Alternatives to the PRS-600 in the UK?

[mike_bike_kite]

Originally Posted by momentblur

looking into buying an ereader as I'm going travelling and want one.

I'd at least look into the Kindle as the 3G means you can get new books while you travel - you'll have to pay for newer books from Amazon though. More importantly for travellers is that it allows you to stay connected ie you can read forums (like this one) or access your email while out and about - it's a bit slow but it works fine. You'd want a reasonable cover to protect it though. A PB360 might also be good as it's small, highly functional and has the cover built in (no 3G though or wifi though).

[Redfox]

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

You can try a whole range of ereaders out in Foyles (London) and Waterstones around the corner. I remember trying the PRS-600 (£200), the 300 (£140), the Neo (£270), the Opus (£180) and the BeBook mini (£180). They didn't have the Elonex (£129) on display at the time. The 600 bothers some people but not others - it certainly seemed fine to me. The Neo was probably the best machine but it was quite expensive.

I have a Kindle (bought from the UK) and I can't say I'm unduly tied to Amazon - I use Calibre to side load books onto the device using the USB cable - just like any other ereader. Pocketbook also produce a range of devices you can order over the web.

You don't say where you live in the UK but you could try looking for people for people with ereaders in this thread who will happily demo their devices to you.

I live in Cambridge, so it would cost me a rail ticket and most of a day out to visit Foyles, sadly.

I've decided to go with a PRS-600 from Play.com - it's 75 quid cheaper than the Bebook Neo, with free delivery too, and a cheap leather case in the July sale - it's on its way as we speak

Also, AFAIK, annotation on the Bebook is still a work-in-progress. The ability on the Touch to see a list of all your annotations looks really useful, at least for what I'll be using it for. The cheaper models without annotation are not much use to me.

As for the screen, if it is a problem, I read here that Sony's own screen protector is quite good, and of course fairly easy to obtain here in the UK.

[momentblur]

My ramblings, apologies as it's huge, are here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92275

I'll probably break it down into seperate questions in more specific threads but though it may be useful as a lump.

[momentblur]

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

I'd at least look into the Kindle as the 3G means you can get new books while you travel - you'll have to pay for newer books from Amazon though. More importantly for travellers is that it allows you to stay connected ie you can read forums (like this one) or access your email while out and about - it's a bit slow but it works fine. You'd want a reasonable cover to protect it though. A PB360 might also be good as it's small, highly functional and has the cover built in (no 3G though or wifi though).

Sorry, can you confirm, on the kindle 2 can you use the browser over any wifi connection that you can find in the same way as the 1.3 firmware upgrade on the nook allows you to? From what I've heard the 3g on both devices is limited to their own stores but I am becoming interested in wi-fi enabled devices due to the nooks $149 price in the US.

[Redfox]

Personally I wouldn't buy new electronics from the US as you might have problems with warranties - I would advise looking into it before deciding. If you can't get a warranty, you might be almost as well off getting a secondhand one through ebay...

Just my two pennyworth - but then budget is not my sticking point.

[mike_bike_kite]

Originally Posted by momentblur

Sorry, can you confirm, on the kindle 2 can you use the browser over any wifi connection that you can find in the same way as the 1.3 firmware upgrade on the nook allows you to? From what I've heard the 3g on both devices is limited to their own stores but I am becoming interested in wi-fi enabled devices due to the nooks $149 price in the US.

Wifi and 3G are separate things.

• Wifi is a wireless connection to the internet but it only works where you have the password for the router. This usually means you can access the internet in your own home or in a coffee shop where you've paid to access the internet.
• The Kindle however has 3G. With 3G it's like having a permanent connection to the internet, I don't have to pay for it and it works pretty much anywhere. It's one thing to be able to look up a word in the dictionary at home but it's something else to be able to look up that same word in wikipedia while sitting in the park.

All ereaders are a bit slow when it comes to internet access - picture 5-20 seconds to access a page. If you can access pages that have been optimised for mobile use then the experience is better though normal pages will show fine. Obviously it's all in black and white

[mike_bike_kite]

Originally Posted by Redfox

Personally I wouldn't buy new electronics from the US as you might have problems with warranties - I would advise looking into it before deciding. If you can't get a warranty, you might be almost as well off getting a secondhand one through ebay...

Just my two pennyworth - but then budget is not my sticking point.

If you break an ereader then it will be the screen that breaks and this generally isn't covered by the warranty. A new Nook from the states doesn't cost that much more than a 2nd hand reader in the UK (dependant on shipping and import tax). Kindles are bought through Amazon so the warranty is covered by Amazon in the UK.