If I want a Pocket style Sony reader which one is best?

[Scoob]

So far I'm having no issue with the stock firmware. It's enough for me. I'm enjoying the note pad a little too much though and the ability to write on my books. I've never been one to type out a note on any of my Kindles or Nooks but apparently give me a stylus and I jot down all kinds of random stuff.

[Scoob]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I seem to recall that my 505's display goes faint when it changes in direct sunlight. You have to keep the sun off when flipping pages (i.e. close the cover or turn it over) or you won't be able to read the text. Later devices had UV-blockers added to the plastic on top of the display to fix that problem.

That's the kind of odd tidbit of information I like to know. Who would've thought eink needs sunscreen

[acanthicus]

Have fun with your new gadgets!
I think the buttons on 350 and 650 are plastic. You see it in the foto of my 350. The buttons on the 505 are still in perfect shape, so I think they are metal.

[Scoob]

Originally Posted by acanthicus

Have fun with your new gadgets!
I think the buttons on 350 and 650 are plastic. You see it in the foto of my 350. The buttons on the 505 are still in perfect shape, so I think they are metal.

Attachment 215182

Button wear is a concern as I know I use my nail more than my finger pad. I'd hate to damage the 3 that I bought as they're in great shape and I want to keep them like that forevermore.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by acanthicus

Have fun with your new gadgets!
I think the buttons on 350 and 650 are plastic. You see it in the foto of my 350. The buttons on the 505 are still in perfect shape, so I think they are metal.

Attachment 215182

Dang, they felt like metal to me, even cool to the touch. But your picture makes it clear I was wrong. I haven't, personally, seen any wear on any buttons on 300s, 505s and x50s, but I think the readers I have were lightly used.

Apologies to Scoob. I thought I gave a good answer but, obviously, I was mistaken.

[Scoob]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Dang, they felt like metal to me, even cool to the touch. But your picture makes it clear I was wrong. I haven't, personally, seen any wear on any buttons on 300s, 505s and x50s, but I think the readers I have were lightly used.

Apologies to Scoob. I thought I gave a good answer but, obviously, I was mistaken.

S'alright rcentros. They're felt metal to me too. I'm definitely going ro be careful with them. The home button/fingerprint scanner on my phone is cracked from my using my nails rather than finger tip. It's a bad habit.

[Scoob]

It took a lot longer than I thought for it to arrive but it finally did. It's a nice dark blue kinda purply color and is in great physical condition. It feels built to last. The battery might be shot however as it went from three blocks to none in 10ish minutes. I'll see how that is to fix.
Well I charged it with it's barrel charger and the red light went off in about 30mins. It had no black blocks at all but wasn't giving me anything saying I'm dying before I plugged it in.

Is the power slider supposed to feel rough? The other's I purchased have a smooth feeling slider.

Also does the reader tell you somewhere that it recognizes it has SD and Pro Duo cards mounted? The 650 does but I didn't get anything telling me that the cards were mounted on the 505.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Scoob

It took a lot longer than I thought for it to arrive but it finally did. It's a nice dark blue kinda purply color and is in great physical condition. It feels built to last. The battery might be shot however as it went from three blocks to none in 10ish minutes. I'll see how that is to fix.
Well I charged it with it's barrel charger and the red light went off in about 30mins. It had no black blocks at all but wasn't giving me anything saying I'm dying before I plugged it in.

Sounds like the battery is going. You might want to try leaving it plugged in for a few hours even if the red light has gone out. I don't know if that will do any good, but it seems to have helped one of my old Sonys. (But that have been due to a weak charger.)

It looks like the main thing you have to be careful about is the ribbon cable when changing the batteries in these. (Also some people say the replacement batteries don't work but others say they work fine?) I might try replacing the battery in one of mine to see if it works — one of them especially seems to have a weaker battery.

Originally Posted by Scoob

Is the power slider supposed to feel rough? The other's I purchased have a smooth feeling slider.

The slide switch shouldn't be any different than the x50s and 300.

Originally Posted by Scoob

Also does the reader tell you somewhere that it recognizes it has SD and Pro Duo cards mounted? The 650 does but I didn't get anything telling me that the cards were mounted on the 505.

I had to test this. The SD card should be seen. Files from it will show up with a little SD logo. Maybe, though, the 505 can't use SDHC and the x50 series can? Or maybe it could be an issue with the battery. Have you tried testing the card slots when the 505 is plugged in to power?

Also you might check to see what firmware it's using. I think the newest North American firmware for the 505 was 1.1.00.18040. I've got that (and firmware updates for other readers) in my Sony Firmware directory on Google Drive. These have gotten hard to find since Sony took them off their website.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...kB?usp=sharing

It looks like JSWolf might be right about the battery life. A couple years ago when I bought my 505s they definitely held a charge better than they do now.

EDIT: I should add that the Reader Software for Sony is available on Archive.org here...

https://archive.org/download/sony-reader

... I see it's also available for the Mac there as well (never made for Linux).

