Sony Reader PRS-505

Best Price:
Back when it seemed like everyone you knew had a Walkman, Sony was the giant of portable entertainment. But when cassettes and CDs gave way to MP3s, Sony wobbled. In stepped Apple with the iPod, and the Japanese giant has struggled to catch up ever since. Last year, however, Sony shifted its attention to the humble book and launched the Sony Reader – a sleek, lightweight, portable electronic book, capable of storing up to 160 volumes at a time. In September, Waterstone’s partnered with Sony to sell the newest version of the Reader, the PRS-505. So, have electronic books finally arrived and will the humble paperback be banished to history’s recycling bin?

Features:
It’s a given that reading on a computer screen is not an enjoyable experience. To tackle this, Sony uses ‘E Ink’ technology, which serves to make letters and words more print-like in their appearance. This is achieved without using a backlight, so perusing the Reader is as enjoyable and easy on the eye as the printed page. The device weighs just 255g, is about the size of a very slim paperback (just shy of 7 x 5in) and comes housed in a protective leather-bound casing.

The 600 x 800-pixel screen fills the bulk of the Reader. Sony has introduced two page-turning panels to accommodate both left- and right-handed readers. The Size button lets you choose from three different font sizes and you can also expand the memory via the two slots on the top of the device, which support standard SD and Sony’s Memory Stick Pro memory cards.

Performance:
According to Sony, one full battery charge is enough to power 6,800 continuous page turns – enough to read War and Peace five times. For our review, we didn’t quite have enough time to put this claim to the test, but at 15-20 hours per charge, battery life should be sufficient for the most demanding of readers. Overall navigation is straightforward, if a little dull.

One aspect that might take a little getting used to is the page turning: the screen goes to black while the next page refreshes in a process known as ‘ghosting’. Sony has managed to shorten the ‘ghosting’ time with this model, but some readers may still find it irritating. Unfortunately, the Reader is not Wi-Fi activated, so you won’t be able to receive books, newspapers and magazines wirelessly.

Ease of use:
The control panels and the interface on the reader are extremely simple. The numbers down the side of the screen configure to a set of options. For example, you can select books by author, title, date, collections or bookmarks. Readers who are perpetually short of a bookmark will especially enjoy the button reserved for this feature – when you resume reading you can access the bookmark category from the main menu and the corresponding number. The Reader comes loaded with a comprehensive set of classics. To download new books you can visit Waterstone’s or Sony Connect, the company’s online e-book store.

Value for money:
At £199, the Reader is no bargain-bin purchase, and it’s worth noting that you’ll have to keep shelling out for new books. However, since e-books cost anywhere from a pound for classics to £12.50 (half the print price) for ubiquitous chef Jamie Oliver’s brand new Ministry of Food, there’s a chance that in the long run you’ll come out saving money. There are even many free websites, such as Project Gutenberg, where you can download an array of out-of-copyright titles.

The device supports the common EPUB and BBeB formats, as well as PDF, Word, .TXT and .RTF files. The big question is what will happen when Amazon launches the Kindle, its own electronic reader, in the UK. But you could grow old waiting for a release date – we asked Amazon’s UK spokespeople and they told us there were no plans to bring the Kindle to the UK at the present time.