T2 or Paperwhite?

[Lyn2012]

Hi, I feel it's time to move on from my 650 but don't know which to choose for my next reader, the T2 or Kindle Paperwhite. So far all my readers have been from Sony but although I like the look of the T2, from what I've seen of the Paperwhite, it does look to be an improvement with the built-in light for those dull winter days and a higher pixel density.

I'm posting here for advice, although it may not be the best place to post, here or the Kindle forum.

I use Calibre for my library and always remove DRM before transferring to my reader. I never use cloud storage of any kind and prefer to keep all my digital libraries on my own external hard drives so wouldn't connect to Amazon storage at all. Although my library is currently 99% EPub with a few PDFs, I'm guessing that I can just convert them to Mobi using Calibre and then load onto the Kindle - I am happy to use USB not wifi. Has anybody experience with this, any problems or disadvantages found?

Any comments and advice would be appreciated.

[graycyn]

Don't forget that Kobo also offers the new higher resolution e-ink screen, also with a glow light.

I still really love my Sony readers because of the easy organization for my books, but I'm tempted by the Kobo, since I wouldn't have to convert my epubs. I would probably just consider it add an addition to the collection for reading in bed. I believe it is also a non-glass screen, so I'd have less worries about the cats breaking it.

[graycyn]

I think the Kobo also has a memory card option.

[Rizla]

Tough call really. Neither are better hands-down. Do you want to hack android and load apps and enjoy a wide-open platform as well as have buttons? Then the sony makes sense. Do you want the convenience of the Amazon store and don't already have a light and you don't care about physical buttons? Then it's the kindle. Choose your poison.

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Don't forget that Kobo also offers the new higher resolution e-ink screen, also with a glow light.

I still really love my Sony readers because of the easy organization for my books, but I'm tempted by the Kobo, since I wouldn't have to convert my epubs.

I also considered the new Kobo but using Collections/Series seems to be rather limited on them. I use Calibre series for my book organisation and like the way they work on my Sony and it looks as though it may work similarly on the Kindle - at least I hope so.

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Tough call really. Neither are better hands-down. Do you want to hack android and load apps and enjoy a wide-open platform as well as have buttons? Then the sony makes sense. Do you want the convenience of the Amazon store and don't already have a light and you don't care about physical buttons? Then it's the kindle. Choose your poison.

No to hacking, apps, buttons and Amazon store. Basically I just read books so I'm looking for the reader with the best screen (pixel density & whiteness), a fast and responsive user interface, is small and light, easy to sync with Calibre and able to access my library organised into collections. I don't even need wifi really - it would always be switched off anyway.

[altruizine]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Tough call really. Neither are better hands-down. Do you want to hack android and load apps and enjoy a wide-open platform as well as have buttons? […]

I have seen numerous instances now of the touting the T2's inherent hackability and openness, on various websites, but no facts to back up the claims. So I thought I'd chime in with a warning:

The T2 comes as a closed product, and will remain so unless some developer steps up and roots it. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that'll happen, and so far I have seen no indication that any of this is taking place.

To the contrary, I sense a general underwhelmed feeling towards the T2 in the developer scene. The major motivation for the original developers – adding support for the Russian language – seems to have vanished with Sony's new official support for that language.

Of course, all that does not mean that the T2 will never receive a root crack – but it's a possibility you should be aware of.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

No to hacking, apps, buttons and Amazon store. Basically I just read books so I'm looking for the reader with the best screen (pixel density & whiteness), a fast and responsive user interface, is small and light, easy to sync with Calibre and able to access my library organised into collections. I don't even need wifi really - it would always be switched off anyway.

Sounds like a T1. Though of course I can't compare it to the paperwhite, yet. And I don't have the Kindle Touch to compare either. But as to your points...the Sony has about the same screen color as my Kindle keyboard, but has a nicer user interface and is MUCH, MUCH faster at everything than my keyboard (I am SURE the paperwhite will be faster too). With the Sony I have 3000 books and when I want to search for a book it takes longer to type in the search term, than to receive the result. A second! My Kindle, with less than 200 items on it, takes MUCH longer to bring up a search result.

