Sony Reader "not all that"

[JohnB]

I'm an e-book fan - I have the original Rocket eBook, and more recently have been using a PocketPC (iPAQ 4700). So, I'm not one of those idiots who don't get the concept (like those who believe that a reader has to either give full-color magazine-resolution, or smell like paper to be useful). I've had the Sony reader long enough to read a couple of novels now. I know many reviewers have bashed it, and I know many owners defend it. My problems with it are:

1. Limited, over-priced selection from Sony. I can live with that - I assumed it would be the case when I bought it, but it's going to hamper adoption.
2. Limited contrast. That's right - it really is dark gray on light gray, and contrast gets worse in low light. The resolution is fine, but for those who think it's the best there is - my iPAQ, at 4" 640x480, has 200ppi _in color_, compared to the Sony Reader's 170ppi.
3. No backlight. Don't tell me adding a light will ruin battery life, or I should get a head-lamp - I'm used to readers with backlights, and both have had a perfectly usable battery life. I don't _need_ to go months between charging. Jeez, just plugging it into your PC to add some content ends up charging it. BTW, I have a head-lamp, a lightwedge (hate it), and a flex-neck clip-on (love it for paper books). The Sony reader has a real glare problem when used with a book light.
4. Poor management software. CONNECT Reader is buggy and limited.
5. So-so ergonomics. Others have remarked on the lack of page buttons for one-handed, right-handed holding.
6. Book display has many problems. Why such a large margin in "The Constant Gardener" - that's totally wasted space, requiring more page turns. Three text-size selections is not enough. Lack of HTML rendering is a real deficiency. The RSS feeds I tried are formatted way to poorly to try and deal with. PDF page turns can take a long time. All this adds up to "HALF-BAKED".
7. Slow screen refresh. Not much of a problem when reading, but a real hindrance to navigating menus.

Just my opinions, of course...

[ktb1381]

I agree with all of your points to a degree. For me, it's all about the 'E Ink' (well, and the magnification...). You don't give it points for that? Don't you find it easier to read than other e displays?

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by ktb1381

I agree with all of your points to a degree. For me, it's all about the 'E Ink' (well, and the magnification...). You don't give it points for that? Don't you find it easier to read than other e displays?

I guess I'd have to say that e-ink is superior in strong ambient light, and (back-lit) LCD is superior in low ambient light situations. I do give Sony points for creating a product with new display technology.

[BobVA]

Check out the "RSS2Book" thread for a much better RSS solution, running on your local computer.

PDFs formatted for the Reader seem to page OK for me. The ones that page slowly are formatted for some other page size, and frankly wind up being too hard read anyway. No good solution for that that doesn't involve a bigger display, though.

I think the Reader was focused on a specific niche - reading books optimally formatted for the device, and in good light. If you frequently read in poor lighting and don't mind only a couple of hours of run time,then a PDA or tablet PC is probably better choice. (If you've tried to use a backlit PDA or PC in sunlight, you get the opposite problem - apparent contrast gets much worth with bright lighting.)

Unfortunately it is impossible to backlight an EInk display. Pity they didn't try white LED edge lighting though (i.e. a built-in Light Wedge). If you didn't turn it on, there wouldn't be any impact on battery life, nor sould it affect the display's appearance in bright light.

I really wish somebody would have sent Sony a RocketBook to look over for ergonomics and lighting ideas. Overall I've found the Reader to be a superior device, and certainly wouldn't go back, but I do miss the comfy buttons and the "20%" backlight setting.

Cheers,
Bob

[Stingo]

I agree with some of your points but disagree with others:

"Limited, over-priced selection from Sony."
I agree but hopefully that will change if enough people buy the reader. In the meantime you can find most books cracked on line. Personally, I hope that they become available from most sources so that we can feed the industry bu t in the meantime I won't shy away from a cracked copy.

"Limited contrast. That's right - it really is dark gray on light gray, and contrast gets worse in low light. The resolution is fine, but for those who think it's the best there is - my iPAQ, at 4" 640x480, has 200ppi _in color_, compared to the Sony Reader's 170ppi."
Although the contrast worsens in low light, as long as you light your page as well as you should light a paper page, the image is very good and very soft on the yes. much better for my eyes than paper. A backlight IPAQ would blind me in no time not to mention the smaller reading space.

"No backlight. Don't tell me adding a light will ruin battery life, or I should get a head-lamp - I'm used to readers with backlights, and both have had a perfectly usable battery life. I don't _need_ to go months between charging. Jeez, just plugging it into your PC to add some content ends up charging it. BTW, I have a head-lamp, a lightwedge (hate it), and a flex-neck clip-on (love it for paper books). The Sony reader has a real glare problem when used with a book light."
Disagree with you completely. A backlight would be awful. A side light or light bar would be fine but I can get it after market. None of my books have ever come with a backlight so why should my e-book. Also, I want a month's battery life so that it is always there for me. If I "have" to charge it then it is useless.

"Poor management software. CONNECT Reader is buggy and limited."
100% agree. Then again, no real competition in that category from any other product using e-ink.

"So-so ergonomics. Others have remarked on the lack of page buttons for one-handed, right-handed holding."
Agree.

"Book display has many problems. Why such a large margin in "The Constant Gardener" - that's totally wasted space, requiring more page turns. Three text-size selections is not enough. Lack of HTML rendering is a real deficiency. The RSS feeds I tried are formatted way to poorly to try and deal with. PDF page turns can take a long time. All this adds up to "HALF-BAKED".
Agree. Formats need to be made easier to implement. Again, get more readers into people's hands and that should follow.

"Slow screen refresh. Not much of a problem when reading, but a real hindrance to navigating menus."
Never met a device that could not be faster.

