Sony's PRS-T3, more leaked specs, to debut at IFA on September 4

Originally Posted by Phil_C

Wow. Post after post in a couple of these threads knocking the T3 that no one has seen yet. Gotta have front light or else. Gotta have every possible new gimmick or else. Gotta have all that AND a bargain price or goodbye Sony. Very tiresome.

Have you taken a good look at the competition? Amazon and Kobo have been progressing at a decent rate. Both vendors offer a range of models, from bargain priced feature stripped models to premium priced models with every gimmick. Now Sony has one model, and it's in the premium priced category. Not only is there no choice for people who want bargain readers, but that premium priced model looks a lot like the competition's basic model.

I don't think anyone's expecting all the gimmicks at a bargain price. I suspect that most people expect the price to reflect the features. For example: I wouldn't pay $130 for an ereader with an integrated light when I could get something similar for $100 without an integrated light.

Anyway, time will tell what Sony actually ships. If it is similar to what we're seeing now, I doubt that Sony has much of a future in the ereader market.

[Gilmartin]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

That's it for me as well my next reader will be a Kobo, despite claims to the contrary I've actually found the T1 firmware far buggier and less useful than the basic Kobo Mini and that was the same price as the T1 cover.

Time for an Aura HD I think.

My thoughts exactly. I also find the T1 software buggy, so much so that I now make sure I'm carrying a paperclip around with it at all times. Freezes on me way too much, with "proper" books from the Sony and Kobo stores as well as books I've found in the wild. I've given up hope of Sony ever up-dating the firmware as their policy seems to be to stop supporting older models as soon as they unleash a new model. They also do this with their TV's as I found out to my cost several years ago
Right now the Aura seems to be my best choice for a replacement but I'll hold off for a bit to see if Amazon release an up-graded PW; much as I dislike Amazon's closed eco-system and the fact that they are tax dodgers.

[Iskariot]

Originally Posted by jersysman

At least this cinches it. After the last leak, I didn't think it would include a front light. Good luck Sony. It's been a long ride, but I will be getting off the train.

Yep, me to.
I bought a Kobo Aura HD just after I read this. I discovered totally unexpected that a shop in the village where I live had one lying around for the lowest price I had ever seen. So I just cut the knot and took it home.

Sony seems to be stuck in a time warp and continuously reproduces the same reader.

Sony executives probably have clip-on lights on their cars too instead of normal build-in headlights.

[jlynton]

Originally Posted by Iskariot

Yep, me to.
I bought a Kobo Aura HD just after I read this.

How does the light of the aura compare, quality wise, to your Onyx Boox i62 Firefly?

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Iskariot

...
Sony seems to be stuck in a time warp and continuously reproduces the same reader.
...

If only they got stuck on the x50 line of readers and continued to improve that model instead, they could have had a top of the line reader with great size choices for everyone and with a front light last year, but certainly by this year. It's still the reader I judge all others by.

[Iskariot]

Originally Posted by jlynton

How does the light of the aura compare, quality wise, to your Onyx Boox i62 Firefly?

It is of great quality and the screen is very evenly lit, even at the bottom where the 5 lights are. I use the light at a 2% setting (yes, that is 2), which is more than adequate to read with at night, and in the day time it enhances the contrast and makes the screen look more white like paper.
The Onyx front light is of very good quality too, by the way, but the Kobo software is much more refined.

[Iskariot]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

If only they got stuck on the x50 line of readers and continued to improve that model instead, they could have had a top of the line reader with great size choices for everyone and with a front light last year, but certainly by this year. It's still the reader I judge all others by.

Yes, and double yes, I could not agree more.

Many times I have said I would pay double the price of other readers if Sony made an upgraded version of my beautiful aluminum PRS-950.
I love its 7" screen size and they even could easily put an 8" hires screen size in nearly exactly the same casing.
If they also upgraded the processor to 1 GHz, upgraded the internal memory to at least 4Gb and kept the internal silo for the stylus it would be my perfect dream ereading device. They could ditch the audio and one of the memory card slots to save some money.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

That's it for me as well my next reader will be a Kobo, despite claims to the contrary I've actually found the T1 firmware far buggier and less useful than the basic Kobo Mini and that was the same price as the T1 cover.

Time for an Aura HD I think.

I am not sure price is totally relevant as the mini retails for the same price at times as the Sony. I paid full price for my mini and T1 both.

Still I find the mini useful and resent the bugs far less on the mini that I do on the Aura so maybe it is price related

And it is annoying that Sony went from a bug free device like the x50 line to the T1 which has about 6 bugs that I know of. Not that they happen often, but one occurs about every 10 books I read I would estimate, except for the double page turn which probably happens once or twice a book.

