Advice: do not buy a sony reader. Battery issues and support sucks

[JSWolf]

And you still have not said how long it has been between charges.

[HorridRedDog]

I've had my 600 for 3 or 4 weeks now. It came showing about 75% charge. I figured I'd run it down before I gave it a full charge. Seven days later it seemed that it just didn't want to discharge, it was at 25%.

I have only "turned it off" once. But I didn't like the wait so I never have again.

In other words - No battery problem at all. For me, that is.

I work with battery powered electronic locks. Mostly schools and universities. When used on a dorm room they last about 4 years. On a teachers lounges, about 2 years.

One school ordered 60 sets of batteries. I was sent out to resolve a problem where many of the electronic locks were behaving erratically. Forty five would hold a charge long enough to test them but would fail after a load.

Point 1 - there could have been a run of bad batteries.
Point 2 - the charging circuit could have flaws.

Either way they should be returned.

Suggestion: If the helpdesk person is a pain in the ..., ask them to wait a moment. On minute later put them on speaker phone and tell them you have others listening in to help you understand why they (Sony) can't send you a replacement unit.

And DO use a speaker phone, or call them back when you have access to one.

Point 3 - most people do not have problems. I did not say that you didn't, just that most do not. If you do then try my suggestion. It works really well.

Suggestion: And don't forget to write down the date, time, and the persons name. When you can call back and say that on the 3rd you talked to Judy at 3:45pm you will get a better response than saying " I talked to some guy last week and he said...."

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Don't like Sony? A google search for "battery problem" "prs-600" got 311 results.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

A google search for "battery problem" kindle got 2,100.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

(and, yes, those numbers will go up over time)

[HorridRedDog]

Then again. Has anyone with a short battery time checked to see if the music setting is set to repeat?

Just because you don't hear it does not mean that it isn't playing.

[Stitchawl]

As a Sony user for almost a year now, and a satisfied one, I have heard people complain about battery problems before. Anticipating a future problem I purchased a replacement battery for my 505 from a third party source. Having read through the tech manual it appears to be a 5 minute job with one small screwdriver to replace the battery so I thought it a good pro-active measure. But my battery life seems to just get longer and longer the more I use the reader. I was happy getting two weeks of daily reading (leaving the unit on in between reads) but these days I seem to be getting even more than that!

I think I paid about $25 USD for the battery. While Sony certainly should have helped you in a better fashion, rather than sell the unit, why not put in a new battery from a third party source. That way you aren't even dealing with Sony again and your reader is functioning properly.

Stitchawl

[alfredopp]

Correct me if i am wrong please, but to my understanding sony sends YOU a ups label so YOU go to the ups place and send the unit, i was not aware ups goes to your house to pick it up.

In my experience most customer service representatives from sony are very polite, not very knowledgeable but polite nonetheless. The ones who are extremely rude are those from the exchange center but with tech support I have always been treated very nicely.

I do believe is very possible to get two defective readers. What I would do in your case is call tech support again and complain that you were treated badly by this Bernice lady (let me tell you I spoke with a Bernice too at the exchange center. Extremely rude girl!)

Anyway, I digress. I would say keep trying since once you have a working reader it will be a very nice experience.

Hope I helped

[kennyc]

Hmmmm. Sorry you have had a bad experience, but I'm wondering what your motivation here is. Many including myself have had no problems or issues with our Sony Readers and in fact I'm seriously looking at adding the Sony 900.

There can be issues in charging from some machines/USB ports. Maybe that is the issue and it is being discharged while you have it plugged in to your computer. You really need to explore the suggestions and options provided by the good members of this forum.

Hope things get better real soon.

Enjoy!

[ChristopherTD]

I haven't had the PRS-600 long enough to notice a pattern, but it did seem to discharge quite quickly after being charged via USB the first time, and I was a bit alarmed. After I charged it overnight with the PSP charger it seemed much happier. I have also seen some threads stating that a memory card can cause additional battery drain (I have a 8GB Memory Stick in mine).

[rmm200]

Figuring one person in one thousand will have a serious problem with any electronic device, let me put myself squarely in the 999 camp.

I consider my PRS600 to be a well designed and constructed unit. It feels very solid and looks great. I don't think the Collections feature gets enough good press. Before I got mine, I really wanted Folders. Now I prefer Collections. Only one copy of the book, and it can be in Novels, Science Fiction, and any other appropriate category. I use Calibre to manage my EBooks, and it works wonderfully. I do have the PC based Sony reader software turned off, since I handle downloads with Calibre. I only charge my unit with USB (Not Sony recommended - hah!). Battery life is great - connecting to download news seems to keep it topped up.

If you are reading this unfortunate thread for guidance in what unit to buy, I give my unqualified recommendation to Sony and the PRS-600. Your chances of being very happy are better than the average cell phone purchase.

