02-13-2009, 10:02 AM | #1 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 72,190
Karma: 308792702
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
CyBook Gen 3 compared to Sony PRS-505
I just bought a Sony PRS-505 from expansys. I thought it would be useful to compare it to my CyBook Gen 3, which I've had for a year.
First impressions: The Sony is shorter but a little wider than the CyBook. It's aspect ration is much more like the aspect ratio of A-series paper than of a book, which is what the cybook looks like. It's considerably heavier. The specs say this, but I didn't realise it would be so noticeable in the hand. Not that the Sony is excessively heavy - it's just heavier than the CyBook. It has /far/ more buttons than the cybook. I think I rather like the 10 menu buttons down the side, and I definitely like the next/previous page buttons - in two different places. I'd prefer to have the menu (which seems to mean "up a level" in a different place, but it's certainly more convenient than the menu button of the cybook on the left hand side. I haven't had it long enough to compare battery life, but unless I turn off the CyBook after reading, or enable the auto shutoff, the CyBook will drain its battery in three days. I don't like auto shutoff, or turning off the CyBook, because the start-up time is long when there are a lot of books on it. I understand the Sony will hibernate automatically with fast 'on', so giving much better battery life. I'll see. I don't like the very limited font size selection on the sony. It seems very strange to have an eBook and then limit the resizing of the text so much. So far, I like the Sony. The nicer button placement and the possibility of long battery life currently outweigh the limited font sizes. Of course, without Calibre it'd be a complete non-starter for me on the Mac. Thanks Kovid! |
02-13-2009, 12:45 PM | #2 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
The Sony is unquestionably much better engineered than the CyBook but for me, having owned both, the CyBook wins "hands down" in software terms - things like font selection, dictionary lookup, etc.
|
Advert | |
|
02-13-2009, 01:31 PM | #3 |
Guru
Posts: 860
Karma: 4380
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Almada, Portugal
Device: Cybook Gen3, Sony PRS 505, Kindle DXG and Samsung Galaxy Note
|
Made the same road you did and stated my opinion about the two of them before.
The Cybook is my main reader! The Sony as a good second but just that a second - and the unique when reading PDF’s is needed. |
02-13-2009, 03:41 PM | #4 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,229
Karma: 543210
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Device: Kindles: Paperwhite Signature Ed., Oasis 2, Voyage
|
Good comparison.
I'm with Harry: for me, the Cybook wins. The font options plus dictionary lookup outweigh the nicer hardware of the Sony. |
02-14-2009, 08:27 AM | #5 |
sleepless reader
Posts: 4,763
Karma: 615547
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Germany, near Stuttgart
Device: Sony PRS-505, PB 360° & 302, nook wi-fi, Kindle 3
|
For me the Sony is better designed than the CyBook. I'm very happy with my Sony and its feature to organize my eBooks in collections on the reader.
But for novices who are looking for eBooks in another language than english the CyBook seems to be the better device because it does support Mobi, PalmDoc and Html out of the box and offers PDF-support too (even if the pdf-support is not as good as with the Sony). Most of the non-english eBook-Publishers i'm aware of are using Mobi, PalmDoc, PDF or Html... |
Advert | |
|
02-14-2009, 09:10 AM | #6 | |
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
Posts: 27,827
Karma: 921169
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Paris, France
Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?
|
Quote:
|
|
02-14-2009, 09:35 AM | #7 | |
sleepless reader
Posts: 4,763
Karma: 615547
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Germany, near Stuttgart
Device: Sony PRS-505, PB 360° & 302, nook wi-fi, Kindle 3
|
Quote:
But i'm pretty sure that amazon will not start to offer ePubs once the Kindle will come to europe... |
|
02-14-2009, 09:17 PM | #8 |
You kids get off my lawn!
Posts: 4,220
Karma: 73492664
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of
|
I have both - much prefer the Sony, even if I can't change the fonts easily. I've found that I really don't change fonts between more than two sizes anyway, so all the extra choices were just gravy. I wish I had better luck with imbedded fonts in my LRFs - I haven't been able to get Calibre's "imbedded fonts" options to work with any of the san serif fonts on my computer! If that worked better (and I believe Kovid has said the problem is in the LRF specs, not Calibre), I wouldn't miss that option at all with the Cybook.
I also find that I didn't use the dictionary lookup feature enough for it to factor in my selection process (it was something I had on the eBookwise). The Cybook always felt too insubstantial in my hands. I hate the cover (the kind that's a sleeve with cutouts) because it covers the little light in the upper right-hand corner. And since I have one of the only-slightly-older Cybooks that makes me fight for button control, the only way I can know for sure if the page turn is going to go is if I can see that little light flicker. But given the number of threads about broken screens, I'm not willing to read with the Cybook out of the cover, so it's just an exercise in frustration for me to use it. My co-worker has been reading on it lately (I'm glad it's getting some use), and I can't tell you how many times she's come in from lunch and said "It froze up on me again!" She said it's frustrating that the battery indicator doesn't display when the book is being read. I really don't remember. I do agree with the original poster, though, that the battery life does seem shorter than the Sony's. I will admit, because I prefer reading a san serif font on "screen" when I can, everytime I pick up the Cybook I wish I liked it better. The type just seems so much cleaner and less...cluttered...to me. But a few minutes struggling with a recalcitrant page-turn button is usually enough to remind me why I prefer my Sony. |
02-15-2009, 11:10 AM | #9 | |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
Quote:
|
|
02-15-2009, 11:14 AM | #10 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,229
Karma: 543210
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Device: Kindles: Paperwhite Signature Ed., Oasis 2, Voyage
|
|
02-15-2009, 11:16 AM | #11 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
Thank you for the correction, Bill.
|
02-15-2009, 11:54 AM | #12 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 72,190
Karma: 308792702
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
We're promised a battery indicator while reading in the next firmware release, which should be real soon now.... |
|
02-15-2009, 12:17 PM | #13 | |
Gadget-Luster
Posts: 330
Karma: 2157280
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: NY - USA
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
|
Quote:
whatever you want to call it) for EACH model. Like reading the Sony 500 / 505 folder.. lots of things apply only to the 500 OR the 505 and it does get confusing for those of us who are new to ereading devices. ex. in this case someone might be looking at the getting the Cybook but read about a "sticky button" problem not realizing that is with an older model.. make sense? Just throwing that thought out there : ) |
|
02-15-2009, 01:59 PM | #14 |
Member
Posts: 13
Karma: 64
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Seattle, WA
Device: none
|
It's a balance though. If you break things into too many sections it gets hard to figure out where things should go. You get people placing comments in the wrong section and I think it generally gets harder to find anything unless you know the exact search you want. It's certainly harder to browse.
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
PRS-300 Brand new PRS-300 in hand compared to the 505. | boca | Sony Reader | 7 | 09-10-2009 02:08 PM |
Sony PRS-505 or cybook? | Edzilla | Which one should I buy? | 19 | 01-02-2009 07:11 AM |
PRS-505 versus cyBook Gen 3 reliability | seamad | Which one should I buy? | 1 | 11-16-2008 12:49 AM |
Sony PRS-500 vs. Cybook Gen 3 | slayda | Sony Reader | 3 | 11-03-2008 02:39 AM |
Sony prs-505 or Cybook for PDF? | kucing | Which one should I buy? | 8 | 10-22-2008 11:35 AM |