|
I stopped by the Sony style store today to check out the 600 (and 300) with my trusty 505 as a reference.
The 600 display is very readable. It is certainly superior to my PRS 500, which I read without problem every day for 18 months. When compared directly with my 505, the screen background was a grayer, although still lighter the the 500's screen. The letters appear a bit lighter as well, and just a bit softer. However, I feel these differences are minor in practical use. The 600 screen looks great. It's only when held right next to my 505 that it suffered a bit in comparison.
Oddly enough, I found that the 300's screen also had a darker background than my 505, about the same as the 600, although the letters themselves were darker and sharper than on the 600, just like the 505. I know that there is some variability between eink displays which might account for what I saw when comparing my particular 505 to the particular 300s at the store.
As far as glare and reflectivity go, the 600's screen is more reflective than the 505's, but I didn't find it at all intrusive. Again I think that if I hadn't had the 505 right there as a direct comparison, I wouldn't really have noticed the difference. Glare was not an issue on either screen under the conditions in the store.
I would not hesitate to buy a 600 due to any concerns over the screen. If it had support for a Spanish dictionary, or a known hack for the same, I would buy one for myself right now. I don't find the touch screen interface or note taking to be compelling enough by themselves to justify buying a 600 to replace my 505. I don't need an English dictionary.
One more thing, page turns on the 600 were considerably faster than on the 505 -- comparing the sample books on the 600 to the epub I had loaded on the 505. The pages turned basically as fast as I could slide my finger on the screen.
|