Recently purchased a PRS-505? What are your thoughts on the new PRS-700?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Same situation here. Actually bought to 505s a few weeks ago. One for my mom and one for myself to replace a broken unit. I am not terribly upset, though I know that at least for my mom, the 700 might have been more useful (due to its front-light and bigger font size support).

My wife's 500 does her well as far as font sizes go. Most of the books she has are ones I've purchased and converted so when I have the small font how I want it, medium then works for her. I might have to save up for a 700 and get her one someday. We'll see.

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by PsyDocJoanne

I, like many of you, just bought a 505 a little over a month ago. Also like many of you, I was relatively confident in thinking that Sony wasn't going to release a new model since they have been promoting the heck out of the 505.

However, I'm not at all disappointed with my 505 purchase (quite the contrary), and after reading about the 700, I'm not going to be upgrading.

Here are my concerns about the 700 (and keep in mind, some of these things are difficult to speculate on, given that I haven't actually had the chance to see/try a 700 in person):

1. What is the integrated frontlight going to do to battery life? As it stands, I have the 505 with the integrated cover/lightwedge, I'm very happy with it's performance, and it doesn't effect the battery life of my reader. And I can't wait to hear someone's real world test of the light...one review already claims it's not bright enough for reading in total darkness, which I do a lot.

2. The missing page turn buttons on the right. The way I'm used to holding my reader has me turning the pages almost exclusively with the right side buttons. They're perfectly placed under my thumb, and it looks as though utilizing the 2nd and 3rd buttons from the left on the bottom of the 700 would be awkward for me. But it has a touchscreen, you say....see my next point.

3. The touchscreen. I don't really see the utility of this (speaking only for myself, you understand). Pressing a few buttons isn't the bane of my existence. And as I've mentioned in other threads, the performance of PlasticLogic's eInk touchscreen makes me nervous, and I hope Sony has improved upon it...it looked a little flaky (slow to respond, not very sensitive). Also, I know that my touchscreen would look like heck very soon after purchase...smudgy, dirty, scratched, etc.

4. The aesthetic. I'm an equal opportunity criticizer...some of you may remember my thoughts on the Kindle. Well, I don't think the 700 is as bad as the Kindle, but I don't love it..and I'm usually a big fan of Sony's designs. To me, it looks like a step backward...and what's with those crazy textured lines along the left hand side? Just odd looking, I think.

5. The added features. While some folks will get a lot of use out of things like search, annotating, and highlighting, I wouldn't really utilize those features...even if the 505 had them. So for me, they aren't a selling point.

6. The price. I do think that for a first time reader buyer, the 700 might be a wise choice at the price point Sony has chosen. However, as someone who would be upgrading, I simply can't justify the $100 increase for what amounts to (for me, anyway) just an integrated light.

So I'll continue to love all over my 505, at least until something substantively better comes along!

I totally agree!

JJ

[talaivan]

1. It's a little heavier.
2. I don't like to change pages by swiping my finger over the screen -- I always use the buttons on the right of the 505.
3. The built-in light sounds useful.
4. Dictionary support? That would make the 700 much more useful.

All in all, it has some advantages, some disadvantages to the 505. If you're happy with the 505, why upgrade?

[Xenophon]

I've been holding off on upgrading my nearly-two-year-old PRS500 until seeing what Sony would announce. And now I'm still waiting.

I don't care about the touch screen. The on-screen keyboard, search, light, etc. are nice, but not key for me. The three things I care about IN ORDER are:

1. Higher resolution. Much higher resolution.
   
   Sony doesn't control the display hardware itself, so I knew not to expect this one. Although if asked to choose between color and 3x the dot-pitch with the current gray-scale, I'd take the higher dot-pitch in a heart-beat.
   
   
2. Physical ergonomics. No reader I've seen comes close to the design of the REB1100 (now 1150). I'm talking button layout, fit in the hand, and so on, not screen quality here.
   
   On this front, the 700 appears to be a qualified disappointment. I'd hoped for a huge improvement--closing 1/2 the gap to the REB1100, maybe?--but I guess I can be grudgingly satisfied with it not being worse than the PRS-500.
   
   
3. Support for LOTS of books. I want folders. Or a deeper branching of the hierarchy they now provide on the 505. Or something. There's no reason I should have to use more than 3 button presses to select any one of 1000 books!
   
   Nobody has commented on this issue yet. If, in fact, it's commandingly better (perhaps in "expert user mode" -- hint hint) that'd be reason to switch right there.
   
   
4. Faster processing. As a Mac user, I don't get the sole useful benefit of Sony's library software: pre-formatting of lrf files for the device. Instead, I have to wait while the slow processor on the PRS500 does the work. Since Sony appears unwilling to support the Mac directly, I care quite a bit about processor speed.
   
