My impressions: 505 vs Kindle 2

[spec2]

After much self-debate I ordered a K2 b/c in my head Wispernet was da bomb. I rec'd my K2 yesterday and, well, meh.

I know there are a lot of prospective eReader buyers asking "K2 or 505?" Hopefully this well help them in their decision.

The K2 is a fantastic reader as many have reported this week. And if you don't have a smartphone, it's not too expensive either given the lifetime Wispernet. However, as much as I loved the concept, I don't see it really benefiting me all that much now that I've used it. I have an iPhone that I'd much rather use to go online when I'm away from the computer.

As for being able to download books on the fly, that is a great convenience, but it's really not a huge bother to plug in a USB cable. I've read people praising the Kindle b/c you can download a book where ever you are, but realistically, I always plan my reading ahead of time. I know when I'm near the end of a book it's time to buy a new one. This is quite different than being on the street and suddenly getting a song in your head and having to download it right then and there.

On to the dictionary. Again, nice feature, but I'm fairly educated, as I would think all eReader fans would be. I know I can figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word based on the context of the sentence like I've been doing for years. So again, not a killer feature for me. And if it's a truly puzzling work I'll probably remember to look it up when I do get near a dictionary or computer. Similarly, annotations, etc. Great for school or work, but I don't use my eReader for either.

Then you get down to usability. I think Sony has the Kindle here. The Sony's menus are right there when you turn the machine on. No need to toggle or do a deep drill down. The K2's menu/home system is way more complex than needs be and not all that intuitive. To me the 505's buttons also feel smoother and easier to use even though they only have icons, not written labels.

But the piece de resistance of the 505 to me is it's compact size and top-notch build quality, down to the ridge for your thumb to rest. It's only slightly wider than a typical paperback and fits in the hand almost perfectly. Both the backwards and forwards buttons are right at your thumbs, regardless of which hand you favor. The K2 feels top heavy to me, and the buttons don't fit the hand, that hand has to fit them. I'm also not a huge fan of having the back button only on the left side. In the end, it's about usability and while the K2 makes it easier to buy books I find it easier to read books with the 505.

The 505 isn't perfect. I do have my issues with it, like its lack of native Mac support, and the overpriced book store, but it fits my own needs in a reader more than the K2.

And also while I'm sticking with the 50, if I were given an eReader as a gift I probably would choose the K2. The K2 would be perfect for my parents or sister who are somewhat computerphobic, and are terrified of plugging anything into their computer or using new software. Being able to fully use their reader w/o a computer would be more than ideal for them where as I'm betting they'd never bother with the 505. They are the perfect demo for the K2.

[sammsmom]

I think that is what amazon is wanting is the computerphobes to buy the kindle2 bc you don't have to hook it up and use software to buy a book. They are looking to a bigger audience becasue of the fact that is doesn't need to be hooked up. I love my 505 and after doing some major research that was what I picked and I am glad I did over the Kindle. Seriously when am I going to just want to buy a book on the fly when I have tons already on the device. Just my opinion though

[MickeyC]

I agree with both of you. I got my 505 in Jan 08 and have never been sorry. I've had my hands on a Kindle and am still happy with the Sony

[daffy4u]

It goes back to it being good that there is a reader to meet nearly everyone's tastes and needs.

[HistoryWes]

I agree too. Even though I can't remember when I last had to look up a word, I still want that dictionary though. It would just be nice.

[AbFabGab]

What's great is that there are different devices to choose from.

I love my 505. I love that I can download public library ebooks
with no conversions. I love easily using Calibre to convert public
domain & creative commons (correct term?) material into LRF then
send to my 505.

I like the fact that I can try some fun things (when I'm ready..lol)
because of mods and hacks like playing mahjong or adding clock
feature.

I love my 505 and use it daily.
I spend a little less time on my computer because I grab my
505 and read in the living room while hubby's watching TV.

I've gotten to read stories I would have never read because
of the convenience of accessing online and being able to read
off the computer.

I'm one happy camper!

[AbFabGab]

Originally Posted by HistoryWes

I agree too. Even though I can't remember when I last had to look up a word, I still want that dictionary though. It would just be nice.

