Hello Sony, stuff missing in the PRS-505

[funetiks]

My high priority additions are:
· Dictionary support
· Word search

My older readers (Hiebook, RCA) had these features and I used them frequently. I was really surprised Sony did not build in these basic capabilities...

[JeffB]

I'd like to see an integration with Apple's iTunes store. I'm on a Mac and can't use the Sony store!

[nsg]

Solar battery imbedded in the cover -- in case someone is stranded on deserted island with nothing but reader.

Not sure, should it be on the outside (so it charges while closed) or on the inside (so it charges while reader is being read).

[DrMoze]

I'm curious why so many people here seem to put a high priority on a dictionary with lookup capabilities. I bought a Reader to read books, and it does that extremely well. I never use a dictionary when reading at all. I can understand wanting pdf support (for legible pdf viewing without conversion hassles, because such a variety of docs are in pdf form), but a dictionary? Don't need one, and don't get it. If it was so important for reading, I would imagine most people would carry a dictionary along with their other books, and I never see that!

[PHugger]

I'd be happy with -

A larger, more prominent, and easier to find Next Page button.
Faster menus - waiting 10+ seconds for a button response is unacceptable.



PCH

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

I'm curious why so many people here seem to put a high priority on a dictionary with lookup capabilities.

Perhaps these are people who are not reading books in their own language? I don't know - like you, I never use a dictionary while reading.

[tompe]

I mostly read at home and there I have dictionaries. I am mostly reading in English which is not my native language. And I have noticed that some words I have misunderstood the meaning of for years and I finally notice it when looking it up. For example I thought for a long time that gingerly meant happy or something like that and I thought that bemused was similar to amused... If it had been easier to lookup word I would have done it sooner. Most word you learn by context but adjective are very hard to learn that way. Other problematic words are fish names or bird names or name of food. Usually it is just a handful of words per book that I want to lookup.

[nathantw]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't know - like you, I never use a dictionary while reading.

Then how do you know what the word means? Do you just guess or assume what the definition is by the way it's used?

By the way, I'm like you and don't use a dictionary when reading, but that's mainly because one isn't always available. I think if I had one I'd use it.

[tompe]

Regarding carrying around a dictionary. I have carried around a couple of dictionaries in my Palm T5 a couple of years so yes I am carrying both books and dictionaries.

Reading a P. G. Wodehouse story on my Gen 3 at lunch I used the dictionary lookup two times since he used some old fashioned words that I did not know.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by tompe

I mostly read at home and there I have dictionaries. I am mostly reading in English which is not my native language. And I have noticed that some words I have misunderstood the meaning of for years and I finally notice it when looking it up. For example I thought for a long time that gingerly meant happy or something like that and I thought that bemused was similar to amused... If it had been easier to lookup word I would have done it sooner. Most word you learn by context but adjective are very hard to learn that way. Other problematic words are fish names or bird names or name of food. Usually it is just a handful of words per book that I want to lookup.

I wasn't implying that NOBODY would want a dictionary in their Reader. Just that it is not an *essential* feature to add. MOST people just want to read books and stories, and those people generally don't carry a dictionary around when they read. Personally, I don't think it is worth the hasssle of developing an entire text entry interface (maybe with the 0-9 buttons?) just for this.

Of course, your reason for wanting a dictionary makes sense. And btw, your English is pretty good too!

[tgl]

Hello - this is my first post since I just bought the 505 model about a week ago.

I am very impressed with this forum - nice community and large number of posts and
general enthusiasm give me hope that this device will be around for a while.

Here are my thoughts about the device (it is only a week but I already have a very clear opinion about both positives and negatives - I do have experience with many gadgets and perhaps have somewhat different and more aggressive expectations do to my professional background as software developer and IT manager - but even though my list of negatives is long I want to stress that I do like the current device very much anyway - much more than I anticipated since I used to reject the very idea of having dedicated ebook reading hardware (used to believe this should be done on laptops or tablets but I now see clear benefits, especially regarding the screen technology).

Positives:
1. Great basic functionality - it really is easier to hold and read small books on the reader than the book itself!
2. Great size, weight, battery life
3. Good screen but can still be improved (brighter and more contrast, color - one can dream?)

Negative:
1. Connect software is the worst software package I have used in a very long time.
It has already crushed several times during the first week of use. Seems random - several times while I was browsing the connect store and several times when I was trying to load my SD card
(my SD card is new, and recently formated and works fine for other things I tried to use it for). Also, sometimes (random as well) connect software completely ignores the SD card (does not even show it is present).

2. No native Mac and/or Linux version of connect sofware - inexcusable (this is the 21st century?)
Especialy bad if you know that the operating system on the device itself is Linux!

3. Slow navigation of device - I don't mind the page turn short delay but going through menus and navigating books is painful (I loaded all 100 books from the free connect store package to start with and it is not fun to wait for device as you are jumping from page to page trying to list them).

4. Poor PDF performance - I did try to convert the PDF's using pdflrf and it works fine but it is a pain to have to go through this every time (and have to mess with settings).

5. Poor selection of fonts - this is a computer so it should be possible to have many more fonts rather than S, M, and L.

6. Not possible to read in the dark - biggest drawback. I know about the screen compromise and have no problem with that. But why not integrate some type of folding light (perhaps narrow strips of lcd light that can be folded into the screen edges).
Of course these lights would use the internal battery but that is the compromise that would make sense since power would be used only as needed so in normal use battery life would not be impacted).

7. No built in dictionary - big omission as it seems it should not be too hard to add one more button that allows you to jump from word to word and by clicking on it pop up a box to show the dictionary entry - does not have to be any more sophisticated than that although some type of mouse like button would be even better).

8. Very poor selection of books in the connect store - fiction selection seems fine but very poor availability of education, reference, and mostly everything else.

Anyhow, this is more than enough for the first post - it's time to do some reading.

[Jabberwock]

I'll add a feature I have already mentioned in another thread: ability to display a selected picture when the reader is off...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by nathantw

Then how do you know what the word means? Do you just guess or assume what the definition is by the way it's used?

By the way, I'm like you and don't use a dictionary when reading, but that's mainly because one isn't always available. I think if I had one I'd use it.

I honesty can't recall when I last came across an English word whose meaning I didn't know. I would consider myself pretty "well read", and hence have an extensive vocabulary. Most "fancy" English words derive from Latin or Greek, and since I am a classical scholar who reads Latin and Greek for recreation, my knowledge of these languages often tells me immediately what a word I haven't met before means. For example, I recently came across the word "adjuvant". I hadn't seem this word before, but I saw straight away that it was derived from the Latin verb "adjuvo", which means "I help", hence knew that "adjuvant" meant "a helper".

[chaulis]

How is the PDF support for the PRS 505. I'm looking at a few different ebook readers and that is the killer feature for me. I want one where I can read cisco ebooks which come in PDF formats for my network engineering and security classes. Has anyone loaded a pdf with images embedded in it on the PRS 505?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by chaulis

How is the PDF support for the PRS 505. I'm looking at a few different ebook readers and that is the killer feature for me. I want one where I can read cisco ebooks which come in PDF formats for my network engineering and security classes. Has anyone loaded a pdf with images embedded in it on the PRS 505?

I've not viewed a PDF on the Reader, but if they're formatted as 8-1/2"x11" pages they probably won't look very good on a screen the size of the 505. If they're DRM'd PDF's they won't work on any reader that's currently available.