Review?

[Jack B Nimble]

Originally Posted by SUSGOD

I have watched the younger generations play their handheld video games in the dark. Never having seen an e-book reader in person, I simple assumed that I would be able to read the handheld e-book in the car at night while my husband drives or while I’m in bed with the lights off. Now I find out it does not have its own lighting system. Oh dear! Oh dear!

You are not the first! You can also check out the threads:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13726
and
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11650

Still, you do have a few options, even assuming you do not want to carry a UMPC or laptop around. If backlighting does not bother you, take a look at the PDAs still on the market (HP and Palm, for instance), for a good choice of features and reading software. For a dedicated reader with built-in lighting, the only one I know of still being sold and supported is the ETI-2. You can find it at eBookwise (http://www.ebookwise.com/ renamed the eBookwise 1150) and Fillament books (http://www.filamentbooks.com/), and both companies sell content optimized for it.

There are also older PDAs available used, most of which can access a variety of reading software, or older readers, some of which can still get content from companies like Fictionwise (http://fictionwise.com).

Enjoy!

[penty]

Or if you really like the reflectivity of e-ink you can always buy one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Bright-...834207&sr=8-10

[hello]

why did you receive a beta unit to test if you're waiting to review it until its developed further? nobody is expecting you to write about the future. just deeply investigate what you have and spread it, thats the reason you got it right...

[MikeF74]

Originally Posted by hello

wh y did you receive a beta unit to test if youre waiting to review it until its developed further? nobody is expecting you to write about the future. just deeply investigate what you have and spread it, thats the reason you got it righ t...

I don't know what the posting rules are here, but cross-posting the same question to multiple threads is generally considered bad form.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...812#post100812

[NatCh]

We don't really have hard and fast rules per se, but we do prefer that the same message only get posted in a single place, mainly to avoid having split discussions of the same topic. Gets real confusing for simple folk like me otherwise.

Anyone wanting to respond to hello's last post here (I'm sure he just wanted to make sure that Derek saw his question), please do it in the thread that MikeF74 linked to -- there's already a discussion going there.

[alexxxm]

Weeks after the promised review, we are still in the dark.
And today we have "Official Sony PRS-505 Press Release", "Sony rolls out Sony Reader PRS-505!", "Sony Reader PRS-505 -- MobileRead.com's Conference Call With Sony" one after the other.
I guess Cybook scrambled bad their timing - and I fear that if no review appears in a while I will go happily with the 505...

Alessandro

[CommanderROR]

I guess what is REALLY important now is content.
Sony has it's connect store and the Cybook has mobipocket support. I guess connect is more customer-friendly right now since it offers an iTunes like approach with a central store where you get all there is to get.
Mobipocket might just come out ahead, depending on...the Kindle. If Amazon really puts it's weight behind the Kindle AND goes with mobipocket as a main format (that would make sense, but you never know) then we could be looking at a real upswing for Mobipocket formatted books and also the related infrastructure.

The device as such is inferior to the Sony Reader, especially when it comes to battery life. I have no idea how far they might be able to improve on that, but as of now, the Cybook can't really offer anything special there. Vizplex was an advantage fro the Cybook, but the new Sony Reader also has that, so no advantage there.
The Cybook can read more formats. That's it actually, at least from my perspective.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by alexxxm

Weeks after the promised review, we are still in the dark.
And today we have "Official Sony PRS-505 Press Release", "Sony rolls out Sony Reader PRS-505!", "Sony Reader PRS-505 -- MobileRead.com's Conference Call With Sony" one after the other.
I guess Cybook scrambled bad their timing - and I fear that if no review appears in a while I will go happily with the 505...

Alessandro

Alessandro,

Normally, I'd agree with you. I guess why we're holding off is because Bookeen's Cybook Gen3 is not yet in market production. We're working off engineering samples and what we've been told will be included in the final production release of the hardware/firmware is sufficiently advanced from what we have on the engineering samples as to invalidate much of what we could review. If we wrote a review based upon our current version, having the Vizplex display in the Cybook would not be enough to warrant buying one over a Sony PRS-500, much less a PRS-505 or Hanlin V3. But we *ARE* just a month away from the production model - with all it's firmware and hardware features significantly improved over the engineering samples.

Hell, just having the firmware update that was used to create Bookeen's latest video clip would make a significant difference. To give a comparison, it would be like writing a review of Windows 3.11 just before the market release of Windows 95. Oops!

And that would be misleading to potential customers - and a dis-service to both users and Bookeen.

I'm not saying I couldn't live with the Cybook I've got right now - no updates. I could. I'm saying if I gave it a complete review right now, when Bookeen is so close to having a solid, stable device that can hold it's own in the market, based upon a severely limited pre-production device - that would be misleading.

So I have to wait until the firmware update arrives and I can give a more accurate post.

