[Prestidigitweeze]

It was hard for me to look at this thread again because I saw that the last post was by you, Poppaea, and I really hate fighting with you.

And of course I have no problem discussing the PRS+ versus the rooted ST.

A few reasons for talking about Android: the openness of it, Google's interest in perfecting it, and the vast market of applications and utilities for it, all of which make rooting more promising than flashing PRS+ (as good as it might be, particularly for people who read languages not covered even by Sony's dictionaries).

Part of the reason the idea excites me is that I own a rooted Android phone and rooting it killed many of the bugs and limitations I'd thought were intrinsic to the device itself.

The thing that does make my discussion of the rooted ST premature, however, is the fact that no one has actually tried it.

A lot of great PDF-reading apps are available in the Android Market, but we don't know how or even if they'd run on the ST. What we do know is that two reviewers have reported that PDF docs caused their STs to freeze and require a restart. Until someone else reports otherwise, or until B&N addresses the issue with an update, I have no reason to assume third-party software would handle PDFs any more stably than the software with which the ST shipped.

In terms of pure gear lust, I feel a powerful urge to run out and pick up a Nook ST. But in terms of ultimate usefulness, the PRS-950 does far more that I need from day to day than the ST. PDFs are important, zoom and readable PDF text reflow is important, landscape is important, the dictionaries are important, durability is important and that extra inch means more in terms of usefulness than seems apparent in abstract speculation. In terms of PDF readability, that one inch is everything.