My first day with a 505

[DrMoze]

Thought I'd chime in with my first impressions on my new 505, after a few months enjoying my 500 Reader. (For those who haven't been following other threads here, I decided to give a gift to my gf of a Reader modded to support Russian books/Cyrillic text, and because there's a chance of bricking a 505 with no recovery option at present, I decided to play it safe and mod/clean up the 500 for the gift and get myself a new model.)

So, switching over was incredibly easy as I had already been using the Sony Library software. Just plugged in the 505 and waited a minute or so to verify/register the new Reader with my account.

My overall impression is that the 505 works just like the 500, with several minor usability improvements, including adding functions that I used hacks to achieve on the 500. My 500 had a combined hack with direct page access, joystick page turn, clock display, etc. The 505 has buttons on the mid-right side and lower left corner (round) for page turns, opposite of the hacked 500 (lower right corner joystick and mid-left side buttons) but both work fine, as long as there's a page turn option on both sides. I miss the clock a bit, but the 505 has built-in direct page access. (I wasn't sure about that but I just tried it and it worked!)

The 505 is a bit slimmer, although the 500 never seemed that bulky. The display does appear to have better contrast, and page turns are a bit faster. (Although the 500's speed never bothered me.) The layout of the menu buttons along the right side, next to the actual displayed menu items, does make sense and is a bit handier although not a real problem on the 500.

The 505 does seem to be a bit more polished version of the 500, with just a few very slight rough edges fixed on the newer model. The button layout seems cleaner too. I preferred the memory card cover on the 500 though, as the 505 has no covers but instead provides dummy cards to fill the slots which stick out of the top edge. (These slots are the common "push in the card edge to eject the card" design.) I also liked having the card slot along the left side of the Reader, where it was more protected by the spine of the cover, than exposed on the top edge in the 505. Not a major problem though. (Until I accidentally lose a memory card, of course!)

The *one* aspect of the 505 which I really don't like is the cover design. I loved the 500 design--Reader attaches to the back cover, and the front folds back nicely and easily. With the 505, the cover attaches to the top and bottom of the left edge of the Reader on a pivot. So, when you open the cover, and especially when folding the front cover behind, the right edge of the back cover slides further to the right and sticks out more than half an inch! I would definitely consider buying a replacement cover if someone comes up with a better design, more like the 500's cover, or at least one that doesn't shift like this.

The 505 seems to tweak a few minor issues with the 500 model and appears to be a more polished unit. (Although I wouldn't call the 500 a "prototype" or say that it was that unfinished of a product!) For me, both models provide an excellent reading experience--fast startup, great battery life, great display, slim and light design, and easy storage of weeks' worth of reading without even using a memory card. These are both great devices to simply take along for reading without worrying about any 'technical' issues, almost like a p-book only better.

[Astropin]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

The 505 seems to tweak a few minor issues with te 500 model amnd appears to be a more polished unit. (Although I wouldn't call the 500 a "prototype" or say that it was that unfinished of a product!) For me, both models provide an excellent reading experience--fast startup, great battery life, great display, slim and light design, and easy storage of weeks' worth of reading without even using a memory card. These ar eboth great devices to simply take along for reading without worrying about any 'technical' issues, almost like a p-book only better.

Well it would not let me delete what I posted.....so just forget it

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by Astropin

Well it would not let me delete what I posted.....so just forget it

Just to clarify (if necessary), these are my impressions, observations and opinions. YMMV of course. I really like the 500, and like the 505 even a bit more (definitely straight from the box with no hacks), except for the cover.

[Astropin]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

Just to clarify (if necessary), these are my impressions, observations and opinions. YMMV of course. I really like the 500, and like the 505 even a bit more (definitely straight from the box with no hacks), except for the cover.

No that's not it.....I think it was a good comparison. I miss read what you said about it holding "weeks" of material as being one week. I made a comment about reading 150+ books in a week.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by Astropin

No that's not it.....I think it was a good comparison. I miss read what you said about it holding "weeks" of material as being one week. I made a comment about reading 150+ books in a week.

I *wish* I had that much spare time to do nothing but read! Although if you had only pdfs or other books with a lot of images, then you could possibly fill up the internal memory with a smaller stock of reading material.