Derek

[alexxxm]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

The device as such is inferior to the Sony Reader, especially when it comes to battery life. I have no idea how far they might be able to improve on that, but as of now, the Cybook can't really offer anything special there. Vizplex was an advantage fro the Cybook, but the new Sony Reader also has that, so no advantage there.
The Cybook can read more formats. That's it actually, at least from my perspective.

Content, for me personally, is a non-issue: I read things from public domain only, or from the darknet.

Even battery life, as some posts ago I saw discussed, is not so important for me: how many pages do you happen to turn, in a typical reading session?

Most important I find the supported formats: I dont see HTML on Sony, and that puzzles me - possibly I will go html->rtf...


Alessandro

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by alexxxm

Content, for me personally, is a non-issue: I read things from public domain only, or from the darknet.

Even battery life, as some posts ago I saw discussed, is not so important for me: how many pages do you happen to turn, in a typical reading session?

Most important I find the supported formats: I dont see HTML on Sony, and that puzzles me - possibly I will go html->rtf...


Alessandro

Alessandro,

As I don't have the PRS-505, I can't say how well it will handle HTML. But the Cybook handles HTML ebooks - those that are all-in-one-file - just fine. It does not handle HTML hyperlinks to previous/next files all that well. However, my sample unit is, as I have stated numerous times, at version 0.91 of the firmware and there are supposed to be significant upgrades in how it handles HTML - as well as PDF support, as promised. I'm both frustrated at the current - in my device - firmware and eager to see the updated firmware.

Derek

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

I guess what is REALLY important now is content.
Sony has it's connect store and the Cybook has mobipocket support. I guess connect is more customer-friendly right now since it offers an iTunes like approach with a central store where you get all there is to get.
Mobipocket might just come out ahead, depending on...the Kindle. If Amazon really puts it's weight behind the Kindle AND goes with mobipocket as a main format (that would make sense, but you never know) then we could be looking at a real upswing for Mobipocket formatted books and also the related infrastructure.

The device as such is inferior to the Sony Reader, especially when it comes to battery life. I have no idea how far they might be able to improve on that, but as of now, the Cybook can't really offer anything special there. Vizplex was an advantage fro the Cybook, but the new Sony Reader also has that, so no advantage there.
The Cybook can read more formats. That's it actually, at least from my perspective.

I would agree that content availability is paramount but there are other features to consider like the nifty dictionary lookup thingy, the differences between how well each of them performs various formatting tasks, the feel of the UI, library management, fonts, and the general flexibility and access of the device. The battery life is actually a non-issue for me. The Cybook's battery life is more than long enough for me. Sony's is longer, but longer than long enough isn't really a big added value. Then I think there are going to be some of us that are going to prefer to throw our dollars behind the NAEB guys if we can get a reader we'll like rather than to Sony or Amazon.

Either way I think a lot of us are waiting to see the Kindle and possibly the upcoming HanLin releases. I wouldn't be jumping at the PRS-505 right now anyway, so a delay in the firmware and review isn't really changing where I stand at the moment. The average consumer might go for the 505 right now since they'll see it on the shelves at their local Circuit City or Best Buy but I don't know how much visibility Bookeen has with them anyway. I think Amazon and the Kindle take the biggest hit from the 505 release. But that said, Bookeen would do well to get this thing out the door by the time the Kindle comes out.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Alisa

The average consumer might go for the 505 right now since they'll see it on the shelves at their local Circuit City or Best Buy but I don't know how much visibility Bookeen has with them anyway. I think Amazon and the Kindle take the biggest hit from the 505 release. But that said, Bookeen would do well to get this thing out the door by the time the Kindle comes out.

You've got your finger on a very important point, there, Alisa. Namely that Sony is the only Reader with any sort of retail presence. However few folks have seen them, the simple fact that they are in stores means a lot of folks have seen them who haven't the least inkling that Bookeen, iRex, HanLin, etc. even exist. It will be very interesting to see what the Kindle does to this market. Amazon is so big, it almost has retail level visibility without having a single brick & mortar store to its name.

[guguy]

Btw, if bookeen began production of its final-version GEN3 only a few days
ago they won't be able to release it in October...

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Y It will be very interesting to see what the Kindle does to this market. Amazon is so big, it almost has retail level visibility without having a single brick & mortar store to its name.

In my humble opinion Amazon needs to start making some buzz about the Kindle. They have great visibility but they're not using it. I don't think most people have heard a single word about the upcoming launch. It would certainly make them think twice about the 505. Sony was smart to get it into the stores before the Kindle launch. They're going to have a much harder time luring people to commit to the Connect store if Amazon offers more titles. But if Sony does some good marketing right now and manages to get a lot of the buying public that may be interested in trying ebooks, those customers are likely not going to turn around and buy a Kindle. I'm hoping they'll realize after slugging it out for awhile that they'll both move more books if they loosen up on the formats.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by guguy

Btw, if bookeen began production of its final-version GEN3 only a few days
ago they won't be able to release it in October...

Very true, but if they can present enough of a product to convince people to wait for them, they have some hope.