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E-ink readers!
Man I love the idea of them, being able to take a gazillion books with me while I am on the bus or train. The portability is a plus, and the fact that I don't have to go to the library and borrow stacks of books and have to remember to return them...
Of course the e-readers are best for novels, which means a 5 or 6 inch screen is best. THe latest Sony T1 that my brother was given for christmas means he doesn't have to worry about PDFs that are printed in 2 columns, and I WISH I could get my hands on it , but my brother is seeeelfish.
My sony PRS-600 hadnt been used for months though, because I do so much internet surfing, I fail. When I got it back out to read, I was shocked! The screen had faded so much, I could see images from three pages ago, I couldn't read on the second smallest font size. Ghosting was bad, especially in the centre of the screen. I was heart-broken.
Morosely, I went online to search for a new e-reader, because Sony readers are, unfortunately, not repaired or sold in Singapore. There aren't much that use the Pearl screen, that I'm willing to pay for. I wouldn't mind a PRS 650, but it's difficult to get, I don't want to touch Kindles with a ten-foot pole, and I don't even know where to start getting a Hanlin.
I wanted a reader that could also read Chinese natively - I wanted to get back into reading Chinese texts, improve my language, without having to convert them into giant PDFs. Jin Yong's novels are wonderful because I already jknow the storylines and just need to read them over and over, but it's so time-consuming to convert them into PDFs, and I don't want to brick my Sony by flashing it for Chinese.
So the ones I REALLY want is the greenbook, hanlins, irivers and the hanvons. Hanvon, unfortunately doesn't seem to have as good a reputation as Hanlin, and greenbook is, while cheapest of the lot, has apparently crappy software (but excellent hardware). The irivers still all use the old e-ink screens, and while they are awesome for reading comics, I don't have any mangas TO read and I don't really need a keyboard.
Other than the greenbook, they're all expensive, about $400 if I can get them here in Singapore.
Meanwhile, I just kept reading on my sony, turning the font size up to Large (the middle sized font) morosely.
Which was when I realised, about one and a half YA books later (250page-novels), the fonts were getting clearer. The ghosting was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it had started out. I finished the second book today, and then started on a third, and realised that it was getting good enough I can actually turn the size back down to the second smallest size, and still read it, with only the occasional back-and-forth to turn the page's words darker.
It seems that dis-use lets the screen degrade, but use, consistent and long use, actually makes it improve.
How strange! Does anyone have any insight on this? Or is this just me?
Also, would anyone like to add any tips on how to flash a Sony PRS 600 with a Chinese hack? With step-by-step instructions. I've read Mobilereads but I got intimidated, because my language ability in Chinese is pretty poor, and if I destroy my sony I won't have another reader till I can get my hands on a Hanlin.
AND. Would anyone know where to GET a Hanlin in Singapore? I know the iRiver and this weird little thing called KeyReader can be found in Funan ITmall, and the Greenbook is potentially bought from iKnow. But I really would like to get my hands on the Hanlins, I've heard excellent things about it, and how its language support is extensive. Though I'd like a Pearl screen on the hanlin too.
Man I love the idea of them, being able to take a gazillion books with me while I am on the bus or train. The portability is a plus, and the fact that I don't have to go to the library and borrow stacks of books and have to remember to return them...
Of course the e-readers are best for novels, which means a 5 or 6 inch screen is best. THe latest Sony T1 that my brother was given for christmas means he doesn't have to worry about PDFs that are printed in 2 columns, and I WISH I could get my hands on it , but my brother is seeeelfish.
My sony PRS-600 hadnt been used for months though, because I do so much internet surfing, I fail. When I got it back out to read, I was shocked! The screen had faded so much, I could see images from three pages ago, I couldn't read on the second smallest font size. Ghosting was bad, especially in the centre of the screen. I was heart-broken.
Morosely, I went online to search for a new e-reader, because Sony readers are, unfortunately, not repaired or sold in Singapore. There aren't much that use the Pearl screen, that I'm willing to pay for. I wouldn't mind a PRS 650, but it's difficult to get, I don't want to touch Kindles with a ten-foot pole, and I don't even know where to start getting a Hanlin.
I wanted a reader that could also read Chinese natively - I wanted to get back into reading Chinese texts, improve my language, without having to convert them into giant PDFs. Jin Yong's novels are wonderful because I already jknow the storylines and just need to read them over and over, but it's so time-consuming to convert them into PDFs, and I don't want to brick my Sony by flashing it for Chinese.
So the ones I REALLY want is the greenbook, hanlins, irivers and the hanvons. Hanvon, unfortunately doesn't seem to have as good a reputation as Hanlin, and greenbook is, while cheapest of the lot, has apparently crappy software (but excellent hardware). The irivers still all use the old e-ink screens, and while they are awesome for reading comics, I don't have any mangas TO read and I don't really need a keyboard.
Other than the greenbook, they're all expensive, about $400 if I can get them here in Singapore.
Meanwhile, I just kept reading on my sony, turning the font size up to Large (the middle sized font) morosely.
Which was when I realised, about one and a half YA books later (250page-novels), the fonts were getting clearer. The ghosting was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it had started out. I finished the second book today, and then started on a third, and realised that it was getting good enough I can actually turn the size back down to the second smallest size, and still read it, with only the occasional back-and-forth to turn the page's words darker.
It seems that dis-use lets the screen degrade, but use, consistent and long use, actually makes it improve.
How strange! Does anyone have any insight on this? Or is this just me?
Also, would anyone like to add any tips on how to flash a Sony PRS 600 with a Chinese hack? With step-by-step instructions. I've read Mobilereads but I got intimidated, because my language ability in Chinese is pretty poor, and if I destroy my sony I won't have another reader till I can get my hands on a Hanlin.
AND. Would anyone know where to GET a Hanlin in Singapore? I know the iRiver and this weird little thing called KeyReader can be found in Funan ITmall, and the Greenbook is potentially bought from iKnow. But I really would like to get my hands on the Hanlins, I've heard excellent things about it, and how its language support is extensive. Though I'd like a Pearl screen on the hanlin too.