   Early reviews say it's faster. I'd love to see timing of how long it takes to format a large, free ebook. That way I could compare with my 500 (and with a friend's 505).

A significant win on any of these fronts would be enough to get me to upgrade.

Xenophon

P.S. That's three things, for large values of three.

[ZenEngineer]

I'm sticking with my 505 that I've had for five months. Not only do I like it better, but I bought a 3 year 'accident plan'. So far the 700 does not impress me, even with a frontlight. As noted by others, the touch screen and lack of page buttons on the right are personal turnoffs.

[Gameboy213]

I bought my reader early this year and as of now am not looking to jump to the 700. I have to see it and play with it to consider further. As of now I am very happy with my 550 and don't really like the looks of the 700 and touchscreen sounds nice but is really not something I need in a reader.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

I bought my 505 a week ago, and am still very happy with it - there's nothing on the 700 that makes me wish I'd waited til that was available in the UK.

I'm also not worried about it being now obsolete or becoming unsupported quickly.

[RWJ]

I've had my 505 for about two and a half months - and adore it, and have hardly read a paper novel since then. The only negative thing I'm thinking about the 700 launch is that I really hope this doesn't mean the end of support for the 505s. I love calibre too, though, so I'm kinda happy to stick with my 505 as long as Kovid does!

A colleague of mine liked the 505 but specifically did not want to buy one because he wanted a built in light, and a search function. So he'll be happy to hear about this. For me, though, while I'm considering buying the wedge light and cover, searching isn't something I need (and if I really want to search for something, it doesn't bug me to do it on my laptop using other software.) The touch screen is an active drawback - I'm convinced (based on other gadgets) that they're less resilient, I do not like the prospect of smudges all over the pages of my virtual book, and typing annotations - again, not what I'm looking for.

I really want my eReader to be a substitute book or magazine: the thing that I hold and look at while reading. I never write in my books or magazines, and I can't electronically search for them, so I don't mind that I also can't do that with the 505. And if I want to do those things, I'd rather use my computer (or use the money for a much more elaborate reader for an EEE computer.)

What would make me upgrade? Possibly a larger, robust and affordable reader that could handle non-reflowable PDFs at close to real size. But even then, I love that the 505 fits in my purse, and if I had something to carry around that was about the size of a 8.5x11 paper, it starts to be not that much handier than either actual paper, or my laptop.

So yeah, I'm still quite delighted with my 505, to make a long story short. And just ordered a custom skin for it, which I learned about from MR!

[Applied_Micro]

Well, having bought my PRS-505 in march, I have used this unit for quite some time. Still, being a gadget fan, I am occasionally tempted to get an upgrade.

While the PRS-700 seems like a nice evolutionary upgrade, it doesn't seem earth-shattering either. The built-in LED light is convenient but I can do without it. The loss of the page turning buttons on the right is a drawback and I do like the PRS-505's design slightly better (just judging from pictures). The touchscreen has a certain potential but I am sceptical if Sony makes great use of it in its firmware. Dictionary and Notes support would be two thoughts... but now I also have them on my iPhone, so I am not really feeling missing out on anything. I am certainly going to keep my PRS-505 and wait for the next "revolutionary" great thing, and wouldn't regret having recently purchased a PRS-505.

[Lemurion]

Personally, I've been wanting a 505 for a while now, and unfortunately the 700 doesn't quite do it for me as an upgrade.

I've less than no interest in the potential for dictionary support (though I know others want it) and the light isn't that big a deal either. More memory and faster page turns are good, though.

I've been thinking a lot about page turns, because my biggest concern about the PRS-700 was the placement of the page-turn buttons, and I just had an epiphany. I'm an old-time e-Book reader and I'm used to buttons for page turns, but most people aren't. Using a right-to-left swipe for a page forward mimics p-Book behavior, and for many people that could be the deciding point. It's not for our ease-of-use, but for the ease-of-use of people who've never seen an e-Book reader before.

[mobelby]

Just wanted to add my two cents to the page turning discussion and build on what Lemurion just said.

My last PC purchase was an asus eeepc 901 with a multitouch trackpad. This was the first time I'd ever experienced the concept of "multitouch" before and for the first day I wasn't all that fussed about the new functionality it brought to web browsing - eg two finger up and down scrolling, three finger back and forwards between pages.

After the first day, I simply could not go back and just don't enjoy browsing as much with a mouse (eg wheel scrolling) or pressing the back button. The multitouch just seems so natural I could never buy another laptop without it and that's saying something.

In the same way I am happy to forego the page turning buttons on the 505 in favour of swipe actions on the 700. It sounds natural and similar to multitouch browsing. Also, having owned touch screen devices before (an old tablet pc and windows mobile) I don't mind touching them and cleaning them.

