Quote:
Originally Posted by mgmueller
Display quality/glare/reflection:
There have been discussions, whether Sony 600 will have glare. Or whether it's actually glare of reflection.
Well, I don't know about the correct wording/definition.
But display quality of Sony 600 clearly significantly is below Sony 505 or Sony 300. But it's slightly better than on Sony 700.
I've said it before in my thread, comparing all my readers: If you own just one reader, each of them will be great, eInk simply is phantastic. A friend of mine for example absolutely loves his Sony 700, although admitting that Sony 505's display is superior.
But when comparing various displays, differences in quality are quite significant.
UI:
Sony 600 and Sony 700 can display thumbnails of book covers. I absolutely love it. I have no idea, why Sony 300 doesn't support that. Has nothing to do with touchscreen.
Concerning touchscreen: Of course it's way more comfortable, to scroll pages via touchscreen then actually touching buttons.
Thumbnails obviously are saved. Building the thumbnails for the first time takes about 10 seconds per page, after that it's more or less instantly.
A small partition on Sony 300 and Sony 600, recognised as a separate drive, contains eBook library 3.0. It either starts it or (when initialising) downloads the newest version and installs it.
Dictionary support:
Probably all of you have read it before. But briefly: Sony 600 is the only one so far with dictionary support. I find it quite convenient, each reader should have it. For every file format.
Speed in turning pages:
Someone stated, Sony 300 and 600 would have the very same processor as Sony 505 and Sony 700.
Didn't check that.
But Sony 300 and Sony 600 are slightly faster in turning pages than Sony 505 or Sony 700.
But it's hard to compare, I've only got about 100 books on the new ones, maybe size of the library or fragmentation of the database or whatever may have an impact...
eBook library 3.0:
It's crashing, when copying books to Sony 300 or Sony 600. Other users did confirm that. It has been working with Sony 505 and Sony 700 before.
I'll check, whether it's still working with the older readers.
Adobe Digital Editions is working flawlessly, drag and drop via Windows explorer is doing the job for all file formats as well.
Update: eBook library is crashing with all my devices, other users did confirm this for their readers.
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Thanks for the nice summary! I completely agree with most of your points.
Last week I had the chance for a side-by-side comparison of the PRS-300 and PRS-600 at the SonyStyle store in Boston. The display of the PRS-300 looked slightly sharper than that of the PRS-600, though without a direct comparison one wouldn't notice.
Reaction speed of the PRS-300, when pressing one of the buttons seemed to be slightly slower than for the PRS-600. It is more on-par with the PRS-505, which I tested in another store, hence this comparison between PRS-300 and PRS-505 is highly subjective, but I think that it is indeed due to the difference in CPU speeds between the PRS-300 (200 MHz) and the PRS-600 (532 MHz).
eBook library 3.x: I experienced freezes and crashes under MacOSX until I upgraded to the lastest Java version (1.6 or SE 6). Thus anyone experiencing problems with the new eBook library (also using the Windows version) should check their java version first!
In the end, I tried to purchase the PRS-600 because of its faster speed, larger screen (6 inch vs. 5 inch, though with the same number of pixel as the PRS-300) and the "touch" interface, but unfortunately it was already sold out (apart from the display units, the store didn't get many units with the first delivery). Luckily, just before flying back to Germany, I got the PRS-700 at an airport store for US$349 + tax :-)
My experience with the PRS-700 after four days of reading:
- reaction time is fast (same CPU as the PRS-600)
- I like the "book cover", and the "solid build" of the PRS-700 (same as the PRS-600)
- I like the touch interface, in particular for selecting books, though I hardly ever use it for turning pages
- page-turn button could be a little bit more ergonomic (it is rather thin)
- the screen of the PRS-700 seems indeed slightly less sharp than that of the PRS-600, but compared to my previous (make-shift) "eBook reader" (Fujitsu-Siemens ST5031), it is a great improvement (also weight-wise, 380g with cover vs. 1.4 kg)
- LED light: nice if one likes to read in complete darkness, though an electroluminescent "backlighting" (like, e.g., used with the Apple Newton MP2x00) would be preferable to the "side-lighting". There is quite some light leaking to the right (to the left it is shielded by the book cover)
Overall, I'm quite happy with the PRS-700. I'm also looking forward to the txtr (same CPU speed as the PRS-600 and 700, and with bluetooth and UMTS interfaces), but in the end didn't want to wait till the midst of October.