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brewt · 12-14-2008, 03:08 PM

I had a chance to see a 700 next to a 505 at a Sony Style Store, and there was no question: 700 all the way, baby. Here's why:

They let me put my own SD chip in both devices. I had conjured up some epubs (using Calibre, thank you, Mr. Goyal), and the 700 opened them and moved around them worlds faster than the 505. I think the people who say "not that much faster" haven't tried opening a complex-enough epub. Speed counts - even the Bride noticed.

Oh, sure, the background was whiter on the 505, but I did not walk away saying "oh my eyes" or "dear god now I'm blind" or "what happened - I can't read", like the contrast-quality-is-everything people seem to want me to think.

I've been reading electronically for oh, 8 years now, and these are the things I think count (in no particular order):
1) Interface - intuitive and responsive is better than lots of button pushes to perform tasks. The Bride impressed me by being able to navigate and use the 700 having never held one in her hands before, and had to ask questions as to "now what button do I push" on the 505.
2) Complexity of Structure. Books of Books are better than just books. Fewer pages of directory to wade through. Hard to justify 1000's of books if the directory page is 10 books deep. Also, simply reading over and touching the hyperlink on the 700 is much better than pushing the up/down buttons several to dozens of times to get the one I wanted.
3) Speed. Speed. Speed. How can I impress anyone with my speed reading ability if I have to wait for repaginating on page turns? Repaginating in the epubs, sure it happened on the 700, but I had time to put the 505 down and walk around the display while waiting for it to get to the hyperlink destination.
4) Formatting. Which is why I've finally given in on epubs over mobi. Better options on typography makes better reading experience - else we'd all still be reading on dot-matrix printouts.
5) Screen Quality - I've been spoiled having a hi-res (color) pocket pc for some time now. So sure, it matters, but if it REALLY matters, then 150dpi isn't enough, black & white isn't enough, and the lack of full motion video is a crime. Oh, wait, I have all those on my ppc......just no epub (yet).

....gonna get my shoppin' shoes on..........

-bjc

p.s. - did I miss Kovid's review of the 700?

12-14-2008, 03:08 PM	#1
brewt Boo-Frickety-Hoo-Erizer Posts: 251 Karma: 686 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Kobo Glo HD!	Delurk: 700 over 505 I had a chance to see a 700 next to a 505 at a Sony Style Store, and there was no question: 700 all the way, baby. Here's why: They let me put my own SD chip in both devices. I had conjured up some epubs (using Calibre, thank you, Mr. Goyal), and the 700 opened them and moved around them worlds faster than the 505. I think the people who say "not that much faster" haven't tried opening a complex-enough epub. Speed counts - even the Bride noticed. Oh, sure, the background was whiter on the 505, but I did not walk away saying "oh my eyes" or "dear god now I'm blind" or "what happened - I can't read", like the contrast-quality-is-everything people seem to want me to think. I've been reading electronically for oh, 8 years now, and these are the things I think count (in no particular order): 1) Interface - intuitive and responsive is better than lots of button pushes to perform tasks. The Bride impressed me by being able to navigate and use the 700 having never held one in her hands before, and had to ask questions as to "now what button do I push" on the 505. 2) Complexity of Structure. Books of Books are better than just books. Fewer pages of directory to wade through. Hard to justify 1000's of books if the directory page is 10 books deep. Also, simply reading over and touching the hyperlink on the 700 is much better than pushing the up/down buttons several to dozens of times to get the one I wanted. 3) Speed. Speed. Speed. How can I impress anyone with my speed reading ability if I have to wait for repaginating on page turns? Repaginating in the epubs, sure it happened on the 700, but I had time to put the 505 down and walk around the display while waiting for it to get to the hyperlink destination. 4) Formatting. Which is why I've finally given in on epubs over mobi. Better options on typography makes better reading experience - else we'd all still be reading on dot-matrix printouts. 5) Screen Quality - I've been spoiled having a hi-res (color) pocket pc for some time now. So sure, it matters, but if it REALLY matters, then 150dpi isn't enough, black & white isn't enough, and the lack of full motion video is a crime. Oh, wait, I have all those on my ppc......just no epub (yet). ....gonna get my shoppin' shoes on.......... -bjc p.s. - did I miss Kovid's review of the 700?