Sony's lithe new
PRS-700 conquers many of the most annoying faults of Amazon's chunky little
fire-starter, but falls just short of greatness according to
MobileTechReview. First with the good: the touchscreen enables page turning with the flick of a finger (or stylus), note taking via virtual keyboard, responds quite well, and doesn't even smudge! It supports PDF and Word files, can be used landscaped, and even has LEDs built into the screen's border for reading in the dark. Sadly, though, that display can't even match the contrast of its predecessors, which are plenty murky to begin with, and with no wireless of any sort you're stuck filling this one via USB, SD, or MS Duo. In other words there's
still no perfect choice in the world of the e-ink reader -- but it is awfully hard to ignore the Reader's sleek exterior when compared to the Kindle's distinctively sci-fi doorstop look.
posted November 12th 2008 6:30AM
someone ought to make an e-reader with the following attributes:
1. letter-sized
2. touch screen
3. wifi
4. tethered to a nice, well-stocked e-store
5. PDFs, .doc, MP3,
6. highlighter, dictionary, note-taking with stylus (as well as keyboard)
7. color display
8. sexy as hell
9. $300-$450 (the price floor for the sometimes more-equipped netbooks)
10. e-reader to e-reader messaging/emailing via phone service
11. a smooth, flawless and thoughtful UI relationship with the home PC/mac.
if a company could produce this, I bet you e-readers would take off. Students would eat it up, as well as the average business person and general consumer who interacts with others via documents as well as any other written form. I think that's the key, is getting each branch of the written word incorporated into a device: texting, emailing, documents, books, newspapers, magazines, blogging, etc.
I have one of the previous units for the next few months and I love it. the lack of WiFi is not a big deal. I spent a few minutes copying several books and documents to it at the begining of the month and have had no need to copy content since then. I posted about my experiences here
http://j2i.net/blogs/home/archive/2008/10/13/120-books-in-one.aspx
After using this in the sony style store in Carmel, IN, I have to say it's not as bad as this article makes it seem. The back-light is a bit stupid when not used in the dark, but the touch screen is VERY nice.
Seeing is believing. You can't rely on a fuzzy web image jpg that doesn't correct for ratio/angle/lighting etc etc.
Go to the SONY Store and see for yourself in different lighting areas. I can't wait for mine to come in. Sony
would (hopefully) not release a reader that is not legible to the point where you strain your vision. Keep in
mind the reviewer was pointing out his OWN objective view (ie. his eyes - not yours) that may not be the same
as your view.
once again, seeing is believing!
that news sold another prs-505 for me! I was waiting for the refreshed version to appear, but now it looks like I could buy the prs-505 long time ago. Good quality screen is a must have on this kind of device, much more important than flicking the pages by a touch. Obsolete upgrade.
OK, just picked up mine today.
the screen is not as bad as previously mentioned! Better lighting and viewing angle will help. if not you have two options:
put the light on, or increase font or both. plain and simple. Page turns are very quick, rendering is good. PDFs seem pretty
good with the reflow but few need tweeking. I have a ton a ebooks and this was somthing i needed long ago!
Finally a SEARCH button!! notes is also a good idea and the list goes on and on.
SEE FOR YOURSELF before your mind is poisoned. I will put the device through its paces next week when I go back to
work.
*UPDATE*
Re: screen quality. I have to admit, the only issue I see with the screen is that you need PROPER lighting due to the touch element
added on top. In day light, there is NO issue reading. In ambient lighting, still okay, when you get indoor with incondecent lighting, you
will need to fire up the aux light built in. The unit can not be used while charging via USB, and you can't use any Mini USB cable with it.
it must support both connectivity and charging. The search function work great and don't be afraid to tap the next letter before it appears,
there is a generous buffer to handle the slight redraw delay. Over all, still pleased, (otherwise wouldnt be here writing again!)
Re: PDFs - there are some pdf that will not open properly, so far most of mine open normal but I have to up the font size by one.
I will convert the non-friendly pdf to the other format and see what happens.