Switching From Sony

[PRS-T2]

Little update for Sonyacs looking for replacement:

1. Collections are possible and work nicely with Calibre, thanks to LS (LibrarianSync) - it's harder though than with Sony: good old simple plu gin/plug out won't do. Seems like you have to open KUAL, tap LS, tap "Update collections" to get there. PW is snappier than Sony, so it's quickly done. Finding KUAL is a different thing, hence my question to experienced powerusers below...
2. Hyphenation [language deleted - MODERATOR] yeah!!! "HyphenateThis!" is my new best friend as far as Calibre plugins go. Throw soft-hyphens in a copy of your library and enjoy. German ebooks are sooo close to real books now, reading speed improves drastically and still brain layers can addict themselves to reflecting the actual content instead of focusing on its transport stream. Sony never did this or, at least, made soft hyphens possible. HUGE WIN
3. Also, hyphenation helped impressively with making the Garamond actually readable on the Kindle.

Still todo: the series sorting inside a series collection, as described somewhere on the first page of this thread. I'm thinking of Calibre device driver and adding the relevant info to AUTHOR or TITLE...

Question to KUAL powerusers: I'm using a <'> prefix to sort all Calibre collections on top of books. Can I change the name of KUAL somehow to force it to appear on top of my collections? I mean, it's THE switchboard after all! Damn, I want it sorted on top of everything, regardless of the filter (all items, books, collections) I use

[eschwartz]

Check the attachment on the KUAL thread: kual-helper-0.4.N.zip and see Additional Menu Items for KUAL 2.1+

tl;dr the Store button now launches KUAL instead.

[eschwartz]

Also, to replace the store icon with a KUAL icon, use these images: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...74#post2436874

And replace (backup first!) the images in this folder: /usr/share/webkit-1.0/pillow/assets/search_bar/

Swap the store and store_active PNGs.

[PRS-T2]

Neat!!!!



And it's also persistant until removed, other than the battery symbol percentage display, brilliant.

No only the series problem to fix and I'll have arrived.

In the meantime, reading on the PW with hyphenation is really so much better than with the Sony, it's such a shame that Amazon doesn't let the devs here inspire their own dev department.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by PRS-T2

Neat!!!!



And it's also persistant until removed, other than the battery symbol percentage display, brilliant.

I know... awesome!

No only the series problem to fix and I'll have arrived.

Just make a plugboard already.

I use:

{title}{series:| (|, Book }{series_index:||)}

[Moloko]

Getting back to the thread for updates:

• I got the Kobo H2O a bit earlier than I was expecting, it was hella easy to set it up and upload books. I have no issues with the margins/ footer and header, thank you all who wrote fail/fool proof tutorials for Kobo

• The screen is absolutely gorgeous, the light is even and I'm not seeing any issues with it whatsoever

• It is incredibly easy to use and set up collections. Basically I'm not doing anything but letting Calibre upload the books in kepub format, as everything is working with the tags and set up I had before for my Sony

• Man the screen is gorgeous, have I mentioned that?

• I was expecting it to be bulkier, bigger...but it's just perfectly sized. I do tend to carry around large bags though, so if you prefer dainty ones it might be an issue. Plus the temporary case I bought for it it's a generic 7" tablet case so it makes it much bulkier. Waiting for nicer cases to come out

I still miss the physical turn buttons on the Sony and the annotations features on the Sony (very easy to highlight and take notes), the Kobo is buggy and slow in that, as others have mentioned. The screen difference beats that though, so I'm happy with the H2O.
A friend bought the Voyage so I was able to check it too before I bought the H2O and I've noticed the screen issues others have mentioned. I'm nearsighted and I have to wear glasses all the time and the screen gradient colors would've bothered me.

Now please go on with the fun (:

[eschwartz]

A number of people have had success getting their KVs replaced by Amazon. If it bothers your friend too, s/he should consider calling Amazon CS.

The Voyage of course has page turn buttons and annotations work smoothly on the Kindles. But collections is rather a sore spot -- no jailbreak (yet?).

...

Sounds like your new Kobo is serving as an admirable Sony replacement, though.

P.S. Thanks for letting us monopolize your thread.

[PRS-T2]

Just make a plugboard already.

I use:

{title}{series:| (|, Book }{series_index:||)}

Can't right now (hyphenating the whole library on an old, slow AMD Athlon), but will use the same I had for my Sony. Yours is interesting though. With the title before the series, how do you sort by series, series_index?

Do you know a quick way to recreate proper authors in calibre from author_sort? Mine are "lastname, firstname" for both fields and it seems that the Kindle doesn't like it: all books are ordered by author, firstname but displayed as "firstname lastname"...

@Moloko: Hey nice to read you're a happy Ex-Soniac, too now! And thanks for reporting back! Do you miss the dictionaries already?
And yes, I finally found an H2O that wasn't frozen in a store. I'd like to state that the screen is gorgeous

EDIT:
@eschwartz: hehe funny threadhopping. Let's stick while collections in the calibre forum, should we? Sorry for double posting!

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by PRS-T2

Can't right now (hyphenating the whole library on an old, slow AMD Athlon), but will use the same I had for my Sony. Yours is interesting though. With the title before the series, how do you sort by series, series_index?

I don't, actually. I usually sort by Recent anyway -- the series is just there so I can read the title and figure out the order.

Do you know a quick way to recreate proper authors in calibre from author_sort? Mine are "lastname, firstname" for both fields and it seems that the Kindle doesn't like it: all books are ordered by author, firstname but displayed as "firstname lastname"...

...

EDIT:
@eschwartz: hehe funny threadhopping. Let's stick while collections in the calibre forum, should we? Sorry for double posting!

