Sony's Reader team to present something August 25

[FizzyWater]

Given the previous announcement about aligning the readers with the Vaio line, perhaps the announcement will be a tablet, rather than a large-screen eInk device?

[eaderigt]

They are going Mobipocket only?

[Zero9]

Originally Posted by Abecedary

The moment they do that is the moment I go through my epubs and add a 'text-align: left;' line to all of them. I've said it before and I'll continue to say it till I'm blue in the face: justification without a reasonable hyphenation scheme is simply atrocious. You're adding totally erratic wordspacing into the mix for the sake of having a "pretty" box of text. I like to read my books, not look at pretty boxes of text. And ... having ... random ..... white ... spaces .... between ....... the .... words ........ does ...... not ..... work ... towards .... the ..... goal .. of ..... readability. But if you think that's more pleasing to read, then more power to you.

Oh, it's not THAT bad. I occasionally read ePubs in AdobeDE for Windows on a my work PC (on really slow days) and the justification without hyphenation has never bothered me. In fact, I didn't even notice it was different from the justification in paper books until I learned that Adobe ePub didn't support hyphenation yet.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

If we can't get one how about a SHUM remote contol with a huge "mute" button and better still a "SHUM remote detonation" button. I hope it's legal...

can i be greedy and ask for BOTH ?

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Given the previous announcement about aligning the readers with the Vaio line, perhaps the announcement will be a tablet, rather than a large-screen eInk device?

hm, intriguing... or a netbook with e-ink screen ? not sure e-ink is fast enough for that yet though.

Originally Posted by rebarnmom

Maneuverability, ease of use, no sore thumbs from button pushing...
Having the PRS-700, I don't think I could ever go back to pushing buttons.
I love the swipe!

my sentiments exactly.

And per topic... I'm hoping they've got some wonderful surprises for the 600 under the formally known as "Settings" and now called "More Apps..." box.
What's in the box?!! What's in the box?!!

oh i know, that box is so intriguing ! i can't wait to see what is inside there... open the box !!!!!

Originally Posted by tdavie

Unless they are offering a 9.7 inch + reader along with newspaper susbscriptions, I'm not interested. The Kindle is a non issue for me since I live in Canada. Otherwise, it's a non concern. Here's hoping.

Tom

i suspect that we may actually see something along those lines from sony, although maybe not this month. but if you look at all the various rumours floating around (granted, so far they are only rumours, but some of them have been more or less confirmed by sony) it seems not unlikely.

Originally Posted by eaderigt

They are going Mobipocket only?

don't even joke about such a thing !

[Zero9]

Originally Posted by =X=

Wow that would be nice. I wounder if they would use a T9 system for the 505 or just support the 700.

If they add a T9 system to the 505 (as they should have from the start) I'm really going to regret selling mine.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Zero9

Oh, it's not THAT bad. I occasionally read ePubs in AdobeDE for Windows on a my work PC (on really slow days) and the justification without hyphenation has never bothered me. In fact, I didn't even notice it was different from the justification in paper books until I learned that Adobe ePub didn't support hyphenation yet.

if you are reading on your pc you probably have a larger display with more text per line than on a 6" device (particularly if, like me, you don't read on the smallest text size). that makes a significant difference in how noticeable (bad...) an automatic justification is.

[HarryT]

But, whether you like full justification or not, it's clearly a lot better to have a device which can display both fully- and left-justified text, than one which displays left-justified text only.

I honestly don't find the full justification on the Opus to be the least bit "objectionable", speaking personally.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But, whether you like full justification or not, it's clearly a lot better to have a device which can display both fully- and left-justified text, than one which displays left-justified text only.

I honestly don't find the full justification on the Opus to be the least bit "objectionable", speaking personally.

i don't disagree. you'll note it was me who first mentioned adding support for justified text, since it would make a lot of people happy. i wasn't talking about myself there.

[Zero9]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

if you are reading on your pc you probably have a larger display with more text per line than on a 6" device (particularly if, like me, you don't read on the smallest text size). that makes a significant difference in how noticeable (bad...) an automatic justification is.

Well, maybe a LITTLE more words per line, but not much. I make the font size big enough to read while leaning back in my chair, and I re-size the ADE window to be tall and narrow so it fits in the preview pane of Microsoft Outlook (management approves passing the time while we wait for queries to finish, but they encourage a don't-ask-don't-tell/don't-be-obvious policy with it ).

But I'm not saying you anti-justification-without-hyphenation people are crazy; you certainly have a point. I'll agree with HarryT and say a device should offer both.

[Abecedary]

I fully acknowledge that I'm in the minority on the justification issue (though I've received a decent amount of karma for my post from others with the same view). All I ask is that if they do add ADE justification, that the ADE renderer at the very least respect a left text-align property if given. However, since the firmware update (if it even exists) is likely finalized at this point, discussing it is really all a moot point anyways.

On a side note, I'm not even convinced there will be a firmware update. The early articles that announced the new models and Mac support that actually featured quotes from Sony reps stated that the Mac support would be handled by a software update (which makes sense since you would need to download the Mac software in the first place). From what I've seen, a blog or two interpreted this to be a software update for the reader itself (aka, a firmware update), and things snowballed from there. I know one or two people got in touch with Sony support and asked, but quite frankly, I don't trust anything that first line support has to say, especially when dealing with unreleased products and updates. So to be honest, I'll be pleasantly surprised if there is a firmware update for the 505 and 700, and not surprised in the least if there isn't one.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Abecedary

I fully acknowledge that I'm in the minority on the justification issue (though I've received a decent amount of karma for my post from others with the same view). All I ask is that if they do add ADE justification, that the ADE renderer at the very least respect a left text-align property if given.

I'm sure it will do - it does on the Opus, and that's using the Adobe renderer.

[krischik]

Originally Posted by ahi

Are they likely to "backport" features in their newer devices' firmware into the 505 and the 700?

They did not do it for the more vibrant smartphone marked so why would you thing they do it for the eBooks market?

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Zero9

Oh, it's not THAT bad. I occasionally read ePubs in AdobeDE for Windows on a my work PC (on really slow days) and the justification without hyphenation has never bothered me. In fact, I didn't even notice it was different from the justification in paper books until I learned that Adobe ePub didn't support hyphenation yet.

If it doesn't bother you, great. But typographic quality is far less subjective a matter than people like to think. And by typographic standards, it is nothing short of attrocious.

- Ahi

[Abecedary]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm sure it will do - it does on the Opus, and that's using the Adobe renderer.

That's a good sign. Harry, since you're using a device that uses a more recent implementation of ADE, are there any new oddities or quirks that you've encountered?

[Zero9]

Originally Posted by ahi

If it doesn't bother you, great. But typographic quality is far less subjective a matter than people like to think. And by typographic standards, it is nothing short of attrocious.

- Ahi

Well I sure learned a lot today! Ignorance was bliss though.