PRS-300 for 2600 Airmiles (Canada) - first impressions

dcalder · 11-04-2009, 10:02 PM

Last Tuesday (Oct.27th) evening, I was looking through the Airmiles.ca rewards catalogue and discovered that the Sony PRS-300 was listed. I really hadn't planned on getting a Sony Pocket Edition - I really have way too many ebook readers as it is - but I had somewhat more than enough points to order it and wasn't saving them for anything special, so I decided "what the heck" and ordered it. The site told me it would take three days to process my order and three-four weeks to ship. Imagine my shock when I got home Friday evening (Oct.30th) and it had already arrived via UPS! Fastest 3-4 weeks delivery that I ever saw...

My first impression of the PRS-300 was that I liked the look and feel of it a lot more than I'd expected to (I own a 505 and I frankly prefer my Bebook or Astak Pocket Pro). My mom's first reaction was that it was "so cute".

I'm still not a huge fan of the Sony menus but, on the other hand, my mom doesn't seem to mind them and the smaller, lighter 300 negates the one thing that she didn't like with the 505 (namely, the weight). The 300 has a snappy response time and, so far, the battery life is looking quite promising (charged it Friday night and, a couple of Harlequin books later, it still hasn't lost a bar).

It worked well with my library's Overdrive subscription and PDF reflow is not too bad (other than the annoying half-pages created by hard page breaks in conjunction with a medium font size - which is most likely not the device's fault). I'm not impressed with ePubs so far (ridiculously huge margins waste far too much screen room) but, in all fairness, that's probably really an ePub publisher issue rather than an issue with the device.

My initial feelings - I like the 300 a lot more than I'd expected to but I probably won't be trading in my Astak Pocket Pro (once I get my warranty replacement unit) for it. I miss the SD card slot a lot, still don't overly like the Sony menus, and really, really miss my beloved folders. In fact, rather than having to mess around transferring what I'd previously been reading on my Pocket Pro, I've traded my mom to get my old Bebook back for now (I can just stick the card from the Pocket Pro right in and pick up where I left off) and let her test out the 300. Initially, she thinks that she's going to like the 300 but she is a bit uncertain about the 5" screen. If she turns out to like the 300, it'll be staying and I'll sell off another 6" reader (probably the 505). If it doesn't work out for her, well, I'm sure that I'll have no problem finding it a new home.

kenmark · 11-04-2009, 10:19 PM

I got my PRS-505 from airmiles.ca and love it.

I see they also have the PRS-600 available for 3,750 reward miles.

luqmaninbmore · 11-05-2009, 08:57 AM

While the folders are convenient, I have found that Collections on the Sony to be a more than adequate replacement, especially because it allows one ebook to be filed under more than one category without having to duplicate the file. I.E. I can have "Butcher Bird" by Kadrey under both Fantasy and Horror without having to have more than one copy of the file on my reader; if I did this with folders I would have to have one copy under /Fantasty/ and another copy under /Horror/.

Luqman

11-04-2009, 10:02 PM	#1
dcalder Zealot Posts: 127 Karma: 9856 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Sony PRS-300/Kindle Keyboard/iPad Mini	PRS-300 for 2600 Airmiles (Canada) - first impressions Last Tuesday (Oct.27th) evening, I was looking through the Airmiles.ca rewards catalogue and discovered that the Sony PRS-300 was listed. I really hadn't planned on getting a Sony Pocket Edition - I really have way too many ebook readers as it is - but I had somewhat more than enough points to order it and wasn't saving them for anything special, so I decided "what the heck" and ordered it. The site told me it would take three days to process my order and three-four weeks to ship. Imagine my shock when I got home Friday evening (Oct.30th) and it had already arrived via UPS! Fastest 3-4 weeks delivery that I ever saw... My first impression of the PRS-300 was that I liked the look and feel of it a lot more than I'd expected to (I own a 505 and I frankly prefer my Bebook or Astak Pocket Pro). My mom's first reaction was that it was "so cute". I'm still not a huge fan of the Sony menus but, on the other hand, my mom doesn't seem to mind them and the smaller, lighter 300 negates the one thing that she didn't like with the 505 (namely, the weight). The 300 has a snappy response time and, so far, the battery life is looking quite promising (charged it Friday night and, a couple of Harlequin books later, it still hasn't lost a bar). It worked well with my library's Overdrive subscription and PDF reflow is not too bad (other than the annoying half-pages created by hard page breaks in conjunction with a medium font size - which is most likely not the device's fault). I'm not impressed with ePubs so far (ridiculously huge margins waste far too much screen room) but, in all fairness, that's probably really an ePub publisher issue rather than an issue with the device. My initial feelings - I like the 300 a lot more than I'd expected to but I probably won't be trading in my Astak Pocket Pro (once I get my warranty replacement unit) for it. I miss the SD card slot a lot, still don't overly like the Sony menus, and really, really miss my beloved folders. In fact, rather than having to mess around transferring what I'd previously been reading on my Pocket Pro, I've traded my mom to get my old Bebook back for now (I can just stick the card from the Pocket Pro right in and pick up where I left off) and let her test out the 300. Initially, she thinks that she's going to like the 300 but she is a bit uncertain about the 5" screen. If she turns out to like the 300, it'll be staying and I'll sell off another 6" reader (probably the 505). If it doesn't work out for her, well, I'm sure that I'll have no problem finding it a new home.

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11-04-2009, 10:19 PM	#2
kenmark Addict Posts: 204 Karma: 250000 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Great White North Device: PRS-505	I got my PRS-505 from airmiles.ca and love it. I see they also have the PRS-600 available for 3,750 reward miles.

11-05-2009, 08:57 AM	#3
luqmaninbmore Da'i Posts: 1,144 Karma: 1217499 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Baltimore Device: Toshiba Thrive, Kobo Touch, Kindle 1, Aluratek Libre, T-Mobile Comet	While the folders are convenient, I have found that Collections on the Sony to be a more than adequate replacement, especially because it allows one ebook to be filed under more than one category without having to duplicate the file. I.E. I can have "Butcher Bird" by Kadrey under both Fantasy and Horror without having to have more than one copy of the file on my reader; if I did this with folders I would have to have one copy under /Fantasty/ and another copy under /Horror/. Luqman

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