As I said there, not sure why it would sort by firstname.

Hmm, Quality Check PI has an option to find authors with commas, but not to set author from author_sort??? Dang.

And Bulk Edit Metadata doesn't have a setting for it either. You will have to do a Bulk Edit S&R (in Regular Expressions mode).

Find author_sort:

([^,]*), ([^,]*)

Replace authors:

\2 \1

[Moloko]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

A number of people have had success getting their KVs replaced by Amazon. If it bothers your friend too, s/he should consider calling Amazon CS.

The Voyage of course has page turn buttons and annotations work smoothly on the Kindles. But collections is rather a sore spot -- no jailbreak (yet?).

...

Sounds like your new Kobo is serving as an admirable Sony replacement, though.

P.S. Thanks for letting us monopolize your thread.

She's getting a replacement, it bothered her too though it wasn't as annoying for her as it was for me.

The page turn buttons and annotations were the reasons I wanted the Voyage at first, but I can live without them considering the screen issues and no collections problem. I'm looking forward to the next edition of the Voyage though.
I love that the tags I had set up for the Sony will work for the Kobo to create collections and I don't have to go through any other hoops to make them work.

Go ahead with hijacking the thread, there's tons of interesting stuff you guys are exchanging and I'm sure it's helpful to all of us, Kindle or no Kindle.

[parkher]

I am reading books only on PRS-T2 even though I have Kobo Aura HD.
So Aura H2O does not interest me either.
There are three reasons why I prefer T2:

1. Cool Reader on T2 well integrates with dictionary software supporting not only StarDict dictionaries but also dsl / lsd dictionaries. On Aura H2O or Aura HD, Cool Reader supports only StarDict dictionaries and all my favorite dictionaries are in dsl or lsd format. Not sure if they all can be successfully converted to StarDict.
But notice: open android can be booted on Aura HD instead of linux and this problem can be eliminated. It is probably not (yet?) possible on Aura H2O.


2. 6.8" is much better than 6" in portrait mode. In fact, 6.8" is enough in portrait and with 6" I always read in landscape. Seems like 6.8" has a clear advantage?
Turns out, landscape has one big advantage: you can hold the reader hanging on one-two fingers when the cover is folded back - no danger of the reader slipping out of your hand and falling on the floor when you fall asleep when reading a boring book

3. I like hardware buttons for at least turning pages. PRS-T2 is just perfect in that regard.

Conclusion: get Sony PRS-T3 if you can get it rooted.
If not, get Sony PRS-T2 with the rootable firmware.
Or look for emerging new open android e-ink readers.

I would not consider Aura H2O at least until it can run android. Maybe it already can?
I would not consider any Kindle ever. BTW, not owning a Kindle does not prevent you from buying e-books from Amazon.

[eschwartz]

Why wouldn't you consider a Kindle? (Note: their builtin dictionaries are considered the best.)

And why are you posting in a thread about moving on from the Sony, if your advice is to stick with the Sony?

NOte that there is a Kobo developers forum. I am not sure about Android, but I do know you can boot debian on the Kobo Aura HD.

...

Ah, and Android at least on the Glo.

[parkher]

One thing: Kindle has no card slot.
I like having quite a large library with hierarchical directory structure on a 32 GB card.
The card also contains about 10 GB of dictionaries.
That is probably the main reason, other reasons can be overcome by hacking Kindle and installing CR, but still, these features are as if deliberately insulting:
- the screen keeps glowing even when the light level is at the minimum - so "e-ink" becomes a false advertising
- no support for the most common e-book formats such as epub and fb2 - so "e-reader" becomes a false advertising

Hm, I suggest switching from Sony to Sony
T1 is a pretty great reader already, unless, perhaps it was not rooted?
The point is: Sony is still the best and there is nothing better to switch to.

I see now: the author of the thread wants to switch from T1 to a device with front light.
I should have stayed away from this thread, as I am an e-ink purist and I completely don't understand people who want front light, sorry

As to Aura HD, there is a dual boot linux/android available. And you choose what to boot by switching the device on while either holding the light button pressed or not.
Because Aura H2O has no light button, the dual-boot may be more problematic or impossible to implement.

[parkher]

I somehow only now became aware that Aura H2O has Carta + IR touchscreen. I somehow thought it was a capacitive screen. If so, I might try to convert my dsl dictionaries to StarDict and, if successful, buying H2O then becomes a reasonable choice: are there any other Carta + IR (not capacitive!) touchscreen readers available of any screen size?

[Moloko]

Hi parkher and thanks for dropping by.

I still love the Sony but they've really dropped the ball with not upgrading to Carta. That's one of the reasons I switched. Front light was important for me too, because my eyes are very sensitive (wearing-sunglasses-outside-all-the-time-sensitive) so reading with the light on was getting painful. I'm not sure if you've tried a front lit reader, but it really has nothing to do with LCD/LED.

As for rooting and tweaking: I'm tired of that. I hate Android and I don't care for having a myriad of applications that do the same thing (allow me to read). I'm pretty OCD about having the books with the metadata and covers as I want, as well as about organizing them. I really don't want to bother with doing that in multiple reading apps. So I wanted an e-reader that allows me to organize things as I like, has decent dictionaries (Kobo does, it hasn't failed me yet and if push comes to shove I have a phone with awesome dictionaries on it) and - most important - has a great screen.

Other than the H2O, Paperwhite 2 and Voyage I think that Tolino Vision 2 and PocketBook Ultra have Carta screen with IR. Also, if you do consider the Kobo, the Developer's Corner is very helpful if you want to try out things.

I agree with you: Sony had everything working great, too bad they abandoned the race.