 Stil long way to go but it's best eBook reader on the market |
| Review Date: November 22, 2007 |
| Reviewer: LKR, Israel |
Reviewing this device is a bit hard - why is that ?
Because it is the best eBook reader on the market currently BUT it has problems , but again on the other hand it has less problems than any other device :)
So let's begin :
First you need to know about it is that it's NOT LCD screen. Why this important ? - Two reasons:
a) I and many people can't read from LCD , the back lighting gives me a headache and my eyes get tired after several minutes , with this device I can read as any paper book. It has just white (well actually bit gray) screen and text looks black on it.
b) The battery holds much longer, and I mean really longer, with regular PDA or cell phone it runs out after 3-5 hours (depending on device and battery) but here it can sustain the device for month. How this happens ? - well this eInk technology does not require power to keep image on screen, just to draw it so battery get used mostly only when you turn the page and believe me you can finish several books with one charge.
I previously owned earlier version of this device called PRS-500 in this version they had fixed several issues I had with previous one.
- They made it appear as "Mass storage device" when connecting to computer so you can just drug-and-drop files there.
- They moved page turn buttons to the right side of the device so now you can hold it with both hands and pressing the buttons right hand is more intuitive.
- They moved the menu selection buttons from bellow the screen to the right so they match software menu positions - a much welcome change also since the right hand is closer to them and it's more intuitive, like in some ATM machines :) Also "Size" button (controlling the text size) moved to more convenient location.
- The bad thing is that dropped the charger from the set, you can still buy it separately but its a downgrade. Anyway , option to charge it from USB is still there :)
- The device use 2nd generation of eInk technology called Visuplex, with it screen looks much whiter , texts looks more vivid, updated much faster and it does not suffer from the "artifact" leftovers problem PRS-500 had (actually it only sound serious, they were visible only if you look for them)
The device is light, easy to handle and convenient to use.
It's a book reader, so what types of books can you read on it ?
1. You can read Sony's own .rlf and .rlx format files (books) bought at SonyConnect store.
2. You can read TXT files.
3. You can read PDF files (here there is a small problem since most PDFs are created in A4/Letter page size and displaying them on 6" device even in highest magnification looks too small, but you can hold "size" button for several seconds and it will rotate the screen 90° - now everything fits and looks nicely but amount of text on page of course reduced). Also turning page on PDF a bit slow.
4. You can read RTF and DOC files (DOC files actually only loaded thru Sony's software that convert then in a second to RTF)
Personally I use program called "BookDesigner 5.0" to convert everything I want to read into Sony's .RLF format and there are a lot of other converters. SonnyConnect is not the place with best book prices, at least not yet , may be now with some competition from Amazon's Kindle they might reduce prices. Also there are a lot of free stuff on the internet.
Now what the most impotent things about book reader ? - Well book reading experience :)
The device provide a very good one, the 6" screen for me when I first read about sounded too small but after actually using it it's a good size, ideal for traveling but at home (to replace paper books totally) I would prefer to have something like 8-9" , but again it's a minimum to feel comfortable even at home.
As for a negative sides one can mention that when you turn page it kind of "flashes" inverting it content, probably it's a technology thing , that' the way eInk screen clears itself and you do not notice it when reading but if you not reading but reviewing device :) you might notice it.
Also the page turning could be faster, its not too slow but it touches "bare minimum" of the time one need to read comfortably, especially this true for PDFs.
Device also can show gray images and play MP3 and AAC music (in music case running your battery out pretty fast , I guess no eInk for sound :)
There are two versions of the device - silver and "dark blue" (it's so dark that hard to notice it's blue and not black :) ) Personally I recommend to get the blue one - text looks much clearer in dark surrounding.
The cover also rather good, you feel that it actually protects the device and it feels good in hands.
Also if you are not English user there are firmware modifications to make this device show your languages. It's not thanks to Sony but to community of users (they added a lot of modifications also like clock, different icons, navigating pages with joystick etc) but at least this option exists.
Bottom line:
Adding the wireless, increasing speed a bit, supporting full unicode languages range and cutting price by 1/2 :) would make this device ideal.
Also it would be nice to have it in 8-9" flavor.
May be having it with touch screen would be nice as well, but sure not with ugly keyboard as on Kindle.
But anyway on my opinion it's the best device for reading eBooks, for example Amazon's Kindle looks ugly with all this buttons,weights more support only rather rare formats and huge page turn buttons that should make it easier to use easily pressed by accident (there is more but we not reviewing Kindle here :)) |
Expensive, but a good idea
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| Review Date: January 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Gorder, Minnesota, USA |
I bought the sony prs-505 digital reader because I like to travel and I like to read. I have taken some longer trips and had to find something to read because I couldn't carry along enough books, and in some places it is difficult to find books in English. So I thought the digital reader would be a good idea for me. It costs more than I wanted to pay, but I finally talked myself into it.
Point one, a good point in my opinion: One thing that some readers found annoying but I think is good is the fact that the screen is not backlit. I have tried reading from my PDA and from my laptop and the backlighting irritates my eyes after a while. I work on a computer all day long and my eyes don't seem to suffer, but I have other things to look at besides my computer screen, whereas if I am reading a book I concentrate wholly on the screen for quite a long period of time. The sony reader is not backlit so it is more like a real book. If it is dark you will need a light if you want to read. In my opinion, the contrast between the page and the letters on the page is almost as good as a book. Not quite, but almost.
Point two, mostly a good point: the reader is about the size of a paperback so it fits easily into almost any sort of carrying bag or jacket pocket and, although heavier than a paperback it is much lighter than a hard cover book. The bad thing about this is the size of the screen. I would like it a little bigger but that might make the reader a little too big.
Point three, some good some adequate: there are free electronic books available on the internet. Three sources that I know of right off hand are sony's free books that come with the reader, Baen books [...], and Project Gutenberg [...]. The books that come with the reader are all classics, many are very good classics, but nothing modern. These books are usually top quality and seem to be made for the sony reader. Project Gutenberg books are all out of copyright. There are lots of them and it will take a long time to see what is available. Baen Publishing offers their authors a chance to offer a free electronic version of their books, but the down side is that some of the free books are part of a series and you might have to purchase other books from the series. The bad part of the free books is that, other than the sony classics, the books are not formatted for the sony reader. The Baen books are pretty good, but the Project Gutenberg books, although very readable, could be better. There are probably other sources for free books, but I haven't had enough time to search for them yet.
Point four, a pretty good point: I have so far only used .txt, .rtf, and .pdf files in the reader. The .txt and .rtf work pretty good, turning the page is about as fast as if you had to turn a paper page. The only .pdf I have looked at is the user guide and the pages sometimes take several seconds to turn. I don't have enough experience with the .pdf to say whether they are all like that or not.
Point five, something necessary: You have three different font sizes. Some free books are pretty good and the three font sizes work very well, but some free books have a very small font so even at the largest size offered, it could be difficult for some people to read.
Point six, a very good point: you can add memory with memory cards, there is a slot for an SD memory card and a slot for a Memory Stick Duo. I don't use these for the books because I have had just under a hundred books on the reader with pleny of room left on the internal memory. What I use the extra space for will be explained in:
Point seven, a very good point IMHO: You can listen to MP3s while reading. This is where I use the extra memory cards.
Point eight, an unnecessary feature IMO: you can look at pictures in black and white on the reader. So what.
Point nine: I recommend buying the extra charger so you don't have to use the USB plug to charge it. I think charging it with the USB plug is a pain in the neck.
My final analysis: I would probably give it four and a half stars rather than five, but I would recommend the sony reader to people that can afford it and that would use it. And buy the extra charger.
ADDITION TO THE REVIEW: Okay, I have had the PRS-505 for quite a while now. I still say it gets five stars.
[...]
Sony has an update available that the Sony ebook software on the PC will suggest installing. Do it. The one thing that I really noticed is that it helps with the PDF format. Note, however, that your ebook must be attached by USB and it should be fully charged before downloading the update.
[...] has started putting their free ebooks into several formats including Sony's .lrf format. It helps make them easier to read.
There is some free software available that converts several formats into the proprietary .lrf format. [...]. I have used it with PDF files as well as files with the .lit format and it does a pretty good job. It also works with files from the Gutenberg.org site, .txt, .rtf, and .htm files. Using the .htm files you can also get pictures when available. The pictures are black and white, but sometimes they add quite a bit to the story. There might be other software available, but this was the first I found and it does the job for me.
If you search the net you can find free copies of copyrighted books. They might be in the wrong format, but Calibre might be able to help with that. Keep in mind that it is illegal to download free copies of copyrighted books without the author's permission. Also, earlier I mentioned project gutenberg. Australia and Canada also have their projects gutenberg. If you are from those countries, check them out. They have different copyright laws than the U.S. so they might have some books that the U.S. doesn't offer.
[..]
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Lots of Bang for My Buck
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| Review Date: December 6, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Pie Grrrl, MidWest |
I first found out about ebooks via a forum question at CNet. Hadn't really known about them before that thread. Read all the responses, got curious, came HERE and read all of the responses (both on Amazon's reader and Sony's) and ordered my blue Sony Reader on Thanksgiving Day. I received it yesterday afternoon and within the hour was reading a book I'd always wanted to read but kept forgetting to buy.
The newer model #505 is completly responsive and there is NO lag in the page turning feature. Yah, the contrast could be more black & white vs. pale grey/dark grey but when you read the ebook by a window or light (like I would a paper book) there is ZERO problem in reading it.
The hardest thing for me to do is to get used to NOT TURNING A PAGE!!! Silly, I know; it's like driving a stick shift for years and then switching to an automatic...you continue to reach for the shift lever by default.
I travel extensively and can be away from home for up to 2 months at a time. I like to travel light so that means a back pack and a computer case. Most of the books I enjoy reading are big thick novels and they simply took up too much space in my backpack. And although I read that many people enjoy reading books from their laptop...I spend hours a day at my laptop designing landscapes, the last thing I want to do is be UPRIGHT at night, reading a book! I want to be cuddled up in an arm chair or flat on my back, in bed, and the Sony Reader allows me to do that luxury.
I'm a dinosaur with technology but the enclosed paper QuickGuide and pdf. file for more advanced features got me through every potential qlitch. I wish EVERY personal electronic device was this simple to install and understand.
Of course, there will be newer and "better" readers in the future, just like laptops and cell phones have evolved. But, I'm willing to accept the few limitations that the current ones have to enjoy the luxury of reading what I want, when I want...and not dragging a Public Library with me.
Also, until February 2008, when you buy a Sony Reader, you get for FREE 100 classic books that you chose, so if you've always wanted to read any Jane Austen books or Walt Whitman and have been putting it off, you dont' have an excuse any longer.
All in all, I'm very, very satisfied! |
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