3 New Sony Readers announced today, apps coming this fall

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must respectfully disagree with you. A resistive touch screen is a completely "inert" component, in the sense that, like a button, it doesn't actively need power to operate it; rather, it signals the operating system when it has been activated by making an electrical contact. The reason that some devices have much longer "stand-by" battery lives than other depends on all sorts of different factors, primarily the battery capacity and how far "asleep" the device really is. A Sony PRS-600, for example, does little more than blank the screen and disable most of the buttons when it's in standby mode; the CPU and operating system are still running. The BeBook Mini, on the other hand, appears to almost entirely shut down, hence its exceptional stand-by battery life.

Not talking about stand-by... I have let it run, not on stand-by, for months, this winter... (I only put it on stand-by if I take it with me, in my bag, and during the winter months, I let it stay at home)

[HarryT]

Yes, but different devices behave differently even when running. The Mini "goes to sleep" after a couple of seconds of inactivity; the Sony doesn't.

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A resistive touch screen is a completely "inert" component, in the sense that, like a button, it doesn't actively need power to operate it; rather, it signals the operating system when it has been activated by making an electrical contact.

But couldn't that mean that the operating system must keep a process running to detect the signals it may get from the touch screen? And one more process means less battery life, even though the touchscreen itself is not consuming power.

[darex2]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Edit: Also just noted while reading the User Guide, the old AC adapters will no longer work. And - if I'm reading it correctly - you will not be able to read while it's charging. Boo.

It looks like the 650 only has a micro-USB port for charging, but the other models still have both USB and adapter ports, at least that's how it appeared in the photos, even though that doesn't make much sense. Perhaps that's why you noted the change (from having read the 650's manual only)?

[darex2]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One reason, of course, is that the Kindle and nook have wireless comms; the Sony does not. You can't have a metal case with wireless - the signal wouldn't get through it.

It's not entirely metal though (tops/bottoms/sides/screen). Think of the original iPhone: all metal, except the bottom 1/3. I think it could be done for the metal Sony units too.

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

However, they've converted the "TOC" navigation to an entirely visual one - book covers. Nine per screen. So the new navigation offered in the PRS600 (that had the alphabet list on the right side, so you could click on the letter you wanted to go to) is lost. Given how many books I have on my reader, that's a big detraction for me.

Did you check the options menu? In 300/600/900 you could switch between cover view and text list.

Originally Posted by darex2

It looks like the 650 only has a micro-USB port for charging, but the other models still have both USB and adapter ports, at least that's how it appeared in the photos, even though that doesn't make much sense.

All new models are micro-USB only. Here's bottom views of all three:



What you've seen on the photos are probably old models.

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And because of that video, I was able to see that the version of ADE on the new readers does support full justification without the side page numbers. The book on the screen was released March 2010 after Sony gave up on LRX. So there is no way that would be an LRX eBook. Plus, the formatting is different from an LRX eBook. So it seems now that Sony has the best version of ADE since it now supports full justification and no side numbers.

That is good, if it's true. But I would really like to hear directly from someone at Sony who will answer:

1. Specifically which Sony readers now support full justification in epubs?
2. Are there firmware updates available for that for the older models (e.g., the 505)?
3. Is justification (left, right, full, none) selectable by the user or is it set by the creator of the particular epub or is there is only one setting for all epubs on the Sony?
4. Why has it taken so damn long?

Okay, I'll drop that last question so long as the answers to the other three are decent.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

But couldn't that mean that the operating system must keep a process running to detect the signals it may get from the touch screen? And one more process means less battery life, even though the touchscreen itself is not consuming power.

It's probably the same process used to detect button presses, though.

[EowynCarter]

So it seems now that Sony has the best version of ADE since it now supports full justification and no side numbers.

Bookeen haven't side number anymore since 2.1

All new models are micro-USB only

Win !

It looks like i'll be a hard choice between prs-650 and bookeen orizon.

[Papi]

I wonder if the embedded dictionaries will be adapted to the country, i.e. if in France for example we'll have the same languages, but translated to and from french. And a french definition dictionary too. Also the manual doesn't say if you can add dictionaries, which could be a solution for the first problem.

[shanghaichica]

I have to say Im not that impressed with the new Sony devices. I thought they would be better than they are.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Papi

I wonder if the embedded dictionaries will be adapted to the country, i.e. if in France for example we'll have the same languages, but translated to and from french. And a french definition dictionary too. Also the manual doesn't say if you can add dictionaries, which could be a solution for the first problem.

It'll probably switch, if you change the language of the device.

[makani]

Here is a review page that has some good photos of the new readers.
I would say the screen quality is very good.

http://www.techradar.com/news/portab...review-713812#

[Orn8one]

I've read posts from page 1-9 and read all the links but can't find any mention of when these readers are coming to UK. I'd love to know especially if the Daily will be here in time for someone to give it to me for Christmas . . .

[maxbookworm]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

However, they've converted the "TOC" navigation to an entirely visual one - book covers. Nine per screen. So the new navigation offered in the PRS600 (that had the alphabet list on the right side, so you could click on the letter you wanted to go to) is lost. Given how many books I have on my reader, that's a big detraction for me.

Thanks for checking it out. You're right. That is a *major* drawback. Almost deal-breaking, which makes me sad because I would *love* to have that non-reflective Pearl screen.