Sony Digital Paper DPT-S1 Owner's Thread

[ManDay]

Originally Posted by gamba66

I have imported twice (once from South Korea and once from China) and I can give you a very simple answer. The import tax (19 % Einfuhrumsatzsteuer auf Warenwert + Versandkosten) is 19 percent! Doesn't matter where you import it from aslong it is outside the EU.. And theres no way to get past the zoll!

That is insane, are you ready to pay such a ridicilous premium? Even 1k would be stretching it for me, but I wouldn't pay 2k.. Id rather get a nice new Notebook with touchscreen or somth xD

Right now I'm looking for options for my company to order them. I'm not sure how much they are willing to pay. I think no one (including me) is willing to pay than the stock $1000 for it, however it seems like a good idea to at least investigate all possible options.

My question about the addtional fees adding on top of the seller's price was foremost with customs (Zoll) in mind. My experience with ordering from outside of the EU is limite... erm, nonexistent, but I know that if you import from within the EU, it is possible to declare the goods such that you do not have to pay taxes (unless the product was exported from the country of origin tax-free). I was hoping the same rule could be applicable to imports from the US. However, I still have no clue how much customs to expect. I think figuring that out requires knowing the TARIC.

The beauties of bureaucracy...

Alice: do you have any particular example in mind? I'm sure if Sony had any competition on the 13.3" market (wait... which market?), we'd have heard of competitors by now. As it stands, they may aswell produce the DPT-S1 from pieces of cardboard and glue and people would still buy it for $1000 straight out of their hands, absent any comparison or alternative.

[cincinnatus]

Since Sony (or what I could reach of them) has proven practically impossible to talk to or with, I, too have considered buying the devices in the US and forwarding them to Germany by one of the many shipping services.

I have tried to place an order using my USA Bordelinx account. At first, everything went OK: the credit card was accepted/billed and I received order confirmation from Sony. However, two days later "Order Cancellation Notificiation" email arrived without stating any particular reason for the said cancellation. They even manage to include in email a broken link to Sony support where I could "ask" additional questions

Concerning the total cost of the would-be-purchase:
At Sony:

Subtotal: $999.00
Discount: -$5.00
Shipping: $5.00
Sales and Use Tax: $72.43
Charge to CreditCard: $1071.43 ~850€

At Bordelinx (shipping to Europe,VAT,customs):
appr. 250€

So 1100€ is the price tag for Europe

[T.W.G]

I had the same experience. Tried to order two times with my german credit card through borderlinx but they where both cancelled. It's a shame that a company don't want you to buy their products. ;-)

[gamba66]

Originally Posted by cincinnatus

So 1100€ is the price tag for Europe

That sounds more realistic, I would pay that..

Just too bad Sony hates us customers for niche products!

I got the Hanvon E920 nearly a year ago, it has a resolution of 1600x1200 with a diagonal of 9.7 = 200 DPI vs 150 DPI from sonys 13.3" reader

It also has a stylus in the back and a capacitive touchscreen (really unique technique, the touchscreen is actually behind the eink display, and not an additional layer) and it uses a proprietary version of windows ce... But I feel it is really optimized especially after the last recent updates (they actually bring out updates regularly)! It reads all common ebooktypes like mobi epub azw and so on, not just .pdf files like the sony one.. It has really useful options like darkening the letters or adjusting page size.. Also, due to windows ce, the battery life is incredible, I use the reader nearly everyday and I charge it every 2 or 3 months.. and its all in english!

The negative side is the weight though for some people (500 grams approx.), which it isn't for me, because I feel it is really well balanced and I dont mind the weight for that size.. Another negative for some of you, is that the E-ink display is out of glass still, and not like the sony a flexible screen.. I noticed that instead of a dollar sign in ebooks, there is a Yen sign hahaa Oh and the glossy part where the buttons are really distracted me, but I just put some matte tape over it

I paid about 550 for it including shipping, but I had a friend who was in shenzhen at the time, so I was kind of lucky

I should really write a thorough review sometime, I also havent really used the stylus that much and tried the export options and so on..

I just think this is a great alternative especially for the price and I had a huge risk importing this by myself, since there were basically 0 reviews and it couldve really sucked if the software was bad... Also I was afraid the Sony would come out soon or other viable alternatives.. But I was lucky, except for the sony there are no real alternatives

[ManDay]

I currently have an M92 and, at least for me, the 9.7" just dont cut it. So does the firmware. From the reviews of it, I'm excited about the Sony's firmware. Especially as far as annotating goes, it seems to have everything I was ever dreaming of. The M92, too, has a 150dpi resolution which works just fine for me. I can't seem to see a point in extremely high resolutions for they really offer no visual advantage over 150 (or say 200) under any normal conditions.

