Sony Reader vs. Palm eReader software

[awheelhouse]

Hi,

Can anybody who has used the eReader ebook reading software on a Palm T3 compare it to the Sony Reader for me?

thanks

Andrew

[HarryT]

Hi Andrew,

I'm not a T3 owner, but I did use an HP iPaq Pocket PC for reading on for many years, using a number of different reading programs, so I'm very familiar with the general comparison between reading on a PDA and using the Reader.

As far as the physical machine goes, the Reader absolutely wipes the floor with a PDA. The 6", 800x600 eInk screen is just stunningly sharp and clear compared with any PDA. It's not backlit (eInk screen are opaque, so can't be backlit) and hence you need a level of light to read pretty much the same as you'd need for a paper book. A good reading lamp is an essential Reader "accessory"!

The other main advantage of the Reader is its battery life, which is phenomenal (although there does seem to be a wide variation between Readers, but even the worst of them is damned good). Personally, I read for at least an hour a day, and recharge my Reader perhaps once every 3 weeks. eInk, as I'm sure you know, uses no power to display a static image, so battery life is measured by "page turns" rather than hours of usage.

For reading a novel from cover to cover, the Reader can't be beaten by any PDA. Where it does fall down a little is on the "extra stuff". There's no "search" facility, and the file structure is "flat", which means that it gets unwieldy to store more than 100 or so books on it (you can easily store 100 books in the Reader's internal memory).

I've had my Reader now for about 4 months, and absolutely love it. I've read more books in the last 4 months than I did in the previous year, purely because reading on the Reader is such a good experience. It's about as close as you can come to reading a paper book.

Hope that's of some help to you. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions.

[NatCh]

I used to use eReader's software on my T3 -- I still have it loaded on there with a single file so I can hold it side by side with the Reader and ask people if they really would rather read from the Palm after they claim they're happy with it (nobody has said 'yes' yet ).

I'd say that HarryT's analysis is pretty much on the money. In a nutshell, the hardware doesn't compare, the Reader is so much better for actually reading from as to make the idea of continuing to read from my T3 extremely unappealing. But the eReader software is significantly more flexible and feature rich than the Reader's software.

So, I guess I'd say that (all else being equal) if you want to read, go with the Reader, if you're wanting to work with texts more flexibly, go with the T3 ... or go with the Reader and do the fancy stuff on your PC.

[dhbailey]

Some nice features of the Palm reader software that would be nice to implement in future OS upgrades for the Sony Reader:

1) remember the last page read in a book, even after opening other books. This is automatic and is independent of any bookmarks manually set.

2) the ability to reverse foreground/background colors -- in some situations it's easier to read light text on dark background, even without backlighting.

3) scrolling with the speed user-adjustable so the device can be used like a teleprompter.

But to compare between the Sony reader and the Palm reader software (either mobipocket or Palm Reader), there is no comparison, the Sony is a much, much nicer, much more book-like experience, and fits the hand much more like a book does.

[ncinpa]

In my mind it's like comparing a screwdrive wth a hammer. A PDA and the Sony eReader are different tools for different jobs. If you aren't the kind of person who normally carries books around to read, then the Sony eReader isn't for you. If you are the kind of person who is going to carry a PDA around all the time anyway and you just want to be able to kill time while waiting for an appointment, while dining alone, or while waiting for your wife to finish shopping, then a PDA is probably better for you. But if you want an electronic book that you are going to use regularly to read books that you otherwise have purchased in paper format, then an eReader is probably a good choice. The Sony eReader is much easier to read than a PDA. If you don't expect the eReader to be a replacement for your PDA and if you don't expect the eReader to be anything other than a book, then you will be well satisfied with it, as I am with mine.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

1) remember the last page read in a book, even after opening other books. This is automatic and is independent of any bookmarks manually set.

The Reader already does this, dhbailey -- true, you can only go to the last opened page of the last open book on the main menu, you can go to the last opened page of each book from its individual book menu.

Originally Posted by dhbailey

3) scrolling with the speed user-adjustable so the device can be used like a teleprompter.

The challenge to scrolling for the Reader is going to be e-ink's refresh rate. There's not much use in scrolling line by line when it has to flash the whole screen to do that line by line change ... it'd probably also do unpleasant things to the battery life to have the screen constantly refreshing.

[ischeriad]

I haven't seen any eink device in action yet but a possible scrolling solution would be line wrap (my favourite scrolling method on my palm). New lines appear from top to bottom, overwriting the old ones, and if the bottom of the display is reached the new lines appear at the top again, "wrap around".
But I don't know if partially refreshing an eink display is possible (yet).

[RWood]

I used MobiPocket on a 13 line Palm Samsung phone before the Reader. It was like the 3 minute cartoon vs. the original novel. The Reader is far and away the better reading experience. Then again I can't place a call on the Reader. I carry both.

I never had the fancy dictionary lookup features or the index features that some have had with the Palm. In fact if I went to another book on the Palm it forgot where I was in the first book.

The Sony Reader has many more features for me and a beautiful screen. Sure its not backlit but then neither is a book except when its being used as firewood.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ncinpa

In my mind it's like comparing a screwdrive wth a hammer. A PDA and the Sony eReader are different tools for different jobs. If you aren't the kind of person who normally carries books around to read, then the Sony eReader isn't for you. If you are the kind of person who is going to carry a PDA around all the time anyway and you just want to be able to kill time while waiting for an appointment, while dining alone, or while waiting for your wife to finish shopping, then a PDA is probably better for you. But if you want an electronic book that you are going to use regularly to read books that you otherwise have purchased in paper format, then an eReader is probably a good choice. The Sony eReader is much easier to read than a PDA. If you don't expect the eReader to be a replacement for your PDA and if you don't expect the eReader to be anything other than a book, then you will be well satisfied with it, as I am with mine.

I agree with you completely. The Sony Reader is a book reader - period. It's not a PDA and not a replacement for a PDA. Having my Reader hasn't stopped me carrying my HP iPaq around with me; I just have to carry two devices now, rather than one .

[mrbadog]

Another difference, although not device related, is that browsing the Connect store is way faster than the eReader one.