Finally saw 700

[Stingo]

Well, I drove up to Boca from Miami (two counties away) and finally got a look at the 700. They had two 700's on a display with three 505's. I brought my 505 with the light wedge for comparison. The visual difference was immediately obvious even as I approached the table. The 700 had poorer contrast and a bit of a tint. I played with two 700's that they had on display. The screen on one was so covered with finger smudges that it was darn near unusable. The reflection was fairly bad and, although it was readable, it did not come close to the sharp small text on the 505.

I've been waiting for the 700 to upgrade for a while. Now, I've decided to stick to my 505 until the next generation. If I was on the market today and the 505 was not available I would certainly pick the Kindle or one of the other brands rather than the 700. Don't get me wrong, the operating system is nice but for me the bottom line is paper like readability. In this respect the 700 is a step backwards.

If you've seen it and liked it, enjoy the 700. If you haven't seen it, don't buy until you do.

[timbit]

My PRS-700 was delivered a few days ago. I made the mistake of ordering it without seeing one first-hand. Based on the reviews that I had read at the time, it sounded like a great device.

Having never once actually seen or used an ebook reader before, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Maybe my expectations were too high, but my initial reaction was utter disappointment. With or without the light on, the readability was poor. I was beginning to think that all the hype about e-Ink technology was nonsense.

I was SOOO relieved to find out that this poor readability of the PRS700 is not representative of all eBooks readers. I have since gone to as local SonyStore to compare my 700 with a 505, and I will definitely be downgrading (upgrading?) to the 505.

Don't get me wrong, there are things I love about the 700, and I hope they are incorporated into future versions. But right now, I don't need the "nice-to-have" features of the 700; I need something that I can actually see/read in less than ideal lighting conditions.