What's Sony's next ereader?

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by SCION

I'm not trying to put you on the defensive, but why is going a couple of weeks between charges a vital feature?

For me, this is an important feature too, because I've often experienced gadgets running out of battery at inconvenient times (phones, music players etc.) It would be very annoying to run out of battery in the middle of a journey, and with the current battery life, this isn't likely. There is a lot of warning between noticing that the battery looks a bit low and bothering to charge it.

[usfbull]

Well, I deffinately would like a bigger screen as pdfs are hard to read on my 600. I'm thinking maybe an 8" with the same aspecct ratio of the 600 (not a big fan of the 900s taller screen), add in some color, better touch support, less glare, and a simple way of getting magazines, news papers, and websites on the device with a nice, easy to navigate layout, and a way to veiw your e-mails. that would be the perfect reader. Also keep developing e-ink technology, they better not switch to lcd beccause of the ipad.

[AlpGlide]

Originally Posted by SCION

I'm not trying to put you on the defensive, but why is going a couple of weeks between charges a vital feature?

I believe 12 hours between chargers is OK for an ereader.

[Penforhire]

To me, even after reading a half-dozen books, the 900 screen's aspect ratio is odd. I'd like to see another inch or so of width. It'd still be portable enough.

[AlpGlide]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

To me, even after reading a half-dozen books, the 900 screen's aspect ratio is odd. I'd like to see another inch or so of width. It'd still be portable enough.

I can not understand why sony comes out with that screen ratio.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

To me, even after reading a half-dozen books, the 900 screen's aspect ratio is odd. I'd like to see another inch or so of width. It'd still be portable enough.

It's probably because there's a landscape orientation. It is odd, but I like it. I think adding another inch to the width would increase the weight awkwardly so. Remember, it's a solid device, not lightweight plastic like the nook and Kindle. The 900 is noticeably heavier than the 600.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by AlpGlide

I believe 12 hours between chargers is OK for an ereader.

12 hours of *active reading time* is okay for me; 12 hours before needing a charge is not. And I'm very much enjoying not having to check my battery level before I go to sleep at night; I don't have to charge every day, even if I've done a lot of reading.

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by AlpGlide

I believe 12 hours between chargers is OK for an ereader.

For me, I'm hugely pleased that I have charged by PRS-900 only once in the 3 weeks that I've had it. It's topped itself up by being connected to the PC to faff with the content since then. Even 12 hours of use would be limiting.

Originally Posted by Penforhire

To me, even after reading a half-dozen books, the 900 screen's aspect ratio is odd. I'd like to see another inch or so of width. It'd still be portable enough.

I really like its size - it's almost exactly the same as the larger paperbacks.

Originally Posted by SCION

It's probably because there's a landscape orientation. It is odd, but I like it. I think adding another inch to the width would increase the weight awkwardly so. Remember, it's a solid device, not lightweight plastic like the nook and Kindle. The 900 is noticeably heavier than the 600.

I thought that I'd get use out of the landscape mode but so far, in practice, I've read everything in portrait. If it were wider, I'd need a larger padded envelope to keep it in, which I'm not sure I have

[rmm200]

Originally Posted by AlpGlide

I believe 12 hours between chargers is OK for an ereader.

For me it is really a matter of playing the odds. At 12 hours between charges, I would grab my Sony to read in the car, and the battery would be too low to last the trip. At a couple of weeks per charge, my Sony 600 has never failed to be usable on every car trip I have taken.

To me an EReader is the electronic equivalent of my library - and I never charge my books.

Robert

[SCION]

Originally Posted by rmm200

For me it is really a matter of playing the odds. At 12 hours between charges, I would grab my Sony to read in the car, and the battery would be too low to last the trip. At a couple of weeks per charge, my Sony 600 has never failed to be usable on every car trip I have taken.

To me an EReader is the electronic equivalent of my library - and I never charge my books.

Robert

You're being too extreme. Here's a car adapter for $10. The device can charge while you're driving.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Prs-700bc.../dp/B001P2XCZM

Edit: For those who are leery of aftermarket products you can order direct from Sony:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...3&N=4294954526

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by SCION

You're being too extreme. Here's a car adapter for $10. The device can charge while you're driving.

I'm not sure he is. There are a lot of good reasons for keeping it at about 2 weeks of average use or so. It's a nice number for e-readers.

Yes, we can recharge it more, but plenty of people don't want to have it plugged in at inconvenient times. I don't want to spend vacation time searching for a charger because I left mine at home. Or be limited at how far from electricity I can be because I want to take my reader with me. At 2 weeks, I can go camping in the mountains with food, gear, a telescope, and my reader, and be pretty much guaranteed I don't need to lug my battery station with me unless I'm doing some astro imaging on the trip. With my trip to Oregon, I was able to get away with bringing some gadgets with me because of the battery station, but my 505 never got plugged in. It was good the whole week I was an hour away from civilization.

[SCION]

I'm a road warrior myself (domestic and international) so I get it. My point is, that a car adapter is akin to having a flashlight in the glove box or trunk at all times. There's no reason to take it out of the car, so you're not trying to remember to bring it with you and you're not toting extra gadgets. It's just there.

[Penforhire]

Scion, I don't see how weight should scale with size that directly. Most of the electronics to drive the device could even be made smaller and lighter (or remain the same). So we're talking about the bezel, plastic back, and glass screen growing in size. It should add a quite small proportion weight compared to actual area increase. The "guts" don't have to scale equally.

I'm sure Sony had a design goal of "x" weight at a given price. I was given to understand that the limiting factor on size remains the E-ink screen itself. Only a few sizes are mass manufactured. The 900 is an oddball. If they widened the screen an inch I'll bet they could keep the weight identical. Added cost? Maybe not, if they produced and sold higher volume.

I tried landscape mode. Don't like it. Not sure why but it feels like less total text displayed than in portrait mode and doesn't feel right in my hand.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Scion, I don't see how weight should scale with size that directly.

Put simply: when the shell outweighs the guts... it does scale with size that directly. Sony uses a metal exterior. They had to go to partial plastic to keep the PRS-900's weight in check. They'd need to do that even more to push down the weight of a larger model.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Kolenka

Put simply: when the shell outweighs the guts... it does scale with size that directly. Sony uses a metal exterior. They had to go to partial plastic to keep the PRS-900's weight in check. They'd need to do that even more to push down the weight of a larger model.

The back is plastic on the 900, the metal is really just a frame around the display.