So far, ebooks have been a non-issue for European book sellers: nobody cared about them, nobody wanted them and nobody talked about them either. The release of the Kindle changed it all: suddenly, ebooks were hip.
In Austria, everything tech is suspicious – but the bookseller Thalia nevertheless started to market the PRS505. Here is a box shot:
Size-wise, the device is big but thin:
Screen clarity is ok, contrast is insane:
The screen sometimes is refreshed “partially”. If this happens, artifacts remain visible:
This one is especially interesting for long-term Palm heads – Kinoma was involved in the development of the PRS505:
Don’t ask me why, but the device can be “powered off” with a switch at the top of the device. This clears the screen => useless extra power consumption. BTW: memory sticks can be used to expand the storage capacity of the device:
Here is a video showing the (sometimes somewhat slow) UI in action:
According to a helpful clerk, less than 10000 units have been sold all over Austria as of this writing (sales began on the 1st of April). Nevertheless, the store is extremely happy – according to them, sales have “exceeded expectations by far”.
Customer reactions were cool: a lawyer from Austria’s Hauser Partners LLP was extremely impressed, but missed the touchscreen and wondered “where the touchscreen was”.
In the end, Austria definitely isn’t the market of choice for all things high-tech – but the PRS505 seems to fare surprisingly well despite the insane price of 300 Euros. The e-paper display is nothing short of impressive…if Sony would only be able to improve usability…
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