Review e-Book Readers

When it comes to portable electronic reading devices, the Amazon Kindle is a good start, but it's not the only device on the market. Although it seems to get the most attention, other electronic digital reading devices are available and offer consumers more choice and some interesting design features. One such device is the Sony PRS-505 Portable Digital e-Reader System. Made by Sony, this digital reader brings together the same quality designs and features as other Sony products and puts them into a great compact electronic reader.

Sony has developed the PRS-505 with hardcore readers in mind and the device even looks like a book. Covered in leather, it resembles a thin day planner and is very attractive. In terms of the design, this Sony e-reader is much more attractive than the Kindle. At just 9oz, the Sony PRS-505 is light and it's less than 1 cm thick and while it's heavier than other e-readers, the weight just lends to the feel of quality and durability.

The Sony PRS-505 comes with 256MB of storage space which can easily store a number of books, but it has the ability to expand the storage capacity by adding an SD card up to 2GB, a High Capacity SD card of up to 32GB or a Memory Stick Pro of up to 8GB. Readers can easily adjust font size depending on comfort level and the device easily plays word documents and PDF files. For the music lover or audio book fan, the PRS-505 can even play MP3 files and AAC Audio files if you connect headphones. Even pictures in BMP, JPEG, GIF and PNG format can be viewed. The device runs on a version of Linux which makes it quick and light and it can easily be plugged into a Windows computer or a Mac for Sync purposes. Unfortunately an AC adapter is an added accessory as charging is done by plugging into a USB port of a computer. For someone on the go that doesn't often use a computer, this is not the best feature so keep that in mind.

With a nice 6 inch display, the screen is large enough for most readers and the screen has an 8 level grayscale, making it easy on the eyes. If you're not sure just how much text can be viewed on a screen that size, it's about ¼ of a regular 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper. Connect the Sony PRS-505 to a desktop of laptop computer with the USB cable and you can sync it with a folder on the computer. Keep all your PDF's, e-book files and even word documents in this folder and you will have them with you wherever you go. The PRS-505 can be charged through USB cable as well and will give you around 15-20 hours of reading on a single charge.

For avid readers who want to express their style and not carry around a device that looks too “electronic”, the Sony PRS-505 is perfect. With a number of color options for the leather case, there's a color to suite just about every taste. While the Kindle seems to get all the press, the Sony PRS-505 certainly deserves your attention when shopping for a new electronic reader.