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I found a Sony 505 on sale for 199 at a local store. I purchased it and compared it to the nook using the same books. First, the screen of the nook is better. It is significantly whiter while still retaining the dark blacks of the 505 (at least on one of the font choices). While the 505 has a definite advantage in page turning when reading an lrf format book, this is somewhat negated by the length of time it takes to format the lrf before opening and before each change in font size. The nook is quicker in changing fonts and sizes. On epubs, the nook has a slight advantage in page turning speed over the 505 and better formating (i.e. nicely justified text, more font choices, more size choices, no annoying ADE page number). The nook was faster at PDFs but does not have a landscape view which allows for useful viewing of image-based pdfs (like manga and comics). The ui had more options for the nook than for the 505, but interface was more intuitive and quicker for the 505 (having the dedicated number and function buttons helps). Ergonomically they are about the same, although I prefer the touch screen swipe of the nook for turning pages (it seems a more natural way to interact with a book than buttons). I expect with new firmware that the nook will get significantly faster; its processor is over three times as fast as that of the 505. It is the 505 that will be returned, not the nook. The quality I was most shocked about: the quality of the screen. I did not realize how nice and creamy it was until I compared it directly to the 505 which is known to have a very nice screen. I don't know what B and N has done to achieve this (is it some hardware modification to the screen or simply an advance in the firmware?) but it is definitely the best screen I've seen on an e-ink device (although I haven't seen the new iRex or the Boox in person).
Luqman
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