PRS-600 Appraisal of the PRS-600

[booksonthemove]

I think that with devices like these readers, whether you like one or not is highly personal, mainly because our eyes are all different. I have not experienced the screen glare a lot of you report.

I think a lot of thought has gone into the device to make it just like a book. So, you need light to read it.

Pros:
relatively big clear screen (at least compared to the tungsten-E )
it's the size and shape of a book, and is very thin
the build feels solid
it's not tiresome for me to hold
relatively quick
massive battery life
SDHC compatible
comfortable e-paper
it does PDFs as well as more normal ebook formats

Cons:
don't like the supplied software
would like the ability to read more formats
jpeg resolution is not good
would like colour, but then again, paperbacks aren't usually in colour, apart from the cover!

not tested yet: MP3

Sometimes reading PDF is painful, because the fonts go too small or pages or graphs don't scale, but I have a feeling this is the fault of the PDF author rather than the device. One can optimise PDF output for use with portable readers - this is rarely done.

Overall, I think it's really good. It's good in most light conditions, apart from when it starts getting dark, but then again you'd say the same for a book. I like the touch-screen too, but I can see myself using the stylus more rather than greasy fingerprints.

[Seventh Son]

You can reflow PDFs (increase font size) by clicking Zoom button.

[cloggy]

I decided, after using (and having irritations) it for a few days, to return it. The main reasons are:
1) Font type cannot be changed, only size
2) No right justification
2) Screen reflection
3) Quality of the screen (not as crystal clear as my Hanlin V3ext)
4) Very rigid with ePub books. I need to convert the EPUB books that I can read on my Hanlin V3ext (with OpenInkpot) with Calibre to be able to read them. Most larger books shows a Page Error.
5) I inserted an SD card with about 800 books and after half an hour, it was still showing this, every now and then, revolving arrows.

I have only two pros:
1) The touch screen and how to use it.
2) Speed

IMHO, the firmware is far from mature and I have the impression that Sony dumped it in the market to be ahead of other new brands.

[booksonthemove]

Originally Posted by Seventh Son

You can reflow PDFs (increase font size) by clicking Zoom button.

With some PDFs that destroys the layout and the text is everywhere. It seems most PDF are not made with these portable readers in mind. I mean a RTF can have the formatting all over the place if it isn't made right, that's hardly the fault of the reader - same for any format really. Just that PDF is the most common format.

[booksonthemove]

Originally Posted by booksonthemove

not tested yet: MP3

Now tested. The playback quality is excellent as you'd expect from Sony - as good as my Sony Ericsson phone. It is a plain player, as you'd expect, you can play, adjust the volume, pause and mute, and that's it, but really that's all I'd expect from a glorified book.

I was pleasantly surprised I could play a list, shuffle, continuous play and read ebooks at the same time