Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 6, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Anyone who likes to carry kilograms of reading material while travelling will soon have reason to feel relieved. From March 11, Sony’s PRS-505 e-book reader will be available from online retailer buch.de. Weighing only 260 grams, slightly smaller than an A5 sheet and just eight millimetres thick, the device fits into any handbag and stores up to 160 books.
Unlike computer or television screens, the e-book reader’s six-inch
display does not flicker at all. This is made possible by so-called
E Ink technology. Instead of being refreshed continuously like conventional displays,
the screen is built only once and then remains constant. The
letters therefore actually appear as though written on paper in ink: razor-sharp,
flicker-free and without tiring the eyes, even in bright
sunlight.
The type can be enlarged in three stages up to 150 percent. The reader automatically
adjusts line and page breaks accordingly. Another
advantage of “electronic ink” is its low power consumption. Once the
letters have appeared on the screen, no further power is consumed. This means the reader can get through up to 20 books on one battery charge before
the device needs to be connected to the mains again.
“With Sony’s PRS-505, we have deliberately chosen to offer an e-reader that is open to
formats from different providers,” says Albert Hirsch, spokesman for the management board of
buch.de internetstores AG. “Alongside EPUB, the new format for electronic books,
the device recognises text in PDF, TXT, RTF and even Word formats.” This gives the
user the widest possible choice of content to store
on the reader. The device also plays music in MP3 and AAC formats and displays
images as JPG, GIF, PNG and BMP.
buch.de already offers around 18,000 e-books in PDF format for download. Books by Stephen King, Elizabeth George and Helmut Schmidt are among those already available as e-books in EPUB format. The number of titles is growing steadily because all major German publishers are preparing e-book versions of their successful titles.
Further links:
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