Sony PRS-505 Still the best?

[kennyc]

Tough crowd....

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Tough crowd....

That's why we all love MR the most.

Hey, if everyone had the same opinions the forum would be pretty boring... you would have the first posts them 400 or 500 "I agree" or "Me too" replies.

BOb

[Lemurion]

What I think is sad is that I don't think anyone has yet released a reader that's significantly better for reading fiction than the PRS-505. Yes its limitations with ePub are well-documented, but as has been said elsewhere, there are pros and cons to both left and full justification.

(I prefer left justification myself, a ragged right is less annoying to my eyes than the extra spaces between words.)

Newer readers have added a lot of functionality that the 505 doesn't have - but none have a marked improvement in the two features I find most important; battery life and screen clarity.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

What I think is sad is that I don't think anyone has yet released a reader that's significantly better for reading fiction than the PRS-505. Yes its limitations with ePub are well-documented, but as has been said elsewhere, there are pros and cons to both left and full justification.

(I prefer left justification myself, a ragged right is less annoying to my eyes than the extra spaces between words.)

Newer readers have added a lot of functionality that the 505 doesn't have - but none have a marked improvement in the two features I find most important; battery life and screen clarity.

The reason why there are annoying extra spaces between words is because readers that do offer full justification don't do it properly with good hyphenation or paragraph flow. That's something I hope to see improved in future readers. I'm not certain how complex the algorithms for Adobe's Paragraph Composer or the H&J Rules in TeX are, but I suspect that newer readers will have the hardware oomph to support it...it'll be up to software developers to implement such things though.

kennyc:
By quality, I was referring primarily to the display and software. The physical materials, and probably even the fit and finish are fine for most readers, even if the design is poor (which in most cases it is, in my professional opinion). "Quality" extends quite a bit beyond materials and physical tolerances when it comes to information technology. Didn't mean to confuse with a vague word, sorry.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

...
kennyc:
By quality, I was referring primarily to the display and software. The physical materials, and probably even the fit and finish are fine for most readers, even if the design is poor (which in most cases it is, in my professional opinion). "Quality" extends quite a bit beyond materials and physical tolerances when it comes to information technology. Didn't mean to confuse with a vague word, sorry.

No confusion here, but it's always good to say what you mean specifically. I work in the IT world and you are right Quality can mean a lot of things. Many people seem to have issues with the Sony software but I'm perfectly pleased with it as well as with the hardware for my needs.

Certainly I'm looking forward to see what happens in the coming year, it should be interesting, but in the mean time I'm quite happy with my 505.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Because it strikes me as a little odd that anyone who really has looked at all the current offerings would consider the PRS-505 to be the best.

I wouldn't consider it best, but I consider it one of them. I like ragged right edges, so the justification issue doesn't bother me at all. I don't need search or dictionary. Folders would be nice, but aren't a dealbreaker. Having never had annotation ability, I don't miss it.

The ergonomics are wonderful; it's comfortable from several different holding angles. It feels solid in the hand, unlike some of the plastic-frame readers. The firmware works well, and is stable. Because Sony's a big company, there's a variety of well-fitted accessories available. Ability to work with library books is important to a lot of people. Sony's tech support is... not great, but not awful, and at least available. Filetype support is middling: not as broad as it could be, but enough openly-editable types (rtf, txt) to make it useful for the user's own documents.

That said... I think the ergonomics is the strongest point I can find in its favor today. When I need a replacement (my 505 has a small spot on the screen where I dropped a flashlight on it), I'm looking at the Astak Pocket Pro as my top choice right now.

[Lemurion]

Let me throw the question backwards: can someone please list a 6" Reader with an equal or better screen than the 505, equal or better battery life, and ADE support?

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Let me throw the question backwards: can someone please list a 6" Reader with an equal or better screen than the 505, equal or better battery life, and ADE support?

