Just about everyone has some sort of review of the newest Sony reader. Some of you for sure are getting tired of the same old thing being said, so hopefully my review will be different. First, I would like to point out that who ever came up with the first version should be transferred to another department. This time Sony finally got the design right for a person who simply wants to read. I read Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkin’s Kingdom Come in one sitting. I was totally engrossed with the texture and feel of this e-book reader. Understand that I was recovering from my Lasik enhancement procedure and I couldn’t bear to look at a computer screen for more than a couple of minutes. I found no problem at all with the PRS-505; no eye strain, no having to make myself blink. The screen on the PRS-500 is so much clearer and brighter. I almost felt like it had a light. When I read on the older Sony reader I always had to have additional lighting in the room, not so anymore. Another thing that impresses me is the ergonomics. This has to be the lightest device I have every used. The button placement is natural to how I hold a book. I didn’t have to reach to turn pages. What was funny is that I caught myself alternating page turns; sometimes with my left hand and sometimes with my right. I am so glad that Sony moved those number buttons to the side. On the original reader I was constantly touching the buttons and losing my place. I found it more than frustrating. I haven’t experienced any ghosting, but to be fair I didn’t experience this with the original reader either. I have notice that page turns are faster, comparable to turning pages in a paper book.
I do have some gripes though. I am real big on covers. I guess it’s to make up for not being able to use a pretty bookmark. I don’t like the cover for the 505. It’s got a swivel attachment and when I fold it back it feels and looks like I am holding a binder. No real biggie, I simply detached the reader from the cover. This cover also feels cheaper and I wonder about the durability of the attachment. I am also wondering how many times this cover can withstand being folded back before it splits. I have had this happen many times with binders that I use. One good thing is that this cover omits that snap in disc that was begging to break my screen. I have ordered the pink premium cover and hopefully it is an improvement over the stock tan colored one. That bothers me too. The color they picked is a turn off. It doesn’t match the silver color of my reader and makes it look cheap. I see better covers in the dollar store for paper organizers. Sony doesn’t include a AC adapter, but you can use your adapter from the original reader. 
Also you can pick up an usb to AC adapter relatively cheap.
So should you buy one? If you are happy with your PRS-500, there is no reason to upgrade. If you’ve been waiting for a reader this may be the one for you. The only thing Sony needs to do now is to get rid of their DRM reader and get one that recognizes Palm ereader and Mobipocket books. Yeah, I know I am dreaming.
Sorry for the lack of posts recently. The Lasik enhancement surgery was harder on me than I had anticipated. On top of that the literature course I am taking has required more work lately. Mainly because it has been hard for me to read. Now that my eye sight is better things should pick up in all areas. I got my hands on the newest Sony reader and I plan to post the first part of my review tomorrow. In other news, I was hoping by now that Amazon would have released more information about the Kindle, but so far they have been quite tight lipped. At this point I am beginning to wonder if we will see it available on the 15th. At least Asus has announced that final prices on the Eee PC will be available on the 16th. I was also pleased to hear that Best Buy will be selling the notebook computer.
I am happy to report that Derek’s sample Cybook 3 is now alive and well. From what I gather it was an unproperly formatted file that he loaded directly to the device (instead of the memory card). You can read about it here on his blog. Bookeen has updated their blog again, and it looks like Mobipocket’s Desktop software now works with the Cybook. Things are looking up. This was to come along later, but now customers will be able to buy and read Mobipocket’s secure titles as soon as they get their reader. Not only will you be able to take advantage of DRM’d books, but you will have access to RSS feeds via the software’s eNews feature. The eNews feature synchronizes your Cybook with any of the hundreds of thousands available. This is a stark difference from the meager selection available via Sony’s Connect software.
The device now supports pdf format and includes features as fit width, fit page, fit height and rotate 0°, 90°, 180°,270°. To recap the supported formats, they are: Mobipocket (encrypted and unencrypted), HTML, Palmdoc, txt, pdf, and rtf. More formats are expected and will be a part of future firmware updates. Bookeen’s blog also has a review up written by James Frank. Frank’s a part of the group that has sample devices. Bookeen is still standing by a release date before the end of the month. That gives us all a chance to see the Kindle reader before making a final decision.
