Side by Side screen comparison: 505 & 700

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

Do you have the 505 as well? How do you feel about the 700's screen?
Do you like it so far?

I had the 500 and I liked the screen but it was too slow and cumbersome. 505 seemed similar to 500 - slightly better but not much so speed/ergonomics wise - so I passed on it, but I tested the 700 against 505 displays both at Sony store twice and at Borders once.

700 screen is comparable, maybe slightly better than 500 from my recollections and I liked that one. Again 505 is crisper, but I love my 770 LCD so I am not a eink at all cost person.

Right now the 700 displaced the trusty but getting old 770 as my main reader and I expect I will read a lot on it.

[pdavea]

I spent some time fiddling with a 505 and 700 @ Tysons Corner VA today and you can immediately see the difference. The 700 is slightly yellow, dimmer and maybe a little fuzzy or matted. They don't have any good chairs there so you can't sit & read for an hour. I'm wondering if it'll matter for long reads though?
Its obvious side by side but the color & dimness are small differences like a textbook vs. a pulp newspaper. Any idea if the slight "fuzziness" matters after a long read?
The 700 does work very nice, good riddance to the 0-9 buttons.

[micks_address]

still havent made up my mind about whether to go for a uk 505 or US 700... i would be importing the 700.. the screen quality seems to be the biggest talking poing with the 700 so it would be good to get some more feedback on this... probably still inclined to go for the 505 as its available locally and i wouldnt have to deal with any import issues

[ProDigit]

Anyone wants to 'accidentally' drop the PRS-700, to take a peek at what kind of battery it uses(compared to the PRS-505)?

A high velocity fall is recommended to open the case!
anyone?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Anyone wants to 'accidentally' drop the PRS-700, to take a peek at what kind of battery it uses(compared to the PRS-505)?

A high velocity fall is recommended to open the case!
anyone?

Pay for a 700 and I'll give it a go trying to open it up.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

On the flip side, the 700 has a greatly reduced battery life, and a fuzzy screen.

Whats more important to you in a reader?

There is no data that says it has a greatly reduced battery life. You are seeding FUD.

Dale

[johnnyr]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

There is no data that says it has a greatly reduced battery life. You are seeding FUD.

Dale

According to the Sony Reader Revolution Rep, yes, it does.

[lisreed]

People have already reported here that after 5 hours they are still on a full battery! So that is really not true. It will only drain if you keep the lights on continually.

[rebarnmom]

Originally Posted by pdavea

I spent some time fiddling with a 505 and 700 @ Tysons Corner VA today and you can immediately see the difference. The 700 is slightly yellow, dimmer and maybe a little fuzzy or matted. They don't have any good chairs there so you can't sit & read for an hour. I'm wondering if it'll matter for long reads though?
Its obvious side by side but the color & dimness are small differences like a textbook vs. a pulp newspaper. Any idea if the slight "fuzziness" matters after a long read?
The 700 does work very nice, good riddance to the 0-9 buttons.

I, too, got to play around with the 700 and 505 side by side while in Cincinnati this weekend. I have to agree about the difference in screen background color and contrast. But I still like the capabilities of the 700. After using the touchscreen it was hard to go back to using buttons to get around.

He did say that the display model is a "prototype" and that the ones in the boxes in their backroom :: that they can't sell until the 14th, may in fact be better in some ways, but that he really didn't seem to know any details to elaborate on.
(How is it that I find the one SonyStyle store that isn't already selling their 700's' as I'm now finding out after catching upon 4 days of missed email and more importantly MR forums/posts?)

Concerning the battery usage of the lighting feature, he commented that some people are buying the cover with light wedge to use with the 700 (presumably when they get it) because the light wedge is powered by its own 2 AAA batteries and will not drain the 700's battery life.

I was very grateful to him for unboxing a cover with the light wedge, so that I could see how it works and compares to the 700 and its light source. The wedge lighting looked to be more evenly distributed, but I didn't care for the fact that the actual light wedge can't be folded back with the cover when you're not using it, if you want to hold it that way. Maybe thats not a big deal. But I wouldn't run out and buy the light wedge unless the drain on the battery was significant.

