Sony's PRS-500 portable eBook Reader in its optional USB 2.0 docking cradle

Not too many reviewers have seen Sony's PRS-500 eBook Reader and among those who have, the consensus isn't all that positive. Often the contrarian, I must disagree with the naysayers.

In the same way Sony bowled me over with its quite small VAIO T350P laptop and to a somewhat lesser extent with its ultra-small UX180P and UX280P sub-laptop computers, I'm very much impressed with the PRS-500 Reader.

The T350P was a very small laptop, but Sony still found room for a read/write DVD burner.

Both the T350P and the UX180P won our Editors Choice Award for their innovative design. TG Publishing is dusting off the Editors Choice Award one more time for the PRS-500 Reader system.

Sony's ultra-small UX180P and a credit card

This is no me-too Reader trying to imitate an upsized PDA or a slimmed down Ultra Mobile PC. Rather, it's a true electronic book, designed to perform like a book, while holding plenty of content and running for an extended period on battery power.

All is not perfect in Sony eBook land. However, the pluses far outweigh the minuses as you'll see when you read on.

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