It's so easy for me to lose perspective...

[david_e]

Originally Posted by guma

It's even more unproductive to complain about people giving their opinion in a third party forum...

Those were opinions, not complaints.

Originally Posted by guma

...People are not coming to you with their opinions. It's you coming to a public forum and reading them. If you don't like what you get to read here why don't you just stay away?

I addressed this further down, perhaps you didn't read before responding, but if people kept their comments in the appropriate threads then I could avoid what I don't want to read.

Originally Posted by guma

...'Censoring' critical opinion is something entirely different from expressing positive experiences. Not to understand this distinction is - to borrow your wording - kind of dumb.

You're absolutely right, it would be kind of dumb. Do you have any evidence that I've done this? No, you don't, you've just repeated an accusation someone else made and also failed to prove. You're probably regretting the use of the word dumb right about now.

Originally Posted by guma

...This forum used to be helpful to learn about how to deal with the KOBO firmware. I.e. whether to update or not and how to work around some bugs, undesired and/or missing features and unhappy design changes.
But since the (very vocal and seemingly unconditionally loyal) KOBO-lover brigade assumed this zero-tolerance stance and stepped up their efforts to censor or discredit most critical opinion, it is now rather tiresome to read through lengthy threads in order to find the few bits of valuable information they may contain.

This forum is still a place filled with a few wonderful people who almost always reach out and try to help someone with a question or a problem. I am NOT one of those people. I am a cynical person, who enjoys playing with words as much as I do people. The fact that you and Aceflor don't see the hypocrisy in what you're doing is like a box of chocolates to me.

You are attacking me because I have an opinion that doesn't align with yours.

Originally Posted by guma

If you don't like what you get to read here why don't you just stay away?

Because I am 100% guaranteed to be filled with laughter.

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by david_e

Those were opinions, not complaints.




I addressed this further down, perhaps you didn't read before responding, but if people kept their comments in the appropriate threads then I could avoid what I don't want to read.




You're absolutely right, it would be kind of dumb. Do you have any evidence that I've done this? No, you don't, you've just repeated an accusation someone else made and also failed to prove. You're probably regretting the use of the word dumb right about now.



This forum is still a place filled with a few wonderful people who almost always reach out and try to help someone with a question or a problem. I am NOT one of those people. I am a cynical person, who enjoys playing with words as much as I do people. The fact that you and Aceflor don't see the hypocrisy in what you're doing is like a box of chocolates to me.

You are attacking me because I have an opinion that doesn't align with yours.



Because I am 100% guaranteed to be filled with laughter.

Actually your attack on a member is the evidence the poster needed.

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by samhy

Don't forget that I'm a Linux user so I'm used to frequent updates; some fixing things, some creating other issues

Me to a T! I think that must be why I'm less annoyed by kobo's foibles than I would expect of myself. Linux has mellowed me

[woe]

Originally Posted by david_e

I just think it is dumb and unproductive for people to come to a third party forum to make their complaints.

It's no more dumb and unproductive than it is for people to come to a third party forum to render their praise, or for people to come to a third party forum to snipe and throw spitballs and generally be an unpleasant jerk to other people.

[Ripplinger]

Back on topic... it's easy for me to keep perspective because I also use my Sony PRS-350s daily. Kobo Glo has the fantastic built in light and can't be beat. My 350s have everything else over the Kobo Glo though. The firmware doesn't need constant updating because it just works as it should... and it's an elegant UI as well.

There's more fuel to start another war over something else now!

[TechniSol]

Not to throw fuel on the fire, but other than being a stable firmware that isn't being improved, what is it that makes the Sony firmware so much better? I've never played with one.

[Ripplinger]

Mainly it's bug-free. It doesn't break up large paragraphs and leave 3 lines on one page and then continue the same paragraph on. It never splits quotes away from the word even if the word following the quote isn't within the same style tag as the word (that bug on the Kobo is really starting to annoy me, I see it that often).

The page layouts are very nice also. It has 3 tabs for Home, Applications and Settings.

Home tab has 4 of your most recent books, and access to your complete library. Below that I have mine set for Author List, Collections, and More. All of those are configurable with PRS+ (I think the original 3 were Periodicals, Collections and Notes).

Applications are Pictures (you can load as many as you like and use for sleep screens), Handwriting (take notes on the fly just using your finger or the stylus within the reader), Dictionaries and Text Memos. I really miss not being able to jot down quick notes on the Kobo Glo.