"Just my opinions, of course..."
You raise some good opinions. However, I think that the e-reader is "good enough" for a first e-ink device. The more we encourage others to adopt it, with all of its flaws, the more that we can mainstream the market and the better that the devices will get. So get out there and recommend the heck out of it.

[Solan0]

i think it depends why you bought it, i have tried many devices(PSP, palm pilots, notebooks) to read my manga or books this is the best device yet. The screen is bigger,most important the e-ink is easier on the eyes, yes connect software is crap but i rarely use it (we can find everything on the net).
For the ergonomics, i already got use to it and i like it. Yes maybe a light is need it but i dont think is possible to resolve this problem, i tried many booklights and doesnt really change much.....give it some time and im sure there will be a lot of accessories coming soon, it has just been what 2 months ?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Stingo

Disagree with you completely. A backlight would be awful.

No, it just plain wouldn't work, because the eInk screen is opaque . You would need side or front lighting.

I transferred to the Reader from an iPaq 4700, the same machine as the original poster was using, and for me it's like chalk and cheese - Reader wins hands down, simply in terms of the screen clarity and size. Being a 6" rather than a 4" screen, Reader has 2.4x the screen area, and that makes all the difference in the world. The only change I've made to my mainly reading in bed habits has been to go out and buy a good reading lamp.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by HarryT

... it's like chalk and cheese - Reader wins hands down ....

One of my favorite things to do is pull up eReader on my Palm (I've left it on there just for this purpose), and hold it next to the PRS-500, and ask people if they'd really rather read on the Palm. I haven't yet found anybody willing to claim that they'd prefer the chalk, er, I mean Palm.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by NatCh

One of my favorite things to do is pull up eReader on my Palm (I've left it on there just for this purpose), and hold it next to the PRS-500, and ask people if they'd really rather read on the Palm. I haven't yet found anybody willing to claim that they'd prefer the chalk, er, I mean Palm.

But the Palm will easily fit in my pocket, so I can read it while waiting in line or other 'spur of the moment' times. I still use mine for that & also for MobiPocket books.

[Jack B Nimble]

Originally Posted by BobVA

If you frequently read in poor lighting and don't mind only a couple of hours of run time,then a PDA or tablet PC is probably better choice. (If you've tried to use a backlit PDA or PC in sunlight, you get the opposite problem - apparent contrast gets much worth with bright lighting.)

You have a good point, but there is no need to exagerate. Yes, the Tablet PC's battery life is pretty pathetic, but the PDA I read on now gives me typically 10-12 hours of battery life, and yes it does suffer in bright light.

For a long time I stuck with monochrome Palms for just these reasons, and my best was a HandEra 330 (may he Rest In Peace) which was great in virtually any lighting situation, and averaged better than 18 hours.

Originally Posted by Stingo

None of my books have ever come with a backlight so why should my e-book.

True, but I am not comparing this to some off-the-shelf paperback -- if I were the price would be truely outrageous. I am comparing this to every other ebook reader I have owned. As I do a lot of my reading out and about, and a fair amount in bed, all of them are more usable in more situations.

That said, I still nearly picked one up as I love the size of the screen, and I do want access to commercial ebooks. I really hope negatives get fixed soon.

Jack

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Jack B Nimble

You have a good point, but there is no need to exagerate. Yes, the Tablet PC's battery life is pretty pathetic, but the PDA I read on now gives me typically 10-12 hours of battery life, and yes it does suffer in bright light.

Whoa. What PDA is that? I'd like to look into one that has that good a battery life -- I could only get 5~6 hours of reading out of my Palm T3 when it was new, and a good deal less now.

[Stingo]

Common Jack, take a chance and get one. :-)

At least in my case my eyes are far less sore than with a plain paperback or with my Palm Tungsten T3. I find myself reading a lot more with less eye strain.

[Jadon]

Originally Posted by Stingo

None of my books have ever come with a backlight so why should my e-book.

Because an e-book is not a book. Some things it does better, some worse; we expect more of it in some areas, less in others. We don't expect a paper book to hold scores of volumes, to automatically track our place in the ones we're reading, to have fonts we can make bigger, to have searchability, and on and on. We do expect such from e-books. They're part of the trade-off. In return for lesser sharpness and contrast than paper, we want abilities simple paper doesn't have. Integral lighting is one of those things that many people want, and not putting it into an ebook reader seems perverse.

[Jack B Nimble]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Whoa. What PDA is that? I'd like to look into one that has that good a battery life -- I could only get 5~6 hours of reading out of my Palm T3 when it was new, and a good deal less now.

Tapwave Zodiac... may Tapwave RIP.

It's designed for gaming, so just to get a few hours of gaming, they had to give it a 1540mA battery. It also has a backlight you can set very low when you don't really need it, which works fine in most situations for reading. For ebooks, all of this spells a great battery life, though like you, I used to get better life out of it new -- I think I averaged 14+ hours in the first few months.

Originally Posted by Stingo

Common Jack, take a chance and get one. :-)

I am going to get something for myself for the holidays. I go back and forth between the Sony and the eBookwise. The two main advantages of the Sony are better portability, and what seem to be more current selections in the book store, but as a Mac user, the book store is not really an option. The eBookwise is about a third the price, has a backlight, and, while the commercial book selection may not be as good, Mac support isn't an issue.

Now, if the rumored Reader-customized Lightwedge materializes, and isn't a kludge, my decision would be much harder.

Jack

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Whoa. What PDA is that? I'd like to look into one that has that good a battery life -- I could only get 5~6 hours of reading out of my Palm T3 when it was new, and a good deal less now.

That's pretty much what I get out of my HP iPaq 4700, NatCh. The battery life is excellent, and there's also an "extended life" battery you can get if you want even more, although it makes the machine "thicker". When I was reading on my iPaq I only used to recharge it once a week or so.