PRS-650 Is this screen damaged?

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by Fortissimo

Is it possible for the glass to get progressively weakened over time? And then one day, all of a sudden it just cracks with little or no pressure like the OP describes?

Fort, I told you not to worry too much!!! Just use it and all will be good. Trust me.

I am reading in bed and fall asleep while doing so at least twice a day with my reader still open in my hands. Sometimes I wake up at night clutching the case. My reader is in my handbag whenever I leave the house. Or sometimes in the pocket of my coat. It looks like new. Just never take it out of its cover and never sit on it. Thats it.

There does no buildup of screencrack over time exist. Enjoy it and stop worrying, please!

[Fortissimo]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Fort, I told you not to worry too much!!! Just use it and all will be good. Trust me. Enjoy it and stop worrying, please!

Ok, mam.

[tahunasky]

This looks very similar to a problem i had. I had lines down the screen, and also every second line apeared not to be displayed.
I had contacted sony and they said to send in for exchange.
So after a week, i decided to box it up, but before i wanted to copy all books etc of reader.. Plugged into the laptop, and was starting to copy files, when the "CHARGING" message came on the screen after about 2 minutes, and then it started to work properly again.
I think its a bug in the firmware... because my one has never been dropped etc.
I like my e-reader but i am starting to think is might actually be another crappy sony product.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Ereader screens are not hard to break. My husband had his in his briefcase in a cover, and he had also put a wine bottle in the briefcase to bring home on the train. The pressure of the bottle against the screen cracked it quite nicely.

That's how my SO broke the Sony 505, only with a sunglass case. They were both in the front laptop pocket, and shifted just enough to where the solid sunglass case was pressing on the reader with the pocket zipped. Ironically, the light wedge reading case was on it and it still pressed through.

Originally Posted by tahunasky

This looks very similar to a problem i had. I had lines down the screen, and also every second line apeared not to be displayed.
I had contacted sony and they said to send in for exchange.
So after a week, i decided to box it up, but before i wanted to copy all books etc of reader.. Plugged into the laptop, and was starting to copy files, when the "CHARGING" message came on the screen after about 2 minutes, and then it started to work properly again.
I think its a bug in the firmware... because my one has never been dropped etc.
I like my e-reader but i am starting to think is might actually be another crappy sony product.

I've never seen that one before. That looks much different to me with that symmetrical pattern.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tahunasky

This looks very similar to a problem i had. I had lines down the screen, and also every second line apeared not to be displayed.
I had contacted sony and they said to send in for exchange.
So after a week, i decided to box it up, but before i wanted to copy all books etc of reader.. Plugged into the laptop, and was starting to copy files, when the "CHARGING" message came on the screen after about 2 minutes, and then it started to work properly again.
I think its a bug in the firmware... because my one has never been dropped etc.
I like my e-reader but i am starting to think is might actually be another crappy sony product.

I have a 650 and the screen has not gone wonky.

[tahunasky]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

I've never seen that one before. That looks much different to me with that symmetrical pattern.

Before the patterns i had lines all over the "loading book" screen.. it never got past that point..

[ReaderSpouse]

Originally Posted by glarus

Hi folks,
I got my prs-650 8 days ago. Yesterday, after switching it on from stand by, I was terified to see the screen in the following state

Heya, wanted to show solidarity. My wife put down her ebook last month on a towel and when she picked it up 10 minutes later it had a totally cracked substrate. Out of warranty so there's nothing we could do except buy another ebook (we're still looking at models). We're guessing the right thing to do is to buy new and get an extended warranty. What do you think?

[carpetmojo]

I have only just realised that US consumer law seems to be well behind UK, seeing remarks aboutStore warranty of 3o days etc.. . Or have I been reading the wrong bits of posts - or just misunderstood ?
We have the Sale of Goods Act which simply states that the goods must be fit for the purpose they are sold for - if they're not, you get a replacement/reimbursed. Also the Warranty period is generally at least a year, but this is over-ridden by the "reasonable time" clause, which usually means the end of " hard luck, your Warranty finished yesterday."
And, a very important point, the buyers contract is with the seller - not the manufacturer, so the seller is responsible for sorting it out, and is the one liable in proceedings.
Is this so different to US practise ?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by glarus

Hi folks,
I got my prs-650 8 days ago. Yesterday, after switching it on from stand by, I was terified to see the screen in the following state:



Do you think that this is a broken screen? I know that its rather obvious, however, I find it hard to believe it. It was working ok, but 10 mins later the screen was in this state. No one touched the divice in this period.

Regards,
Glarus

Um.. I cannot comment on your screen since I cannot actually see the photo. Please post it again so it can be seen. The site it is on is not valid.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tahunasky

This looks very similar to a problem i had. I had lines down the screen, and also every second line apeared not to be displayed.
I had contacted sony and they said to send in for exchange.
So after a week, i decided to box it up, but before i wanted to copy all books etc of reader.. Plugged into the laptop, and was starting to copy files, when the "CHARGING" message came on the screen after about 2 minutes, and then it started to work properly again.
I think its a bug in the firmware... because my one has never been dropped etc.
I like my e-reader but i am starting to think is might actually be another crappy sony product.

Yours is a screen controller issue. And since it's still under warranty, I suggest you call Sony and get it swapped out as there's a very good chance it could fail sometime after the warranty.

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Yours is a screen controller issue. And since it's still under warranty, I suggest you call Sony and get it swapped out as there's a very good chance it could fail sometime after the warranty.

Could be a faulty EPD controller, or could be a loose connector cable.


... aaaand, if anyone is in the market for an ereader I hear the Kobo Touch is nice.
</blatant plug>

[sonyreaderfan]

Originally Posted by SameerH

... aaaand, if anyone is in the market for an ereader I hear the Kobo Touch is nice.
</blatant plug>

I think Kobo would be a good alternative if ...

Kobo makes it a no-compromise device. Sony Reader is more of a no-compromise device. You don't have to give up features. If a Sony Reader owner is going to a Kobo ereader, he/she would be shocked by the amount of compromises on a Kobo ereader. Some huge ones:

- No dictionary support on side-loaded contents
- Kobo iOS app has no search function. How would an app lack such a fundamental feature who knows.
- No highlights support on side-loaded contents
- No collections to organize books
- No reflow of pdf. Sony has way better pdf support.

A much better alternative to Kobo would be the Nook 2 or Kindle, if epub support is not needed.

Kobo imo is the weakest of all the big 4 ereaders. The only thing going for it is it has the cheapest price for a touch ereader, but with only a $10 difference between it and Nook 2, the difference is not worth getting a Kobo instead of a Nook 2.

I don't know if the compromises are corporate decisions (such as limitations on side-loaded contents) but Kobo would be a viable option only if they fix the compromises.