Sony Reader PRS-505 Review: Impressions after a longer tryout - Page 5

anotherchance · 10-29-2007, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Yes it is different. Using the power switch turns off all the buttons and the display except for the power switch. And it does use battery while it sits idle. When you flip the power switch, it comes on quickly.

When you use the menu item to shut down, it actually shuts down. So say if you were not planning on using the reader for a few days, you could turn it off and save battery. Also when you turn the 505 back on, it takes a few min to boot.

Thanks JS. I did not know that. That probably explains why I wasn't getting the battery life I expected from it.

kangaroo · 10-30-2007, 08:08 PM

Can the 505 be used in the dark? If not, what is the minimum amount of light required? Thanks.

JSWolf · 10-30-2007, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kangaroo

Can the 505 be used in the dark? If not, what is the minimum amount of light required? Thanks.

Not sure of the minimum light needed. But a booklight will work. There are threads on booklights for use with the 500 with pictures.

NatCh · 10-30-2007, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kangaroo

Can the 505 be used in the dark? If not, what is the minimum amount of light required? Thanks.

The 505 has no built in lighting, but it's readable with less light than the 500. How much is enough would depend a lot on your eyesight and preferences, but I agree that the booklights that JSWolf suggested would be a good starting place.

yvanleterrible · 10-31-2007, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kangaroo

Can the 505 be used in the dark? If not, what is the minimum amount of light required? Thanks.

Just a tad more than reading paper.

NatCh · 10-31-2007, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Just a tad more than reading paper.

Here I was thinking in terms of the difficulty in trying to quantify the answer, and you go give an unquantified one that actually answers the question.

yvanleterrible · 10-31-2007, 02:50 PM

Hey, they don't call it eink or digital paper for nothing!

HarryT · 11-01-2007, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

Here I was thinking in terms of the difficulty in trying to quantify the answer, and you go give an unquantified one that actually answers the question.

It's not at all difficult to answer the question quantitively. The questioner was asking about light "brightness". This is technically called Illuminance and, in the S.I. system, is measured in lux, or lumens per square metre.

PHugger · 11-01-2007, 09:32 AM

I'll jump in with my impressions (I hope Bob doesn't mind). I'm a new Sony PRS user and just received my 505 a week ago. I do love it, but there are some annoyances:

The NEXT PAGE button needs to be bigger and easier to find without looking. This is so obvious I can't believe it hasn't been implemented (ergonomics 101). Even a braille 'bump' on the NEXT button would be better.
The Menus are horribly slow. I can handle the page turn speed, but waiting three to four seconds for the menu to respond is really bad. The keys (0-9 in particularly) often don't provide a positive tactile feedback and you end up pressing them a couple times to be sure only to have it jump to who knows where when it finally does respond. This is the one problem that I view as inexcusable - c'mon Sony.
The eConnect Store interface is feeble especially when you are trying to download your 100 free classics. There is no concept of a shopping cart or making multiple selections. It's purely one at a time - painful. You would think that they are trying to make it hard to get your free books...... (c8

The rest is all positive and Bob has already done a great job in his review.

Best regards,
PCH

kangaroo · 11-01-2007, 11:17 AM

Well, I must say I’m disappointed by the need for an external light source since I prefer to read at night, in bed, without ambient lighting. For me, native lighting, however it’s executed, should be a CORE feature of an electronic product that attempts to replace a conventional book. In addition (and unfortunately), the external flex light Sony offers is dependent on coin style batteries as opposed to an on board power point.

For years, I’ve been struggling with every type of reading light/gizmo available and in one way or another they all have come up short. The idea of an ergonomically correct, electronic reader capable of point size changes and adequate back lighting is what I have been hoping for and probably won’t exist unless and until a company like Apple produces it.

Thanks for the feedback.

yvanleterrible · 11-01-2007, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kangaroo

Well, I must say I’m disappointed by the need for an external light source since I prefer to read at night, in bed, without ambient lighting. For me, native lighting, however it’s executed, should be a CORE feature of an electronic product that attempts to replace a conventional book. In addition (and unfortunately), the external flex light Sony offers is dependent on coin style batteries as opposed to an on board power point.

For years, I’ve been struggling with every type of reading light/gizmo available and in one way or another they all have come up short. The idea of an ergonomically correct, electronic reader capable of point size changes and adequate back lighting is what I have been hoping for and probably won’t exist unless and until a company like Apple produces it.

Thanks for the feedback.

We'd all like to see what Apple comes up with if ever. For now the most promising prototype of lighted eink was this. I have absolutely no idea where this has gone to. Even the button layout is appealing, especially if the display can be inverted from top to bottom.

nathantw · 11-01-2007, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHugger

[*]The eConnect Store interface is feeble especially when you are trying to download your 100 free classics. There is no concept of a shopping cart or making multiple selections. It's purely one at a time - painful. You would think that they are trying to make it hard to get your free books...... (c8[/LIST]

Not having a shopping cart was the biggest pain I've ever experienced with any online software. If they're going to offer the same 100 classic books to everyone for free, why not just have a package to download? Am I to assume that after I downloaded the 100 classics that they had listed on their website was just a sample of the classics I could download for free and that I could have downloaded ANY classic they had online for free?

