Sony Reader to go unwired! - Page 3

TheMooch · 07-02-2008, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Burning the manual on the altar with the sheep guts is reputed to be useful...
______
Dennis

I thought it was burning the manual with the usb cable.....

kovidgoyal · 07-02-2008, 01:00 PM

Ah wireless sync to calibre

Alisa · 07-02-2008, 01:10 PM

The speed of the partial refresh that Kindle uses when you type text isn't too bad. I wouldn't want to write a document on it, but it's fine for typing in a quick search term. As for input methods, they could implement a text input mode using existing buttons. Not as quick as a keyboard but not bad if you're only typing a few words. People write text messages on phone keypads all the time. They could speed it up with an auto-complete feature like many phones do, too.

HarryT · 07-02-2008, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Oh sure, I use partial refresh to select items in a menu for example. But I'm still not satisfied by the speed of a partial refresh for a virtual keyboard...

Have you tried the one on the iLiad? You wouldn't want to write a novel on it, but for entry of short text items it works just fine.

TallMomof2 · 07-02-2008, 04:14 PM

Personally, I've used plenty of devices with either a touchscreen (Iliad, tablet PC, Palm) or a keyboard (PC, Kindle, cell phone). I *far* prefer a keyboard for text input. I text a lot on my cell phone (with a QWERTY keyboard) so the Kindle's keyboard is easy for me and a great choice for text input. Sure, I type faster than the screen refresh but I'm usually only typing very short lines so that's not an impediment.

Unless Sony adds some sort of text input device, touchscreen or keyboard, all I can see the WiFi used for is their online store. That is until the good folks around here and elsewhere figure out how to use the connectivity to download books from here or Feedbooks a la the downloadable guides for the Kindle.

aru · 07-02-2008, 04:16 PM

I am not so sure that wireless is so much of a help. Uploading new books/files and deleting old stuff does not happen more often than having the need to charge the reader. So everytime I update the reader I just leave it on the USB cable for a few hours and recharge it.

It would be different if Sony would be able to recharge the battery wirelessly though

pilotbob · 07-02-2008, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Unless Sony adds some sort of text input device, touchscreen or keyboard, all I can see the WiFi used for is their online store.

They could use T9 style entry the way Jetbooks does. It works fairly well, and many people are used to it via cell phone text input methods.

BOb

TheJohnNewton · 07-02-2008, 05:17 PM

Wireless is nice as long as it doesn't add significantly to the device's price. Makes a lot sense to me for Sony to add it just to be competative with Kindle. Obviously the supporting software and input capability would be needed.

I'd even like wifi on my Kindle so I don't have to go find my usb cable but it's certainly not a high need item just an "i'm lazy" item ;-) 90% of my use of whispernet is for my daily newspaper download, 5% for sample chapters dls, and 5% for book dls. I don't have much use for mobile internet access and the eink screen isn't very well suited to that purpose anyway. I also don't buy that much from Amazon so the store being online isn't a big deal for me but I'm sure it is for others. I love the access to free books via the wireless though.

Fiacha · 07-03-2008, 12:00 AM

Back when Kindle first came out, I thought wireless was a cool feature, along with the ability to shop for books while out and about. However I rejected Kindle because of price (both of the unit and of the books).

Having bought a PRS 500 and used it for a while, the most important feature is battery life (my wife took it to Korea for a month. It needed to hold a month's worth of books and be able to stay up and running for the 18 hour flight. Her biggest issue was recharging it while in Korea. The unit sucks too much power to take a charge over a USB cable from a laptop).

The other thing I want is a bigger page. The unit may be the size of a paperback, but the usable screen is much smaller. I want the same amount of text, at the same absolute size, as I get on a paperback page. If the screen was touch sensitive, the face mounted buttons could go away to make room for a larger screen.

A screen with a faster response would be nice, and pretty much required for effective touch sceen use.

The problem is that all of these features require newer and more expensive hardware so the base price, which is already a drag on sales, would have to go up. Perhaps if they introduced a new model and dropped the price of the 505 to 199.99 sales would improve.

Anyway, a wireless Sony is not something the I would spend money on.

Fiacha

daffy4u · 07-03-2008, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiacha

Back when Kindle first came out, I thought wireless was a cool feature, along with the ability to shop for books while out and about. However I rejected Kindle because of price (both of the unit and of the books).

