Essential characteristics of the 'perfect' E-book reader in 2010.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

why would you want hold the Sony without a cover? A cover is included, the cold metal doesn't feel so nice. You hold it like a regular book, either left thumb on the turn page button below left or right thumb on the turn page button at the right hand side. Depends on the exact position I am holding it. Well thought out and convenient, at least for some of us humans! With the added ergonomic advantage, that the eyes remain fixed on the same side of the "book".

The justification issue for EPub is a small irritation, but we are not talking a major issue here.

Don't especially care for the cover. Same basic reason I don't keep a cover on my cell phone or on my mp3 player. It irritates me as much as it helps compensate for the ergonomic shortcomings of the device itself.

And frankly from an ergonomic design standpoint, the Sony Readers are terrible. Comfort is not one of Sony's goals, and likely never will be. It is usable, but that's about as far as it goes. Perhaps I'm just snobby about that because of my own background with design/ergonomics, but it's pretty clear that Sony's design leaves out the human element for the most part. It's not surprising really, since that's how almost all their products are, excepting designs they retain from companies they absorb (like Konica Minolta).

That said...design in the ebook reader field has been a nightmare pretty much from the beginning, with some slightly bulky/oversized exceptions from earlier days as DixieGal mentioned.... It makes me wonder how much money the big companies are saving by skimping out on human interface design. Or perhaps they've just accepted that flash over substance will always generate more profits.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by corroonb

I don't like the numbers on the side and I don't like the limit on flow size (or whatever the sections of an ePub are called; limited to 300kb size IIRC). The lack of full justification is also an issue.

Have you ever read an ePub book where the flow size was an issue that caused you to not enjoy what you were reading?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The first of those is a feature of the Adobe Digital Editions software; the latter two are restrictions specifically of the Sony Reader. There are ePub devices other than the Sony Reader out there, you know! Eg, the CyBook Opus has neither of these restrictions.

But if you want a device with a 6" screen and not a 5" screen, it seems that there are issues with every version of ADE. And other then justification, I do think that Sony's ADE is the best one out there (at present).

[ahi]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have you ever read an ePub book where the flow size was an issue that caused you to not enjoy what you were reading?

No deficiency is a deficiency--so long as it is found in ePub.

- Ahi

[BlackVoid]

A device with as good or better screen the PRS-505 with a built in dictionary. And convenient buttons for page turning, I do not want to swipe, I hate fingerprints on my screen.
Plus a powerful conversion tool to convert books suited for the device.

Otherwise the PRS-505 is fine for me.