[booknut]

I have a 505 and was looking to upgrade to a 700. Last weekend, I took my 505 and trekked 200 miles to the nearest store having a 700 on display, in my case a Borders bookstore. Here are my impressions, for what its worth:

The 700 loads and opens books much faster than the 505, I was amazed at the speed improvement, the same goes for page turns. The touchscreen is super responsive, swiping to turn pages was easy without applying much pressure at all.

I have the cover with light for my 505 and use it almost exclusively on high setting. I stare at a computer screen all day for up to 13 hours and love the screen on the 505.

The integrated lights on the 700 were blue (the cover lights are white) and did not reach the middle of the book, they were also not as bright.

And here is the negative that prevented me from upgrading to the 700: the screen is so much more blurry than the screen of the 505 even with the cover with lights, that it simply killed the deal for me. I might as well go back to reading on my PC...

Unless Sony can come up with a solution, I will stick with my 505 for the sake of my eyes.

Just to clarify, this is a purely subjective opinion! Others feel completely different about the 700, and yes - the idea of a 600 sounds great: speed of the 700, contrast of the 700...