Why were the books part of the reason you rejected the Kindle?

astra · 07-03-2008, 09:01 AM

I hope they make WiFi an optinal module or add an ability to switch it off completely. I don't want battery life of the reader to be even shorter than it is now, let alone I don't need it

otherwise I will stick to 505 and they may forget about my money.

rhadin · 07-03-2008, 10:18 AM

I'm trying to figure out what I would do with wi-fi on my 505 and I haven't got a clue how it would be advantageous to me. I'm not worrying about being able to buy books while on the run. I have 147 unread books loaded onto my 505, with room for 50 to 100 more. How many books can I actually read even on a 6-week trip?

I'm sure there must be some advantage to having wi-fi, perhaps with daily newspapers or magazines, but at least for me, until the screen becomes a color screen, it makes no sense to read magazines on my 505. As for newspapers, maybe it's because of my age and a lifelong habit, but I like to read the print version of the newspaper; I think the 505 is simply too small a screen to enjoy the NY Times.

Would the wi-fi prevent me from buying another Sony Reader -- not at all. I really like my 505 and spend several hours a day reading books on it. I definitely would buy another Reader (unless they completely butcher the design to accomodate the wi-fi such as by adding a Kindle-style keyboard

).

And although I can see some value to a touchscreen, especially in being able to keep the overall dimensions but increase the screen size, I'm not sure how much I would actually like it. As it is, it annoys me when I get fingerprints on the reading screen accidentally; I can't imagine how annoyed I'll be with fingerprints because of the touchscreen.

RWood · 07-03-2008, 10:19 AM

Perhaps a folding keyboard that plugs in via the USB port.

Seriously, If they do not add a keyboard then anything more than allow me to connect to my base PC via bluetooth would surprise me.

If I can get out on the web through WiFi or something else I would look for a Feedbook or MobileRead linkage for books first, Fictionwise second, and Sony third.

Text on a cell phone -- I have a Palm powered cell phone with the little touch area where you enter letters on one side and text on the other in their stilted handwriting script. (Palm OS 4.5)

pilotbob · 07-03-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astra

I hope they make WiFi an optinal module or add an ability to switch it off completely. I don't want battery life of the reader to be even shorter than it is now, let alone I don't need it

otherwise I will stick to 505 and they may forget about my money.

As people have talked about... the 505 could be upgraded software wise to support a WiFi SD card. This would require no change to the current device and it would be fully optional to buy a WiFi card. I personally think this is the best way for them to go.

BOb

daffy4u · 07-03-2008, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

As people have talked about... the 505 could be upgraded software wise to support a WiFi SD card. This would require no change to the current device and it would be fully optional to buy a WiFi card. I personally think this is the best way for them to go.

BOb

Wouldn't it still need some way to input information and a browser?

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07-02-2008, 01:00 PM	#32
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,279 Karma: 27111060 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Ah wireless sync to calibre

07-02-2008, 01:10 PM	#33
Alisa Gadget Geek Posts: 2,324 Karma: 22221 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Paperwhite, Kindle 3 (retired), Skindle 1.2 (retired)	The speed of the partial refresh that Kindle uses when you type text isn't too bad. I wouldn't want to write a document on it, but it's fine for typing in a quick search term. As for input methods, they could implement a text input mode using existing buttons. Not as quick as a keyboard but not bad if you're only typing a few words. People write text messages on phone keypads all the time. They could speed it up with an auto-complete feature like many phones do, too.

07-02-2008, 04:14 PM	#35
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	Personally, I've used plenty of devices with either a touchscreen (Iliad, tablet PC, Palm) or a keyboard (PC, Kindle, cell phone). I far prefer a keyboard for text input. I text a lot on my cell phone (with a QWERTY keyboard) so the Kindle's keyboard is easy for me and a great choice for text input. Sure, I type faster than the screen refresh but I'm usually only typing very short lines so that's not an impediment. Unless Sony adds some sort of text input device, touchscreen or keyboard, all I can see the WiFi used for is their online store. That is until the good folks around here and elsewhere figure out how to use the connectivity to download books from here or Feedbooks a la the downloadable guides for the Kindle.

