually has the screen shown on page 13 ... "Turn on USB storage" screen??

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by log

Wow, just because I'm a new member I'm getting ignored? Not enough "karma"?

I didn't see a question in your last two posts. What are you talking about?

[log]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I didn't see a question in your last two posts. What are you talking about?

Very funny. How about you stop editing peoples post when you quote them next time?

Originally Posted by log

Wow, just because I'm a new member I'm getting ignored? Not enough "karma"?

Can some here please confirm or deny that any previous version of the Sony Reader actually has the screen shown on page 13 ... "Turn on USB storage" screen??

[porkupan]

Originally Posted by log

Can some here please confirm or deny that any previous version of the Sony Reader actually has the screen shown on page 13 ... "Turn on USB storage" screen??

None of the previous versions of the Sony Readers had this screen. I wonder, is it an Android "green man" symbol (ADB connection) in the upper left corner? If so, perhaps it really is Android...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by log

Very funny. How about you stop editing peoples post when you quote them next time?

Calm down, sheesh.

I've never seen that screen even on my android devices.

And besides I see no reason Sony would even want to adopt Android. They are doing fine with their devices already. The 950 (which I no longer have) was great.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by log

Very funny. How about you stop editing peoples post when you quote them next time?

I didn't edit, I cropped, because I was assuming that you weren't asking why people were ignoring the post that you were in the middle of writing. You did mention page 13 in a previous lost, but saying "I discovered ___" doesn't prompt people to reply, because it isn't a question.

[log]

Thanks porkupan.

This, as well other evidence such as the hardware buttons, menu/popup UI in videos, and a confirmation by one the largest gadget news website on the internet -- we have seen more than enough to convince me that the new Sony Reader is indeed running on the Android OS.


If it doesn't convince others, you will have to wait until more official announcements will come from Sony, don't trust the mobileread newbie who found a needle in a haystack.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by TimW

I didn't realize until afterwards that several of those apparently handy hyperlinks don't actually do anything. A few work...but only a few. It wasn't quite as helpful as I'd hoped.

The

Originally Posted by log

Wow, just because I'm a new member I'm getting ignored? Not enough "karma"?

Can some here please confirm or deny that any previous version of the Sony Reader actually has the screen shown on page 13 ... "Turn on USB storage" screen??

You had not asked that question prior to when you became upset. Please review your posts. You may have started to ask, but nothing actually was posted.

No prior version had that. It automatically switches to be able to be mounted by the computer on older ones.

Originally Posted by log

Very funny. How about you stop editing peoples post when you quote them next time?

It was simply not including the portion of the quoted post that he was not replying to.

Originally Posted by kennyc

Calm down, sheesh.

I've never seen that screen even on my android devices.

And besides I see no reason Sony would even want to adopt Android. They are doing fine with their devices already. The 950 (which I no longer have) was great.

That exact screen, no. However, Android devices do have that same thing displayed, with the only difference being the image shows an Android on most devices instead of that generic USB logo.

[porkupan]

Originally Posted by log

This, as well other evidence such as the hardware buttons, menu/popup UI in videos, and a confirmation by one the largest gadget news website on the internet -- we have seen more than enough to convince me that the new Sony Reader is indeed running on the Android OS.

The buttons didn't convince me. Sony had the "Back" button (a.k.a. "Menu") in several older versions of the Readers. In the past couple of years the physical Menu button was replaced by the "soft" "Menu" button, which had the same symbol (its actual function is always "up one level"). The menus are called via the "Option" button. Last year's models had a "Zoom" button, which was made obsolete by adding the multi-touch zoom capability to the touch screen.

The dialogs or menus (the ones I had seen in the videos) looked rather typical Sony/Kinoma. I am pretty sure it's Kinoma environment running on top of Android (similar to Sony Reader for Android). The Reader appears to be moving towards a single software baseline, and that baseline is Android based.

It will be fun to watch if there is enough interest in the Android rooting community, a couple of years after the first nook. If the Reader is successfully rooted, I expect Sony to end up selling a lot of hardware and very little content. The people will buy Sony Readers for the sake of rooting them and installing better reading apps, such as FBReaderJ, CoolReader, Nomad Reader, etc. for DRM-free content.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

The



You had not asked that question prior to when you became upset. Please review your posts. You may have started to ask, but nothing actually was posted.

No prior version had that. It automatically switches to be able to be mounted by the computer on older ones.



It was simply not including the portion of the quoted post that he was not replying to.



That exact screen, no. However, Android devices do have that same thing displayed, with the only difference being the image shows an Android on most devices instead of that generic USB logo.

Well then you need to describe exactly how to see that screen because as I said I've never seen it or anything like it (logo or not) and I've using and programming Android for over a year now on a variety of devices.

Not saying it doesn't exist, I'd love for you to detail how I see it though. (maybe it is only while charging?)

[kjk]

Originally Posted by log

Wow, just because I'm a new member I'm getting ignored? Not enough "karma"?

Can some here please confirm or deny that any previous version of the Sony Reader actually has the screen shown on page 13 ... "Turn on USB storage" screen??

Wow, that is one fancy looking screen!