PRS-600 today I decided to return my PRS-600

[Justice Strike]

Originally Posted by babyd

that's fair enough. I guess Im not as bothered as I have the 505 too......so its not my only reader, but I find do prefer the features on the 600 and the fact that I can add all my books to the 600 with no issues, my 505 struggled when using memory cards to the point where I gave up on them. So the fact that I can have all my books on one reader makes the 600 a winner for me, plus the extra features of dictionary and annotations are great.
I find if I use my 600 with no clip on light there is reflection, but if I angle it, it improves it. The screen is not as good as the 505 for sure, but I find I can live with it and the bonus's outweigh the losses for me anyway.

Its a very personal thing, it obviously does not suit you and returning it may be your best bet.

I guess I just live with the fact that no readers are perfect yet, its a new technology and it may take a while to get it right. The 505 have the perfect screen for me, but it has some major flaws in the firmware execution and memory card use, this bugged me more than the screen does on the 600....

I am already getting excited to see what they come out with next, if they could get the 505 screen with the 600 features then I would be in reader heaven lol

Perhaps i'm just asking to much of the device. I also have the feeling that... while the device supports 2X 32 gb it will be unwise to actually use that amount of space for data... Yesterday i had used a memory card to load mahjong (wanted to see if it works)... it "froze" I removed it, and it still froze.... i think it was because of the amount of pictures there where on it (1 gig full of pictures) but i'm not sure....

Today the device crashed btw. I was reading in the subway... the paper. It was a light epub format book. I was not even doing anything and the device spontaneously rebooted. The battery was full, it had no reason whatsoever to reboot.

Again, i'm just going to try the device out. But perhaps this device just doesn't suit my needs. It handles pdf's badly, it is not really suited for documents and the screen just doesn't fit my needs. I'm so dissapointed at the moment. but really i have not used the device intensely yet and i really should give the device a chance.

[babyd]

I personally hate and won't use ePubs as I feel they slow the device down, for 'industry standard' they are rubbish, the laout and speed are terrible from the few I have bought. I only ever use LRF files and they are fab on the sony readers. The only PDF I used was the manual and that was fine too.

[bsg75]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

You know, I'm wondering if there's a business opportunity here for someone willing to market an 'antiglare' screen protector the way they do for PDA's and iPhones, which don't cut down on the clarity - just on the glare...

Those have transmissive screens, so it's a different story. Any anti-glare film or treatment has to hurt clarity on a reflective screen, or else Sony would have put one on themselves. The same incident light creating the glare is also allowing you to see the text and in both cases it will be diffused. But a screen protector might be a good trade-off for some people in some lighting conditions if it has roughly the same index of refraction as the touchscreen.. otherwise it will create substantial additional reflection.

[Justice Strike]

Originally Posted by babyd

I personally hate and won't use ePubs as I feel they slow the device down, for 'industry standard' they are rubbish, the laout and speed are terrible from the few I have bought. I only ever use LRF files and they are fab on the sony readers. The only PDF I used was the manual and that was fine too.

alas... you cannot use custom fonts with the LRF format supporting different languages is not an option... as for epubs being slow and it therefore being a bad standard... the standard and the implementation of that standard are 2 different things... the ereaders are slow regardless of format IMHO. I really didn't think the speed was much faster with lrf then with epub

[babyd]

really, maybe its just me then? I find the ePubs lag, especially on chapter changes, and my LRF files, created on Book Designer very snappy......maybe its the ePub books I bought, they were so bad I haven't bought any since, approx a year ago lol I agree the way they look/style is down to the creator, sadly most seemed to be done badly, I like my books to look like books and the ePubs I tried didn't. Each to their own I guess.

I seriously hope you grow to love your 600, or return it and find one that works for you.

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by babyd

... I use my 600 with a mighty bright clip on light and its perfect then, no issues with glare or reflection, in any lighting......it looks pretty much like my 505 with the mighty bright....

Babyd, what is the mighty bright clip on light? Is that accessory from Sony and does it work only with 600?

[babyd]

mighty brights are general clip on lights, you can use them for anything, I have 3 and use them for paper books, my readers and all sorts of stuff. Just do a google search for mighty bright and you'll find some. I have the flex 2 and duet 2 versions and love them.

[Justice Strike]

this picture most clearly shows what i was expecting, against what i got.



i was expecting some glare, but the amount i got was far more then i would have expected from epaper devices. When i was in the metro the prs600 was ok btw. It's just that when i'm in a well lit room, or a room where the light is coming from above (in my environment it's virtually any room) that the screen gets much glare.

[Kysmeth]

Originally Posted by bhs

Here is my subjective opinion.

I have my 600 for the past few days. It is not that bad. The advantages it offers me outweigh the reflection issue.

If you own a 505, you might strongly dislike the reflection on 600. This problem, I believe, is multiplied by one's experience with 505. I rarely notice the reflection on 600 but, too bad, am constantly reminded by 505 owners that there is such a problem. When I read on my 600, I have no problem. After reading those complaints, I start seeing the reflection when a question pops up in my head "Is there a reflection?" (I guess it would be better for me to stay away from complaints about 600 screen for the better).

If you have/had 505 or have doubts about 600 screen, 505 is likely to be a better choice for you.

More importantly, I use my 600 for non-recreational purpose. No kidding: It is more EFFICIENT for me to use 600, rather than 505 (I had 505 for a week and returned it back).

I love my 600 and am happy with it. My one cent .