07-02-2008, 04:16 PM	#36
aru Likes to read on e-ink Posts: 68 Karma: 50 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: New Jersey Device: Kindle DX	I am not so sure that wireless is so much of a help. Uploading new books/files and deleting old stuff does not happen more often than having the need to charge the reader. So everytime I update the reader I just leave it on the USB cable for a few hours and recharge it. It would be different if Sony would be able to recharge the battery wirelessly though

07-02-2008, 05:17 PM	#38
TheJohnNewton Addict Posts: 256 Karma: 144599 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Boox Nova 2	Wireless is nice as long as it doesn't add significantly to the device's price. Makes a lot sense to me for Sony to add it just to be competative with Kindle. Obviously the supporting software and input capability would be needed. I'd even like wifi on my Kindle so I don't have to go find my usb cable but it's certainly not a high need item just an "i'm lazy" item ;-) 90% of my use of whispernet is for my daily newspaper download, 5% for sample chapters dls, and 5% for book dls. I don't have much use for mobile internet access and the eink screen isn't very well suited to that purpose anyway. I also don't buy that much from Amazon so the store being online isn't a big deal for me but I'm sure it is for others. I love the access to free books via the wireless though.

07-03-2008, 12:00 AM	#39
Fiacha Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 376 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Pacific NorthWest Device: Kobo H20, Nook Glowlight 3	Back when Kindle first came out, I thought wireless was a cool feature, along with the ability to shop for books while out and about. However I rejected Kindle because of price (both of the unit and of the books). Having bought a PRS 500 and used it for a while, the most important feature is battery life (my wife took it to Korea for a month. It needed to hold a month's worth of books and be able to stay up and running for the 18 hour flight. Her biggest issue was recharging it while in Korea. The unit sucks too much power to take a charge over a USB cable from a laptop). The other thing I want is a bigger page. The unit may be the size of a paperback, but the usable screen is much smaller. I want the same amount of text, at the same absolute size, as I get on a paperback page. If the screen was touch sensitive, the face mounted buttons could go away to make room for a larger screen. A screen with a faster response would be nice, and pretty much required for effective touch sceen use. The problem is that all of these features require newer and more expensive hardware so the base price, which is already a drag on sales, would have to go up. Perhaps if they introduced a new model and dropped the price of the 505 to 199.99 sales would improve. Anyway, a wireless Sony is not something the I would spend money on. Fiacha

07-03-2008, 09:01 AM	#41
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	I hope they make WiFi an optinal module or add an ability to switch it off completely. I don't want battery life of the reader to be even shorter than it is now, let alone I don't need it otherwise I will stick to 505 and they may forget about my money.

07-03-2008, 10:18 AM	#42
rhadin Literacy = Understanding Posts: 4,833 Karma: 59674358 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: The World of Books Device: Nook, Nook Tablet	I'm trying to figure out what I would do with wi-fi on my 505 and I haven't got a clue how it would be advantageous to me. I'm not worrying about being able to buy books while on the run. I have 147 unread books loaded onto my 505, with room for 50 to 100 more. How many books can I actually read even on a 6-week trip? I'm sure there must be some advantage to having wi-fi, perhaps with daily newspapers or magazines, but at least for me, until the screen becomes a color screen, it makes no sense to read magazines on my 505. As for newspapers, maybe it's because of my age and a lifelong habit, but I like to read the print version of the newspaper; I think the 505 is simply too small a screen to enjoy the NY Times. Would the wi-fi prevent me from buying another Sony Reader -- not at all. I really like my 505 and spend several hours a day reading books on it. I definitely would buy another Reader (unless they completely butcher the design to accomodate the wi-fi such as by adding a Kindle-style keyboard ). And although I can see some value to a touchscreen, especially in being able to keep the overall dimensions but increase the screen size, I'm not sure how much I would actually like it. As it is, it annoys me when I get fingerprints on the reading screen accidentally; I can't imagine how annoyed I'll be with fingerprints because of the touchscreen.

07-03-2008, 10:19 AM	#43
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	Perhaps a folding keyboard that plugs in via the USB port. Seriously, If they do not add a keyboard then anything more than allow me to connect to my base PC via bluetooth would surprise me. If I can get out on the web through WiFi or something else I would look for a Feedbook or MobileRead linkage for books first, Fictionwise second, and Sony third. Text on a cell phone -- I have a Palm powered cell phone with the little touch area where you enter letters on one side and text on the other in their stilted handwriting script. (Palm OS 4.5)