Prs-900 vs. prs-650 vs. prs-600

[fyre182]

I have decided on buying an ebook reader! I recently purchased a nook, and I realized that it has the most abysmal pdf support I have ever seen in my entire life.

Literally, since all the new nooks aren't capable of being soft rooted, I cannot read any of my documents.

It is extremely important that I have a reader with very good pdf support. I believe that the k3 has sufficient support, so I looked at the k3 too.

I realized that I hated the idea of being locked into a single ecosystem. While the k3 certainly has a strong feature suite, i.e., an inline dictionary (this was also a deal breaker on the nook for me), decent pdf support, wifi, very low price, and text 2 speech support, I did not like the plastic nature of the reader or the lack of expansion capability and the abysmal mp3 player.

Some Background: I'm not rich - I'm currently a college student about to graduate and go to the peace corps - but I am certainly willing to pay for a quality product.

I currently subscribe to a digital magazine and intend to place my research papers, lab manuals, and other important documents on the reader. ALL OF THESE DOCUMENTS are in PDF format. I tried converting the pdfs to the epub format using calibre, but they - esp. the magazines - were completely unreadable and disorganized.

The Note taking and annotation would also allow me to do practice GRE exams on the SONY, an extremely valuable feature to me. I could export documents from school with the note sand print them out!

I esp. love the new prs-650s ability to zoom lock (I have many full image pdf books) and the prs-650's frequently looked up words list (it seems like a great way to remember words I may have trouble remembering). I also love the screen saver (a great way to post pictures reminding me why I'm trying to go to graduate school: to better support my family) ability of the new prs-650

I will also possibly be studying overseas (ASIA) for 2 years after june of 2011, so any known international features or asian language support would be a plus!

With all these major considerations in mind, please help me decide between these products at the following price points. THANK YOU again and again in advance, these forums have been a wealth of knowledge.

Prs - 600 - 120 + Free Ship = 120
Prs - 900 - 237 + Free SHIP = 237
Prs - 650 - 229 + 18 TAX and ship = 247
Kindle 3 - 149 + 0 TAX and SHIP = 149
Kindle 3 3g - 189 + 0 TAX AND SHIP = 189



A well reasoned response would be extremely helpful for this extremely indecisive student.

[igorsk]

K3's PDF support is not too great - no hyperlink/TOC support for example. However, Amazon is supposedly working on it.

[phenomshel]

Don't shoot me... but did you look at the Sony 950? The extra inch will help you with your PDF requirements, but I'd definitely recommend the 950 over the 900 for the screen clarity. I have a 600 and after seeing it and reading about it, and comparing it with the nook I played with at B&N... the 950 is going to end up being worth it.

[kartu]

Screen on PRS-600 is terrible (touchscreen layer corrupts it) so I wouldn't even consider it. (low constrast, reflections).

Also note that PDF (unlike most of the other formats used on ereaders) format is basically a set of instructions describing how to print a page, you can zoom a page, but not reliably split into pages of different size, except when it's splitting existing page into 2, maybe cutting margins. (that's why some PDF => ? converters basically treat it as a picture that needs to be OCR-ed)

Imagine how A4 page (it's size close to US Letter) looks on a screen slightly bigger than A6 (6"):



In your case I'd opt for the reader with the biggest screen and highest contrast - the 950.

[Andanzas]

From what you say, it looks like you would enjoy more a Sony Reader, and maybe the 950 is the right choice for you. But if you plan to read so many PDFs what you need is the biggest screen you can get, so it might be a good idea to take a look at a refurbished or used Kindle DX. A refurbished DX from the previous generation currently goes for $290. Just an idea.

[familyhandh]

I've bought PRS 900, and I love it very much! I don't understand why many peoples don't like it.

[TommyT]

get an ipad or dx, seriously. if ALL your documents are scanned/full image/non-OCR/non-reflowable/non-properly convertible or whatever you may call them, anything less than 9.7" will become a pain to read at some stage. 6" devices are designed primarily for text that can reflow.

[Ken401]

Just from playing with one at the Apple store, the ipad is probably the best bet for lots of PDFs. My 900 does okay with them, but I would not be happy reading them extensively on it due to limited screen size.

[fyre182]

oh geeze, in light of the new 900 price 179.99, is it still a better idea to buy a 650? I'm paying close to 100 dollars more.

[jerome]

i'm not sure if you've ever looked at the Entourage Edge. it has one of the best pdf support on the ereaders for now and is built with students in mind. there are some reviews out there that says how slow this device is, but with the latest update (codename Dingo), it's pretty snappy and has improved battery life. it's just a thought coz i do a lot of annotations on my pdfs, and it does lock zoom, hook up usb drives and you could even convert the annotated page to pdf and email it from the device.
it runs on android. i'm yet to try video chat on it and the usb to projector support.

the interface to the dictionary support on kindle is perhaps better, but you can't scroll through the words on the pdf. but maybe k3 can, i'm not sure. on the edge, you'll have to select the word with your pen and then click the search icon. a dialog will appear on the lcd, asking if you want to want to search it on wiki/dictionary/... Then you just click on the dictionary, which is selected by default.

the color support on the eink is only 8 whereas k3 has 16, but that's not a problem because i can easily display any area of interest on the lcd.

the drawback? besides the battery life (though it's better than the ipad), it's much heavier. you wouldn't want to carry it to the seaside or lie down on the couch holding it. it's in between a laptop and an ereader. a k3 and sony would be best for that purpose. considering that you're a student, you probably want to be able to do a lot of stuff, and so the edge is just right. some students gave their comments on the entourage edge forums, so you could see if it suits your need or not. i wished i had it when i was doing research...though i couldn't probably afford it that time either.

[mitchelln]

Don't buy the 600. It may be dropping in price, but the screen is pretty bad. I bought one and I was really disappointed after my 505. Almost returned it in fact, but even though I decided to keep it, I was never happy with it. I guess the same is true for the 900.

So I was really wowed when I played with a 650 in a Sony Store yesterday. The screen is simply amazing. Better even than the 505 and the refresh rate is noticeably quicker than all previous incarnations. It finally is better than real printed paper IMHO. Plus the new infrared touchscreen transforms the experience. The resistive screen on my 600 was unresponsive and often took more than one swipe to get the page to change. Setting bookmarks was a pain. That is all solved with the 650. Really responsive. Sony has also done some nice GUI cleanups and tweaks. The 650 is also much snappier than the 600. Basically, I bought one there and then

Only two gripes. Firstly, Sony doesn't even supply a slip case this time. Which at this price is just cheap. Plus it's shorter than the previous models so is the first not to fit the old Sony cases. You're going to have to buy a new one and they are not cheap.

Secondly, they've switched to micro usb and there's no standard charger socket. So another cable to carry around. There's plenty of space for mini usb and power sockets. Why why why Sony!

If you need the extra inches, then go for the 950. Personally, I think the 650 is the perfect portable size.

[SkyDream]

Originally Posted by familyhandh

I've bought PRS 900, and I love it very much! I don't understand why many peoples don't like it.

Not really didn't like it but the glare can be very distracting sometimes. For that reason i'm using my 505 when there's no need for a touchscreen (links).

[SkyDream]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

The extra inch will help you with your PDF requirements, but I'd definitely recommend the 950 over the 900 for the screen clarity.

Copy that !!!