I think the Nook screen is just as good. I don't know why the OP listed the screen contrast as "Good not great." If the 505 is great, so is the nook and it adds the ability to change the font (one of which is bolded so that the contrast is even greater). It also has more font sizes. It supports ADE (even on linux!) well and reflows pdfs nicely (it does not work well on picture PDFs, IMO). The battery life is lower, but if you keep the wireless off or use it very sparingly, it is still good.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

I think the Nook screen is just as good. I don't know why the OP listed the screen contrast as "Good not great." If the 505 is great, so is the nook and it adds the ability to change the font (one of which is bolded so that the contrast is even greater). It also has more font sizes. It supports ADE (even on linux!) well and reflows pdfs nicely (it does not work well on picture PDFs, IMO). The battery life is lower, but if you keep the wireless off or use it very sparingly, it is still good.

So the Nook matches on one (the screen) possibly exceeds on another (ADE support) and doesn't quite match up on the third (battery life).

So while approximately as good - it's not significantly better for reading.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

So the Nook matches on one (the screen) possibly exceeds on another (ADE support) and doesn't quite match up on the third (battery life).

The nook, the Kindle 1 and 2, the EZReader, the BeBook, the Cybook Gen3, etc all have the same screen as the Sony 505.

I think the fonts do have a lot to do with readability also. I find the font on the Kindle 1 much nicer than it was on the Sony 500 I started with. So, machines that let you install your own font do add an edge.

I really think all the above mentioned have very similar battery life also... assuming you keep the wireless off on the nook and Kindles. I mean... charging once a week is good enough, at least in my (lack of wanting quality apparently) world.

BOb

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

So the Nook matches on one (the screen) possibly exceeds on another (ADE support) and doesn't quite match up on the third (battery life).

So while approximately as good - it's not significantly better for reading.

The Cybook Gen3 has the same screen, but you can install your own fonts and have 12 different sizes, plus a bold option for greater contrast, so wins on the screen. It has better ADE support, and the battery life is about the same. So, better on these three criteria... but a poorer build quality.

Your point stands, but should be broadened to include all the 6" devices mentioned above. Why is it that several years on, there isn't something significantly better for reading?

I guess it does boil down to that screen; eInk hasn't moved on, and as yet there isn't a better alternative. You can keep your various ways of adding touch - they don't alter the experience of reading for the better.

The door is open... which of the new technologies is going to come on through?

Graham

[Lemurion]

That's it exactly, by this point something should be markedly better - and as far as I can tell, nothing is. There's certainly nothing that's enough better to really justify moving up from the 505 if you already have one.

I compare my Droid to any of the phones I've had before - and the Treo 750 my GF used to have and I can see a massive improvement. It's not there in Readers and I'm really curious to know why.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

That's why we all love MR the most.

Hey, if everyone had the same opinions the forum would be pretty boring... you would have the first posts them 400 or 500 "I agree" or "Me too" replies.

BOb

I agree with you Bob!

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I think the fonts do have a lot to do with readability also. I find the font on the Kindle 1 much nicer than it was on the Sony 500 I started with. So, machines that let you install your own font do add an edge.

This is what I like about the 505 it has the ability, through a large user support community, to easily change fonts, sizes, bold text etc... Using PRS+ I have 5 fonts and 7 CSS files set up on my 505 that I can change to via the menu.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

That's it exactly, by this point something should be markedly better - and as far as I can tell, nothing is. There's certainly nothing that's enough better to really justify moving up from the 505 if you already have one.

There's almost no reason to move up from the Ebookwise. Ebook devices manufacturers have been doing a *terrific* job of ignoring how the public would like to use them. Every new round gets new bells & whistles, but nobody's bothering to figure out what readers liked with the previous versions & keep that, while adding new features they actually want.

Instead, we get ... multiple colors!!! Which are nice, I grant, but I can't remotely call them an "improvement."

[Teddman]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Ebook devices manufacturers have been doing a *terrific* job of ignoring how the public would like to use them. Every new round gets new bells & whistles, but nobody's bothering to figure out what readers liked with the previous versions & keep that, while adding new features they actually want.

I agree with that; if Sony had a non-touch reader that added hyphenation support in full justification, fixed the firmware support for ePub, and added a dictionary, I'd think about upgrading. I don't know why they abandoned their non-touch line of readers besides the Pocket, especially when it came at a cost to screen contrast.