As far as waiting out as wallcraft suggested goes, I considered this option a week ago, as I followed the unveiling of several new products during Cebit. I liked the bebook 2, but the actual timeframe for availability is a no go for me, I longed for an eink device for quite some now and my intention of getting one ASAP stands - lot of books I already have, love the projects like Guttenberg or Feedbooks and I want the superb comfort of using such a device. My course of thinking being: enjoy it for the year or so, until those new ones come out, wait for reviews etc and if I deem it worthy, sell whatever I will have at that point and get a new one. But that is a bit down the road.
ericshliao: yes, I know about the possibilities of hacking the Iliad. I am an experienced linux user, I use it as my only operating system for like 6 years as well as being an server sysadmin, no problem there, even hacked old Mac I to run Debian
. But, I am probably not willing to go into lengthy efforts to make something working that should readily out of the box. Don't take me wrong, I believe Iliad is a great product, just not for me AT THE MOMENT. I wan't to spend my free time reading rather than hacking the device that should be used for that puropse
Working with computers too much already.
And now for the ever lasting decision hell, I believe I am making progress there. sigma8, as you pointed out, the Sony 700 is great for some things, whereas the display quality is a sacrafice for those extra features (and as I've read here, those dust spots is an issue as well, and because I live in central europe, getting a replacement would be a problem). Cheapness is not that much of a factor, really, but the eInk screen is. It is sad, really, otherwise I find the 700 the best thing out there and I would go for it in an instant, had it not been problematic as far as the screen goes. And in the end, what am I actually going to use it for? Reading of course, so the worse screen is unfortunately a showstopper.
And now, I am really thinking of getting the 505. Funny, as I actually dismissed the unit pretty quickly in the beginning, but after thinking it over, I do believe it will suit my needs best. It is actually cheaper for me than getting a Cybook or Hanlin-whatever, and the advantages of the other two are somewhat diminished by the fact, that I can freely convert mobipocket to epub using calibre with good results, as I've found. And the PDF support on Sony is way better than on the other two, if I understand the other posts correctly. Plus the ePub format. And seems like those great guys at openinkpot are making progress in getting it work on the Sony, so even those hopes are up.
Sigma8, if you don't mind me asking, is there anything that you really don't like about your 505?
Otherwise, seems like the first thing in the morning is going to be eBaying away