glare - Gizmodo

posts about #glare more →
Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
LED Anti-Glare Light is for Safer Night Driving, Not Doing Your Makeup
Glare-proof Glasses From 1932
GlareStomper GPS Visor

Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.

Dsmvwl Admin Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

dieman
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
You know though, the PRS505 works just fine, and you can get it for a decent price. My wifes first comment on a kindle "the screen is so small"! She doesn't care about wireless delivery, just make sure theres extra books with you.
Reply

FigNinja promoted this comment dieman was starred dieman was unstarred

FigNinja
09/14/09

@dieman:

The Sony 505 and the Kindle use the same screen. They're both 6". Same part from the same manufacturer. There's more stuff around the screen with the Kindle so it can look smaller.

For folks unfamiliar with the 505, if the lack of functions like search and dictionary would bug you in the reviewed Pocket Edition, the 505 doesn't have them either. Pocket is pretty much a 505 only smaller and with no SD. It's great if you don't care about those features. Good price and sleeker design than the Kindle. Native PDF support (though the small screen won't help you read a non-reflowable PDF much). I wouldn't want people to get the impression that it was close in feature set to the new 6" model, though.
Reply

FigNinja was starred FigNinja was unstarred

Anthony Colletti
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
For me, the PRS300 PocketReader is exactly what it should be. No distractions, highly portable. You simply read a book, no audio, no connectivity, just u and the book, the way it should be
Reply

FigNinja promoted this comment Anthony Colletti was starred Anthony Colletti was unstarred

FigNinja
09/14/09

@Anthony Colletti: The reviewer didn't seem to mind the lack of audio and wireless. It was the lack of dictionary and especially search that seemed to bother him. Personally, I view those as enhancements to my reading rather than distractions. Actually calling search an enhancement is a bit charitable. When you can't leaf through pages quickly, the absence of search can be downright annoying.
Reply

FigNinja was starred FigNinja was unstarred

weatherman
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
"They are cheaper than Kindle, in a niche all by themselves."

Actually the Kindle is $299 now, same price as the touch Sony.

I'm surprised by the touch screen interface being reversed from the more intuitive swipe-left-to-go-forward. I assumed that there would be an option to have it the other way - there isn't?
Reply

weatherman was starred weatherman was unstarred

Wilson Rothman
09/14/09

@weatherman: You are right, not just about the Kindle price, which had momentarily skipped my mind, but the setting that lets you change the gesture. I never would have thought to look for that. Way to earn your star!
Reply

Wilson Rothman was starred Wilson Rothman was unstarred

Platypus Man
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
"The Pocket's problem is that it is barebones to an almost insulting degree: No search, no dictionary, no card reader, no nothin'." -- see, I disagree. While I can see the benefits of something like search and these other features, you can't do this in a normal book anyway.

Companies need to expand upon this idea of a featureless ebook reader and reduce the price. I would get an ebook reader, but I don't read much, so I can't even justify this $200 price tag. At a lower price, I'd get something like this, and then maybe, over time, I would step up to more advanced models. From someone going from books to ebooks, these features won't be missed, and I feel like that's the market that should consider the Pocket and comparable ebook readers.
Reply

Edited by Platypus Man at 09/14/09 4:54 PM Platypus Man was starred Platypus Man was unstarred

Wilson Rothman
09/14/09

@Platypus Man: Search. Seriously. You need it.
Reply

Wilson Rothman was starred Wilson Rothman was unstarred

Platypus Man
09/14/09

@Wilson Rothman: You say that, but I've never used it. I've never even held an ebook reader, so it's not like I'm missing it. While I do see the utility of it, again, you can't do that in a paper book. To you, Gizmodo editor, it's a dealbreaker, but to me and the rest of the populace who would be making the transition from book to ebook reader, it's just a nice idea.

I wouldn't mind an ebook reader that can only hold 10 books (maybe fewer, though I feel that storage isn't what's keeping the price up), a screen, three buttons (power, page forward, page back), and networking only via USB to a PC. No wireless, no buying on the unit, only connect to your computer to transfer ebooks to the reader that you've bought. And hell, if the price is right, I might even buy it as an entry-level reader. Again, to you, that's absurd, but I'd like it.
Reply

Edited by Platypus Man at 09/14/09 5:22 PM Platypus Man was starred Platypus Man was unstarred

ripfire
09/14/09

@Platypus Man: Search is great for textbooks or reference manuals, but you're right on one thing: On novels, there's no point.
Reply

ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred

fryhole
09/14/09

@Platypus Man: That's not absurd at all. The issue is that it just can't be done yet. Flash storage of any reasonable size is basically free-with-purchase it's so cheap, and adding a search feature...well...that's a few lines of code, again, not very expensive. What makes ebook readers out of your price league (I assume) is the cost of the screen, which you can't compromise on - as indicated by this review.

You requirements for a reader are completely reasonable...they just can't yet be done
Reply

TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment fryhole was starred fryhole was unstarred

Wilson Rothman
09/14/09

@Platypus Man: This not really a matter of technology, like a pop-up dictionary or SD reader might be. Book capacity is already absurdly high, and 3G could well be called overkill, if it weren't so convenient.

This, though, is a reading issue. Anyone (like me) who leafs back and forth while reading a particularly engrossing book has no ebook equivalent except for search. Without a way to poke around, you can really only check out the few pages ahead and behind, because E-Ink is so slow and painful to flip through.

