First Sony Reader Update Available!

[negorv]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Agreed. The reader is meant to cater to Sony Connect books. I don't think you'll find too many reference manuals there.

OK. You've convinced me.
Sony reader doesn't met my needs cause:
(1) I am too peaky. Since I came after another e-book reader, not after plain paper books. So I have too much "harmful" knowlege of what ebook reader should look like. My goddamn ELEVATED expectations!
(2) I am not supposed to have too many books at once because they are bloody expensive at Sony online store. I am also not supposed to have ebooks in format other than I can buy at Connect store. These are BAD books in WRONG formats. If I'll make an attempt to read PDF they will spoil my eyes (zoom = 200% and pan will never happen). HTML and XML is forbidden because it is intended to support different encoding and languages while being readable on screen (see bullet 4).
(3) I was thinking that this device is actually for READING the books, but it actually designed just for SELLING books via CONNECT store.
(4) Multi-language support is bad idea, OTHERRRR-language-speaking-and-reading citizens has no respect to an INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - they want just OUR READER, but not gonna pay for the BOOKS.

[astra]

Originally Posted by orcinus

QED

I agree with you
My whole point is with people who want from this device more than it was advertised. You don't require or even just ask a TV maker to upgrade it, so it will also be a heater for a room only because you know that for making a TV they use an element that might be used for heating as well. Just because we know that Reader has OS/CPU/RAM it doesn't mean we must require from Sony to upgrade the reader so it is capable to do what we want.

I don't know how eInk technology works so I can only guess. I think backlight might be incompatible with eInk screens. Text search and touch screen might be incompatible with today's eInk screens as well. Maybe it cannot show the required info as fast as these features are requiring for normal operation. It also might drain batteries too much and at the moment I think battery life is the second most prominent feature after eLink screen.

Who knows? Maybe I am wrong and it is easy pisy to implement all of these features without harming/degrading curent performance of the device.

Please, believe me, I wish I was wrong.
I would like it to have:

backlight - I really really need it.
text search - very nice feature.
built-in dictionarry! because I have a pan-like-scanner Eng-Rus dictionarry from Israel for normal books, which for obvious reasons I cannot use with the reader, so I have to buy electronic translator - which adds one more gadged in my pocket and costs 1/2 of the reader. But I cannot request/blame Sony.
I might humbly ask them to implement it, but I am not supposed to expect it only because other similar devices have it. When I was buying the reader it was clearly stated what it can/cannot do.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by negorv

OK. You've convinced me.
Sony reader doesn't met my needs cause:
(1) I am too peaky. Since I came after another e-book reader, not after plain paper books. So I have too much "harmful" knowlege of what ebook reader should look like. My goddamn ELEVATED expectations!
(2) I am not supposed to have too much books at once because they are bloody expensive at Sony online store. I am also not supposed to have ebooks in format other than I can buy at Connect store. These are BAD books in WRONG formats. If I'll make an attempt to read PDF they will spoil my eyes.
(3) I was thinking that this device is actually for READING the books, but it actually designed just for SELLING books via CONNECT store.
(4) Multi-language support is bad idea, since citizens of "OTR" countries has no respect to an INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

Don't get me wrong here! I am looking for the same things you do and I've been through the same reasonings and frustrations you have.
For now there is no device available (although the Iliad comes close)that will permit us to have eink in a reduced computer meaning a portable device that permits total written file creation.
But in the meantime, before we get such a device, the reader is a very entertaining little gadget. It is a gadget because it was meant to be one, even if it is built around a serious task like caring for litterature. I feel it has more promises than what was built of it, but I know nothing of how to aid it in becoming so. That is developing with the aid of programmers around this site. We must be patient. You can't say this is a new situation. The ebook was born a long time ago but still in the incubation machine.

[Slowhand]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sorry, I'm not with you. In what way has this firmware update made the machine "less attractive to potential buyers"?

I guess porkupan is worried about expectations of a non English reading folk. No doubt Multilanguage support and better pdf handling is of priority and I believe they will do it eventually. As for the clock issue, it’s funny to read about 3 full screens loaded with that stuff. They might be, or they might not..

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by astra_lestat

I don't know how eInk technology works so I can only guess. I think backlight might be incompatible with eInk screens. Text search and touch screen might be incompatible with today's eInk screens as well. Maybe it cannot show the required info as fast as these features are requiring for normal operation. It also might drain batteries too much and at the moment I think battery life is the second most prominent feature after eLink screen.

You can't backlight an eInk screen (because it's not transparent, so the light wouldn't show through!) but you could certainly "side light" it. There are eInk devices with touch screens, so that's certainly feasible.

[porkupan]

Originally Posted by Slowhand

I guess porkupan is worried about expectations of a non English reading folk. No doubt Multilanguage support and better pdf handling is of priority and I believe they will do it eventually. As for the clock issue, it’s funny to read about 3 full screens loaded with that stuff. They might be, or they might not..