Kobo has never been bug free AFAIK, and seem to keep about the same status quo. Fix a bug or two and give you some new ones to keep life interesting but I have yet to read a book without multiple occurrences of an unexpected event on either the mini or Aura. Maybe Kobo is striving to keep us awake. I am often startled a bit upon reading the same pages over again or wondering what has happened when it skips a few pages ahead

Helen

[donnieparker]

So hard to believe this is coming from the company that made the x50 series of readers (those devices were absolutely beautiful and functional and cutting edge).

The PRS-T3 is absolutely perplexing. It costs as much as the competition, without any of their features. Amazon and Kobo are really bringing it right now, and THIS is what they release? As another poster wrote, this is where I get off the train.

[c-not-k]

Wow. Not a lot of Sony love here. Of course, I have a 650 and love it, so until it breaks...

Shame. Sony has put out some nice stuff, class-leading, even, and then they drop the ball.

(I love my Walkman X, but where are they now?)

I'll look at the T-3 when it comes out. I'll also take REALLY good care of my 650.

[Phil_C]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

If only they got stuck on the x50 line of readers and continued to improve that model instead, they could have had a top of the line reader with great size choices for everyone and with a front light last year, but certainly by this year. It's still the reader I judge all others by.

One year after buying a silver 350, and disappointed with Sony's decision to drop the 5" model, I found a blue 350 on ebay and paid way too much for it. Seems like a good decision in retrospect.

If future Sony models turn out to be less than I would like, I'll eventually buy a couple of replacement batteries for the 350s and continue to enjoy them. The only shortcoming they have for my purposes is the lack of ability to change fonts. (Sticking with original FW here.) So I decide what font I want when starting a new book and use calibre to convert the book.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Phil_C

One year after buying a silver 350, and disappointed with Sony's decision to drop the 5" model, I found a blue 350 on ebay and paid way too much for it. Seems like a good decision in retrospect.
...

I outdid you... I bought TWO used blue ones hehe. One had a screen that was badly scratched and even a gouge in it but the blue was near pristine. I just swapped it out with a silver shell. And I'm very happy I did, not a doubt about those purchases at all.

I saw 5 blue dead readers for sale for parts only... I should have grabbed those. At the time I was worried about swapping the guts around between readers. But I'm still kicking myself for missing those, they were dirt cheap for the lot of 5.

You might reconsider adding PRS+ to your reader. It doesn't replace the firmware, it just adds more to it, and you can then swap your fonts however and whenever you want. And it's come a long way now, you simply double-click a file while the reader is connected, wait a few minutes and done. If you post any questions about it in the Developer's Corner in the Sony section here, you'll get all the help you'll need.

[Phil_C]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I outdid you... I bought TWO used blue ones hehe.

Now I'm jealous. OTOH, I found my blue one NEW in a sealed box in the UK (on ebay). Sort of a miracle find one year after the release. I'm still getting two weeks out of a battery charge on both 350s.

I've thought about PRS+, but I'm not sure about fiddling with CSS to get the fonts I like. I seem to recall reading about it being a bit buggy, too. Is PRS+ still being updated/improved? Maybe I'll take another look. I am recently retired and now have the time for various little projects.

[Ripplinger]

The 2nd blue reader I got wasn't new, but was in pristine condition, including the unbroken original stylus. I have been able to get new silver ones still in the US, but it was a royal pain getting a blue one from the UK since I'm in the US. And like you, if my batteries ever start dying, I'll get new batteries for them and make them last as long as possible.

Right now the most recent version of PRS+ since December is 2.1.0.2 alpha. But it's so stable, I haven't had one issue with it at all. Once in awhile someone will post with an odd bug that's not reproducible by others, so it's not certain if it's because of PRS+ or not. But I've used PRS+ since my first 350 and I wouldn't be without it. It's like having a new reader with all the options you'll have.

Once you create one CSS sheet for your font, all you need to do is rename the fonts within it and save it naming the various sheets for the various fonts you want to try. I haven't had any problems with the CSS sheets at all.

Of course if there's an epub with an embedded font, you will still need to strip the epub of that embedded font as usual, but that's the same with most every reader, they can't override embedded fonts.

If you decide you don't like it though, it's easy enough to flash back and remove PRS+ too. I don't think there's any chance of bricking the 350 or 650 with it.

[Josieb1]

I've given up waiting for a new decent Sony ereader. 2 years ago I sold my Sony PRS 650 with lighted case on eBay but today I found a used one on eBay with a lighted case and bought it for £62. I want one for all my fan fiction as calibre will use the tags for collections.

At least I paid less today than I sold my original silver (the new one is black) one two years ago.