Sony Digital Paper DPT-S1 Owner's Thread

[allochi]

@Willy Tärk
Thanks willy, the Sony DPT-S1 has been a blessing, I love it, I use it daily, and it's a great device, the majority of my documents are in pdf (math, algorithms, scientific papers), and I can't tell you how much this thing helps.

I'm sorry I didn't have the time to make a video yet, I will soon, it's been cloudy here in Geneva, and my apartment lights are just not prefect for filming, I'll work something out soon.

Now, 13.3" vs 9.7", for pdfs, comics (in pdf), web browsing, diagrams and illustrations GO FOR THE 13.3", no question, seriously, everything is readable, it's like you are reading these materials the way they should be read, I can't describe in writing what huge difference it is, I'm not going back to the 9.7".

Keep in mind also that beside the size, the 13.3" Sony is much more a portable device for me than the 9.7" Onyx because of the weight and thickness, it's easier to handle and carry for longer time in one hand, the pen is amazing, it feels like writing on paper, it feels like nothing when it's in my backpack.

Basically get the 13.3", my advice is, get the Onyx Max if you want more from your reader than just reading pdfs and taking notes (oh, and musical sheets), the Onyx Max is going to be faster, the reader software is good and Booxter provide a great service based on a personal experience. Get the sony if you want paper like experience reading pdfs, I can't emphasise how much the weight, the thickness and the touch screen made a big difference to me, these are the reason I went for the Sony instead of Max.

One last interesting experience, when I slide across the screen to turn pages, I can feel the screen is not flat (just a feeling, I can't see it), I like it , it feels like I'm really using something with texture not just a flat screen.

[Aurinko]

Originally Posted by Willy Tärk

@ Aurinko
Thank you so much for your amazingly detailed and professional review. I am really impressed!

Thanks and you're quite welcome. I left out a lot of stuff in order to keep it short(ish).

I should had mentioned that I have been using it exclusively to take notes and do assignments on a couple university courses and it was indeed a pleasant experience.

I sometimes needed to rearrange my scribblings to make room for additional notes or intermediate calculations, and could write very small yet perfectly readable text by working zoomed in, erasing previous stuff and starting over was easier, and I took advantage of the copy, cut and paste functions when writing notes or learning material by rote - some things I couldn't do on paper. I actually felt that I was being more effective and requiring less space.

Now, to mention just one feature request... The thing really needs functions for drawing simple geometrical shapes; line, rectangle, circle. Not difficult to implement, not computation-heavy, but so very useful.

Originally Posted by allochi

oh, and musical sheets

This is another domain of application that I'm very happy to have the DPT-S1 for, as it can now replace the 1.5m pillar of sheet music that I have accumulated.

[Willy Tärk]

Thank you allochi for your answer!
Oh I didn't expect that there is such a huge difference between 9.7 Inch and 13.3 Inch, because I imagined that it would be good enough if someone just makes, only once, the right adjustments regarding the settings for a specific PDF - and then it will perfectly fit the 9.7 Inch screen.
In another thread you said about your 9,7 Inch device:

As for the settings, they stay saved for the PDF file you set it for, this is good as you don't want all the PDFs to have the same setting (based on my experience), so when I open book A and set the zooming and the reading settings, they are saved even when I switch to another book.

As for landscape mode, the books look WOW! really, very readable, also you will find that you don't need this for most books, if you apply margin cropping [...]

And then you concluded:

I still find myself thinking about replacing my 9.7" with a 13.3", mostly because I like to read in portrait mode (I think it's psychological), [...]

So I am really curious, why a 9.7 Inch can't compensate it's smaller screen, with the right settings and in landscape-mode compared to a 13.3 one... It's not just a psychological reason, like you said, right? I can imagine, that this is not easy to describe... However, maybe you find a way .
And I hope that I am not annoying if I ask this question so often, but i am a person, who has its difficulties with a decision like this and it would be so much easier if I could limit my choices, when I can be sure that smaller screensizes have definitely no chance against a 13.3 screen regarding PDFs or in general.
I am also wondering, which form-factor is more convenient/handy if the weight and thickness would be the same...? Is the bigger screen somehow less convenient/handy to hold (if the weight and thickness would be the same in competition with the smaller one)?

I will later make my final desicion between Onyx Boox Max and Sony DPT-S1. But I think I will prefer the Onyx Boox...
I think they have both their individual advantages and disadvantages... However Sony don't let ship their device to europe, where I am located - and that is in my opinion absolutely outrageous... I mean they actively reject potential consumers! How amazingly stupid is that (however I dont know the reason why they do that)? I also hope, that Onyx Boox will create a Onyx Boox Max Plus edition with more RAM, better processor, better Screen, Dual-Touch, etc. So I hope to encourage them a little bit with a bought Onyx Boox Max. And third, I allready told Booxtor, that I will buy by him .

Hey it would be really great if you could do that video, whenever you have time for this. There is also another member here, who got an Onyx Boox Max and Onyx Boox n96 --> https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=274795 and will create videos --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxWo...ature=youtu.be ... I will ask him the same questions! The more comparisions and opinions there will be, the better it is!

@ Aurinko
Till now I can't really believe that I will be able to replace my pen and paper with an 13.3 e-Reader - because of the little latency - but I really hope that this will be possible.
Maybe you can write Sony an E-Mail and ask them, if they could implement geometrical shapes... Like you said, that shouldnt be so difficult for them!

--

Hm...
Could someone tell me, if it is possible to connect the Sony DPT-S1 with a USB/bluethooth mouse and USB/bluethooth keyboard? And if yes - is there a programme on the device, which can benefit from that?