When I was researching devices, the dictionary wasn't really a factor.
After having my 505 a bit, though, I can see where it would be handy.
(I'm a "word" person..lol)

so, yeah, I agree that would be a really nice feature.

[BobLenx]

I have been reading with my Sony-505 for over a year now, and received my Kndle-2 on the 24th and have been reading away. Love them both - and can only wish I had the best of each on a single device. Just a few unbiased comments on my reaction to my new Kindle.

First the negatives - of which there are few:

For the life of me I simply cannot get used to not having page numbers. Having the system tell me I am currently reading locations 21-29 out of 1642 with a scroll bar at the bottom showing me the percentage of the book I have read. I never had any issue on my Sony with the page numbers changing if I modified the font size - which I never did. The locations concept is bizarre and unnatural - it is NOT like reading a real book. And in a really long book it is simply formidable to think of 6,500 locations rather than say 650 pages.

Give me folders so I can store items rather than seeing everything in one huge list - especially since this baby can store up to 1,500 books - good grief that is mindboggling. The Sony uses "Collections" to make it all more manageable.

The Sony has an explicit Bookmark key which toggles the current position in a book to be a bookmark or turns off the exiting bookmark on that page. This is an awkward multi-step process on the Kindle. In addition, on the main Sony menu there is a Bookmark option which will show you all the books bookmarked and let you jump right into a book at a given bookmark. The closest thing on the Kindle is the "MY Clippings" and it is poor approximation of the Sony feature.

Unlike my Sony, there is no control over which music selection you listen to. The Kindle plays whatever it wants to play. On my Sony I can see which music files are out there and select the one I want to hear. But this feature is listed as experimental on the Kindle so it is somewhat forgiven.

Here are some things shared by both devices:

A non-replaceable battery. While I am sure both companies have good reasons for their decisions (disposing of used battery considerations?), it is darn annoying for the end users. To be forced to pay about $60 plus shipping to return the unit for a new battery (once it is out of warranty) is really aggravating. Let alone losing your reader for a week or so.

Some have complained that the background is more grey than their original Kindle. Never having seen one I can say it looks about the same side-by-side with my Sony. I assume they would since I believe the same company makes the screens for both devices.

OKay, now for the positives for my new Kindle-2:

The device is lightweight thin, sits in my hands comfortably and the buttons are well positioned for ease of access.

Oodles of memory - though I can appreciate many of the comments aobut the lack of an SD card.

I thought I wouldn't like the screen in the middle of all that white plastic (I have the dark blue Sony-505), but actually I find it to be attractive and not at all distracting while reading.

To my eye, the Kindle-2 is marginally quicker changing pages than my Sony.

The Kindle offers six font sizes - the Sony-505 offers three.

The 5-button controller is nifty. I find it functional to use when moving around in most situations.

The Kindle uses fewer buttons to execute commands. The Sony-505 is covered with buttons required due to the way the system is programmed I assume.

While most of the books I tend to read are out of copyright and therefore available for free on the Internet, I do like the idea of immediate wireless access to the Amazon digital bookstore. It works quite nicely. And needless to say, the vastly greater number of titles available on the Kindle knocks the socks off the Sony bookstore.

I like having WhisperNet deliver my favorite newspapers and magazines overnight. This feature is fantastic. Without a wireless feature, my Sony sadly lacks newspapers, magazines and blogs. The new Sony-700 went with a touch screen - they should have gone with wireless!!!

Love the keyboard for searching. It is real handy when reading a lengthy novel to be able to backtrack where a character that shows up later in the book was first mentioned earlier. The new Sony-700 added this feature but the keyboard shows up on the touch screen. I rather like the physical keyboard on the KIndle-2.

I don't tend to read books that would require the highlighting or notation features, but I can appreciate those that do and it certainly executes those functions handily.

After hearing all the complaints about the page turn keys and book cover clip issues on the original Kindle, I have to say I find the Kindle-2 to easy to manipulate. I purchased the basic Kindle-2 cover and it holds nicely and is easy to handle when reading.

Like the dictionary, although I rarely have to look up any words. The few that I tried in some 18th century English novels were not in the dictionary - which is what I figured - but a few were and that was nice to have.

Wikipaedia is okay but very slow.

Web access is sort of nice, but brutally unusable - I'll stick with my laptop. Then again it is experimental still. And honestly I didn't buy the Kindle to browse the Internet.

