505 Light wedge and Reviewed the 700

[johnnyr]

Originally Posted by guguy

When performing heavy calculations the cpu of the PRS-700
(freescale i.MX31) consumes about as much at 533mhz than the one of the
PRS-500/505 (freescale i.MXL) at 200mhz, that's to say around 1W
(according to datasheets). And the i.MX31 includes much more efficient
power saving capabilities. The epson controller may need more juice but
definitely not enough to drain the battery life significantely faster.
So the only factor remaining is the screen, since it's the same one as on the 505
with a pressure-sensor touchscreen it means it consumes as much
as the one of the 505 when the touchscreen isn't used and you would really
have to use it intensely to drain the battery in five hours !

Conclusion : the guy who told you that is definitely smoking too much
weed.

Actually, the touchscreen is one of the main reasons for the battery drain. It is constantly powered, since it has to always be ready for your touch.

So while I do think 5 hours is a bit low, the battery is nowhere near as good as the 505.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

Actually, the touchscreen is one of the main reasons for the battery drain. It is constantly powered, since it has to always be ready for your touch.

So while I do think 5 hours is a bit low, the battery is nowhere near as good as the 505.

I am not saying you are wrong, but on what basis do you make this statement?

The screen is not iPhone like, but needs a little pressure to be applied for it to work. I'd imagine it's easy to power-manage it, so it only draws power when pressed and activated.

I'll watch the power consumption, but would honestly be surprised if you are correct (plus, Sony would be opening itself to a class-action, because of its 7000+ page turns claim.)

[johnnyr]

Originally Posted by Sonist

I am not saying you are wrong, but on what basis do you make this statement?

The screen is not iPhone like, but needs a little pressure to be applied for it to work. I'd imagine it's easy to power-manage it, so it only draws power when pressed and activated.

I'll watch the power consumption, but would honestly be surprised if you are correct (plus, Sony would be opening itself to a class-action, because of its 7000+ page turns claim.)

I'm making it simply on my understanding of how touchscreens work, in addition to the Sony Rep (who could e lying out of his you know what)

Please let us know what the real battery life is, once you've used it a bit, so we can put this to bed

[lisreed]

I think there is another thread on this forum about the type of touchscreens and battery drainage. I believe the kind of touch screen on the Illiad is a real battery drainer and the kind on the SONY 700 does not. I get mine tuesday but others who have had it and read for more than 5 hours will sure know soon and report.

Personally I find it odd behavior in an economic meltdown that a Sony sales person would be pushing a cheaper model over the new one. Unless for some reason he is getting commissions on just the 505!

I am not real happy about the screen issues but there are other things that I really wanted and pushing buttons to turn pages makes my tendinitis flare up so its literally a touch screen for me or reading paperbooks full time.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by guguy

Conclusion : the guy who told you that is definitely smoking too much
weed.

Best conclusion I've read in a long time

[ewiplayer]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

I would agree, except that I've already done that, and as I said, all three salesmen, my fiance, and one other on-looker all agreed the 700 was dull, fuzzy, and not as enjoyable to read.

I'm trying to understand how =X= could think differently =)

Here's a pic I took. 700 is on the left (as if you can't tell) The picture accurately represents what it looks like...and in fact may make it look a bit better then what it is.

Ah, now that's a telling picture! Thank you so much for posting that. The others were all at weird angles and such. This one's perfect!

And I'll say, that it's not that bad at all (even if it is a little worse, as you state). I think I'll be happy to get one when I can... it's not as good, for sure, but it's also not bad... just not as good. And when I used the 505 and found it sluggish beyond acceptability, and see that the 700 meets my needs for responsiveness, I'm happy to give a bit on the screen. Any unit as slow as the 505 (and they're pretty much all that slow) isn't worth more than $100 to me. So it's either the 700 or nothing at this point.

I understand all of these people going nuts over how "bad" the screen is. What I don't understand is how these same people find the slowness of the 505 remotely acceptable. I entered "45" in order to switch to page 45 in the store (I headed in ready to buy a 505) and waited 5 seconds for the page flip to finally occur.

Great picture! Wow... finally

[johnnyr]

Originally Posted by ewiplayer

Ah, now that's a telling picture! Thank you so much for posting that. The others were all at weird angles and such. This one's perfect!

And I'll say, that it's not that bad at all (even if it is a little worse, as you state). I think I'll be happy to get one when I can... it's not as good, for sure, but it's also not bad... just not as good. And when I used the 505 and found it sluggish beyond acceptability, and see that the 700 meets my needs for responsiveness, I'm happy to give a bit on the screen. Any unit as slow as the 505 (and they're pretty much all that slow) isn't worth more than $100 to me. So it's either the 700 or nothing at this point.

I understand all of these people going nuts over how "bad" the screen is. What I don't understand is how these same people find the slowness of the 505 remotely acceptable. I entered "45" in order to switch to page 45 in the store (I headed in ready to buy a 505) and waited 5 seconds for the page flip to finally occur.