[allochi]

@Willy That was before I get the 13.3", and yes, the text quality on landscape mode is better than the portrait on the Onyx 9.7", due to the width you can zoom more. unfortunately, there is no show room where you can try both next to each other, as I said I would always pick the 13.3" (Sony or Max)

You can ask as many questions as you want, I'm the same, it took me a year to decide to by the Sony, and I bough the 9.7" because I though I was saving money, and now I'm going to sell the Onyx and keep the Sony, so it was a waist of time and money for me, not that the Onyx is not good, I loved it, but I prefer the 13.3"

Regarding Sony device, I live in Geneva, Switzerland, I ordered mine from B&H and I received it in 3 days by DHL.

If you want you can Skype me this weekend and I can have both devices on and answer your questions on video call, it's a big investment, and I would love to help in anyway possible.

If you can wait for Max 2, then wait, it will worth it if it comes with touch screen, me, personally, I have a problem with the weight, I need something I can carry/handle easily.

Sony is locked, so you can't install software on it like the Max to use mouse/keyboard and connect to the monitor, there is someone who claims that they can root it, but you have to send the Sony to China, the device could like it there and decide to stay and have a little family, maybe it will write you with a photo of small little 6" ereaders around it, life is difficult.

Since you are in Europe, the Max will save you about $300 in price and shipment!

[Aurinko]

Originally Posted by allochi

Sony is locked, so you can't install software on it like the Max to use mouse/keyboard and connect to the monitor, there is someone who claims that they can root it, but you have to send the Sony to China, the device could like it there and decide to stay and have a little family, maybe it will write you with a photo of small little 6" ereaders around it, life is difficult.

FWIW, I checked the aforementioned person's feedback on Taobao.com prior to buying my DPT-S1 as I was interested in getting a jailbroken version, and from what I gathered he was legit. The last time I checked he said he could only jailbreak the Japanese version though, but I'm not sure if that had to do with the firmware version (which should now be updated on the English version as well).

I couldn't however arrange for such a complicated process of acquiring the device, so I just bought the factory version from someone on Yahoo Japan auctions.

As of this writing I don't have the balls to attempt disassembly of the device to check for a JTAG connection, which I presume should be there. If it stops working I'll have nothing to lose!

[fgdas]

Originally Posted by Willy Tärk

Could someone tell me, if it is possible to connect the Sony DPT-S1 with a USB/bluethooth mouse and USB/bluethooth keyboard?

Sony DPT-S1 has no Bluetooth, WiFi only.
Same as Netronix.

[Willy Tärk]

Dear allochi,

thank you so much . You are really kind! And yes it would be very interessting to talk with you about this per skype - however if you dont mind, I would like to delay that to a later day, because I never really used skype (so I would have to create an account, would get used to it), while I have not so much time for the next days cause I have soon an important study-examination... and I will buy my E-Reader most likely not until July/August (so there is a little bit time till then).
Beside of that: Hey we are neighbors, i am from Austria !

And, oh I think it will be an important feature for me that I will be able to use a bluetooth mouse and bluetooth keyboard with this device... So the circumstance that this will not be possible with the Sony DPT-S1, will make my final decision probably much easier.

@fgdas
Thank you too!

[allochi]

@Willy Good luck with the examination, Skype any time, don't worry, and since you want mouse/keyboard and bluetooth go with the Max, just go 13.3", it worth it, and Booxter service is great.

[xtech]

thanks for all the reviews.

[allochi]

@Willy you may be interested in this post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=527

[allochi]

Hi everyone, I just want to share with you this useful tool to crop pdf, it's quite good as it shows all the pages overlapping, so that the user can decide how to crop the document without cutting content, also it allows to crop chosen pages differently if needed.

http://briss.sourceforge.net/

it requires a little bit time to get use to it, but the result are great. I hope I didn't post something that is already posted before.

[Icey]

Hi friends
I really want to buy a sony reader to read one type of pdf but im very afraid about the low resolution. The product is very expensive and i have no opportunity to try if my books fits on it. Could someone help me by PM and try one of my pdf pleaaaase

Thanks

[desk7]

I'd like to buy Sony digital paper and I'm from Italy. What eshop do you suggest? I've found this shop http://www.bhphotovideo.com. Do you know it? Is it reliable?
Are there other reliable eshops that ships to Europe?
Thanks

[Aurinko]

I took some photos of a book displayed on Sony DPT-S1. Internal storage was used.

File size: 116MB
Pages: 537
Open first time: 10-15 seconds
Reopen/resume reading: 4 seconds
Page turn speed: 1-3 seconds

Photos:

1/8
Page 13 in moderate light shot with fast shutter speed. This is approximately what a PDF looks like on the device under normal indoors ambient light.

2/8
A close-up using camera's optical zoom of the area in the red rectangle from pic 1 shot with fast shutter speed. No zooming done on Sony, so this is how accurate the small print appears on the screen. Depending on your eyesight and lighting conditions, I guess it is still borderline readable?

3/8
Page 13 shot with slow shutter speed. Mind the color distortion, it is of course caused by the camera. The rest of the pics are similar.

4/8
A close-up of the area within the red rectangle in pic 3, using camera's optical zoom. No zooming on Sony.

5/8
A close-up of the area within the yellow rectangle in pic 3 using camera's optical zoom, and fully software-zoomed in on Sony. You can see the rendering of the small fonts break apart. The same happened with Foxit Reader 7.3.0.118 on PC, which implies the text simply doesn't scale.

6/8
Page 14 in default view (fully zoomed-out). Regarding font size and layout, this is what most pages in the book look like so it is probably the most practical reference for assessing performance.

7/8
A close-up of the area within the red rectangle in pic 6, shot using camera's optical zoom. No zooming done on Sony.

8/8
Page 11 in default view for indication of the readability of diacritics on medium-size font.

[Kumabjorn]

Very useful, thank you for that contribution.

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