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iptech · 09-16-2010, 12:00 PM

I phoned the Cardiff Sony Centre this morning to see when they were expecting stock and was told, "they've just arrived two minutes ago". I had an appointment in Cardiff just down the road, so I popped in to have a look and compare it side-by-side to my PRS-600. Ten minutes later my bank is lighter by £199.99.

Anyway, I first put the PRS-600 & the PRS-650 side-by side for a direct comparison and boy what a difference, the PRS-600 is noticeably 'muddier' in readability, the 650 is so much more like the gorgeous screen I remember form the 505. I then had a look at the very cute PRS-350, again a very good screen with good touch response, but the Sony Center price for these is £159.99 (Waterstones have them already discounted to £129.99). I decided that I didn't want to downgrade on size and I felt the PRS-350 was not quite as quick as the PRS-650. Both are noticeably quicker then the PRS-600 though. I tried my SD card from the PRS-600 in the PRS-650 and it recognised all the books (a mixtrue of Epubs & PDFs) with no problem. The PDF handling seems to be much improved over the PRS-600, but I've yet to test it fully as I'm still charging the one I bought.

One thing that does annoy me is neither the PRS-350 or the 650 come with any sort of cover, and as of this morning no covers were available to fit either models as they are slightly smaller than their predecessors. At the moment I've butchered the cover I originally bought with my PRS-505, the new models still use the pivot hinge system. For a premium priced and relatively fragile product, a basic plastic protector case should not be too much to expect, both the 505 and the 600 came with cases - I guess that's a price we customers pay for the sub-£200 price tag.

The Cardiff Sony Centre only have the 650 available in black at the moment, the finish is every bit as good as previous models, in fact I'd say the navigation buttons on the 650 are better as they seem to lie more flush with the casing then they do on the 600 where the buttons are slightly 'wonky'. The 650 has the same slightly rubberised back as the 600 and the front finish is the same level of matt. The screen of the 650 is set slightly lower (.5mm?) than the 600 to accommodate the infra-red scanners. the silver panel above the buttons on the 600 has been replaced by a more tasteful-looking matt black panel and the chrome finish around the edge of the casing and on the buttons has now been replaced by a classier looking metallic black. The Power LED, switch , card slots and the stylus are all in the same relative places as the 600, but on the bottom the slot for a lanyard has gone, so has the external power connector - charging is now done via the now standardised micro-USB connector. I'm charging mine using the same cable used for my HTC HD2 phone and it's working fine, I also copied some files over the the device using Windows explorer without problem. In fact just as I typed that I notice the screen now says "charging complete". Micro USB is set to become the de-facto standard for mobile devices such as phones, ereaders and other hand-held gadget, so you can start to reduce the clutter of so many chargers - well until another standard comes along in a few months time!

So far my only hands-on experience with the PRS-650 is in the Sony Centre, but my first impressions were not only is it a much nicer reading experience over the 600 (the primary purchasing driver for me), but also it's noticeably faster to turn pages and navigate in general. The user interface has some nice upgrades over the 600 and the smaller form factor make the device feel slightly easier in the hand.

Now it's charged, it's time to have a play and get some fingerprints on that shiny new screen...

09-16-2010, 12:00 PM	#12
iptech Member Posts: 20 Karma: 4260 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Sony PRS-600	I phoned the Cardiff Sony Centre this morning to see when they were expecting stock and was told, "they've just arrived two minutes ago". I had an appointment in Cardiff just down the road, so I popped in to have a look and compare it side-by-side to my PRS-600. Ten minutes later my bank is lighter by £199.99. Anyway, I first put the PRS-600 & the PRS-650 side-by side for a direct comparison and boy what a difference, the PRS-600 is noticeably 'muddier' in readability, the 650 is so much more like the gorgeous screen I remember form the 505. I then had a look at the very cute PRS-350, again a very good screen with good touch response, but the Sony Center price for these is £159.99 (Waterstones have them already discounted to £129.99). I decided that I didn't want to downgrade on size and I felt the PRS-350 was not quite as quick as the PRS-650. Both are noticeably quicker then the PRS-600 though. I tried my SD card from the PRS-600 in the PRS-650 and it recognised all the books (a mixtrue of Epubs & PDFs) with no problem. The PDF handling seems to be much improved over the PRS-600, but I've yet to test it fully as I'm still charging the one I bought. One thing that does annoy me is neither the PRS-350 or the 650 come with any sort of cover, and as of this morning no covers were available to fit either models as they are slightly smaller than their predecessors. At the moment I've butchered the cover I originally bought with my PRS-505, the new models still use the pivot hinge system. For a premium priced and relatively fragile product, a basic plastic protector case should not be too much to expect, both the 505 and the 600 came with cases - I guess that's a price we customers pay for the sub-£200 price tag. The Cardiff Sony Centre only have the 650 available in black at the moment, the finish is every bit as good as previous models, in fact I'd say the navigation buttons on the 650 are better as they seem to lie more flush with the casing then they do on the 600 where the buttons are slightly 'wonky'. The 650 has the same slightly rubberised back as the 600 and the front finish is the same level of matt. The screen of the 650 is set slightly lower (.5mm?) than the 600 to accommodate the infra-red scanners. the silver panel above the buttons on the 600 has been replaced by a more tasteful-looking matt black panel and the chrome finish around the edge of the casing and on the buttons has now been replaced by a classier looking metallic black. The Power LED, switch , card slots and the stylus are all in the same relative places as the 600, but on the bottom the slot for a lanyard has gone, so has the external power connector - charging is now done via the now standardised micro-USB connector. I'm charging mine using the same cable used for my HTC HD2 phone and it's working fine, I also copied some files over the the device using Windows explorer without problem. In fact just as I typed that I notice the screen now says "charging complete". Micro USB is set to become the de-facto standard for mobile devices such as phones, ereaders and other hand-held gadget, so you can start to reduce the clutter of so many chargers - well until another standard comes along in a few months time! So far my only hands-on experience with the PRS-650 is in the Sony Centre, but my first impressions were not only is it a much nicer reading experience over the 600 (the primary purchasing driver for me), but also it's noticeably faster to turn pages and navigate in general. The user interface has some nice upgrades over the 600 and the smaller form factor make the device feel slightly easier in the hand. Now it's charged, it's time to have a play and get some fingerprints on that shiny new screen...