Sony has anounced PDF support at CES! - Page 2

Nate the great · 01-07-2008, 01:07 PM

I found the text of the speech.

Quote:

With Sony’s latest Reader, the future of digital books is here.

The Reader continues to win critical praise and for the month of December, it was the number one selling device on SonyStyle.com.

What’s more, we’re excited to announce enhanced support for Adobe PDFs which improves the reading experience and underscores our commitment to open formats.

When you combine a vast library of reading material with Sony technology that’s geared toward ease of use and convenience, well, let’s just say that’s a best-selling proposition.

from:
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_ro...ase/32858.html

NatCh · 01-07-2008, 01:09 PM

"enhanced support"

Nothing like being specific, is there? And that's certainly nothing like it.

Scarpad · 01-07-2008, 02:55 PM

So the reader is FW upgradable then? .. Sorry to sound Daft I have'nt received mine yet..

Alisa · 01-07-2008, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

Personally, I'm hoping that this is an ill-informed reference to DE.

I agree. That would be huge. Definitely a move that could help keep them competitive. If I could read my library's Overdrive and Safari ebooks I might consider buying a 505 in addition to my Kindle.

Nate the great · 01-07-2008, 04:22 PM

I got emails from a couple of people at Sony. Here is the important one:

Quote:

Hi Nate,
No specific annoucement. We're showing reflowable pdf in booth but no timeframe on availability for prs. We simply reiterated our commitment to working with adobe to improve pdf experience on prs.

Sorry for the late reply. Show is crazy. Hope this helps.

Hadrien · 01-07-2008, 04:35 PM

Create another thread Nate, this should be on the front page.

NatCh · 01-07-2008, 04:59 PM

Durn tootin'

Kasracer · 01-07-2008, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I got emails from a couple of people at Sony. Here is the important one:

Well at least you got a decent reply. I got a reply back from Sony but it told me that they're constantly updating their product pages and to check out the product page for the PRS-505... lame.

I hope they announce a date soon.

Nate the great · 01-07-2008, 10:26 PM

Where did you send the email?

I went to the CES website, looked for the press conference pages, and found the one Sony did yesterday. I email and called the contact person. He got back to me last night, and gave me the email of someone could answer my questions. I emailed her, and she responded at about 4pm today.

I thought that was a fairly quick response on their part, considering that they are both at CES, and there are many more interesting things to do than answer email.

P.S. I also identified myself as a moderator here at MobileRead. That may have raised my email from spam to semi-legitimate press query.

NatCh · 01-07-2008, 11:23 PM

Sony does seem to have a fairly high regard for this forum.

I have it on very good authority that we're "on the scope" of the Senior VP of Digital Imaging and Audio (the division that the Reader falls into -- now we know why it has an MP3 player: so that they could find a division to classify it under!

) -- hello, if you're reading this, by the way.

JSWolf · 01-08-2008, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scarpad

So the reader is FW upgradeable then? .. Sorry to sound Daft I have'nt received mine yet..

Yes, the 500/505 are both upgradeable via a firmware flash. There has been no new firmware for the 505 since it's release. But we are hoping for one maybe in January that add in better PDF support and/or Digital Editions support. But if it doesn't come out in January, February would do fine.

rhadin · 01-08-2008, 10:15 AM

According to Teleread (http://www.teleread.org/blog/) this morning,

"But now a Sony spokesman has told Mike Cane:

'…we demonstrated a technology that we are working on for the PRS505. This is code that will allow text based PDFs to be reflowed and resized. This would allow you to read PDFs much better and easier on the 505. When perfected this new code will be updated into the firmware of all 505s sold free of charge. That’s all we are talking about […]'”

pilotbob · 01-08-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhadin

According to Teleread (http://www.teleread.org/blog/) this morning,

"But now a Sony spokesman has told Mike Cane:

'…we demonstrated a technology that we are working on for the PRS505. This is code that will allow text based PDFs to be reflowed and resized. This would allow you to read PDFs much better and easier on the 505. When perfected this new code will be updated into the firmware of all 505s sold free of charge. That’s all we are talking about […]'”

And what about us 500 owners? What is so different about the 505 that this can't work on the 500? I thought they were basically the same except for external button arangment and screen type?

