Sony Reader (PRS-505) Review - Updated
I recently purchased Sony’s latest ebook reader, the PRS-505. Having used it read approximately 2000 pages over the past week and a half, I thought I would write a quick review. I won’t list the specs, which are available in the many other reviews of this product and on the Sony website, but rather my impressions and thoughts on the product.
Screen
The e-ink screen seems to be the selling point on this and competing ebook readers. It truly does look like (very light grey) paper, with black ink. In my experience, it is easier on the eyes than paper books. I’m guessing that this is because the screen is perfectly flat, and reflects light more uniformly than a slightly curved piece of paper would.
When changing pages there is an about 1 second delay, during which the page flashed between black and white. I have not found this to be bothersome, and is much faster and easier than flipping a page in a paper book.
Form factor
I have found the PRS-505 comfortable to hold, whether it is in or out of its protective case (which opens like the cover to a book). There are two sets of buttons which control page changes, located in the lower left corner, and in the middle of the right edge. I would have preferred another set of buttons in the upper right edge, but the existing button locations are acceptable.
Compared to the kindle, the Sony PRS-505 is considerably smaller, but this comes at the price of a keyboard. I don’t really miss the keyboard, as I intend to read rather than write or annotate books using this device.
The PRS-505 also has a very solid feel to it.
Supported Ebook Formats
I’ve noticed that many reviews of the Sony reader, Amazon’s Kindle, and other competing products, seem to focus extensively on the formats supported by the devices. While formats certainly matter, conversion between DRM-free formats is generally quite easy, and many books are available for each DRM protected format. Accordingly, I’m not too concerned with which devices support which formats. That said, the PRS-505 supports TXT, RTF, PDF, etc., and Sony’s DRM protected format. One issue I have found is that PDFs designed for a full page will look considerably smaller on the PRS-505’s screen, but switching to landscape mode will help (as will converting to plain text or rich text, where possible). I certainly don’t think the readability of the PDFs is a bad as many other reviews have indicated.
Playback of DRM free AAC and MP3 files is supported; the volume control and head phone jack is on the bottom of the device, next to the USB port.
Battery life
The e-ink screen is quite efficient, and I have charged the PRS-505 every few days, so the battery indicate has never dipped below the 4 bars which indicate a full charge.
Storage Capacity
My Sony Reader came with 220MB of available space, and the books I’ve loaded average about 1.5MB. This means that I can store about 145 books, rather than the 160 seen in Sony’s advertisements. This is, of course, a non-issue since the device supports Memory Sticks and SecureDigital cards, and an extra 2GB of storage can be added for less than the cost of a fast food lunch.
Supported Operating Systems
I recently tested the PRS-505 with Ubuntu Linux, with good results. Copying an ebook in RTF format to the Reader results in it appearing properly in the list of books. I was concerned that not using the Sony import utility would have adverse effects, but I am happy to report that just copying the files to the reader just as one would copy a file to an external hard drive works fine.
Conclusion
I was skeptical of ebook readers at first, but now I am hooked. It is wonderful to be able to bring hundreds of books (or thousands with a SecureDigital card or Memory Stick in either or both of the provided slots) with me, and to switch between books as wish. I’m also looking forward to reading some of the cases assigned in law school on my ebook reader, rather than on my computer.
