Real-life e-book encounter: Sony PRS-505
Remember when I was at the Harry Potter premiere and I saw people reading Kindles? It happened again.
Today I was getting ready to watch the 70th anniversary High-Definition digital screening of The Wizard of Oz (a movie based on a book that is itself public domain and hence available as an e-book) when I happened to look up and notice a booklight in use in the back row—a booklight that looked very much like it was attached to an e-book reader cover.
So I went on back and talked to the lady, who was named Teresa (or perhaps Theresa—I did not ask how she spelled it), and she showed me her Sony PRS-505 reader. She said she had had it for a couple of years, and was very happy with it. She was a SF and fantasy fan, with titles from Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Piers Anthony, and others—as well as some public domain titles from writers such as Charles Dickens (as can be seen in the photo). She said she got most of her books from the Sony store.
I showed her my iPod Touch and Stanza, and she was reasonably impressed. She said she might get an iPhone or iPod Touch someday when she had more money or prices came down. I also gave her my card, and told her about TeleRead.org.
As with the Kindles, I was quite impressed by how clear and legible the e-ink screen was compared to the screen on the PRS-700 I tried out. Clearly, if I wanted to experience the true glories of e-ink, I picked the wrong reader to try.
September 24th, 2009 at 3:57 am
Yeah, frankly, you’ve just seen the holy grail of reader screens. The device might be a bit slow, though for its age I think it’s okay, but that screen is the bar by which all others are measured in terms of clarity.
The only complaint I’ve heard made seriously about it is that to some eyes in some light it might be too high of contrast. It’s really the epitome of the goal of e-Ink and to me it’s a bit sad that later generation screens have lost that contrast in favor of… whatever. Whether it’s the goal of faster refresh or more shades of gray, or just a nearly useless touchscreen, I’d prefer the contrast of that 505 any day.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Chris, I’m a 505 user, stepping up to it after using a 500 for over a year *and* trying Stanza on my iPod Touch. I really need the clarity of E-ink. My aging eyes just don’t do well with back-lit screens anymore, so much so that it’s made my Touch an accidental throwback — I use it for music and little else.