Entirely agree... I have had my 600 for the past 3 weeks(because I screwed up my 505 while traveling) and I did notice that there was more of a glare than my 505, especially while reading at night in minimal lighting conditions. But overall I can deal with it, and I like what the device offers

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by Justice Strike

this picture most clearly shows what i was expecting, against what i got.



i was expecting some glare, but the amount i got was far more then i would have expected from epaper devices. When i was in the metro the prs600 was ok btw. It's just that when i'm in a well lit room, or a room where the light is coming from above (in my environment it's virtually any room) that the screen gets much glare.

How far's the light from the reader in that photo? Seriously - that's messed up, and nothing like what I've seen either in direct sunlight or elsewhere. Are there perhaps a batch of defective PRS-600's, or are all the people who are having glare issues reading them with an reflector bulb lamp hanging over their shoulders?

As I said before in this thread, I've played with one outside, inside (fluorescent tubes in their usual banks with the plastic diffusor grids, compact flourescent lamps in the usual floor-lamps), and in vehicles... and the only times I had issues with glare was when I either had the sun behind me, or when I had a lamp over my shoulder pointing directly at the screen instead of at an angle.

Or do the covers for these cases make that big a difference, perhaps? Those things do block out some of the ambient light from the side which could otherwise cause glare. I notice you've got the cover on the PRS-505, which undoubtedly helps cut down on some of the light which otherwise would be reflecting from the side. Is everyone who's had issues with the PRS-600 using it without a case, or with? Again, there's that question about reading environment I posed.

As noted by the previous poster, the glare is at its worst in marginal lighting conditions, where any point source will glare badly... or if you've got a light source pointed directly at the screen, which caused even the PRS-505 above to glare some (which is about the same amount of glare that I saw when I was playing with one of these outside).

[Journier]

Some neat things about the mighty brite are that it has two very powerful LED's and you have the option of using either one or both lights. For me, one is substantial. In addition, it utilizes standard AAA batteries instead of the fancy mercury ones, or whatever they are, that are more difficult to find.

[Justice Strike]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

How far's the light from the reader in that photo? Seriously - that's messed up, and nothing like what I've seen either in direct sunlight or elsewhere. Are there perhaps a batch of defective PRS-600's, or are all the people who are having glare issues reading them with an reflector bulb lamp hanging over their shoulders?

This is a picture I found which clearly illustrates what i'm getting versus what I expected to get. See my silver prs600 pictures posted earlier. Those are pretty similar to what you see here. Those where taken with a fluorescent bar shaped lights with plastic diffusors. I suspect this picture was the same.

As I said before in this thread, I've played with one outside, inside (fluorescent tubes in their usual banks with the plastic diffusor grids, compact flourescent lamps in the usual floor-lamps), and in vehicles... and the only times I had issues with glare was when I either had the sun behind me, or when I had a lamp over my shoulder pointing directly at the screen instead of at an angle.

As noted by the previous poster, the glare is at its worst in marginal lighting conditions, where any point source will glare badly... or if you've got a light source pointed directly at the screen, which caused even the PRS-505 above to glare some (which is about the same amount of glare that I saw when I was playing with one of these outside).

I think your right.... but i don't care. The screen is basic functionality. It's the most critical part of the device. If it's not working to expectiation, it really defeats the purpose of the device.

[benisntfunny]

Hmm.. I remember the Glare/Reflection arguments very well... actually there are still some people to this day that argue about it... when we're talking about LCD Monitors.

Good god it was so annoying to read the reviews of people who went and looked at the new MacBooks Apple was putting out at their store a few years back. They claimed to have reflected the entire world back to the user making everything completely unreadable. Apple was doomed, the world was ending, this is the worst idea ever who would think glossy displays are okay?

4 years of glossy displays later... Apple sales are up, MacBooks are incredibly popular computers and the glossy display has spread to a number of their other products. There's still a camp that is freaked out by the idea but it's dwindling.

This reminds me a lot of the eReader people. Based on reviews alone I cancelled an order for a PRS-700 and went with a PRS-505. Many of the online reviews made it sound like reading a 700 was comparable to trying to watch a movie underwater with no goggles.

Finally a few months after having my PRS-505 (Which I loved until I slept on top of it last week and smashed the screen) I ventured into a Sony store and asked to see the 700 display model. I was pissed. I thought I was barely supposed to be able to read the screen? Sure, it wasn't as contrasty as my PRS-505 - okay - but it wasn't anywhere near the doom and gloom reviews I've had seen and would have been HAPPY to own it.

Last week while shopping for a Kegorator I came across a display at Best Buy with the PRS-600. Best buy has huge bright lights beaming from the retail heavens above which did not seem to ruin my reading experience at all. Now that my 505 is broke and will probably cost me 200 times its unit cost to fix the screen I've opted for the 600. The only reason I'm unhappy this time around is because I really wanted to wait for the Daily Edition; maybe I'll sell this it a few months, but it won't be due to the glare on the screen.

[ifonline]

Dealing with the reflection and glare on these screens (just like on the glossy Mac screens) is something that boils down to personal tolerance and needs. Why must people get upset when someone finds these screens undesirable? I just don't understand why it is such a big deal to some people. Either you like the screen or you don't. Big deal.

I didn't like it so I returned the 600. Some people do like it and are keeping the 600. Great! By the way, some people don't like the Sony readers at all and have opted for a Kindle, or a JetBook, etc. That's okay too.

[Justice Strike]

Originally Posted by ifonline

Great! By the way, some people don't like the Sony readers at all and have opted for a Kindle, or a JetBook, etc.

Those infidels!!