Reading PDF Files on the Sony PRS 600 no comments
I’ve been experimenting with several PDF documents on the Sony Touch Edition ereader, and I have to report mixed results.
The default display mode for PDF pages on Sony’s new ereader is to display the whole page on the screen. This makes the font so small that it is impractical to read on the PRS 600′s 6″ screen. You can zoom, of course, but this worked a little differently on each of the three documents I’ve tried so far.
First of all I tried a text only PDF. As should be expected, reflow worked fine on this: I could use the font size keys to enlarge the text and there were no chopped off words, etc. Reading this file was pretty much like reading an ebook in any other format.
Things were not so easy when I moved on to an aeronautics text with schematics, charts and equations. First of all, if I used the font size keys on this document most diagrams and equations where not shown at all or were Sony PRS600 Touch Edittion PDF Zoom and Panmessed up. Also words were chopped off at the right margin and unceremoniously finished on the next line. The best results were acheived with this file when I used the
zoom-in feature with the screen in landscape mode. You can see this in the short video I made.
In the zoomed-in mode diagrams and equations were shown as intended, and being able to use your finger on the touch screen to pan around is quite cool. Being able use the stylus to annotate PDF’s on the Sony Touch makes for a great study tool; but you cannot annotate or make notes while you are zoomed in. Another annoyance is that when you turn the page your zoomed in setting is reset and you have to zoom in all over again for each new page. This will probably work fine for a limited number of pages, but I cannot imagine having to read a whole book like this without the process becoming exceedingly tedious.
The last PDF I tried was a Google scanned book with drawings. The font zoom keys had no effect whatsoever on this file. The only way to enlarge this one was to use the zoom-in feature, which worked fine, but again you have to redo the zoom for each new page.
I think that the PRS 600 ereader just has a screen that is too small to work with a lot of PDF files that are filled with diagrams, etc. It is, however, fine for text only files where you can use the font zoom keys, or if you just need to view a few pages with schematics, etc. at a time. On the other hand if you need a portable device to view your PDF files while on the go, then this ereader may well be a good choice for you. If the feature set stays the same, the Daily Edition will be somewhat more practical for graphic rich PDF files because of its larger 7″ screen. The Daily Edition will purportedly cost around the same amount as the upcoming iRex DR800SG and a little less than the Kindle DX though, so it will remain to be seen how those three ereaders will compare when it comes to working with PDF documents. The Kindle DX has a 9.7″ screen and also has 16 gray scales, which means that graphics look better than with the Sony’s 8 gray scales. The iRex DR800SG will come with an 8.1″ display.
£149.00
£109
