[maeludir]

This may be my first post, but I'm a regular lurker here and an even more dedicated reader on my current 505. I've decided to sign up because, as a rarity, my opinion could prove useful to a lot of prospective readers.

I bought my 505 shortly before the 700 was released because I prized the readability over the fancy, albeit unrefined, features of the 700. This was a smart decision and I'm glad of it, however I've just upgraded to the 600.

Why? Because readability is not solely reliant on a high contrast, low glare, screen. How smooth it is to physically turn the page, how long that pageturn takes - these are both just as important, and in these areas the 600 wins out significantly, but without the massive cost to the former two properties that the 700 touted. We've all seen pictures by now, and I can't be the only one who has to doublecheck which screen is which on basis of clarity.

And that's only the bread and butter of my argument. The real KO is this: the 505 is not a thorough replacement of a physical book. It wins out on many points, but not all of them.

The same cannot be said of the 600, where it is a clear superior to a physical book. Not only does it catch up on grounds of annotation, but it far surpasses with dictionary support. The PRS600 is the new benchmark for all eReaders because it's no longer competing with physical books. It will be the proving ground for every eReader to come, and it will be the forge in which even more innovative features are created.

To conclude: readability is a result of many virtues, and razor edge contrast is not the aim of the game. Further the 600 is beginning to exploit the advantages of eBooks over physical books, leading the way for a future where we actually feel handicapped when holding a physical novel.