Exactly. This device has been quite a hit in Europe, not only in the U.S., where it is officially sold. And a lot of people used the update feature to load the firmware with their own fonts. Now it seems that Sony somehow (perhaps inadvertently) closed this door. Why?

I read mostly in Russian, and I can no longer update the firmware with Cyrillic-enabled fonts. Right, there is PDF (if you want to wait 3 to 10 seconds for each page turn), and there is LRF with embedded fonts (also a bit sluggish). But what about the rest? RTF, TXT, simple LRF? Book and author names in Cyrillic?

What exactly did I get in exchange for updating to the new firmware?

[astra]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You can't backlight an eInk screen (because it's not transparent, so the light wouldn't show through!) but you could certainly "side light" it. There are eInk devices with touch screens, so that's certainly feasible.

WOW!
There is good news! Then we can hope that maybe one day they will add the feature, it would dramatically improve my marital life!

P.S. Just an afterthought...it cannot be added as a software upgrade though. So, this particular reader will never have it.

[mikem]

Since the eInk displays aren't transparent we could try approaching the problem from a different angle. Maybe we should hack our eyeballs and get some reading lights embedded in them?

BTW for Mac users running XP on Parallels Beta 1 build 3094: The firmware update worked fine but there was a brief moment of panic. At a certain point in flashing the firmware the Sony Reader disconnects from Parallels and the update claims to have failed. At that point I didn't turn off the reader or disconnect it from the Mac. Instead I made sure it was connected in Parallels (via the Parallels USB menu) and told the reader software to re-try the firmware flash. Then the firmware flash worked. Whew!

And if anyone in Sony is reading this: Please improve the PDF reader - that is the killer format. I've got bucket loads of academic papers and such like that I want to read but the font size idiotically small. I've had loads of people drool over the reader but as soon as they see the PDF handling they run screaming, while saying they'll wait till there is a user centric device on the market.

[ultim8fury]

mikem you should probably upgrade your parallels to the latest RC2 3150. The upgrade goes smoothly so I guess they fixed the USB support some more.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mikem

And if anyone in Sony is reading this: Please improve the PDF reader - that is the killer format.

I'm certainly not doubting that it is for you, Mike, but for what percentage of the Reader's potential audience do you think that is true for?

Let's face it - reading an A4 or US Letter sized page on a 90x120mm screen is never going to be an experience that "works" - it just can't. If you want to read documents formatted for A4, you ideally want an A4-sized screen, and that immediately removes the portability which is one of the Reader's key strengths.

There may well be a market for A4-sized devices for people such as yourself, but I honestly can't see how you could ever do it well on a screen as small as the Reader. To my mind, the Reader is the "paperback book killer", not the "Magazine/Textbook/Newspaper killer".

[mikem]

Originally Posted by ultim8fury

mikem you should probably upgrade your parallels to the latest RC2 3150. The upgrade goes smoothly so I guess they fixed the USB support some more.

I'd love to except thats a whole world of pain. As soon as bootcamp was supported by Parallel's I bought it and installed beta 1. After attempting to upgrade to beta 2 I managed to get my system into a position where I can no longer boot directly into Windows XP (without Parallels). Unfortunately I've got to boot directly into Windows XP to remove the Parallels tools before upgrading to RC1. The reason I cannot boot directly into XP is product activation is required as soon as XP is loaded BUT XP won't recognise my Mac keyboard or mouse (nor will it recognise USB ones) so I cannot activate it. Aaarrrgh. The bootcamp partition does work in Parallels (product activation is fine there - its a separate hardware profile).

I've got to re-install XP in bootcamp...not sure if its worth it as Parallels does everything I want (C# and cygwin dev) except let me play an odd game or two.

[TadW]

Don't forget the iLiad. It's a good complementary device for those who require more than just paperback-sized e-books.

[astra]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm certainly not doubting that it is for you, Mike, but for what percentage of the Reader's potential audience do you think that is true for?

Let's face it - reading an A4 or US Letter sized page on a 90x120mm screen is never going to be an experience that "works" - it just can't. If you want to read documents formatted for A4, you ideally want an A4-sized screen, and that immediately removes the portability which is one of the Reader's key strengths.

There may well be a market for A4-sized devices for people such as yourself, but I honestly can't see how you could ever do it well on a screen as small as the Reader. To my mind, the Reader is the "paperback book killer", not the "Magazine/Textbook/Newspaper killer".

Maybe the reader can learn to adjust (softwarewise) any pdf we upload to it?

[HarryT]

How big is the Iliad's screen, Tad?

[TadW]

resolution: 8.1-inch XGA 1024x768
physical dim: 216mm by 155mm by 16mm (8.5" by 6.1" by .6")

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