Quote:
Originally Posted by el.astrologo
Harsh words porkupan, I wouldn't say the 700 is a failure, it is however not THE ULTIMATE BEST which I presume is what most people wanted it to be. I have to ask, do you own a PRS 700 or 505? I find that most 505 users have the opinion that the 700 is as good as a donkey's kidney.
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Actually, I own all three models: 500, 505 and 700. And lots of them went through my hands while I had this little side business going, reselling the readers with installed localized firmware to people outside the U.S. who could not otherwise buy them in a store. But then a crisis struck, and a strong dollar, so the business kind of dwindled down... But that's beside the point. I can tell you from personal experience that the potential customers' interest in 700 VS 505 is about 1:10 ratio. Meaning, since the PRS-700 came out I only sold a few of them, and I sold many many more 505's.
Well, the display is a weak point of the PRS-700, and there is just no way around it. You compare 700 to 505 side by side in a store, and you can't help but notice that the naked Vizplex is just so much better than the PRS-700 concoction, it's painful.
The people on Russian eBook forum, where I spend a lot of time, have more or less come to the unanimous decision: the PRS-700 is a failure. It is not worth the premium, it should not in fact be cost even as much as 505. PRS-700 does have its little advantages (search, notes), but there is no reason why those same features could not be implemented on a 505 (after all, they have been implemented on Netronix clone PocketBook, which has even fewer buttons than 505). Sony seems to be acting as if the competition is not serious and can be ignored, as if the eBook reader project is their last priority. Perhaps it is so.