Sony E-Reader Touch

At first it may seem self-indulgent to talk about a new non-wargaming related toy on this blog. Frankly it is, even though I can come up with a number of solid reasons why someone who was already going to buy one of these things will find wargame uses for it. I’m not going to let that stop me as I’m really happy with my new toy.

The Sony PR-600 Reader Touch is an ebook reader that uses eink technology to provide an easy to read display which doesn’t cause eyestrain like traditionally backlit displays. The images that appear on the screen are actual pigments manipulated through electrical charges. This gives a stable display which has the same characteristics as print on paper. It also means that the Reader can remain on the same screen for hours without using battery. I imagine that it is possible to read a number of books on it without needing to charge the batteries, though not the way I use it.

I have three primary uses for the Reader: e-book reader, rules reference and electronic paper. The first is standard. I’m reading I, Robot by Isaac Asimov which I’ve borrowed from my library on the reader. The Sony readers are compatible with the Overdrive system used by most North American libraries. As a book the reader has worked as advertised. The biggest difference between a real book and the reader is most books weigh more, require two hands or clever dexterity to manipulate and have different glare characteristics. This is the one complain about the Reader Touch compared to a traditional book, the touch-screen is similar to the amount of glare one experiences with a glossy magazine. Bright, soft light works best. The reader excels at this use.

I mentioned in a previous post how I finally purchased a pdf rulebook and the reasons why. Although I did print out the rules to give myself a hard copy I also moved it on to my reader where I expect to be able to easily reference it. I’ve also moved the rules for Fields of Fire, Battlestar Galactica and various other pdfs onto the reader for each reading and reference. This does change my mind about buying pdf rules and I will be more open to it in the future.

Unfortunately the search function in the reader is simplistic. There’s no match case or match whole word options. If you’re looking for an acronym that appears frequently in other words you are out of luck. For example, I was trying to find the rules referencing a LAT from Fields of Fire. LAT stands for Limited Action Team and I ended up searching for the three words together to find what I needed. Also, the response time on any e-reader is much slower than that of a normal computer. I think this is a combination of a low powered processor and minimum of memory one would expect in this device. Flipping pages while reading through a book is fine, flipping quickly to find a reference is not. Flipping between books is very slow as well. This lack of responsiveness will keep e-readers a niche product until it is resolved.

Since I just received my reader I’ve been carrying it around everywhere, even to work. At work I’ve been building a lot of computers to replace obsolete systems and have a five-page document I’ve written which compiles all the steps I need to take. Either I refer to it on my computer, which means turning to face it every step, or print it out on paper. When I print it I like to check off each step to make sure I don’t forget anything. I’m often answering helpdesks or performing other tasks while building computers and find I can often forget which step I’m on. I made a pdf of the document and moved it to my reader. Since it is a touch device I can mark notes with a stylus, generally check-marks, and then clear my notes between computers. This saved me paper. I also tend to carry the reader around on helpdesks as a note-taking device. I wouldn’t want to use it for a meeting but it works fine for error codes or client numbers. I feel like I’m in Star Trek.

I imagine this could be used to take notes while gaming. If I can create pdf rosters I could easily mark simple notes. It could be more responsive but in some situations it works.

I like my reader. I can buy books without having to worry about storage. I can read various pdf publications available for free on the internet without printing them or straining my eyes at my laptop. I’m happy with it and would recommend it to someone who has similar needs to me. However, there’s much improvement still to be made on these devices. Asus has a dual-screen colour monitor that looks nice. There’s a group attempting to integrate a full colour, video and eink screen into netbooks. All of this will likely happen, and at a much lower price than currently available. If you’re an early adopter, frustrated printing pdfs or heavy reader, this device may be for you. Otherwise you’ll likely be rewarded by patience in this case.

Tyler