New readers: shops, manuals and other offical links

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by harryE123

O, I see, hmmm, makes me rather suspicious since I ve not hear of anyone employing it, and I a sure sony did it for cost measures... I guess we ll have to see if /how well it works...

The touch tech is used in ATMs, and has been for quite awhile.

Sony didn't use it because of cost. If cost was a concern, they would have kept the resistive touch screen. If anything, this new tech is currently more expensive, and is why nobody has been using it until now. And is also probably why the MSRP on the new models didn't change.

[harryE123]

yeah but I presume it's far cheaper than capacitative ones, and to be honest they had to change the tec because the previous screens had horrible reflections. I think therefore it was a financial choice since they HAD to change from what they had, and the capac. ones cost more. BTW I am not that happy with using the atm screens.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by harryE123

yeah but I presume it's far cheaper than capacitative ones, and to be honest they had to change the tec because the previous screens had horrible reflections. I think therefore it was a financial choice since they HAD to change from what they had, and the capac. ones cost more. BTW I am not that happy with using the atm screens.

A big chunk of the accuracy/polish of this tech is software as well. ATMs haven't really evolved since the design was created, and you have a curved CRT surface that messes with the technology quite a bit. The devices I got to play with in store were actually quite good. I couldn't tell the difference between it and a good capacitive/resistive device.

Capacitive displays are cheaper because more devices use them, and the components required are simpler. And they are used everywhere these days because they are cheap.

There is another big reason to not use capacitive displays in the Sony, and that is you lose the ability to use an accurate stylus. If they wanted to keep the ability to accurately select text on an e-Ink screen that has a low refresh rate, they needed to keep the ability to use a stylus. There really isn't any other tech right now other than resistive (which has the glare issue) that works for both a stylus and finger at the same time.

[JSWolf]

And the screen is great for touching. It doesn't get fingerprints noticeably as badly as say the touch layer of the 600.

[eksor]

Originally Posted by Avwriter

It is neither resistive, nor capacitative. It uses infra-red sensors placed around the bezel. This is a new technology for touch screens.

Andrew

Well, not so new, there are recent advances, but the idea is quite old:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-150

I wonder how much gap there is from the frame surface to the perl screen, from the video seems about 2 mm.

regards.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Added localized PRS-350 manuals in the first post.

Thanks so much for posting the link to the manual. Deep in the wilds of darkest Launceston I can't get my hands on one to check out, so looking at the manual will be a big help.

Regards, Alex

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by AprilHare

It does look like there won't be a Sony store per se in Australia, just a link to Borders and A&R..

No, there's one in Hobart - not that that's much help to you in Sydney. And I'm sure I remember a post about one in Prahran, so I imagine there's one in NSW somewhere.

Regards, Alex