BOb

NatCh · 01-08-2008, 12:48 PM

Apparently the 505 has some different hardware arrangements internally too. The most obvious is the USB Mass Storage capability that the 505 has and the 500 doesn't, though I rather doubt that particular one is an issue here.

More likely factors are the difference in memory they have to work with in the 505 vs. the 500, and I believe that the 505's processor is a step up from the 500 (could easily be wrong on that one, I don't clearly remember the details

). Either of those could put whatever they're doing to reflow (and we haven't the foggiest notion what that is, as of yet) within the 505's capabilities, but outside the 500's.

Then there could be other less obvious factors that mean the 500 couldn't handle this function.

I don't know that it can't, by the way, and I really hope that it can, personally.

So far as I know, the Sony view on this point is still that they'll update the 500 with new features as they can, but they aren't promising to do so, citing concerns about potential hardware constraints.

igorsk · 01-08-2008, 03:54 PM

I don't think the issue is technical, the current PDF reader on 505 is exactly the same as on 500, so it should be very simple to make the new one run on both models. I think it's probably a combination of using this feature to promote the new model and desire to save on support/documentation/QA/etc for the 500.

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01-07-2008, 01:09 PM	#17
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	"enhanced support" Nothing like being specific, is there? And that's certainly nothing like it.

01-07-2008, 02:55 PM	#18
Scarpad Addict Posts: 310 Karma: 1013114 Join Date: Sep 2006	So the reader is FW upgradable then? .. Sorry to sound Daft I have'nt received mine yet..

01-07-2008, 04:35 PM	#21
Hadrien Feedbooks.com Co-Founder Posts: 2,263 Karma: 145123 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Paris, France Device: Sony PRS-t-1/350/300/500/505/600/700, Nexus S, iPad	Create another thread Nate, this should be on the front page.

01-07-2008, 04:59 PM	#22
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Durn tootin'

01-07-2008, 10:26 PM	#24
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Where did you send the email? I went to the CES website, looked for the press conference pages, and found the one Sony did yesterday. I email and called the contact person. He got back to me last night, and gave me the email of someone could answer my questions. I emailed her, and she responded at about 4pm today. I thought that was a fairly quick response on their part, considering that they are both at CES, and there are many more interesting things to do than answer email. P.S. I also identified myself as a moderator here at MobileRead. That may have raised my email from spam to semi-legitimate press query.

01-07-2008, 11:23 PM	#25
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Sony does seem to have a fairly high regard for this forum. I have it on very good authority that we're "on the scope" of the Senior VP of Digital Imaging and Audio (the division that the Reader falls into -- now we know why it has an MP3 player: so that they could find a division to classify it under! ) -- hello, if you're reading this, by the way.

01-08-2008, 10:15 AM	#27
rhadin Literacy = Understanding Posts: 4,833 Karma: 59674358 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: The World of Books Device: Nook, Nook Tablet	According to Teleread (http://www.teleread.org/blog/) this morning, "But now a Sony spokesman has told Mike Cane: '…we demonstrated a technology that we are working on for the PRS505. This is code that will allow text based PDFs to be reflowed and resized. This would allow you to read PDFs much better and easier on the 505. When perfected this new code will be updated into the firmware of all 505s sold free of charge. That’s all we are talking about […]'”

01-08-2008, 12:48 PM	#29
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Apparently the 505 has some different hardware arrangements internally too. The most obvious is the USB Mass Storage capability that the 505 has and the 500 doesn't, though I rather doubt that particular one is an issue here. More likely factors are the difference in memory they have to work with in the 505 vs. the 500, and I believe that the 505's processor is a step up from the 500 (could easily be wrong on that one, I don't clearly remember the details ). Either of those could put whatever they're doing to reflow (and we haven't the foggiest notion what that is, as of yet) within the 505's capabilities, but outside the 500's. Then there could be other less obvious factors that mean the 500 couldn't handle this function. I don't know that it can't, by the way, and I really hope that it can, personally. So far as I know, the Sony view on this point is still that they'll update the 500 with new features as they can, but they aren't promising to do so, citing concerns about potential hardware constraints.

01-08-2008, 03:54 PM	#30
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	I don't think the issue is technical, the current PDF reader on 505 is exactly the same as on 500, so it should be very simple to make the new one run on both models. I think it's probably a combination of using this feature to promote the new model and desire to save on support/documentation/QA/etc for the 500.

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