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OK.....
I got my blue 505 in Bangkok, delivered and waiting when i got back from a trip to Holland.
Loaded various free books (all the PG Wodehouse from this forum, thanks!) and have been using at work on an offshore oil rig for about 10 days so far.
Good stuff...
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1. Hardware / design - yes, the blue is lovely. The metal case is too, and a decent size. The Kindle looked in pics (not seen one for real) like a Dell engineers weekend rush job. The Sony however managed to be even more impressive in the hands than its online pictures. One small example of this is the free cover that comes with it. It does it's job simply and can fold back easily - but, most impressive is the small detail that inside the cover on both front and back are some small magnets that help keep it 'comfortably' closed - that is, it can be easily opened but also stays closed just as well.... like a hardback, really. Nice.
2. Not excessively DRM'd and format phobic - quite a surprise, coming from Sony.
3. SD card.
4. Navigation seems ok for books but see below for other...
5. It really is a very very good reader. A pleasure to use.
The bad.... or not so good, anyway
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I do like it, and highly recommend it - the following is not that important to me, but is more general Sony silliness, really.
1. Getting books on and off the reader is ok... the Sony library is functional but not great, and could always use Calibre if i needed to. The book store is seemingly.... crap. Where's the back and forward buttons to navigate in it? And why bother anyway - just put it on the web for access from any browser. Sheesh. Did successfully download "Don Quixote", free, though, so it does work.
2. So, as it has audio functions - why, on earth wouldn't it support proper audio books? Bizarre. And if you're going to the trouble of putting a headphone jack and all the rest on there, why wouldn't you ensure there's a decent music interface? Sort by alphabetical only? For mp3's? From Sony? Of 'Sony Walkman' fame? The shame....
3. More flexible font choice would be nice, without needing hacks....
4. Shame there's not a slightly larger screen size available - not the huge 10" or whatever that new Kindle is, but around 7 to 8" would be just that bit more useful - and would require very little more size overall if they cut a few mm here and there from the screen surround.
Basically, I think it's a great product - for reading books. Which is what I want it for (but if you're going to put audio on it... oh, i'm repeating myself).
The pics of the red one looked good too ;-)
Coops
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