Best Upgrade from Opus?

[Jorick]

I've got a cybook opus that I've been really happy with. Lately, though, it's started having battery issues (Maybe it's just the 2.1 firmware, but it doesn't seem like many others are complaining) and more locking up than normal.

So I'm not caught flat-footed in case it decides to bite the dust, I'm looking around for upgrade options.

Here's a rundown on what I'm looking for:

Reading Material

I read fiction. No newspapers, comics, etc. If a device happens to be good for other stuff, great... But, suitability for reading "normal" books is what I'm looking for.

Also, as a point of reference.. Back when I bought my opus, the Sony 600 was a love-it-or-hate-it situation with respect to its screen and whether the touch layer interfered with your perception... I hated it; the screen looked blurry to me and just wasn't something I would lay money down for. I don't know if the 650 is in the same boat.


Fast Page Switching

I'm not sure what the opus calls it, as I'm not at home at the moment, but the opus has two page turn modes. The first is a full screen wipe (full black screen flash), then new text pops in (ie, Kindle-esque). The second is a smart mode, where essentially it just blanks out what was there before. The second mode is not as good, from a quality POV (You can usually still see some ghosts from the previous page), but it is vastly superior for page switch time, which is critical for me because I'm a fast reader, and I hate the page flash of kindles (Maybe just older kindles? I don't know what the new K3 does).


Formats

Support for Adobe DRM for library checkouts is nice. Other formats are nice, but EPub (drm and non) is critical.


SD Card

It'd be nice if it had SD Card support. Not critical, just nice.


Screen Rotation

With my Opus, I tend to read it with the two "side" buttons at the top (which puts the control pad on the right of the reader). When I'm reading laying down, this lets me read on my side (my hand curls around the opus, with my index finger coming over the "top" of the opus and resting on the page forward button.

This is probably not a big problem, but I have a feeling I'm somewhat non-standard in liking a horizontal, rather than vertical, screen. I'm sure I'd get used to anything after a few days, though.


Calibre Support

This may be a non-issue as everything may be supported by Calibre... But, yeah, just in case..


So, am I better off just getting another opus? The thing I don't like is that opus's prices don't seem to have kept up with things like the new kindle. If that's the best option, though, that's the way it is.

[EowynCarter]

If you think it's a battery problem,why don't you just charge the battery ?

What are the symptoms ? Battery gets empty fast ? How long ?

[Jorick]

I guess I never really looked for a new battery, tbh... My experience is that typically, replacing a non-standard (AA, AAA, etc) battery ends up being not worth it in the long run.

As for how long the battery lasts... Only a few days (5, sometimes 7). It seemed worse when reading .txt files, instead of .epubs.

There's also just a little bit (maybe more than a little bit) of "I want a new toy".

[bill_mchale]

Well, as for suggestions... There is the new Orizon coming out in the next week or so. That has a SiPix screen (a competitor to E-Ink) that might be pretty good and appears to be the first dedicated reader that supports multi-Touch gestures (since you are looking for something in the toy like line . I think it also has wireless.

Alternately, the Sony PRS-350 or 650 has a fantastic touch screen.

Of course, I doubt anyone can go really wrong with the Kindle 3, though your existing ePub books would have to be converted to Mobi.

I personally want to see some reviews of the Orizon and its screen myself... otherwise, I am leaning rather heavily towards the PRS-650.

--
Bill

[ProfCrash]

I know the K3 allows for screen rotation. It does not support E-Pub and it does not have an SD slot. It does hold 3,500 books and has a system for sorting your books. The K3 has a very fast page turn. Calibre works fine with the K3.

My guess is that the lack of EPub support is going to bother you. Check out the Amazon store to see if it has the books that you want. Also check fictionwise, smashword, and baen. They are three of the more specialized but popular stores that sell books for all of the readers.

I have not seen the new Sony readers but screens are suppose to be as nice as the screen on the K3. Both use the pearl screen but Sony is using a different touchscreen technology.

Personally, I would not get an e-reader without WiFi or 3G. It is available on many of the e-readers and it is a great feature. It is nice to be able to download the book you want where ever you are.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by Jorick

I guess I never really looked for a new battery, tbh... My experience is that typically, replacing a non-standard (AA, AAA, etc) battery ends up being not worth it in the long run.

As for how long the battery lasts... Only a few days (5, sometimes 7). It seemed worse when reading .txt files, instead of .epubs.

I never counted how long mine holds, it don't seam that far off.

If you want to spare battery, you can use a long press on the "off" button, then you will have the menu to put the cybook off, rather than stand by.

There's also just a little bit (maybe more than a little bit) of "I want a new toy".

I have not seen the new Sony readers but screens are suppose to be as nice as the screen on the K3

It's the same. "touch" on prs-650 is IR and don't affect the screen.