I have a deal with Sony customer support - they don't bother me and I don't bother them. Should I have a problem, it is comforting to know I can deal with a real person, based in my country, and who speaks my language.

Anyone who suggests I work for Sony tells you more about them than about me.

Robert

[HorridRedDog]

Originally Posted by HorridRedDog

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't like Sony? A google search for "battery problem" "prs-600" got 311 results.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

A google search for "battery problem" kindle got 2,100.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Interesting to note- the "battery problem" kindle search has dropped by 50. As time goes by the numbers should go up.

Personally I think that this guy works for amazon. He's inflating the Sony listing and making Google lower the Kindle numbers.

[Dave W]

I just read this entire thread and am still confused.

I, too, have noticed short battery life. I have not yet quantified it because, so far, I just plug it into my notebook USB port when I have it on. However, let me list a few comments from this thread that puzzle me.

1. Bad charger or USB port. If the reader isn't getting a complete charge, why would the battery charge indicator indicate full charge? Li-ion batteries should have "smart battery" capability and not simple timers built into the reader. So a full charge indication should be accurate.

2. Reader time vs. page turns. This one is really puzzling. According to what I've read about the e-ink displays, power is only used when a page is being turned. Therefore, I should be able to leave my reader on indefinitely up to the self-discharge limit. However, I recognize that the reader must have a microprocessor that needs power whenever the unit is on. So why the claim (not by Sony) that power is only used when a page is turned? Maybe the display only uses power then, but that isn't the real world. Since the microprocessor must use power, Sony should specify both page turn and run time limits for those of us who don't go through 7500 pages within the run time limit.

3. Short battery life due to either bad charger or bad battery. Admittedly, those are the mostly causes, but not the only causes. How about a processor that works, but has a higher than normal power drain? How about other circuits within the reader that might be stuck in one state. The audio player staying on, for example. The headphone driver may be off so no sound would be in the headphones, but the audio circuitry could still be using power when it should not.

There were other issues brought up in this thread, but I didn't jot them down and don't want to re-read the entire thread. As to customer support, I have not called Sony, but did email them regarding the inability to use a universal USB wall charger made for things like ipods. They answered me quickly and politely. I didn't like the answer, but they did answer my question. The answer, for those of you who may not know, is that the reader senses the computer on the other end of the USB cable and won't accept the USB charge if it isn't coming from a computer. Bummer and shame on Sony. Sounds like they just want to sell me a $30 wall charger.

Dave W.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Dave W

2. Reader time vs. page turns. This one is really puzzling. According to what I've read about the e-ink displays, power is only used when a page is being turned. Therefore, I should be able to leave my reader on indefinitely up to the self-discharge limit. However, I recognize that the reader must have a microprocessor that needs power whenever the unit is on. So why the claim (not by Sony) that power is only used when a page is turned? Maybe the display only uses power then, but that isn't the real world. Since the microprocessor must use power, Sony should specify both page turn and run time limits for those of us who don't go through 7500 pages within the run time limit.

Dave W.

The screen, eInk, requires power only when the page refreshes (turn, access menu, etc.)
Whether a reader continues to consume power when you hit power button or not is up to this particular reader design.
For example iRex iLiad doesn't. So, it takes freaking (pardon my french) 40-45 seconds to turn it on each time you want to read a book.
In the case of Sony Reader, when you "turn off" the power, it actually only clears the screen and make all buttons stop responding to anything. You can call it "hold" button, instead of power button. Because essencialy you put your reader on a "hold", like you can do with mp3 player when you turn it on and press hold button, so when you put it into your bag "hold" state prevents any accidental button pushes.
Starting with the latest firmware of PRS-505, you have an option of a full shutdown of the reader via menu. In this way, you can really turn off your reader between reading sessions. Although, you must be aware that it will take probably 1 minute to start it up and probably it consumes more power than usual when powering up.

So, here you go. You do have a choice. I, personally, never ever shut down my reader. I would not buy ebook reader that didn't have this "hold" state. I love the idea that whenever I want to read a book I just push power button and the book appears within a second. I don't know about 300, but I can give you some examples about 500 and 505.
(We are talking about page turns only, anything else, such as accessing TOC, jumping many pages ahead, accessing menu, bookmarks etc., I believe consume more power than a mere page turn)
500 out of box could hold charge for 3 weeks if I read 30 pages/day
505 out of box could hold charge for 2 weeks if I read 60-70 pages/day (I started to use ebook reader a lot more 5-6 months after I bought 500. Usually I could read a book only in the evening, in bed before I go to sleep, later I started to take 500, then 505 to work and read a book during lunch time).

[EDIT] one small addition. We are talking about reading book on internal memory. No memory cards. Memory cards consume more power. Maybe, as much as x1.5 more? I am not sure.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by dubyajay

Where to begin? The sony reader is the most expensive paperweight ever. It doesn't work well as a doorstop, so it is a paperweight. It is useless as a reader because the battery doesn't last more than 400 page turns which means the only way to use it reliably is to be plugged into a wall. If you do buy one, be prepared for abominable and rude "support" in your futile attempt to make the expense worth it.

