Best e-readers for Mother's Day

By   |   April 28, 2011   |   3


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CNET Editor

Michelle Starr is the tiger force at the core of all things. She also writes about cool stuff and apps as CNET Australia's Crave editor. But mostly the tiger force thing.

Your mum might be reluctant to take the step into e-reading, but these devices are so smooth and user-friendly she'll be using it every day without even noticing.


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mjohans
 

mjohans posted a comment   
Australia

I looked at multiple reviews on just about all the high-end ereaders around before I decided to buy this. Since they were all out of stock locally, I got mine on faith that it would be good. And..It is!

(Incidentally, I found it cheaper here:
www.join.dublireview.com
than at any other online shop so far - including the Sony shop. Copy and paste link).

Despite the screen not looking like paper, I didn't expect it would. After all, it is a plastic screen. It looks like text printed on a piece of plastic. It is very clear, doesn't hurt your eyes at all. I easilly read for hours without fatigue.

I've tried the Kindle, and thought it felt a bit cheap and nasty because of the plastic, but the Sony is a made of metal.

Also, I can't stand the idea of taking notes with a thumb pad on the Kindle. I LOVE the touch screen on the Sony. The screen visual quality is basically the same on both units.

The screen is very sensitive as it works on an infra-red sensing technology instead of touch sensing, (which is why the screen is so clear). I noticed that when it doesn't respond when trying to turn pages, it is due to not enough movement of my finger on the screen. Otherwise, it is very responsive.

I have found that some books are a little sluggish to load pages and respond, but this seems to be on some home made books and pdfs. It hasn't happened with professionally made ones. Despite this, it is very rare it happens. I don't think this problem is restricted to Sony readers either. I've heard similar complaints with other brands periodically.

I recommend getting a leather cover for this. It is actually a little too thin to hold comfortably for long periods without shuffling around your grip regularly or resting it on your lap. I got a great little fake leather cover for 3 dollars from China! It works a treat. It has a little support stand on it so you can put it on a table, or an airline seat back and just read from there. Pretty good for 3 bucks!

The mp3 player (which hardly gets any use) is acutally rather a nice one as far as sound quality goes. It has a decent amount of grunt in it. Accessing it is a little annoying to use other than as a background track while you are reading. You can't walk around with it running in your pocket as the screen can't be locked and will fiddle with your song position or skip tracks all the time.

I have little complaints overall with this unit. I wanted the best 6 inch reader I could get. And really, I think this one is it. All the others have significant design problems for what I want.

I don't want internet capabilities to distract me from reading, i don't want 100 buttons, a telephone, games, or anything other than what I bought it for: A solid, elegant and functional ebook reader. No bells and whistles. That is what I've got. Great job Sony!

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ebook fan
 

ebook fan posted a comment   
Australia

My sister has one and she likes it.
Personally I prefer the BeBook as it has a much wider range of formats I can use. On the Sony she is directed to by her books at Kobo from Angus and Robertson and they just got into administration, so I wonder what Sony will do next

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Michelle Starr CNET Editor
 

Michelle Starr posted a reply   
Australia

RedGroup retail has assured us the online Borders store will remain in business; but you don't have to purchase your books from just one place if you have a Sony reader. You can open the reader as a storage device on your computer and simply drag and drop ebook files in, or use Adobe Digital Editions to manage your e-reader's library. Either way, you can bypass the Sony app.

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