That story of Sony deliberately cancelling orders which they suspect to be forwarded to Europe (or so it seems) is really unheard of I wonder wether, if I manage to trick them into shipping one anyway, they will file charges of theft against me

Well, if they are so resolute to not get these devices going to Europe, I guess I'll just humour them with that. They may even have reasons for doing so.

[gamba66]

Originally Posted by ManDay

The M92, too, has a 150dpi resolution which works just fine for me. I can't seem to see a point in extremely high resolutions for they really offer no visual advantage over 150 (or say 200) under any normal conditions.

I absolutely can not agree with that statement.

Just to follow up my story a little bit, before I owned the Hanvon E920, I had actually owned a brandnew black M92. While I was very satisfied with the software it had, I was very disappointed with the resolution, which is just too pixelated to view .pdf file in full view, even when zoomed in. Also I was annoyed that one had to constantly use the pen or the buttons (which made an annoying clicking sound everytime) to change the pages..

The 50 DPI more offer a huge advantage such as the capacitive touch. The difference between the M92 Display and the Hanvon are stunning, it seems like 2 different worlds, similiar to Iphone 3GS vs Iphone 4 Retina Display. I can now read magazines or scientifc papers with a very clear view and even in full view when zoomed in a little. The E920 just seems like a different device altogether, I also like the build quality more.. When viewed from the side my M92 had a huge gap between the case and the display, which really annoyed me.. Eventually I send it back, because I wasn't really happy with it (for the price), but its just my personal experience..

I do agree though that the Sony 13.3" is even better for academic papers and annotating, which im not really into that much. For my purposes the Hanvon E920 is excellent, but I would still get the Sony Reader if it would be possible to buy it So if there is anyone from Germany who got one, please let us know!

[chrvi]

...and not only Germans and French are interested in this piece of equipment... Even smaller European nations would appreciate the possibility of ordering such a nice "gadget".

Regards from the Czech Republic. :-)

[joblack]

Did somebody try to reflash the Japanese DPT-S1 system to the English one? It would be a way to save money ...

[asdfffdsa]

While I was originaly going to wait for Pocketbook's 13.3" ereader, I got real lucky and was able to pick up a "used but like-new" one for 600 USD. I would've waited for the pocketbook, but $600 is a killer deal for this device.

I bought it mainly for reading large textbooks--not for school but just for personal interests. I was able to justify it by selling all of my textbooks (which more than covered the cost). And while for my use-case it's well worth it, it's hard not to be too critical of this thing due to glaring missed opportunities.


The positives:
+ Large enough to display all of my textbooks very well. This is my desired use-case--I've wanted this for so darn long...

+ Fast page turning

+ For ePaper, this has extremely responsive stylus input. This really blew my mind--the technology is really improving. Given the rudimentary nature of the software I can't see myself using it much, but maybe it'll be handy to make a note in a PDF now and then.

The negatives:
- (Software - General) No dictionary and only displays PDFs. The latter I can get over (just convert everything to PDF), but no dictionary? Really?! Yes, keeping a dictionary open in a separate tab works, but it's just too unwieldy. Also, the PDF viewer itself is very limited in terms of the variety of display options.

- (Software - Notetaking) In terms of notetaking, for what it tries to do it does relatively well, but with that in mind the only real use-case is for business professionals that want something flashy to jot notes on in meetings. And in terms of actual utility, even for that use-case you're probably better off with notebook paper as the software doesn't do much else aside from try to emulate notebook paper. See, the real value with digital notetaking is the software itself, since for the foreseeable future the actual physical experience of writing and accessing adjacent pages will be substantially better with pencil and paper. I mean, if it could at least provide the basic features of something like Xournal it might make sense, but it doesn't even come close...

- The thin-ness is nice in one sense, but overall it makes it feel quite vulnerable--I'd certainly be too anxious to take this thing out of the house. The non-rigid "case" doesn't help much either (aside from preventing scratches). I would've preferred a thicker, more robust design with room for more access ports, longer battery life, more powerful hardware, etc etc.