[ddavtian]

I got the 700 today, have 505 with light wedge and 18 months old 500. After reading these posts I was prepared to see a "worse" screen on 700 so I was not disappointed. It's closer to 500 screen, which was fine for my reading experience.

Next to 505 the new reader does not look good. But when I moved away from 505 and started reading, it felt to be a great device. Ergonomics are much better, at least for me. Touch screen is very responsive. Browsing my library (around 200 books on SD, many of them larger than 10Mb, lrf, epub, pdf) is very fast. I like the thumbnail view of books (it fits 9 books per page, showing cover pages). Search is fast, if you need it (I'd love to be able to search for a keyword within multiple technical pdf books, may be a hack later ). As a plus, you can use the stylus for reset.

I created few feeds through Calibre in epub, moved them to 700 through Sony library (Calibre doesn't support it yet), all is good.


I only need to get the hack for Russian fonts and Calibre support.

[Zen-Diego]

I've always liked the idea of an ereader, but DRM and poor features have always kept me from committing. Testing the 505 demo units over the past year convinced me the e-ink quality was worth the expense & I started researching a bit. The features "leaked" on the 700 convinced me it would likely be my first reader.

I visited SonyStyle San Diego today fully prepared to buy a 700. I was able to compare the 505 and 700 side-by-side. I was immediately struck by the lack of clarity, sharpness and contrast on the 700. It reminded me of the first Palm Pilot I owned... muddy text on a slightly less muddy background. I looked for contrast settings and brightness settings, & I changed font sizes up and down. I asked a salesperson about how it appeared to be harder to read & he shrugged and suggested a Kindle (oh yes he did!).

So the e-ink layer that is so sharp on the 505 is recessed and covered with a second, top layer (of glass?) on the 700. It seems the additional layer requred for touch screen and for a space in which to add sidelighting required a significant compromise in screen clarity. It seems for some, the great new features justify the purchase. I agree that the navigation, touch screen, and somewhat swifter page turns are attractive. But for me, looking for my first device, the lower quality reading experience is a deal killer.

Now I must decide if I can tolerate the "old" features and sharp text of a 505, or wait and see what a Kindle 2 brings to the table. Gosh dang it, Sony, I always want to ask you to dance and you usually nod yes but then always seem to step on my toes!

[Ler0y Jenkins]

I too was set on getting a 700 until I took a trip to the Sony Store in Tyson's Corner, VA. After seeing the two side-by-side, I couldn't believe how bad the contrast on the 700 was. I don't think the difference is caused solely by the glass covering the screen however. To me, it seems as though Sony used an different screen for the 700 than the 505. I might be wrong, but I would live to see the specs on the two.

[ProDigit]

it seems as though Sony used an different screen for the 700 than the 505

that might be a possibility, seeing that the 700 has a faster screen refresh rate than the 505.
Another possibility is that the darker screen is caused by the touchscreen.
A last thing that could be, is with the darker screen it is harder to see the ghosting, which could be a reason why the 700's screen is refreshing faster than the 505.
I guess when they will increase the DPI on the screen that the screen's refresh time will also lower,seeing that the pixels are smaller and need to be exposed to a shorter (time-wise) magnetic field or electric current (or however these screens work) to refresh.
But then again a higher DPI means also higher resolution, which will put more strain on the processor to display the page, and might shorten battery life a little.
Anyways,me just writing my thoughts here.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Zen-Diego

I asked a salesperson about how it appeared to be harder to read & he shrugged and suggested a Kindle (oh yes he did!).

Oh no he di'nt!

See... even Sony Style sales people know the Kindle is a superior device. The browser er HD DVD/Blu-Ray er reader wars are over.

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

See... even Sony Style sales people know the Kindle is a superior device.

Not sure how much I trust the judgment of those sales people after one said the device has 5 hours of battery life under normal reading conditions.