PC Pro (UK) Cover & 8 Page Article on eBooks

[JayCeeEll]

PC Pro for January 2009 has the cover and a seven page article devoted to eBooks.




The article is not online as yet. But if it does become available I will edit this post with the link.

• Pages 1 & 2 - Full cover spread

ebooks The Verdict and picture of Sony PRS 505

• Page 3 Why ebooks are the future

• Page 4 Why ebooks are a fad

• Pages 5 & 6 Review of ebook readers available in UK

Amazon Kindle - Preview of current US only model
Bebook - 3 stars
Cybook Gen 3 - 3 stars
IRex Illiad - 4 stars
Sony Reader PRS-505 - 5 stars
Column on The Future of Readers

• Pages 7 & 8 eBooks: the rights & wrongs

[Gaurnim]

This looks like an interesting article.
Could you read it ?
Is it well-informed or are they just using the manufacturer's data for comparison ?

They should malke the article available in Mobi and ePub, to support their article

[Ned]

Been so busy with my reader that I hadn't looked at my copy of PC Pro.

Essentially, the feature on eBook readers is not particularly valuable.
There's a whole page saying readers in general are a waste of time because "people don't read much" so what's the point of carrying around hundreds of books.

It recommends the Sony 505 with 5 stars even though it "struggles to display PDF properly".

The Cybook is only a 3 star one, as "you can't zoom in on PDFs", the processor is slow, and its main fault is only having four shades of grey to the Sony's eight. "Ultimately ..it is undone by the screen. Like the BeBook, its four shades of grey suffer next to the Sony's eight, appearing pixellated, leaving the Sony a clear winner".

[Gaurnim]

Thx for the summary, Ned.

It seems that they did play a little with the readers, but not for long, I'd say.

Well, at least it raises the general awareness on those devices, and people who might be interested in them don't really care about comments that "people don't read much".

[Ned]

I think it's not really sensible for people who aren't regular readers to review these devices. A bit like my reviewing shotguns - I don't have one and am not interested in them, so I don't know which features matter and which don't.

Since I've got a cybook, I overlooked to give their conclusions on the others, which are as follows:

Kindle - "the company has been shrewd in ensuring you don't need a PC to use the Kindle" (but hasn't everybody got access to a PC anyway?)
It's ugly, though the screen is "beautiful to behold". The Kindle is "an enticing proposition, although one we'll have to wait for" (though I'm not clear why it's enticing as they don't really say). No stars as just a preview

Bebook - It "lets itself down in a number of key areas" - 4 shades of grey instead of 8 leads to pixellation and "bleached out" pictures; a "bargain basement feel about the device"; plastic case feels cheap; a "design that's utilitarian rather than enticing" so it's "not a real rival" to the Sony 505. 3 stars

Cybook Gen3 - "by far the best menu system"; "lack of extra page turn controls make it difficult to hold comfortably"; "sleek lines"; light; "can't zoom in on PDFs"; "feels cheap in the hand and the ARM processor is a second too slow to respond"; four shades of grey as Bebook. 3 stars

Irex Iliad - Wifi "disappointing" as it can't be used for web access; touchscreen good for business users; 8.1 in screen "pleasingly large" though it "doesn't feel bulky"; "pages turn nice and quickly"; ample storage with 256MB flash memory; but it's "too expensive. It's £208 more than the Sony and, given the limited .. wifi, we can't recommend it. 4 stars"

Sony PRS-505 - "A stunning piece of design and ..the most striking ebook reader on the market"; just heavy enough to sling in a bag with confidence, not too heavy so it's bulky; page turn controls either side; "a beautiful reading experience, with three levels of zoom to present text clearly"; faster processor and eight levels of grey make it "more pleasurable than cheaper rivals"; good battery; 256MB memory; "good format support"; can't annotate text like the Iliad; no wifi; "struggles to display PDFs properly with random line breaks appearing"; menus poorly arranged. "But if it's style and a magnificent reading experience you're after, we can't fault the PRS-5-5. Five stars.

[HarryT]

Slightly curious that the Kindle screen is:

beautiful to behold

while for the BeBook:

4 shades of grey instead of 8 leads to pixellation and "bleached out" pictures

... when one considers that the two machines do, in fact, use an identical screen and BOTH display 4 shades of grey

[Gaurnim]

Originally Posted by Ned

A bit like my reviewing shotguns - I don't have one and am not interested in them, so I don't know which features matter and which don't.

About shotguns, you only need to check one thing :
do they make a nice "KACHINK" sound when you use the pump?

Now, more seriously, it's pretty interesting to compare the summaries.
When you look at the PRS505 summary, you can see that they give some data here that is not given for the other readers (possibly it was mentioned in the article), such as the battery life (quite the same as Cybook for instance) or the memory size (smaller than the Cybook)

[Ned]

Originally Posted by Gaurnim

When you look at the PRS505 summary, you can see that they give some data here that is not given for the other readers (possibly it was mentioned in the article), such as the battery life (quite the same as Cybook for instance) or the memory size (smaller than the Cybook)

Just checked and no mention of the Cybook battery. It does say the Cybook has a "relatively impressive " 512MB memory and in the same sentence "but beyond its looks the Cybook struggles" in case you're relatively impressed as they clearly don't want you to be. No mention of the SD card facility.

The Sony - it tells you that you can store 160 books in its 256MB memory and can increase that with Memory Stick and SD cards.

I wonder if Sony were hosting some sort of entertainment or trip for the reviewers? But surely journalists aren't influenced by that kind of thing.

[JSWolf]

What I'd like to know is how does the Gen3 & V3 handle dithering. I know the Kindle doesn't do such a good job dithering. The 505 does a really good job dithering.

[jljones]

Originally Posted by Ned

readers in general are a waste of time because "people don't read much" so what's the point of carrying around hundreds of books.

Some (many?) people don't read much, but readers are aimed at people who do read a lot.

[Slite]

Is the article paid for by Sony per chance? (OBS. Sarcasm)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What I'd like to know is how does the Gen3 & V3 handle dithering. I know the Kindle doesn't do such a good job dithering. The 505 does a really good job dithering.

The Gen3 does a pretty reasonable job, but you still get better results if you convert the image to grey-scale using a program like "PaintShop Pro" before creating the book.

[Over]

How less colors make a game more pixelated? I thought it was all about resolution! Sure, more colours would mean better anti-aliasing, but I guess no eReader has anti-aliasing.

Plus, those summaries are clearly biased. I guess Sony gave them a review copy and they decided to make an article, by comparing their hands-on Sony experience with the other ereaders' wikipedia info.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by jljones

Some (many?) people don't read much, but readers are aimed at people who do read a lot.

A written document explaning how people don't read... who's going to read it?

[Over]

Originally Posted by Jellby

A written document explaning how people don't read... who's going to read it?

They just buy the magazine for the pictures and to see the stars (score).