Other things (let's call them "missed opportunities" as it is not normal to expect them from this kind of device):
- No external keyboard support

- Unable to use it as a standalone monitor. I feel like there are a lot of technical professionals (or hobbyists such as myself) that would love a large ePaper screen with responsive touchscreen input (simply because staring at LCD displays all day is so harsh).

- Why not permit access to the Android Play Store? Really, if you're going to provide a digital notetaking / drawing solution, then this warrants software with a scope that is beyond the capacity of a company like Sony. For instance, OneNote is available on the Play Store. This device would instantly become much more useful if it were jailbroken and set up to run an ungimped Android (from what I've read, the OS is already Android-based)


So given the luck of finding it at this price point and given my particular use-case of just wanting an eReader that can replace my textbooks, I'm quite satisfied. But for $1000+, this device offers so little utility that it's difficult to comprehend Sony's thought process (difficult to comprehend even for Sony!).


EDIT: I've decided to sell this because the Pocketbook website now claims that their 13.3" eReaders will have both Wacom stylus input and run Android.

EDIT2: I've received several PMs about the DPT-S1, but unfortunately I've already sold it

[perry1]

Originally Posted by rkomar

My guess is that, to be able to annotate PDFs, Sony had to license something like the full Acrobat version rather than the cheap reader application.

According to the properties of a note pdf-file I saw, which came from a DPT-S1, it is using the "Foxit G SDK" for annotation/note making.

Does anyone know which OS the Sony DPT-S1 is using?

[fgdas]

Originally Posted by asdfffdsa

EDIT: I've decided to sell this because the Pocketbook website now claims that their 13.3" eReaders will have both Wacom stylus input and run Android.

Good luck! Nobody have ever seen working Pocketbook 13.3" ereader. Waporware. Please let us know where you'll be selling your DPT-S1.

[asdfffdsa]

Originally Posted by fgdas

Good luck! Nobody have ever seen working Pocketbook 13.3" ereader. Waporware. Please let us know where you'll be selling your DPT-S1.

Unfortunately I've already sold it I've updated my post accordingly for future thread viewers

If the Pocketbook 13.3" doesn't materialize as advertised, then I'll certainly be going back to the Sony. However, if I had waited for the Pocketbook 13.3" to be released (some time 1st quarter 2015), then the value of the Sony would have likely fallen.

[ManDay]

Originally Posted by asdfffdsa

Unfortunately I've already sold it I've updated my post accordingly for future thread viewers

If the Pocketbook 13.3" doesn't materialize as advertised, then I'll certainly be going back to the Sony. However, if I had waited for the Pocketbook 13.3" to be released (some time 1st quarter 2015), then the value of the Sony would have likely fallen.

I think you made a good decision. After having read your post, I made the same - abandoning my previous plans to purchase a Sony. Unless anyone can recount that Pocketbook had a history of advertising products which they don't eventually sell, I don't see any reason to assume this were "vapourware".

[gamba66]

I also think it was a good decision!

I would have gotten the Reader from you mainly because of the low price and to check it out myself, I could really need something like that for University

But one Point did surprise me, the stability you mentioned? I though this was a really durable piece of equipment perfectly suited to throw into your backpack?

Also I would've tried to root it, it might be very possible to unlock features such as the Playstore, since it uses Android! I believe it is highly likely that its possible to jailbreak the sony DPT-S1 but its the bad availibility and high price that have restricted the correct people to try that!

[kaiser s]

Firmware update. Hi guys, I just got my update today and so far I'm enjoying the additional features.

1) Disabling gestures - I sometimes read using my finger as a pacer so I would inadvertently swipe the page. Thankfully this fixes that.
2) Zoom - You can now write on the page while zoomed in.
3) New toolbar

• The best fix they made on this is the added "go to page" tool. This should have been there since the beginning in my opinion, but I'm glad it's now here.
• The new toolbar is now either on the left-hand side of the page (by default). This can be moved to the right side of the page in settings or hidden if needed.
• Tab list is now fixed onto the toolbar. A quick tap/press brings up all your tabs which can be helpful when you have more than 3 open.
• Smoothening of handwriting seems to work much faster now too. It doesn't seem to take as long before smoothening (the pixelations on) whatever you write anymore.

These are the ones I've come across so far and have enjoyed.

On the downside, I've noticed that consecutive highlighting seems to be troublesome when using the pen button. It would end up inaccurately selecting a different text and bringing up the "highlight | search | google" option. For now, I'm bearing with it since I'm enjoying the other added features.