While reading, there's very little wasted space. There's no top margin (unless you set one in your book), and the bottom is a tiny 3/16" wide black bar that shows the page numbers, battery life and time. Double tap a word and the definition instantly pops up. If you bookmark a page, you can add a note. When you bring up the list of your notes and bookmarks, it references the notes by a line of the text and the page number, so it's easy to find what note you want (notes on the Kobo are just annoying to use compared to the Sony).

You can see an image of the Home page here:
http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/images/sony-prs-650.jpg

And like I said, it all just works and works well.

Edit: And when asleep, you can set it for full screen image only of your book cover or add text over the image or text only or use any image you like for the sleep screen, you have total control over your choice. When fully powered off, it's a blank screen you can set to white or black.

And page turns, the infrared just seems much more sensitive and responsive and fast on the Sony. The slightest thumb movement flips the page, and just one page. It's actually faster than the Glo on turning pages even though it's over 2.5 years old. Especially when you figure in the delay before the page flips on the Glo and that it often takes up to 4 swipes to turn the page.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by TechniSol

Not to throw fuel on the fire, but other than being a stable firmware that isn't being improved, what is it that makes the Sony firmware so much better? I've never played with one.

For the most part Sony's just work. They don't have reading life or facebook which is fine with me, but the collections open smoothly even with 5000 books and I have no reason to think they won't open with more.
They have both a slidebar and a goto page number, both of which work perfectly. Or the earlier models had a goto and an alphabetical index on the side.

Kobo has a slightly better screen and Sony doesn't currently make a 5 inch reader, but the Sony software is far more robust and professional. Can't imagine that Sony ever sorted numbers as strings even in their first ereader.
They do have the occasional double page turn in the T1 but never in the earlier models. (IMO the earlier models were better, but still they are way way way ahead of Kobo in providing working professional software and have been since they started out in the ereader market. )

Helen

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

Double tap a word and the definition instantly pops up. If you bookmark a page, you can add a note. When you bring up the list of your notes and bookmarks, it references the notes by a line of the text and the page number, so it's easy to find what note you want (notes on the Kobo are just annoying to use compared to the Sony).

What do you mean by double tap? I'm not trying to be an idiot, I genuinely can't imagine how that works on something like a word in a line of text. Maybe the "more responsive" is what makes that possible...and maybe I'm not that gifted at touch screens I guess what I'm asking is how fast do you have to tap to be considered a "double tap". I'm used to single taps responding way before I could "re-tap" an area.

In kobo you can also add a note to a bookmark, if you didn't realise.

I would definitely appreciate the line of text in the annotations page!!! It can be annoying figuring out what is what...especially when the "turn every % to 0%" is at play. And kobo would have room for that with the INSANE amount the give each annotation....with something like 4 per page with almost no information.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

Double tap a word and the definition instantly pops up. If you bookmark a page, you can add a note. When you bring up the list of your notes and bookmarks, it references the notes by a line of the text and the page number, so it's easy to find what note you want (notes on the Kobo are just annoying to use compared to the Sony).

Double tap vs long press. Yeah, I could see that might be better.

Kobo has three types annotations:

- Bookmark is simply the dog ear on the top right corner. So not context is saved
- A highlight is selected text that is saved. The annotation list displays the selected text.
- An annotation is also for highlighted text but you add a note to it. The annotation list displays the selected text.

I suppose when you annotate or highlight a single word, it would be handy to see some text around. But, when I select the "Display on page" option, it takes me to the page with the text highlighted. Then the marked text is in front of me in context.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Uschiekid

What do you mean by double tap? I'm not trying to be an idiot, I genuinely can't imagine how that works on something like a word in a line of text. Maybe the "more responsive" is what makes that possible...and maybe I'm not that gifted at touch screens I guess what I'm asking is how fast do you have to tap to be considered a "double tap". I'm used to single taps responding way before I could "re-tap" an area.

In kobo you can also add a note to a bookmark, if you didn't realise.

I would definitely appreciate the line of text in the annotations page!!! It can be annoying figuring out what is what...especially when the "turn every % to 0%" is at play. And kobo would have room for that with the INSANE amount the give each annotation....with something like 4 per page with almost no information.

