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 didn't check. Neither the European nor the American price.
But if it's really € 249 vs. $ 170, it's way cheaper for you to order from the US.
With shipment, tax and customs, usually the original price in $ ends up in about the same amount in €.
So you would receive Sony 600 from the US for ca. € 170.
Rough estimate:
$ 170 = € 130
Shipment = $ 40 = € 30
Customs (if you're lucky, you don't even have to pay it) = € 30
Probably you won't get it for € 170, but definitely below € 200. (*)
You can order from B&H photo for example, so you don't have to pay any fees to some 3rd party.
(*) The formula "original price in $ ends up about the same amount in €" is most accurate for more expensive gadgets.
For Sony 900, which was $ 299 when I bought it, it has been an exact match.
For $ 170, in relation cost for shipment are too high.
BTW: Rumor has it, there might be announcements for new Sony models within the next 2 or 3 months.