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Old 08-02-2009, 06:22 AM   #1
Philomath
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A choice between 3

My Choices:
Living in Denmark my selection of ebook readers is very limited, also my student economy constrains my choice. So basically it seem to come down to these 3 readers: BeBook, IREX Iliad Book edition, or Sony RS505.

My needs:
I will mostly be using it to read fiction, and most of it in a pdf format. It would be nice to be able to read some of my manuals and articles on the device but I also have a netbook if I need that.
I will be using the device on my daily commute bus and train, so a clear screen you can read in varying light conditions. Also a nice feeling and a good system for operating the device would be good.

My Solution:
Initially I thought that the IREX would be the solution since it has the biggest reading area, though reading some of the post here I have seen a lot of praise for the Sony RS505 ease of use.

Any comments on the 3 readers would be appreciated.
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Old 08-02-2009, 06:37 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Philomath View Post
My Choices:
Living in Denmark my selection of ebook readers is very limited, also my student economy constrains my choice. So basically it seem to come down to these 3 readers: BeBook, IREX Iliad Book edition, or Sony RS505.

My needs:
I will mostly be using it to read fiction, and most of it in a pdf format. It would be nice to be able to read some of my manuals and articles on the device but I also have a netbook if I need that.
I will be using the device on my daily commute bus and train, so a clear screen you can read in varying light conditions. Also a nice feeling and a good system for operating the device would be good.

My Solution:
Initially I thought that the IREX would be the solution since it has the biggest reading area, though reading some of the post here I have seen a lot of praise for the Sony RS505 ease of use.

Any comments on the 3 readers would be appreciated.
For PDF, iRex iLiad by far is the superior solution.
Sony 505 is nice enough. But for PDF, it uses reflow.
Meaning, it's reformatting the page to fit on the screen. Sounds great? Actually, it changes the entire layout.
For some documents that's fine, for others it's just disturbing.
iRex iLiad instead is zooming.
Via it's touchscreen you mark the area you'd like to zoom in. Just draw a diagonal line over that area.
This area is blown to full screen.
However complicated the layout, you always can use that feature.
And your layout remains intact.
I love some unique features in its OS. It's the only reader, which can change book title or author's name on the fly, without PC.
The touchscreen makes a convenient plattform, you even can scribble in PDFs, for example playing Sudoku.

BeBook: Personally, I don't like its design.
But its advantage (and it got its fans because of that) is the vast number of file formats. For example, it supports Microsoft's reader format .lit.

Sony 505: Probably the most elegant and cool unit out there.
Since supporting ePUB, you're not bound to Sony's webshop, you can purchase from an enormous number of sources.
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Old 08-02-2009, 08:30 AM   #3
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I have the Astak, which is simliar to the BeBook (same hardware, I think).

For Fiction, I used either Mobipocket (prc) files or Epub, either of which I can convert from PDF in very simple ways...

Calbre is a great tool for this.

So, for me...BeBook 1, Irex 2... BeBook for it's masses of formats and retro styling.....It wouldn't look out of pleace in Ripley's back pack in "Aliens"...and comes with a cover...
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Old 08-02-2009, 10:17 AM   #4
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The US prices for the new PRS-300 (5" screen) and PRS-600 (6" touchscreen) are $199 and $299. See New Sony model to be called PRS-300 and PRS-600 (post #244 and the subsequent discussion). These will be available in some parts of Europe this month (Aug 26th in the Netherlands for example). The PRS-700 was significantly better for PDFs than the PRS-505 and the PRS-600 is the follow on to the PRS-700 (which was never released in Europe). The PRS-700 had a side-light that made the screen fuzzier than on the PRS-505, but this has been removed from the PRS-600.

Probably your best choice is the PRS-600, although you should wait until the reviews are in to see if it has any fatal flaws. I don't expect any though.
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Old 08-07-2009, 09:05 AM   #5
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I've had all three, and am definitely happiest with the Sony. I don't however, use it to read PDFs, and I read almost only fiction, which is all text.

I buy book in formats I can convert, and then use Calibre to convert them into native Sony format (LRF).

I partly like the Sony for the nice design, but also because it's stable and has given me least amount of problem (hardly any).

The HanlinV3 (Bebook) is also a nice device, but even if it supports many different types of files, none of them displayed the text that well IMHO. (Your mileage might vary). The design gives me much the same impression as IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads, and it feels solid in my hand. Functionalist rather than fancy.

The iLiad worked very well for PDFs (which I created myself in custom size rom Word files). Very stable and a nice large screen. In the end I gave up on it, because it was just a little to big after all. It's almost twice as heavy as the 6" ereaders, and it was overall too cumbersome, especially for travelling/commuting.

I don't know how well the new Sony 600 supports PDF, but I would suggest waiting a few more weeks and find out how people like it. Given the low pound at the moment, it might be a good orice if bought from Britain (I am eyeing it at he moment ) Alternatively, look into converting your PDFs - as I don't know what kind of books it is, I don't have any idea how well they might convert. I think you shuld expect some errors, but they might not be worse than you can live with them. AFAIK Calibre can convert from PDF - else Mobipocket Creator can also convert from PDF (to HTML, which can be converted to.mobi/.prc)
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Old 08-07-2009, 02:36 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by wallcraft View Post
The US prices for the new PRS-300 (5" screen) and PRS-600 (6" touchscreen) are $199 and $299. See New Sony model to be called PRS-300 and PRS-600 (post #244 and the subsequent discussion). These will be available in some parts of Europe this month (Aug 26th in the Netherlands for example). The PRS-700 was significantly better for PDFs than the PRS-505 and the PRS-600 is the follow on to the PRS-700 (which was never released in Europe). The PRS-700 had a side-light that made the screen fuzzier than on the PRS-505, but this has been removed from the PRS-600.

Probably your best choice is the PRS-600, although you should wait until the reviews are in to see if it has any fatal flaws. I don't expect any though.
Where have you got the release date for the Netherlands from?
I would have ordered from the US. But maybe I don't have to....
Any idea about the availability date in Germany? Or maybe I'll buy in the Netherlands...
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Old 08-07-2009, 05:15 PM   #7
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In the US the EZ Reader 5" is about to be released for $199

http://www.theezreader.com/html/
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Old 08-07-2009, 05:26 PM   #8
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Where have you got the release date for the Netherlands from?
I would have ordered from the US. But maybe I don't have to....
Any idea about the availability date in Germany? Or maybe I'll buy in the Netherlands...
There will be a great happening in Amsterdam on the 26th, where our largest online bookstore will announce a cooperation with Sony, which isn't officially available here yet. Most likely they'll also announce the new readers right then and there.
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