The text-to-speech experimental feature was of interest to me for a friend who is very visually impared - not great but usable. She currently buys a lot of new audio books, but cnanot find them for a many of older novels. I see Amazon is going to disable this feature in books they sell when the publisher objects to having this capability.

Overall both of these devices are focused on making reading digitally an enjoyable experience. And they both succeed admirably. They both have their good points. And they will both improve in future designs. I intend to keep and use both devices for readers in the houselhold.

The great thing is that thanks to these two companies (and a few lesser known ones), digital books are here to stay. The future has arrived. And eReaders might even get more people to read books again - wow what a concept.

Bob

[sigma8]

Nice analyses and commentaries. I too am fascinated by the Kindle's wireless potential, but I'm put off by the tight binding between the Kindle and the Amazon.com Kindle store.

I just bought a 505--my first reader--and I think it's an amazing piece of kit, but there are definitely things I know I'd do on the Kindle. I would definitely have one or two newspapers or magazines "delivered" to the device. This seems somewhat possible on the Sony reader. I'm using Caliber to grab some web feeds, but so far it is not ideal. RSS is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't really deliver a proper reading experience. In practice, I find RSS strangely disappointing. It's possible to syndicate well, but most sites don't. CNN only provides like half a sentence per headline while Engadget spams you with a giant picture and the whole article--almost completely unformatted. I can't even think of any sites that strike a pleasant balance. It might not really be possible given the limits of the RSS spec.

It would be great to see another news format that is designed for news fetching onto screens, but I'm sure news providers are already leery enough about RSS due to its limited advertising options. It would be hard to expect them to jump up and support some kind of specification that gave us more newspaper-like yet free-flowing summary formats.

[spec2]

Originally Posted by BobLenx

Here are some things shared by both devices:

A non-replaceable battery. While I am sure both companies have good reasons for their decisions (disposing of used battery considerations?), it is darn annoying for the end users. To be forced to pay about $60 plus shipping to return the unit for a new battery (once it is out of warranty) is really aggravating. Let alone losing your reader for a week or so.

In all fairness, it's not a "non-replaceable" battery, it's just not user-replaceable, at least officially. That is just the trend portable electronics are going now for better or worse.

However, you can buy 3rd party batteries for the 505, and I'm betting you'll be able to buy 3rd party batteries for the K2 soon as well. It's really no different than the iPod in that regard. In most instances it's a fairly easy task unless you have two left thumbs.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AbFabGab

When I was researching devices, the dictionary wasn't really a factor.
After having my 505 a bit, though, I can see where it would be handy.
(I'm a "word" person..lol)

so, yeah, I agree that would be a really nice feature.

I use the dictionary on my Gen3 pretty much daily. It's an incredibly useful feature, especially if, like me, you're a fan of 19th century novels in which a lot of words are used which are not in common usage today.

I even used it in an SF novel yesterday, to look up the meaning of the verb "trice", which I was unfamiliar with.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by spec2

In all fairness, it's not a "non-replaceable" battery, it's just not user-replaceable, at least officially.

And the difference between the two is....?

Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, if the user can't replace it, then it's not a "replaceable" battery. Having to send it back to the manufacturer really does not count.

[lilac_jive]

These are some good points. I'm extremely happy with my 505 and have no interest the Kindle. Except for those Cole Haan covers...

[sealbeater]

Hi, just jumping in on this thread, but here's something for all you kindle users to consider. The device isn't really yours. At least not the functionality of it. Check it out.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...0,133240.story

From the article:

Amazon.com Inc. reversed course Friday on the device's controversial text-to-speech feature, which reads digital books aloud in a robotic voice. The company gave rights holders the ability to disable the feature for individual titles.

Way to go Amazon! Seriously because for me, even though the PRS-505 isn't perfect, one of the reasons I got it is because it handled simple drm free formats and it *didn't* communicate back to Amazon. The first Kindle masked convenience with control, and the second gen is all about solidifying it. What's the point of buying a device that reads text out loud (why anyone would is beyond me) if you dont' have control over what you want to have be read out loud?

Thank you Amazon, for confirming my life choices.

[svakanda]

thanks for the great reviews folks