And then there is the collection issue. The Sony is FAR superior to the Kindle, when used with Calibre and tags to make collections. When I tap on Books, I get a list of books sorted by latest read. Under the title is the author, series, and series number. I don't think this can be done with the Kindle. I tried the Kindle Collections Manager and it wasn't anything like what I am describing. Also with the Sony, when I tap on COllections, all my custom collections are there, with the number of books in each. Currently on my Sony with 885 books there are 56 collections. On my other Sony there are 122. These numbers do not slow up the Sony at all, unlike when I had 35 pages of collections on my Kindle Keyboard. It was bad. Now I keep them to 7 or 8.

So anyway, that is my comparison between the T1 and the Kindle Keyboard. The Paperwhite can't be compared just yet, of course. The T1 is far superior to the Kindle Keyboard. Will it also be superior to the Paperwhite? I bet with regard to collections and screen savers, it will be.

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by booklover6

So anyway, that is my comparison between the T1 and the Kindle Keyboard. The Paperwhite can't be compared just yet, of course. The T1 is far superior to the Kindle Keyboard. Will it also be superior to the Paperwhite? I bet with regard to collections and screen savers, it will be.

Thank you for your post, it is just the sort of information I need to know before making my decision. I am used to the responsiveness of an iPhone and the 650 is just too laggy for my taste, hence my wish to upgrade. Also, however nice the PW screen is, if there is no way to easily work with collections, then it won't be of any use to me. Maybe it will be a red T2 after all.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

I also considered the new Kobo but using Collections/Series seems to be rather limited on them. I use Calibre series for my book organisation and like the way they work on my Sony and it looks as though it may work similarly on the Kindle - at least I hope so.

I thought I had heard that the Calibre collections plug-in for Kindle did not work on their touch models, but I could be wrong or perhaps things have changed. I'd be interested to know!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I thought I had heard that the Calibre collections plug-in for Kindle did not work on their touch models, but I could be wrong or perhaps things have changed. I'd be interested to know!

Doesn't work. Nothing has changed.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

Thank you for your post, it is just the sort of information I need to know before making my decision. I am used to the responsiveness of an iPhone and the 650 is just too laggy for my taste, hence my wish to upgrade. Also, however nice the PW screen is, if there is no way to easily work with collections, then it won't be of any use to me. Maybe it will be a red T2 after all.

The lighted cover is still very nice for the dull winter days. I watched a video of the new T2 somewhere, it did look really nice and responsive, enough to tempt me a little. I'm not ruling out getting one, but have no true need, what with still giving my 350's and T1 regular use. The Sony that is suffering a bit is the 950, I still like the large screen for some purposes, but don't like the additional weight.

[Bilbo1967]

FWIW, I've just today replaced my 650 with a T2.

Deciding factors for me; integration with Evernote (I use Evernote a lot), all my books (100's of them) are in ePub format, I like the tags/series functionality on Sonys.

+ the Paperwhite isn't available yet in the UK (although I doubt that would have made a difference given the above anyway).

[foghat]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

I also considered the new Kobo but using Collections/Series seems to be rather limited on them. I use Calibre series for my book organisation and like the way they work on my Sony and it looks as though it may work similarly on the Kindle - at least I hope so.

I haven't used my Kindle in about a year, but assuming the firmware hasn't changed much and collections on the kindle still work the same: when using calibre the Sony handles collections much better than the kindle.

[trocchietto]

I think only one solution for sony to fight against amazon
Make an official android update
I mean a light is useful, but for years people read books with a lamp, putting android(pity for the audio) and releasing a super firmware busy on remove bugs and implement new functionality is the best thing to do. Please crunch the numbers and enquire about the doability!

Actually I think I could work as bus analyst in this field. if you want to offer me a well paid job and a fixed contract in adam you are welcome.