Great picture! Wow... finally

Lol, thanks...I took that with my G1 =)

Also, just to let you know, the 505 and 700 were about the same speed when I tested it in store. I'm sure with bigger files the 700 would perform better, but as far as regular old e-books, the difference in speed is negligible. (As far as page turning, I didn't try going to a specific page)

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ewiplayer

Ah, now that's a telling picture! Thank you so much for posting that. The others were all at weird angles and such. This one's perfect!

And I'll say, that it's not that bad at all (even if it is a little worse, as you state). I think I'll be happy to get one when I can...

The font on the 700 in this pic does look a little more muted than on the 505... but I certainly wouldn't call it fuzzy. Also, the font on the 700 looks like it is a size bigger that the 505 so hard to compare the "crispness" of it.

Either way I am sticking with my Kindle for now... waiting for a 8-10 inch device that cost less then my mortgage payment.

BOb

[ewiplayer]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

Lol, thanks...I took that with my G1 =)

Also, just to let you know, the 505 and 700 were about the same speed when I tested it in store. I'm sure with bigger files the 700 would perform better, but as far as regular old e-books, the difference in speed is negligible. (As far as page turning, I didn't try going to a specific page)

For now, I'm just going to pretend that you didn't say that If it is truly comparable in its slowness (and the videos I've seen tend to suggest otherwise, hence I'm stilling holding out hope) then the 700 will be a no-go for me as well. I don't just read fiction and such, but technical docs. There's a lot of page turning, back and forth, searching, bookmarking, flipping around, etc... The speed of the 505 that I saw would make me scream. The book I was checking out in the store was about 50 pages long and was a stock book that Sony put on there (i.e. you'd think they'd choose something optimal).

But I'll have to wait until I can get my hands on that thing to find out, unless someone is willing to post a side-by-side video like some of the things I've seen on youtube. You know... put the same book on both, and then do the same operations on both to see what the usability's like. That would be most cool.

Cheers!

[johnnyr]

Originally Posted by ewiplayer

For now, I'm just going to pretend that you didn't say that If it is truly comparable in its slowness (and the videos I've seen tend to suggest otherwise, hence I'm stilling holding out hope) then the 700 will be a no-go for me as well. I don't just read fiction and such, but technical docs. There's a lot of page turning, back and forth, searching, bookmarking, flipping around, etc... The speed of the 505 that I saw would make me scream. The book I was checking out in the store was about 50 pages long and was a stock book that Sony put on there (i.e. you'd think they'd choose something optimal).

But I'll have to wait until I can get my hands on that thing to find out, unless someone is willing to post a side-by-side video like some of the things I've seen on youtube. You know... put the same book on both, and then do the same operations on both to see what the usability's like. That would be most cool.

Cheers!

This was just my limited test I was able to do in the store. The 700 is most likely faster is every other operation, but as far as I could see simple page turning was about the same speed.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

... Please let us know what the real battery life is, once you've used it a bit, so we can put this to bed

After about a 4-hour charge through USB, I read for just short of 5 hours, touch-flipping pages. At the end, the battery indicator remained at FULL

[tompe]

Originally Posted by =X=

However we do agree on one thing that the person buying it should look at the product before they purchase it. And we should leave it at that.

Isn't this a case were you need to use the product. That something looks worse is sometimes an unreliable indicator of how it works in real use.

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

This was just my limited test I was able to do in the store. The 700 is most likely faster is every other operation, but as far as I could see simple page turning was about the same speed.

I did a quick test on my 700 with a book that is about 670 pages mmpb/pdf e-arc, and 1520 pages as a lrf text extracted. The pdf is 1.8 MB and the lrf 560kb

I timed 30 s twice for both files and I got 60 pages shown at the end of the time for the lrf file and 33 for the pdf, pretty much consistently on the two tries.

[=X=]

@Sonist. Sounds like you've gotten your 700.

".. a short 5 hours.."
That's some serious reading.

How was the reading experience. Did you use the buttons or the touch screen to change pages?
Some folks here are concerned about the eye strain how did you feel after reading 5 hours?


@ ewiplayer
It's hard to gauge speed from the demo files since they are optimized for the devices. (same thing applies to buying audio/video devices always bring your own media)

That is partly why I loaded my SD card to the demoed PRS-700 and page turned books I was familiar with on my 505.

The speed was noticeable. The SD Card loaded faster twice the speed. Books paged turned faster. And the PDF experience was much better, esp. with text reflow.
=X=

[Xenophon]

Could one of you lucky/brave 700-owning folks please try loading a large LRF ebook using Calibre and then time opening it? And also time changing font sizes? It'd be particularly spiffy if you used something either from the Baen Free Library or that is available for download here at MobileRead.

I want to compare the load time and font-size-change time with the times I see on my PRS-500. That'd provide me with half the info I need to decide whether to upgrade. The second half of the info (screen quality and physical ergonomics) will require time with a 700 in person, so I'll be waiting until my local Borders has one on display.

Thanks in advance,

Xenophon