Each to their own but since this is my first ereader purchase I am looking forward to the 700

[rhewes]

I've been a long time lurker (since December of last year) trying to decide on when to take the plunge with a Reader. I was waiting to hear about the 'new' announcement 10/2; however, after reading about it and seeing the pictures of the new unit, I wasn't convinced to put down the extra money on the 700 versus the 505.

I do feel for people in the UK and Europe regarding the launch of the 'new' 505 versus the new 700 model...that's pretty bad PR on Sony's behalf.

But for me, the 505 seemed like the unit I wanted and purchased one late last night. I like the hardware buttons versus the touchscreen and thought the price (after $150 back on the Sony card and discounted accessories with a service plan) was just right. I walked out the door (virtually that is...) with a Dark Blue 505, Sony flex light, and a 2 year accidental replacement plan for $347...deduct the $150 from the price and it's a bit under $200.

I can't wait to hear about people's reactions once they get the 700 but I am still excited about my 505 purchase. Can't wait to get it next week.

[Be Szpilman]

Originally Posted by PsyDocJoanne

I, like many of you, just bought a 505 a little over a month ago. Also like many of you, I was relatively confident in thinking that Sony wasn't going to release a new model since they have been promoting the heck out of the 505.

However, I'm not at all disappointed with my 505 purchase (quite the contrary), and after reading about the 700, I'm not going to be upgrading.

Here are my concerns about the 700 (and keep in mind, some of these things are difficult to speculate on, given that I haven't actually had the chance to see/try a 700 in person):

1. What is the integrated frontlight going to do to battery life? As it stands, I have the 505 with the integrated cover/lightwedge, I'm very happy with it's performance, and it doesn't effect the battery life of my reader. And I can't wait to hear someone's real world test of the light...one review already claims it's not bright enough for reading in total darkness, which I do a lot.

2. The missing page turn buttons on the right. The way I'm used to holding my reader has me turning the pages almost exclusively with the right side buttons. They're perfectly placed under my thumb, and it looks as though utilizing the 2nd and 3rd buttons from the left on the bottom of the 700 would be awkward for me. But it has a touchscreen, you say....see my next point.

3. The touchscreen. I don't really see the utility of this (speaking only for myself, you understand). Pressing a few buttons isn't the bane of my existence. And as I've mentioned in other threads, the performance of PlasticLogic's eInk touchscreen makes me nervous, and I hope Sony has improved upon it...it looked a little flaky (slow to respond, not very sensitive). Also, I know that my touchscreen would look like heck very soon after purchase...smudgy, dirty, scratched, etc.

4. The aesthetic. I'm an equal opportunity criticizer...some of you may remember my thoughts on the Kindle. Well, I don't think the 700 is as bad as the Kindle, but I don't love it..and I'm usually a big fan of Sony's designs. To me, it looks like a step backward...and what's with those crazy textured lines along the left hand side? Just odd looking, I think.

5. The added features. While some folks will get a lot of use out of things like search, annotating, and highlighting, I wouldn't really utilize those features...even if the 505 had them. So for me, they aren't a selling point.

6. The price. I do think that for a first time reader buyer, the 700 might be a wise choice at the price point Sony has chosen. However, as someone who would be upgrading, I simply can't justify the $100 increase for what amounts to (for me, anyway) just an integrated light.

So I'll continue to love all over my 505, at least until something substantively better comes along!

1. The frontlight is fine, since you only use it if you want, and I suppose it does not add much weight nor battery drain just for being there. It could be the reason the reader is a tad thicker, though.

2 & 4. Wholeheartedly agree! Boo for new designs!

As for the rest, I think it might come in handy, and the price, well, it's worth it, if it's got a robust multi dictionary support.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bzpilman

As for the rest, I think it might come in handy, and the price, well, it's worth it, if it's got a robust multi dictionary support.

But it hasn't. You know it hasn't, so what's the point in saying that? If you want a device which does have dictionary lookup, there are a number of such devices available, but the Sony isn't among them.

[Be Szpilman]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But it hasn't. You know it hasn't, so what's the point in saying that? If you want a device which does have dictionary lookup, there are a number of such devices available, but the Sony isn't among them.

*sight* Harry, you're a heartbreaker. I'm trying to be faithful, but you just make it too hard.

My other options for a dictionary would be a Franklin Merriam Collegiate eletronic one, or using my smartpen with a quarter of a paper sheet binded to the back cover of the 505, but livescribe has let me down just as much as Sony and I'm still expecting a dictionary from them, the one that was promised in all the marketing crap.

Clearly, I'm running out of them. Therefore, Sony risks losing a reader by the end of the year.