Finally, an integrated (sorta) PRS505 reading light!

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by nekokami

I suppose if Sony is selling these themselves, the odds of them coming out with a similar cover for the iLiad are nonexistent.

'Fraid so, nekokami, but I think it's quite likely that Lightwedge is involved in making them, so there may be hope for you yet.

Originally Posted by jerryleejr

Does another company Make one? Also I am not seeing it on the Sony Site. I found it thru the link provided in the thread but couldnt navigate to it on the sony site. Did anyone notice that the original price of 69.99 was slashed thru with you save 7.00 dollars yet it stayed 69.00???

I think they're having some lag time getting it all linked up. It seems to be navigable now.

When I saw the price before it showed a negative $7 savings, which I found amusing. The whole slash/savings thing seems to be gone now, it's just $69.99

[macphersondh]

Hmmm - trying to figure out how the trifold cover works... think it gives two thicknesses of cover over the screen? Like the contrasting colour scheme but I also like my standard dark blue cover too...

Problem is I like the trifold AND the light wedge!

Some people are never satisfied... am I!

David

[sea_los]

So just back from the Valley Fair mall in San Jose after reading this post. They just got them in today and had 10, well, 9 left

I've attached photos of the case with reader side by side with the original case and the deluxe sony case.

The first thing you'll notice when you get it is that it does add some weight to the reader. Not enough where I'm going to get super tired, but I think the added functionality will overcome the increase in weight.

One cool thing is that you can flip the front cover back like you can with the stock cover. That is very cool and will make things easier to hold. The deluxe case you couldn't do that.

Enjoy the pix and I'm looking forward to testing it out tonight .... actually I think my wife is more excited than I am!

Cheers,
Sealos

[JSWolf]

Thank you for the photos and info sea_los. That does look very nice.

[stgben]

Originally Posted by sea_los

So just back from the Valley Fair mall in San Jose after reading this post. They just got them in today and had 10, well, 9 left

I've attached photos of the case with reader side by side with the original case and the deluxe sony case.

What is the case itself like? It is simply the original case with a light attached, or does it feel more like the premium leather?

[sea_los]

Literally it feels like the stock case on steroids. It does NOT have any pockets in the back for flight tix or biz cards.

I think if I were to go on a marathon read on the beach during the day tho, I would swap this case out for the stock one.

The wedge itself is not only tappered, but it sits on top of the screen itself and fits perfectly.

Reading without the light is fine. Didn't have any issues reading the text.

The overall size is bigger obviously. The height is about a 1/4 of an inch taller and it is about an inch wider.

So far, I'm pleased with the idea of the product, the workmanship and the fact that it was a total suprise to see in the threads (THANKS!).

Hope this helps.

[JSWolf]

So having the light wedge would also give the screen more protection when in your bag right?

[daffy4u]

Great photos Sealos. Would please report back after you've spent some time (a hour or two) reading in a dark environment with this light. I'm interested to know if this is enough light for long periods of time as opposed to a regular book light. Thanks.

[sea_los]

So I decided to look at the directions that came with the box and it shows that you can actually remove the wedge and battery section all together. By doing so, I can just leave that part in the hotel when I'm sipping drinks on the beach reading my reader. Actually, with it off, it gives you about an inch of case to hold on to. Looks like I'll be leaving my stock case in the drawer.

Also, I don't have a need for the deluxe case any longer... anyone want to buy it? It is yours if you send me a $10 ebook connect card Just PM me if you do. Otherwise, it will be going in the garage sale pile for Saturday!

Cheers,
Sealos

[Leaping Gnome]

Sealos, what color is your deluxe case? Forgive me if there is only one color, I have not kept up on the 505 accessories.

[kfarmer]

Would be nice to see a rechargeable model that the reader docked to, to share a single power source.

[MSWallack]

I took the plunge and bought one of the new light cases at Sony Style yesterday afternoon and I'm very pleased (though I'll admit that it is overpriced...). First, the material of the case itself appears to be the same as the standard 505 case. And, as previously mentioned, it does not have the pockets that the deluxe cases have. What it does have is light!

The light panel (very similar to a lightwedge, but plastic not glass) fits the screen very neatly. In fact, it has a bevelled edge to fit over the screen. There are also two rubber feet that rest against the left side of th Reader so that it isn't smashing down and there seems to be some kind of resistance that keeps it from slamming down (not quite a spring, but something to soften the landing). It does make the case thicker, but it is still slimmer than a Kindle. I didn't notice any extra weight after a few minutes of reading.

The light was pretty well distributed across the page but it is not a completely uniform light. There are two levels of brightness available (I used the full bright in a dark room and it didn't disturb my daughter while she fall asleep) and the lower brightness worked nicely in a dim (but not dark) room. Because the light is diffused across the screen, I don't think that it will cause much problems for sleeping spouses (and it does not appear to give off anywhere near as much light as my Mighty Bright).

I did notice that the light wedge had a tendency to "fall" away from the screen when I was reading lying down with the book help up away from me, but I quickly learned to just adjust where I kept my left thumb and that problem was solved (at least until I fell asleep...).

All in all, I wish the price were about $20 cheaper (and I think that Sony would sell a lot more of them), but I think that I'll be very happy with the purcahse (and it sure keeps from worrying about losing my Mighty Bright [or having my wife ... er ... "borrower" it and misplace it]). I think that the addition of the lightwedge gives the Reader one of the key missing components and makes up for a backlight quite well.

[sea_los]

MSWallack,
I totally agree with all that you said and you beat me to it! After giving it a test last night, I found that Sony probably should have put some sort of locking mechanism so the wedge doesn't swing toward you when you're lying in bed. When it does fall, it has a swinging door feel to it. You definitely have to keep your thumb on the spine to hold the wedge in place. I'm actually thinking I could do with some sort of band to keep it place... not sure, it might give it a ghetto look to it or cover too much of the screen. Will have to play around with it.

Another thing I noticed is that the distribution of the light is choppy on the left side and it evens out nicely on the right half of the screen. Kiss your beautiful screen goodbye when you use this at night in the dark. When using the light, the screen, looks has a photocopied page look to it. The best way I can describe it is take a dead-tree book, open it to the middle and take a photocopy of a page. You'll notice that the part of the page closest to the spine tends to be darker. That is exactly how the reader looks when using the wedge case. Look at the picture I took in a previous post.

Dust. The wedge really highlights any dust that is on the wedge light. Dust shows up as little bright dots... which is somewhat annoying. Just make sure things are clean. It also doesn't help things any that mine came with a little scratch

I'm going to give it another couple of days and see if I get used to it. If not, I'll be taking it back to the Sony store.

Cheers,
Sealos

[NatCh]

Thanks for the reports, MSWallack, sea_los! They're much appreciated.

[Penforhire]

Has anyone tested this with NiMH rechargeable AAA's yet? Is is just as bright or ?