I drove well over a 100 miles in order to hold one in my hand before buying. I went to the Sony Store in Boca Raton Florida. I walked in the store and saw the 700 and the 505 in a group display. I was astounded that at a distance of 5 feet I could already see a clear difference between the white gray back ground of the 505 screen and a murky brown green background 700 screen. I sat there for 15 minutes playing with the 700. I did not even come close to liking it. In fact, I bought a second 505 for my wife. The 700 reminded me of how good the 505 screen was.
I know some people on the forum own the 700 and love it. That is good for them. May they get many years of great use from the device. For me:
- The reduced readability is deal breaker #1. Readability is not a negotiable exchange for any other feature.
- Touch feature is a. not necessary b. not a great idea unless you use a stylus or you like living with smudges and streaks on your reading surface.
- Case is kinda ugly to my eye but, you know what they say about the eye of the beholder.
- Additional speed is nice but...not enough to overcome the other negatives by far.
To me, the 700 is akin to Apple coming out with the Ipod Touch but limiting it to 128kbs files.
Lets keep our fingers crossed for the PRS705.