I just read Derek’s latest blog post and it seems that he has a “bricked” Cybook 3 (Derek has a sample device). This is hot on the heels of the latest firmware release. He doesn’t really go into detail on how his device got in this mess. Was it the update or a corrupted file? That doesn’t matter. The question that needs to be answered is if the Cybook is really ready for prime time? If someone like Derek who is no newbie to e-books can have this happen so easily, what are the chances that the average consumer will be able to avoid such problems and how to troubleshoot them? We all know that things do occasionally go wrong with technology, but that doesn’t help keep first impressions favorable. One of the main points of e-book devices these days is the ability to load personal documents. If loading documents can cause such problems, then Bookeen needs to fix this quick. We know that the Cybook 3 has been delayed from being released in September to make adjustments in the final steps of mass production. We were to be pacified that at least pdf capabilities would be included upon release rather than a later update. Today, on Bookeen’s blog it was announced that, the design has now been modified to change the surface treatment. So now the Cybook 3 will not be glossy, but still soft to the touch. Another modification is that the navigation will be easier to press. I have to ask why there was ever an announcement for a September release. Are these really minor changes? Maybe so, but it still suggests that the device was obviously not ready for a September release. I think that it would have been better to have had a release date of 4th Quarter 2007. That would have given Bookeen more wiggle room. After all, if it came out earlier it would have been a nice surprise. Still Bookeen says that the official release date will be before the end of this month, with a confirmed $350 price tag. At any rate, I hope Derek’s problem can be fixed and that it was just a freak incident.
If you’re tired of buying MS Office consider trying out some of the free choices available. I used to think that everyone knew about Open Office, but as I have said before, the literature course I am taking has really opened my eyes. A fellow student was lamenting about needing an office suite, but couldn’t afford to buy MS Office. Now usually when I suggest open source software people turn up their noses. They seem to think that since it’s free and non-Microsoft it must be inferior. I guess they’d rather be without anything if they can’t buy Microsoft or spend their time trying to get an illegal bootleg copy. I told her about Open Office and her eyes seemed to double in size. So I was pleasantly surprised when she told me that not only had she downloaded it, but had installed it on her children’s computer. Even more surprising was that her daughter’s teacher somehow caught wind of her installing a free office suite and contacted her to find out where he could get it. This past week I have been following IBM’s introduction of a free office suite called Lotus Symphony. The suite is in beta, but I plan to give it a try. It’s available for Windows including XP and Vista, as well as some Linux platforms. I do not know if it is open source though. So why aren’t more people informed about alternatives? Maybe people have all been brainwashed to think that all software worth having is expensive. So please get the word out there especially to schools, students, people on fixed incomes, and anyone else that will listen.
Edit: I’ve edited for some typos. I had to have Lasik enhancement surgery on Friday afternoon and my vision isn’t that great right now. Sorry for the inconvenience.
If you have been lusting after a N800, but the price was too steep for you, this may be your chance. Buy.com has the Internet tablet on sale for $232.99. This is a drastic drop from the $359 I paid just a few months ago. This definitely makes the N800 a contender for an alternate e-book device. Although the screen is smaller than the Sony reader, it is in color and has a backlight. I have to admit that the smaller screen size is not a deterrent. The screen’s resolution is great and I find I get just about as many paragraphs per page as I do with my Sony reader. The device also uses SD cards instead of RS-MMC cards and comes with two slots, one internal. I have a 4gb and 8gb card installed. That’s a lot of storage capacity for books, movies, and music. Also, there is a wider range of applications available for the N800 than the N770. Don’t forget that all of the applications are free.
The only drawback is that the only reader software is FBreader, which means no DRM books. For those of you who know how to convert your bought books, this won’t be a problem. For document reading and blog posting there are a few applications that work quite well. I like using Evince for pdf and word document files. For blog posting I use Maemo WordPy since my blog is powered by Word Press. It was a little tricky setting it up, but not difficult. One thing though, if you use it to post to your blog, you will want to get a keyboard for it. I have Think Outside’s Sierra BT Stowaway. It’s easy to set up and both fit in my purse. Other than games the best feature on my N800 is the RSS reader. The N800 is great for RSS feeds. Until I got one, I rarely read RSS feeds. Now my list of feeds has grown to about twenty. So does tthe price drop mean that the next generation IT is right around the corner?
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