Thread: PDF on the PRS-505?
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Old 05-26-2009, 10:01 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enarchay View Post
How do PDFs look on the Sony PRS-505? I'm trying to decide between the PRS-505, PRS-700, and Kindle 2. I'm pretty sure I've ruled the PRS-700 out, because I've read a number of complaints about its readability, so that narrows it down to the PRS-505 and Kindle 2. The main thing stopping me from buying the Kindle 2 is that it does not natively support PDFs. Now I have no problem converting files myself, but it's often the case that through conversion the files end up looking pretty bad. So my question is, how good do PDFs look on the PRS-500? And do they look better than post-converted PDFs on a Kindle 2?

I've read that you cannot zoom in or enlarge text with PDFs on the Kindle 2 (without screwing up formatting), so I wanted to check this out. Basically, if the Sony doesn't display PDFs much better than the Kindle 2 - even if I must convert in the latter case - then I know which product is for me.
PDF look fantastic on the 505 IF the PDF are targeted to a 6-8" display. When PDF look bad is when they are made for Letter/A4 page size. Sometimes removing the margins on a PDF with a free tool like soPDF.

The problem is that a letter/A4 size page is getting shrunk down to 6". To simulate the problem, If you have access to a copier take a regular letter/A4 size page and zoom it down to 55% and that is how it will look.

Looking at the PDF in landscape does help. But I find using the device in landscape is annoying

As for comparing SONY PDF to Kindle 2 converted PDF. I don't know but anytime you auto convert PDF to HTML/MOBI/ePUB/... I do not think you will get anything close to the original source.

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