But your overall point is valid. Strip everything else and yes, you still might have something nice there.
Reply

Wilson Rothman was starred Wilson Rothman was unstarred

junyo
09/14/09

@ripfire: I'm going to guess that since there's no quickly flipping through the pages looking for something, that a search function is pretty much mandatory on and ebook reader.
Reply

FigNinja promoted this comment junyo was starred junyo was unstarred

FigNinja
09/14/09

@Wilson Rothman: I agree. Search is a cheap feature. Dictionary isn't since they have to license the dictionary from the publisher. I can see leaving that out of a budget reader or at least making you buy the dictionary if you want it. After all, they did most of the work for it in the expensive model. They would need a button-driven on screen keyboard, but that's also not too bad if you think of it on a per-unit basis.
Reply

FigNinja was starred FigNinja was unstarred

Platypus Man
09/15/09

@Wilson Rothman: OK, I see how the search could be pretty important, and if it's that easily implemented, then I guess it's fine, with one issue -- search requires either a keyboard or a touchscreen, both of which require more hardware (and therefore cost) than you should have in a base model. Same with 3G -- no matter how "convenient" it is, it's not 100% necessary and it's not free.

So yeah, I'd have to agree with fryhole (love the name) that the screen is what's really keeping the price up, so I just hope that that can go down over time.
Reply

Platypus Man was starred Platypus Man was unstarred

badbob001
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
I think the irex's touch technology is wacom-based and requires a pen, so somehow that removes the need for a layer over the e-ink.

When I went to the Sony store to check out their e-readers, naturally I picked up the larger Touch version first and my first reaction was that e-ink isn't as clear as I would expect. That was until I compared it with the Pocket version and thought that amazon may have been right to leave touch out.

Now I'm not as excited about the new readers coming out, like Plastic Logic's, which try to one-up the kindle with touch. Perhaps e-readers need to start posting contrast numbers.
Reply

ripfire promoted this comment badbob001 was starred badbob001 was unstarred

ripfire
09/14/09

@badbob001: "Perhaps e-readers need to start posting contrast numbers. "

Then next thing you know, they'll be competing for refresh rates...
Reply

ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred

jetRink
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
I have to believe that Sony is sticking with the touchscreen only to differentiate itself from the Kindle. I wish Sony would choose to compete on something more substantive like DRM or format compatibility. The Kindle has a lot of weak points which could be exploited, but lack of touch screen isn't one of them.
Reply

Wilson Rothman promoted this comment jetRink was starred jetRink was unstarred

Eric C. Tucker
09/14/09

@jetRink: They're already competing on DRM; they announced a while back that they'd be pushing more towards the epub format, which the major publishers are moving towards as the industry standard. The Sony books already support it, and in fact have more format support overall.

But the glare was a problem with the 700 model, and having gone to the Sony Store to see if they've improved it with the Touch...I'm sad to say they haven't.

BTW: on the 700, you can change the way you use the touchscreen to turn the pages, into a more natural right-to-left motion. I'm assuming the Touch has the same ability as well.
Reply

Eric C. Tucker was starred Eric C. Tucker was unstarred

Wilson Rothman
09/14/09

@Eric C. Tucker: ePUB doesn't mean free from DRM, by the way. That's a common misconception. It just means that the same DRM license and file formats will be accepted by Sony Readers, even if you bought them from some other source. It's just an attempt at an ad-hoc industry standard, like (dare I say it?) WMA PlaysForSure was for a brief embarrassing while. Trust me, nobody in publishing is ready to drop DRM anytime soon.

And yes, I hated the 700 so much I never bothered to look into that setting adjustment, but you are right. This one has it too, as I noted in an update above.
Reply

Wilson Rothman promoted this comment Wilson Rothman was starred Wilson Rothman was unstarred

zeroprime
09/14/09

@Wilson Rothman: Project Gutenberg and Google Books are releasing much of their content in the EPUB format, meaning no need to convert any files to have quick access to them on your e-reader. EPUB is also a free/open standard, meaning it is nothing like WMA PlaysForSure.

I'm glad you wrote this article, I've been wanting to buy an e-reader and was looking into the different available products earlier this morning. I came to basically the same conclusion you did about this generation of Sony readers: decent but not great. The Kindle 2 is out of the question, it's a joke with 60% of the front surface area being stuff other than the screen. I've come to the sad conclusion that the PRS-505 from Sony is currently the best purchase out there, despite being released 2 years ago and is now discontinued.
Reply

TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment zeroprime was starred zeroprime was unstarred

MooseDesign
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
That's a bummer. I wanted a Kindle, but the closed nature and 1984 debacle really turned me off. Then Sony got my hopes up. And now those have been dashed. Guess I'll just keep waiting... Quel domage...
Reply

Wilson Rothman promoted this comment MooseDesign was starred MooseDesign was unstarred

PaddyDugan
09/14/09

In reply to Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch and Pocket PRS-300 Dual Review: Too Many Compromises
Content? Can I get bestsellers or just out of copyright stuff already available? Where do the downloads come from?
Reply

Wilson Rothman promoted this comment PaddyDugan was starred PaddyDugan was unstarred

Wilson Rothman
09/14/09

@PaddyDugan: Sony has a bookstore with $9.99 bestsellers, just like Amazon's. Sorry to have left that out—this is Sony's third-generation of readers, and not much has changed in their content delivery. Hit the Pocket and Touch backlinks for some extra info on this.
Reply

Wilson Rothman was starred Wilson Rothman was unstarred

tnt-tek: I'd like some corn nuts
09/14/09

@PaddyDugan: Sony has their own ebook store that has plenty of both thanks to Google.
Reply

Wilson Rothman promoted this comment

PaddyDugan
09/14/09

@Wilson Rothman: Ah, so it really does come down to the hardware when making a choice? Yet, I'd be interested in seeing a side by side comparison of a search for ten readable items.
Reply

PaddyDugan was starred PaddyDugan was unstarred

Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion