Sony PRS-505/LC Blue Digital Book Reader by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony PRS-505/LC Blue Digital Book Reader
Digital camera Review: Elegance with Purpose
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had the Sony Reader for about three months now. I'm not sure if they've updated it's practice, but Sony was sold out for quite a long time. I waited about two months for my Sony Reader to arrive. It appears that the entire reader market, including but limited to, Sony, Amazon (Kindle), Bookeen(Cybook), are facing serious supply issues. Many of the products have estimated waiting periods of 2wks to 1mnth. In which, I'll explain, why this isn't as big as an issue as it may seem.
This review will be longer than usual; I think it's important for someone making a $[...] purchase to be properly informed.
Cost: It's expensive. $[...] could buy a second-hand laptop or about 40 best-seller books. (Assuming you buy on Amazon of course!). Frankly, I think a lot of buyers of the Sony Reader should think hard about this issue. Are you buying it because you read? Or because you just want the new gadget in town? However, if you're stuck between this device or others because of cost, don't make a choice based on the cost. It's just not worth it.
Style: Sony (generally) makes elegant products. This was no exception, if not, better than its average product. This picture certainly doesn't do it justice, but once you hold it in your hand, the curves of the device were well-thought of. Perhaps the same could be said of the Kindle, but pictures of the Kindle cannot compare against the design style of the Sony E-Reader. It certainly attracts a lot of attention. I've had a lot of questions about it, especially when I'm reading anywhere. If not, a lot of people still look and try to understand what the device I'm holding is.
It is extremely light. It's lighter than most books I hold. Because the product is also extremely thin, it's weight and style give a certain "beauty" to it.
Design: The OS design is well-thought out, but not perfect. You can bookmark, and go through pages easily. But, it's still not perfect. However, to most average users, it'll easily satisfy any requirements.
Reading: The page-flip takes time for each page flip. IE, not instant. I don't know the exact time it takes, but I'm sure it's listed somewhere on this Amazon page. Some have complained about it, saying it's taking too long, but it takes less than the time it takes me to flip a page. Sometimes, I doubt those who are complaining this about the Sony Reader - especially when they say it causes them to lose out of place. I average about 500-600 WordsPerMinute(WPM) on more serious books and 600-700 WPM on novels, and I didn't notice this.
Reading. I find it perfectly fine. I love how it works in any natural environment. IE, just like a real book! Which implies that you cannot read in the pitch-dark. Somebody below complained about the "contrast" of the product. To be frank, I haven't even adjusted that. I just sit and read for the sake of reading.
+: I'm not sure if you enjoy reading on the bed, but I often love to read right before sleeping. Because I don't have to "flip pages" with this device (it's a simple button that I just press), I can rest on one side while reading. You can't really with most books, at least not nearly as comfortable.
Fonts: Small, Medium and Large. They do the task. Nothing fancy, although some have mentioned that you can change it.
Music: I have not tested this. At all. Which may seem odd, but I bought this device to "read."
Support: I have yet to call Sony. However, online communities regarding this device are tight-knit and welcome new members. [...] has massive forums supporting this device, along with Kindle and Cybook.
Battery Life: 7500 page flips. If you're a voracious reader, you should also be smart enough to realize if your battery is low for a few days to charge it.
Page Finding: Perhaps one of the most annoying parts about any Reader is that the flip page is not instant. So, let's say you're trying to find a specific phrase, you cannot just flip and flip pages. This is because the page flip isn't instant (1/2 second wait). This is due to the "ink" technology of the readers, which means that any type of Reader will have this similar issue.
Ebooks Online: I mean, afterall, you bought this product seeing what else you can purchase right? There are numerous stores out there. The costs are similar and are not only limited to Amazon or Sony's bookstores. [...] again will have a list of all of them. You can shop around and find cheap devices.
PDF Support: This is a serious issue. Someone mentioned the size of the Reader, which according to them, was "small." Frankly I was baffled at that statement. The size of the reader is perfect for book-reading. If I wanted to carry a large device, I'd just bring my Thinkpad(Lenovo Laptops) around with me at all times! That being said, it explains why the Reader doesn't read PDFs well.
This is a problem that is addressed by all the Readers. PDF's are designed with a very strict display in mind. (They were designed to transmit electronic documents to ensure that they would look the same, no matter what computer was displaying it.) As a result, PDFs were initially designed to be displayed on computers. The reader's display screen is obviously much smaller than any screen, therefore it doesn't do PDFs perfectly, or sometimes, well at all. However, there been a lot of community support that have written programs to automatically rewrite PDFs so that they are readable. Many of them have made a lot of progress, but are NOT perfect. If PDF support is a huge issue for you, again visit the MobileRead site. Software has pushed so that PDF readability is pretty much the same in quality across ALL the e-book products available.
In short, the Sony Reader is beautiful, elegantly designed, and serves e-book reading well. It's not perfect, and it is expensive. However, if you love to read, and have a little flair of style, the Sony Reader will fit you well. If you're an academic and stuck with 55 PDFs take a second-look at some of the larger products out there.
No internet, but did you really buy a reader to surf the internet? If so, do yourself a favor and realize a)Internet is not perfect and b) get an Iphone instead.
Digital camera Review: Excelent acquisition
Summary: 5 Stars
Hi,
I received my book reader a week ago and I'm fascinated by it. I'm a book worm and now I don't have to travel carring 8 to 10 books. Just my reader. The screen don't let your eyes get tired, it's small and easy to carry around. A tip - I had a lot of books in my computer and when I add them to the reader, some titles desapear, so Instead of the book name , I got just a partial title or so. This is easily solved with the calibre program. It converts your files to the .lrt from the reader and you can fix the book title, writer and so. I very much recomend it.
Digital camera Review: Excellent Product!
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had my PRS-505 for almost 2 months now and overall I love it. Although I have not used any other ereaders (e.g. Kindle) I can highly recommend the Sony PRS-505 with no reservations.
Pro's:
A) Display is very easy to read and easy on the eyes
B) Solid - case is made out of metal, not plastic
C) Virtually unlimited storage using memory card slots
D) An INCREDIBLE # of titles available. Just do a search on the web. Although I do NOT advocate pirating books, I have been able to find an ebook version of EVERY hardcopy book I own. There are also many free ebooks available.
E) Freeware programs available to convert other formats (lit, html, text, rtf, etc) into .lrf format - In particular I highly recommend Calibre
Cons:
A) A little awkward to hold compared to an actual paperback - page turning keys could have been located better. Hands can get tired after a couple hours of reading.
B) Despite what Sony says, actual battery life is around 2000 to 2500 page turns. In reality this is plenty, marketing lies just irritate me.
C) Limited warranty - the PRS-505 only comes with a 90 day labor/12 months parts warranty. The first PRS-505 I received died within one week. Sony promptly replaced it with a brand new (non-refurb) unit, but considering how much the unit costs, and the many negative reviews of Sony's support on the web, the limited warranty doesn't inspire me.
D) PDF support STINKS! Only works with the smallest PDF files. Basically unusable. This is a shame because a lot of my work manuals and books are in PDF format and it would be nice to be able to use the PRS-505 to get work done when I am traveling.
E) No option to turn pages automatically. I love this thing so much I use it at the gym. It would be nice (although I admit this is being picky) if I could set it to automatically turn the page after 5 or 10 seconds. Other e-readers have this functionality.
Other thoughts. Some people have complained about no internet access or wireless support. Personally I don't find the lack of either of these items a big deal. I already use my cell phone to get email or look up directions on the internet, and I always have my cell phone with me. Downloading books to my computer and then transferring them to the PRS-505 isn't a big deal either. Blue tooth support for headphones would be sweet - especially at the gym - but isn't a big deal either.
So to finish, if you are looking for an e-reader, I personally give the PRS-505 a big thumbs up. Although I have never used the Kindle, the PRS is quite a bit cheaper and there is a ton of books available for it without having to go through Amazon or for that matter the Sony ebook store.
Digital camera Review: Excellent for text based books! PDF's cause problems.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've used this on several trips, reading on airplanes, trains and our sailboat. I've had no trouble reading outside in bright sunlight and battery life has been sufficient. The only downside has been compatibility with PDF file. Loading a PDF is very slow and reading a PDF book is not practically possible. Changing a page takes too long to really enjoy reading. For regular eBooks this is perfect. I've compared this to some of the more recent versions with a touchscreen, and this has a much clearer screen.Digital camera Review: Excellent product for viewing PDFs
Summary: 5 Stars
I waited a very long time before purchasing this product because I was skeptical about the quality and had heard that it was terrible for viewing PDFs, as it was unable to zoom them. I also read about the screen being too dark, making it illegible. I was pleasantly surprised when I received this sleek, well engineered product over a month ago.
I have used it nearly every day since then and have only had to charge it about once every two weeks. The reader's second generation of e-ink technology is crisp, easy to read, and has a fairly fast refresh rate leaving little to no ghosting as seen in the original reader. Contrary to what others have said, the reader exceeded my expectations in file reading capabilities, easily taking RTFs, TXTs, and PDFs, in addition to Sony's proprietary format. These are the only filetypes I have tried so far, but so far I have been able to zoom and use bookmarks in all of them. The key to zooming with PDFs is to make sure the file is tagged. If you are concerned about this and wish to test your files for readability first, download Sony's eBook Library and load the file in preview mode. If it can zoom in the program, it will zoom in the PDF.
As for purchasing books from Sony's store, I cannot testify, as I have only used personal PDFs and LRFs from ManyBooks.net and other public domain book sources.
I have so far experienced no problems with my reader despite my frequent usage. I highly recommend this product to anybody who likes to read ebooks and is interested in doing it portably.