MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Bebook versus Sony PRS-505

pox67 · 01-04-2009, 07:11 PM

As promised here are my thoughts on the Bebook versus a Sony PRS-505.

I owned a 505 for a couple of months before it was stolen. With the insurance I bought a Bebook. I probably would have bought another Sony but by the time the insurance had come through the Australian dollar had gone from 98c to 65c US. There is no way I could justify buying another Sony unfortunately.

First of all these are just my thoughts on the 2 products. Other peoples mileage will vary greatly and something I can't stand may not bother someone else. Also there might be things that I just haven't figured out about the Bebook yet and so are down here as niggles.

Bebook firmware: 2.01NL

Screen: goes to Sony. The Sony has a much whiter background and better contrast. The Bebook seems to always have a lot of very tiny black dots on the white screens making it look not as white as the Sony.
After a page turn there is significant ghosting left over from the previous screen on the Bebook. I think the screen not having as good a contrast or showing whites as well comes from this ghosting. It doesn't do a proper refresh of the screen so a lot of pixels are left in their old state when others around them change.
Viewing comics on the PRS-505 was acceptable as it had an 8 greyscale screen. The 4 greyscale of the Bebook and the fact that it doesn't do a full screen clear on refresh makes comics unreadable.

Speed: goes to sony again. Start up speed seems to be the same. Sony did have trouble with big memory cards with a lot of books on it though.
The Bebook is very slow opening a book for the first time. FB2 (by Amber LIT Convert) is unusably slow. The Bebook seems slower at turning pages in general than the Sony. There is a very noticeable pause when changing settings on the Bebook as well.

Controls: I liked the Sony number buttons down the side where they line up next to their option on screen. I'll get used to the Bebook way with the buttons along the bottom I imagine. The page turn buttons are on the left side for the Bebook and the right side for the Sony. I prefer the right side buttons as that feels more natural to me, it depends on which handedness you are I guess. They both have page turn buttons at the bottom of the device.

Stability: The Bebook has crashed, frozen and turned itself off on me a few times. Mostly while playing around trying formats. It doesn't seem to like big FB2 files, it takes ages to open and will often just hang or switch itself off.
I don't remember the Sony exhibiting any crash or freeze behaviour.

Ease of use: it took me awhile to get to grips with the Sony and the conversion software needed to use the device.
(being in Australia I couldn't use the Sony store so bought my books in .LIT format and converted to LRF)
Once I worked out that I bought books in LIT, cracked them open and used Calibre to move to LRF I was happy. This was not ideal, I would prefer a direct download and drop on the reader.
RTF has a lot of options and is pretty quick to open up on the Bebook. FB2 is just to slow. Mobi is quite nice actually, on par with RTF. What I have noticed is that the Bebook does th-
is alot with RTF files. It can get really anno-
ying as you read as well. Once stuff was LRFed with the Sony that didn't happen.

Acrobat: I think the PRS-505 does a better job of PDF files at the moment. It has reflow at least which the Bebook doesn't seem to. Both PDF viewers could be much improved though.

Physical: the Sony has it all over the Bebook, everyone knows it. I am not sure why but the Bebook also feels bulkier and heavier although they are near enough the same. It might be the leather case of the Bebook which is adding he weight. It is good protection though.

So what would I buy?
With the current firmware on the Bebook I would get another PRS-505. The firmware is often being updated though so this verdict might change if a killer firmware becomes available.

01-04-2009, 07:11 PM	#1
pox67 Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 12 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Australia Device: Sony PRS-505 (stolen), Bebook	Bebook versus Sony PRS-505 As promised here are my thoughts on the Bebook versus a Sony PRS-505. I owned a 505 for a couple of months before it was stolen. With the insurance I bought a Bebook. I probably would have bought another Sony but by the time the insurance had come through the Australian dollar had gone from 98c to 65c US. There is no way I could justify buying another Sony unfortunately. First of all these are just my thoughts on the 2 products. Other peoples mileage will vary greatly and something I can't stand may not bother someone else. Also there might be things that I just haven't figured out about the Bebook yet and so are down here as niggles. Bebook firmware: 2.01NL Screen: goes to Sony. The Sony has a much whiter background and better contrast. The Bebook seems to always have a lot of very tiny black dots on the white screens making it look not as white as the Sony. After a page turn there is significant ghosting left over from the previous screen on the Bebook. I think the screen not having as good a contrast or showing whites as well comes from this ghosting. It doesn't do a proper refresh of the screen so a lot of pixels are left in their old state when others around them change. Viewing comics on the PRS-505 was acceptable as it had an 8 greyscale screen. The 4 greyscale of the Bebook and the fact that it doesn't do a full screen clear on refresh makes comics unreadable. Speed: goes to sony again. Start up speed seems to be the same. Sony did have trouble with big memory cards with a lot of books on it though. The Bebook is very slow opening a book for the first time. FB2 (by Amber LIT Convert) is unusably slow. The Bebook seems slower at turning pages in general than the Sony. There is a very noticeable pause when changing settings on the Bebook as well. Controls: I liked the Sony number buttons down the side where they line up next to their option on screen. I'll get used to the Bebook way with the buttons along the bottom I imagine. The page turn buttons are on the left side for the Bebook and the right side for the Sony. I prefer the right side buttons as that feels more natural to me, it depends on which handedness you are I guess. They both have page turn buttons at the bottom of the device. Stability: The Bebook has crashed, frozen and turned itself off on me a few times. Mostly while playing around trying formats. It doesn't seem to like big FB2 files, it takes ages to open and will often just hang or switch itself off. I don't remember the Sony exhibiting any crash or freeze behaviour. Ease of use: it took me awhile to get to grips with the Sony and the conversion software needed to use the device. (being in Australia I couldn't use the Sony store so bought my books in .LIT format and converted to LRF) Once I worked out that I bought books in LIT, cracked them open and used Calibre to move to LRF I was happy. This was not ideal, I would prefer a direct download and drop on the reader. RTF has a lot of options and is pretty quick to open up on the Bebook. FB2 is just to slow. Mobi is quite nice actually, on par with RTF. What I have noticed is that the Bebook does th- is alot with RTF files. It can get really anno- ying as you read as well. Once stuff was LRFed with the Sony that didn't happen. Acrobat: I think the PRS-505 does a better job of PDF files at the moment. It has reflow at least which the Bebook doesn't seem to. Both PDF viewers could be much improved though. Physical: the Sony has it all over the Bebook, everyone knows it. I am not sure why but the Bebook also feels bulkier and heavier although they are near enough the same. It might be the leather case of the Bebook which is adding he weight. It is good protection though. So what would I buy? With the current firmware on the Bebook I would get another PRS-505. The firmware is often being updated though so this verdict might change if a killer firmware becomes available.