[danwdoo]

Recently, I purchased 2 Sony PRS-600 readers online for a slight discount: one for my wife and one for myself. Now I had been reading about the Sony readers for months and had made 2 visits to look at displays of the device to verify the screen/reflections were not going to be an issue for me. After seeing the device in person on both occasions, I believed the screen issues to be very minor and not a real issue for me at all so I went ahead and placed my order. I really wanted the touchscreen and was anticipating some of the extra features it offered. I do a bit of writing, so I was especially looking forward to using the device for editing my work.

The order arrive four days ago and I eagerly opened the box and set the units on the USB charger and waited. Once charged, I powered up one of the units, sat down on the couch, and was greeted by a nice color reflection of my face starring back at me. Hmmmm... I thought, I had not seen any such reflection in the store and the difference was quite dramatic. I began wondering if the units in the store were even using the same screen.

Well, I started to do some experimenting and soon discovered the key was all about the level of light on the screen. The brighter the surrounding light, the better the screen looked. With enough light, the reflections all but disappeared--explaining my experience in the stores. At first it seemed like I would just need to keep the unit well lit. The only problem was, many of the places I would be using the reader would not be very bright. I had purchased the Sony lighted cover for it, and quickly determined that was not enough light for me. I tried reading by a lamp and though I could usually find a position that minimized the screen reflection, it would often return as I moved about or caught a secondary light source. I also noticed I had to concentrate a bit on the screen to ignore reflections which led to a small amount of eye strain. It wasn't major, but I suspected it would probably shorten my reading sessions that were in any but the best light. Still, I was determined to somehow make it work.

My wife soon tried hers and immediately commented about how much seeing the reflections (especially of her face) bothered her. She had not been interested in any of the extra touch features I was, and so she regretted not having gotten the 300. I explained about tilting the screen but that was not very satisfying to her. I had recommended the 600 for her because of the faster processor and dictionary which I thought she might like.

We both used them on and off for another day or so. I tested the unit in bed, all a round the house and anywhere else I could think of and struggled with deciding if I could be happy for the long term with the 600.

My wife soon decided she wanted to return hers for the 300. I decided we should go check one out at the store one last time and try to test the reflectivity as best we could (as they had seemed similar to me in the store and I wanted to be sure this time). So we stood at the display and once again I was struck with how the 600 looked great in the bright store light. So, unafraid of looking like a doofus, I knelt down in front of the 600, held up my hands in a way to block as much overhead light as possible and out popped the reflection of my face. I had basically achieved similar light conditions to what I have at home. I then tried the same test on the 300. I was pleasantly surprised to see only shadows. The slight reflections I saw on it looked insignificant to me. My wife took the simpler approach and just held a finger in front of both screens. On the 600, there was a colored reflection of her finger. On the 300, only a gentle shadow that did not affect readability at all.

At that moment it struck me that while the extra features of the 600 were nice, I was buying an eBook reader to read books. I travel a lot and had become quite tired of 20% of my luggage weight being books =). The only reading I will be doing in the future will be on a reader so I realized it had better do that one job really well. To do that, I knew the screen quality had to be my paramount concern on a reader. I knew then that we both had to return our 600's--even though we faced a total of $100 in restocking fees (including the no longer useful cases). So then came the quandary. I liked the metal body and build of the Sony devices, but as I looked at the 300 there in the store, I really wanted a full six inch screen. So what was my answer? I thought about what others had said about the 505--a legendary screen and a full six inches. I knew I needed to somehow find one. So began the adventure...

I began checking the Internet and quickly realized there were no reasonably priced new ones to be had online. The few places on the Amazon that showed them were all over $300. We boxed up our 600's to ship back and set out on a quest to find any remaining 505's in our city. What followed was nearly 9 hour bustle of calling and running around (can't always trust the clerks to know about some leftover units hiding in the back =). This went on until at about 8pm, (What an amazingly patient wife I have!) when a Fry's some distance away I had called said they had 2 blue 505's in hand. I said hold them and that I was on my way. The store was over an hour away through a cold, rainy drive but I was eventually checking out with 2 brand new 505's in my hand. It was pretty late when we finally got home and plugged them in to charge.

I stayed up pretty late last night until it was done charging and then powered it up. The screen was a joy to behold. I didn't even have to turn on a side light to read the screen easily. Yes, there was a slight reflection of my face there in the low light, but it was very minor and I only noticed it because I was looking for it. I soon launched Calibre (Kudos for this amazing program) and uploaded a few books to my device. The next thing I knew, I was 30 pages into reading the Hobbit and had completely lost myself in the story. So I was finally able to go to bed knowing I had made the right choice. The 505's even came with a leather case which made my restocking fee more palatable since I would not have to replace the returned cases. I have a couple of Energizer book lights that clip onto the leather case and light the screen beautifully--even in complete darkness--so I'll stick with that.

Now I am not saying the 600 is not a perfectly usable machine for many--especially with its many nice features. I would however suggest that someone looking to buy one try to see one in less that ideal lighting before making the decision. I for one was surprised at the difference it made. So, enough rambling. It's time to go do some reading...