SONY PRS-505 eREADER
The eReader which started me on my present hobby of hunting books all over the internet is the Sony PRS-505, a very basic piece of equipment, but to be honest, having tried out more recent and complex readers I find it perfectly satisfactory if all one wishes to do is to build up one's library and to read books on it, which is really all one would normally wish to be able to do.
This is obviously not enough for the fervent margin note writers among us, but it is OK for me.
Apart from a very easy to use system for organising the books stored in it (see below for a full set of technical specifications) the only extras it has are the following:
- One can dog ear pages for later reference.
- It is possible to store and view images in it, but frankly as it is only 8 grey tones, I rather fail to see the point of this.
- MP3 files can be played, which means that audio books are possible, but I have found this uses a lot of power, so it becomes necessary to recharge the battery rather frequently.
Ease of use:
I find it incredibly easy to use in every situation I have used it in so far, ranging from sitting in a crowded Jeepney to sitting comfortably in a cafe. it has two sets of page changing buttons, one on the side, the other below the screen, so it is possible to use either hand to change pages, which I find a very useful function.
The ability to choose three different font sizes meets my needs very well, from the relatively tiny "small" setting, to the impressively big "large" setting. This works faultlessly and very rapidly too. Personally I play with this setting quite a lot, depending on how much light there is, as in poor lighting situations the smallest size can be tricky to read..... But than I am ancient, so rather need this help from my trusty eReader!
I was enchanted by the way it remembers the page I was reading in any book when I switch it on again. A simple but beautiful ability, which with "real" books I can only do by the barbaric means of the dog ear.
Mine came complete with a simple but effective cover, which I can seriously recommend for any type of eReader as they tend to get knocked around rather a lot, or at least mine does, living as it does in the bottom of my rather over full rucksack whenever I go out with it, or falling from my nerveless fingers when I go to sleep reading it. I am vastly impressed with its general toughness, mine has tumbled to the floor next to my bed rather too often, as I am one of those happy souls who can only get to sleep by reading. Not that I recommend this treatment, but it is good to know it can cope.
This model doesn't have any sort of built in illumination, so it is necessary to use some form of book light when reading in the darkness - this is when you realise that the underlying technology is completely different to that of a computer. But this also means that the brighter the illumination - sunlight or whatever - which is a killer for computer screens, the better one can read this wonderful little machine. By the way, the actual screen size seems to me to be an ideal compromise between portability and legibility. it is approximately the same size as a smallish paperback, which seems to me to be about right.
To sum up, if you can find one of these eReaders and simply wish for a machine in which you can store books and read them, and have no need of all manner of extras (touch screens, keyboards, colour screens and so forth) then this machine will serve you very well.
SHARE WITH US:
Do you also own one of these eReaders? If so, would you care to let us know what you think about it? I would be very happy if you cared to write about your thoughts on this eReader in the comments section, so that the rest of us can gain from your experiences with this machine.
Technical specifications:
This model doesn't have any sort of built in illumination, so it is necessary to use some form of book light when reading in the darkness - this is when you realise that the underlying technology is completely different to that of a computer. But this also means that the brighter the illumination - sunlight or whatever - which is a killer for computer screens, the better one can read this wonderful little machine. By the way, the actual screen size seems to me to be an ideal compromise between portability and legibility. it is approximately the same size as a smallish paperback, which seems to me to be about right.
To sum up, if you can find one of these eReaders and simply wish for a machine in which you can store books and read them, and have no need of all manner of extras (touch screens, keyboards, colour screens and so forth) then this machine will serve you very well.
SHARE WITH US:
Do you also own one of these eReaders? If so, would you care to let us know what you think about it? I would be very happy if you cared to write about your thoughts on this eReader in the comments section, so that the rest of us can gain from your experiences with this machine.
Technical specifications:
- Size: 175 x 122 x 8 mm (6.9" x 4.8" x 0.3")
- Weight: 250 g (9 oz)
- Display:
- size: 15.5 cm (6 in) diagonal (approx 1/4 area of letter-sized page)
- resolution: 170 dpi, 8-level gray scale
- portrait: 90.6 x 122.4 mm (3.57" x 4.82"), 600 x 800 pixels | effective 88.2 x 115.4 mm (3.47 x 4.54 in), 584 x 754 pixels | for the Pictures application effective resolution is 600 x 766 pixels
- minimum font size: 6 pt legible, 7 pt recommended
- Memory: 256 MB standard (200 MB Accessible), Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo 8 GB, SD card up to 2 GB (some non-SDHC 4GB cards may work), or up to 32 GB with SDHC cards and version 1.1 firmware
- Lithium-ion battery, up to 6800 "page turns" per charge
- PC interface: USB port 2.0
- Available case colors:
- PRS505/LC: Dark Blue
- PRS505/SC: Silver
- PRS505SC/JP: Custom Skin (James Patterson Special Edition)
- PRS505/RC: Sangria Red (introduced in August 2008)
Image source: Sony
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