[Scoob]

Treasure trove of info here Thanks for the firmware rcentros. I'll check the 505 once I get home. I need to download the sony reader software to add the firmware right?

Talking with a coworker today that also had a 505 when it first came out they are thinking that the slider had a smooth plastic cover and on mine that fell off so thats why it's rough bare metal.

I hope battery replacement is as easy as it was with my K3. That was a breeze even though it didn't have screws.

When I first added the cards to the 505 I was looking for a pop up saying SD card detected or something similar. I think the 650 told me I needed to format the cards then they showed up in the "about" menu. The 505 didn't acknowledge them when I plugged them in. The SD card icon did show up when I added books to it and I am currently reading off it so it is working.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Scoob

Treasure trove of info here Thanks for the firmware rcentros. I'll check the 505 once I get home. I need to download the sony reader software to add the firmware right?

No, I'm pretty sure they're all stand-alone executable files (in Windows). It's been a while since I've used them. When you run them they should automatically see the readers and know if it's the right software for that particular reader. They should also tell you if the firmware is already updated. The Sony Desktop Software is probably about useless at this point. I guess put the link up more for "completeness."

Originally Posted by Scoob

Talking with a coworker today that also had a 505 when it first came out they are thinking that the slider had a smooth plastic cover and on mine that fell off so thats why it's rough bare metal.

Maybe so. I can't really see down into the switch that clearly, but I don't think I see any plastic layer. It might be that something is just slightly bent?

Originally Posted by Scoob

I hope battery replacement is as easy as it was with my K3. That was a breeze even though it didn't have screws.

This is going to be harder than the K3. Be very careful of the ribbon cable. You push the innards out so far and the ribbon cable has to be removed from its socket. When you reinsert the innards into the shell that ribbon cable is vulnerable again. That's the main thing I would be worried about.

Here are good videos on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLHgLz9LYMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_kXEJ4edk

I don't know why the second guy put double sided tape on the removable "clips." I don't think that was necessary.

I would use the Cameron Sino battery instead of the cheaper ones. The Cameron Sino batteries appear to match the dimensions of the original battery. The cheaper ones appear to be a bit shorter and less wide, and apparently thicker. That's the main problem, there's not much leeway for a thicker battery. I would be afraid it would break the substrate (or at least bulge the reader a bit, which would make it uglier).

Originally Posted by Scoob

When I first added the cards to the 505 I was looking for a pop up saying SD card detected or something similar. I think the 650 told me I needed to format the cards then they showed up in the "about" menu. The 505 didn't acknowledge them when I plugged them in. The SD card icon did show up when I added books to it and I am currently reading off it so it is working.

I also expected some kind of popup. But I noticed the list got longer and then I saw the little SD logos on the new listings.

Maybe when you replace the battery you can check to see if something is a little out of whack in the on/off slide switch.

Good luck.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Scoob

It took a lot longer than I thought for it to arrive but it finally did. It's a nice dark blue kinda purply color and is in great physical condition. It feels built to last. The battery might be shot however as it went from three blocks to none in 10ish minutes. I'll see how that is to fix.
Well I charged it with it's barrel charger and the red light went off in about 30mins. It had no black blocks at all but wasn't giving me anything saying I'm dying before I plugged it in.

The battery is shot. You need to replace the battery.

You can get a replacement battery with tools from NewPower99. They have a video on how to replace the battery.

https://newpower99.com/products/sony...aebfa59f&_ss=r

[Scoob]

So it was given a full charge on Tuesday and has been read on 1hr a day since then. I've lost one black block and that was today on my lunch break. The battery isn't dying as quick as I would think. It definitely will need a replacement sooner rather than later but I'll hold off for now.
I personally don't find it slow and clunky and not really any different from using my NST or K3. I just wish the side bezel buttons in the recessed groove were bigger. Other than that it's a joy to use nice and simple. With excellent craftsmanship.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Scoob

I personally don't find it slow and clunky and not really any different from using my NST or K3. I just wish the side bezel buttons in the recessed groove were bigger. Other than that it's a joy to use nice and simple. With excellent craftsmanship.

I agree with you on the side bezel buttons. For turning pages I normally use my left thumb on the left (big) button.

[Scoob]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I agree with you on the side bezel buttons. For turning pages I normally use my left thumb on the left (big) button.

I hold most things in my left anyway so I'm happy they made those buttons nice and big. Whoever designed and chose the button location at Sony really looked at ergonomics of hand placement and where the thumb naturally rests.

[Scoob]

505 battery ordered. I should get it end of May at the latest. Not too happy with that but maybe it'll come in sooner.
I do have a question about the 505 crashing when loading a book. Is it because the battery was cruddy? Or is it because the covers were hi-res and it couldn't properly load them? It worked fine on a book that didn't have a cover (non published epub direct from author's website) but another book (liberated Kindle converted to epub) was where the crashing happened.