Quote:
Originally Posted by emai7s2
Hi mgmueller,
Some time ago I wrote for advice about touchscreen units for editing purposes.
You mentioned:
Today I was at a book store and spent a good hour or so with the Sony PRS-600 (since the Sony 900 isn't available in Austria). Just for fun I took the SD card out of my Palm and popped it into the PRS-600. To my surprise, the Sony instantly recognized all the files on my card which were in .txt and .pdf format (no matter where they were stored on the card).
I got an even bigger surprise when I found out I could easy annotate & mark up my .txt files with a stylus - for some reason I was thinking that only .pdf files could be marked up. This is a huge benefit for me, since I generally keep all my documents, wherever possible, in .txt format (I find I can use .txt on virtually every electronic device I own). So I think the PRS-600 could be used as a useful alternative to printing out documents for correction purposes.
The next thing I noticed is that the annotate function does not work in zoom mode while viewing .pdfs - so while I could zoom a .pdf to view really small text, I was unable to use the annotate feature while zoomed. I might stop by the store again and look at the .pdf in landscape format, and see if that is any improvement. Viewing the text in landscape format didn't even cross my mind today.
The screen is perhaps not as sharp as as other units mentioned in this thread, but it seems more than adequate for my needs. I am a bit concerned about reports of the screen blanking out when exposed to strong sunlight, but that seems to affect only certain production runs.
The touchscreen is absolutely essential to me, since I will probably treat any unit I get as a modified PDA. I've used styli and touchscreens since the mid-1990's, and find non-touchscreens to be rigid and unforgiving.
I also really like the solid feel of the PRS-600 - I liked the robustness of the unit when I held it.
Would the PRS-600 come with an English OS/built-in dictionary, even though it's sold in a German-speaking country? I suspect it's similar to PDAs - the first time you turn it on it asks you which language you want to use during the set-up process.
The local price has dropped from EUR 299 to EUR 249 (I see the price is $170 in the U.S.). Not cheap, but seems reasonable enough.
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I haven't got it with me (traveling), so I can't check for all languages available. It's about 10 "core languages", wherever you buy your reader. English of course is "core".
You can switch back and forth, without flashing or restarting or something like that.
I've seen the "sun fading effect" on one Sony 505 and did not on a second one. Just luck, I guess. Seems to happen for all brands (same screen) for some units...
Sony 900 has less glare than Sony 600. But if you're fine with 600 already: Even better.
You can further reduce the glare by using a screen light.
I'm with you concerning touch screens. And I prefer styli over fingers anytime...