I pre-ordered the Sony reader in in August 2009. It arrived in mid-September. I was thrilled. No more toting around unwieldy books! It works pretty well with epubs if you can ignore the glare. Pdfs are extremely difficult to read because you have to make the text larger and you'll need to use the vertical and horizontal scrollbars to read a pdf set on 'large'. Ugh. The firmware is weak on too many levels to list, the glare is awful and it doesn't come with a wall charger so you have to pay extra for that. Works well only in full sunlight and if you're near a power source.

For epubs, it worked pretty well on the first charge. The second charge only gave me about 300 page turns - well short of the promised 7500 page turns. I went through the recommended steps to reset the unit. It still wouldn't hold a charge for more than 300 page turns. I went through this 3 or 4 more times. So since I didn't want to be plugged into a wall while reading, I reverted back to paper books.

In an effort to make my $299 worth the expense, I called sony "support" and they said to return it and they would send me a `refurbished' unit. I wasn't happy about the `refurbished' part, but my only other option was to live with it the way it was and eat the cost. So I packaged it up, went to the post office and paid for shipping and insurance to send it back.

A month later I received my `refurbished' unit. On the first charge, I got 400 page turns. Yes, that was an improvement over 300, but not by much and not even close the 7500 promised. I would have been happy with 2000 page turns but it didn't come close to that.

I mainly use the reader to read. I don't take notes, rarely use the dictionary and don't listen to music on it. I tried to reset the refurbished unit, but the reset button didn't work. So not only was the battery compromised but the reset button was broken. Back to the hell called sony support.

Since I'd paid for the shipping and insurance the first time, I asked if they could send a ups pickup ticket since the burden really ought to be on them at this point. They did. Or they said they did. I waited for 3 days for UPS to show up which they didn't because they never got the shipping label. So I called Sony `support' again. They re-issued another pickup. UPS never got that label either so they couldn't pick it up.

When I called sony "support" about this new issue, Rude Bernice insisted that they did send a pickup label and that UPS gave me wrong information. She insisted that sony did nothing wrong and it's ups's fault. She would not listen to anything I said, constantly interrupted and wouldn't let me speak to a supervisor. She claimed the issue was resolved, even though I (the customer) said it wasn't.

I still have the broken unit at my house and UPS is not coming to get it because Sony will not issue the right type of UPS ticket. I could just send it back at my cost, but that is $30 that I could be putting towards a kindle or nook, instead of this brick built by Sony.

So now I'm stuck with this piece o' crap that I paid $299 for. Plus the book cover and wall-charger. Total: $379 in Sony's pocket and I get nothing except a load of stress from Rude Bernice who really should be fired if what I saw was her best work. Or at the very least, given some training in customer service.

Now I have to go through the hassle of getting it to the hazardous waste facility to throw it out. Save yourself money and headache - do not buy a sony reader. Or any sony product, for that matter. Not only do their products suck, but their customer support makes Dell look like Zappos.

My experience with Sony support is excellent (same for Kindle btw).
I easily can make an entire week on each of my 5 Sony readers. Usually, that's about 2.000 pages.
I guess, your battery is defect.

[kennyc]

Five! And I thought I had too many...

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by Dave W

Since the microprocessor must use power, Sony should specify both page turn and run time limits for those of us who don't go through 7500 pages within the run time limit.

Sony specifies very clearly in their documentation:

Maximum Battery: Approx. 7,500 continuous page turns when reading only *
* Measured using a fully charged battery and counting consecutive
BBeB Book and ePub format page-turns at approx 1 page per sec.
Actual battery life may vary based on usage patterns and specific
device

Nota bene: at approx one page per second!!!
Nobody can read that fast (well, at least I can't and I don't know anyone else that does it either).
But, all manufacturers do the same: they do testings under certain conditions and, sometimes, these cannot be reproduced entirely in the real life.
It is impossible to keep everyone happy, that's why tey say clearly that the actual battery life dependes on usage patterns.

I would suggest to do this test (it seems that you have plenty of time, so, why not?): start with a full battery (after 5 hours of charging), open a book, then press the page turn button until the battery is fully depleted (that is, when your readers dies). Don't forget to count! And make sure you turn pages at a pace of approx 1/second (no reading required, no matter how interesting the book may be). And, once you are done with the test, come back and let us know! OK?

[Riocaz]

I tried it with my 600 when I first got it (which also had a defective battery as it happens).

I got 6600 full page turns (defined as a full flash, not just skipping from page to page) up until I got a battery warning, and was over 10000 when I gave up.

As JSwolf mentioned above. Dubya, still hasn't answered a question from the 1st page.. Which is how long was it between charges? We seem to be getting stuck on the "pages" issue.