I ended up getting 99 free books downloaded because of all the problems I had trying to download all the books mainly because they didn't have a shopping cart. I think I purchased a few of the same books a couple times by mistake. It was just a mess. I also ended up purchasing one book for $1.99 that I didn't mean to buy too. Oh man, what a mess and so very time consuming.

Bob Russell · 11-01-2007, 02:03 PM

Nice first post PHugger!

I never had a problem finding the next page button, but that's a good observation. The feedback would help a lot (even if on the screen rather than the button click).

I thought there was a shopping cart, but I could be wrong. The store is definitely a work in progress, especially for browsing. But if you know what books you are looking for, I've found it to be pretty convenient.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHugger

I'll jump in with my impressions (I hope Bob doesn't mind). I'm a new Sony PRS user and just received my 505 a week ago. I do love it, but there are some annoyances...

NatCh · 11-01-2007, 02:17 PM

There is definitely a shopping cart when you're finding books (I was just now looking at it ) -- what is sorely lacking, however, and may be what PHugger is referring to is there isn't any way to download more than one book at a time, except possibly you may be able to download all the books you've just purchased, I don't remember for sure.

Some sort of "select books to download" function is a big ol' smelly hole in the ConnStore's feature set.

JSWolf · 11-01-2007, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kangaroo

Well, I must say I’m disappointed by the need for an external light source since I prefer to read at night, in bed, without ambient lighting. For me, native lighting, however it’s executed, should be a CORE feature of an electronic product that attempts to replace a conventional book. In addition (and unfortunately), the external flex light Sony offers is dependent on coin style batteries as opposed to an on board power point.

This is not a fault of the 500/505/Gen3/v3/iLiad/STAReBOOK/NUUT. It's the way eink is. eink does not allow light to pass through so there is no way to have back lighting. So as of this moment, there are no commercially available eink readers that are lit. You'll need an external light source of your choosing.

10-30-2007, 08:08 PM	#62
kangaroo Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: NA	Night Reading? Can the 505 be used in the dark? If not, what is the minimum amount of light required? Thanks.

11-01-2007, 09:32 AM	#69
PHugger Connoisseur Posts: 94 Karma: 8443 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: NJ Device: Kindle 3G, Sony PRS-505	I'll jump in with my impressions (I hope Bob doesn't mind). I'm a new Sony PRS user and just received my 505 a week ago. I do love it, but there are some annoyances: The NEXT PAGE button needs to be bigger and easier to find without looking. This is so obvious I can't believe it hasn't been implemented (ergonomics 101). Even a braille 'bump' on the NEXT button would be better. The Menus are horribly slow. I can handle the page turn speed, but waiting three to four seconds for the menu to respond is really bad. The keys (0-9 in particularly) often don't provide a positive tactile feedback and you end up pressing them a couple times to be sure only to have it jump to who knows where when it finally does respond. This is the one problem that I view as inexcusable - c'mon Sony. The eConnect Store interface is feeble especially when you are trying to download your 100 free classics. There is no concept of a shopping cart or making multiple selections. It's purely one at a time - painful. You would think that they are trying to make it hard to get your free books...... (c8 The rest is all positive and Bob has already done a great job in his review. Best regards, PCH

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Poll: Sony Reader PRS-505 upgrade to Sony PRS-700	Kris777	Sony Reader	70	02-18-2009 06:34 PM
Sony Reader PRS-505 upgrade to Sony PRS-700	Kris777	Sony Reader	23	12-08-2008 06:56 AM
Sony PRS-505 Reader: Review for Techies	recycledelectron	Sony Reader	12	12-07-2007 04:47 PM
New review of the Reader (PRS-505)	bingle	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	2	11-13-2007 11:43 PM
Sony Reader PRS-505 gets a "green" review	Alexander Turcic	Sony Reader	3	10-24-2007 09:00 AM

10-31-2007, 02:50 PM	#67
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Hey, they don't call it eink or digital paper for nothing!

11-01-2007, 11:17 AM	#70
kangaroo Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: NA	Well, I must say I’m disappointed by the need for an external light source since I prefer to read at night, in bed, without ambient lighting. For me, native lighting, however it’s executed, should be a CORE feature of an electronic product that attempts to replace a conventional book. In addition (and unfortunately), the external flex light Sony offers is dependent on coin style batteries as opposed to an on board power point. For years, I’ve been struggling with every type of reading light/gizmo available and in one way or another they all have come up short. The idea of an ergonomically correct, electronic reader capable of point size changes and adequate back lighting is what I have been hoping for and probably won’t exist unless and until a company like Apple produces it. Thanks for the feedback.

11-01-2007, 02:17 PM	#74
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	There is definitely a shopping cart when you're finding books (I was just now looking at it ) -- what is sorely lacking, however, and may be what PHugger is referring to is there isn't any way to download more than one book at a time, except possibly you may be able to download all the books you've just purchased, I don't remember for sure. Some sort of "select books to download" function is a big ol' smelly hole in the ConnStore's feature set.