A quick double-tap like you would do a double-click with your mouse. It would probably be a pain to do on the Kobo, but because the Sony is so much more responsive, it's very nice to use a double-tap. If you want to highlight lengthy passages, just do a quick double-tap at the starting word and drag to the end, click the pen icon and it's saved as a note. The process is quicker on the Sony, the Kobo seems to lag and draws the underscore line after the fact.

On my 350's 5" inch, 9 notes fit on one page and still includes the first line of text and the page number. Compared to 5 on the Kobo 6" screen, without any information most times to identify the note. You can also delete all notes at once or several... when you select delete, a checkbox appears before each note to tick off.

Originally Posted by davidfor

...
Kobo has three types annotations:

- Bookmark is simply the dog ear on the top right corner. So not context is saved
- A highlight is selected text that is saved. The annotation list displays the selected text.
- An annotation is also for highlighted text but you add a note to it. The annotation list displays the selected text.

The Sonys have the same, plus you can scribble a note with your finger on one of the bookmarked pages as your note instead of using the keyboard, or circle a phrase or error to be corrected.

You can also take screenshots of the page on the Sony. I often end up putting my Kobo on my scanner and just scanning it to get a quick image instead of digging out my camera.

[TechniSol]

Sounds like it's considerably more refined, but Sony has been at it a lot longer. I guess some of what you have also comes from the PRS+ upgrade? Pretty nice, all in all.

As far as the IR response goes, it should be nearly the same if all the readers use the neonode hardware and interrupts. Of course, the interrupt handler code could have a lot to do with latency...

[Ripplinger]

Out of all that I mentioned, I think only having the time constantly displayed is from PRS+ and probably being able to take a screenshot. Everything else is standard in the Sony firmware.

PRS+ adds the ability to create your own stylesheet.css files on the reader and load your own fonts to change on the fly. Adds a few games. Lets you change the swipe to a tap for page turns. Lets you set the pages to turn automatically at xx seconds intervals (for when eating and making a mess and you don't want to muck up the reader with your greasy fingers). Lets you change the bottom row of icons on the home page to whatever you want, and that includes any function of the reader can go there. It lets you assign different functions to the keys on the reader, and double up the functions by using a long hold on the keys as well. Those are just the biggest features, there's a lot more that PRS+ adds.

And I would have thought that the responsiveness on the IR touch would have been the same too, but they are nothing alike at all. The Kobo does work better (although still not near as good as the Sony) if you use taps, but I prefer swipes. Especially if you're holding the reader in your left hand, you can't do a tap to turn the page (unless you have 4" long thumbs to reach across the screen). But it's very seldom I ever have to do a page turn twice on the Sony. On the Kobo it happens constantly and it can take up to 4 swipes to finally get the page to turn.

[samhy]

The Sony x50 series is very nice indeed. The aesthetics is just great (casing and software) and the device is sturdy. The firmware remains the same*. Dictionaries are great. Not limited to the x50 series, but there's no need to have an account to use the ereader (except for ADE for DRMed ebooks).

However, I truly believe that without PRS+ they would lack many things in comparison to newer ereaders**. For one thing, there is 5 font sizes embedded (from xs to xl) and that's all. Many times I found it hard to read on the small size, but the medium was way too big. Usually, I was using one size during the day, and another one at night. There is no choice for the fonts, so if something isn't working the ebook needs to be edited and send again.

After maybe 300 highlights and with less than 15 books on it, my 650 became sluggish. It took more than one minute to register a bookmark or a new highlight.

In short, the x50 series is very nice, not perfect, and I think that Sony never made something as good since then (they dropped the alphabetical slider in the library ). I like to have one to complement my Kobo ereaders.

* Sometimes unfortunately, see T1 and T2.
** It's not fair to compare something made in 2010 to something made in 2013, but many people are still buying them, using them and also referring to them, so I don't feel out of line.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

And I would have thought that the responsiveness on the IR touch would have been the same too, but they are nothing alike at all. The Kobo does work better (although still not near as good as the Sony) if you use taps, but I prefer swipes. Especially if you're holding the reader in your left hand, you can't do a tap to turn the page (unless you have 4" long thumbs to reach across the screen). But it's very seldom I ever have to do a page turn twice on the Sony. On the Kobo it happens constantly and it can take up to 4 swipes to finally get the page to turn.

You can change the tap zones in the settings (I use the Kobo with just my left hand as well and can just tap the left of the screen with my thumb to go forward a page).