PRS-900 Sony 300 vs. Sony 505 vs. Sony 600 vs. Sony 700 vs. Sony 900

[rwe]

does anybody know how to get the 900 outside us?
bestbuy doesn't ship internationally
sonyshop doesn't ship internationally

[Jiang]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

The technology is "electromagnetic resonance".
So it's not touch sensitive. You can't use your finger or a standard stylus from you PDA. But there are tons of alternative styli out there.
Screen clarity is way better than of touchscreen units, but it's significantly more expensive.

Thanks, now I know what EM stands for

There are some other EM tech based eink readers available now, such as hanvon( 5 inch screen), onyx boox. But I myself prefer the finger-touch way, it seems Sony is the only one who focus on finger-touch eink reader.

[gheim]

Originally Posted by rwe

does anybody know how to get the 900 outside us?
bestbuy doesn't ship internationally
sonyshop doesn't ship internationally

use http://www.usunlocked.com

I've ordered via usunlocked mine.

greatings

gheim

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by rwe

does anybody know how to get the 900 outside us?
bestbuy doesn't ship internationally
sonyshop doesn't ship internationally

There are workarounds, to order directly from Sony.
Or you can buy through specialized sellers, for example usunlocked.com (the one I've used). BH Photo&Video has them for pre-order as well, these are the ones I've used for various other gadgets.
usunlocked.com simply buys for you, whereas B&H Photo is a "classic" shop.

For some important to know: Although you purchase legally, you won't have any kind of warranty on your reader in Europe or anywhere else outside of the US. You'll have to send it back to the US, if something goes wrong.

Rumor has it, Sony will launch the "Daily Edition" very quickly in Europe, to compete with the international versions of Kindle 2 and now even Kindle DX. Might be worth waiting.
You can exchange the SIM card. But obviously Europe and the US are using different networks/frequencies. So my guess would be, you can't just exchange SIM cards, as soon as they go international. As with both Kindles, there probably will be a replacement by an international version.
Personally, I don't care that much about 3G. But WiFi would be nice, that's one of the reasons why I'm curious about the nook.

Why do you consider Sony 900?
If it's because of ordering books via 3G: Kindle(s) may be a better choice.
If it's because of the improved screen quality: It has improved, but Sony 600 in my opinion already was more than acceptable and you can order Sony 600 easily directly in most of the countries.
If it's because of the newspapers: It looks nice, but for the moment it's just 4 of them. On iRex 1000S, you can access hundreds of newspapers in the same quality (no RSS feeds, regular newspapers).

[rwe]

Originally Posted by rwe

does anybody know how to get the 900 outside us?
bestbuy doesn't ship internationally
sonyshop doesn't ship internationally

thanks all,
i just bought the 900 through sony us shop and myus service
they will receive and ship.

i waited long time for the new irex, for the txtr and the plastic logic
3g isn't most important, i manage my books on my pc anyway, i would have preferred wifi.
as for content, i would have preferred kindle, however i don't want to be locked in by their drm implementation, the other one's i can liberate for personal use.

the touch screen, the abilty to play with the margins and the additional inch in landscape mode convinced me.

last but not least, the investment in books counts more then the reader.

so all in all, in a couple of weeks i will own a sony again

[mgmueller]

Just to briefly add: Sony 900 has the option to sort by "last read".
You manually (as opposed to Kindle) can enter your actual time and date, so the sorting function works flawlessly.
(Whereas on Kindle, without Whispernet, your internal clock shows 1970 and all books are sorted in the opposite order).
There's a single downside to the Sony 900 (please Sony, fix it in a firmware update): For now, you only can enter the US timezones. I've chosen "Pacific time", which is 5 hours different from my German timezone. When syncing via PC, Sony 900 changes the internal clock: PC time minus 5 hours.
Should be easy to solve in a firmware update: Just add all the timezones, please.

Just ordered iRex 800. I'm looking forward to compare touchscreens.

[kartu]

I own prs 505 and recently got prs 600. What can I say, PRS 600 is a HUGE dissapointment for me. Screen is terrible, compared to 505. I don't get what's the point of the touchscreen if the screen becomes so ugly, low contrast, reflects a lot.

[Almas]

Originally Posted by kartu

I own prs 505 and recently got prs 600. What can I say, PRS 600 is a HUGE dissapointment for me. Screen is terrible, compared to 505. I don't get what's the point of the touchscreen if the screen becomes so ugly, low contrast, reflects a lot.

I've been hearing a lot about how good the 505 is. The 600 is my first e-reader, and I am quite impressed with it. I think it's most probably because I have nothing to compare it to. I find the screen really easy on the eyes and I have not noticed a glare that people have been complaining about. And the touch screen is a plus for me because I make so much use of it.

I had bought the 600 before I came to these forums and read about what people were complaining about in regards to the 600. I still hadn't received my 600 and was getting worried about the screen quality and the glare. But I am totally happy with my purchase. It's an awesome reader and one thing that I have learnt through reading these forums is that there is no such thing as a perfect reader! It's all personal choice and what you want and what you are used to in a reader.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Almas

The 600 is my first e-reader, and I am quite impressed with it. I think it's most probably because I have nothing to compare it to. I find the screen really easy on the eyes and I have not noticed a glare that people have been complaining about. And the touch screen is a plus for me because I make so much use of it.

...~~~...

But I am totally happy with my purchase. It's an awesome reader and one thing that I have learnt through reading these forums is that there is no such thing as a perfect reader! It's all personal choice and what you want and what you are used to in a reader.

A friend got the 600 for Christmas and is very happy with it. When she and her husband were over I compared the 505 and the 600 side by side (without her watching) and there was a big difference in contrast, the 505 being much brighter. But having nothing to compare it to she was absolutely thrilled by the device. In adequate lighting it is as easy to read as any other reader.

[Pangolin]

I love my 600, I was taken aback by the greyness of the screen/contrast at the start, but got used to it. The comments about lighting conditions are well worth taking on board. I bought a mighty bright light for bedtime reading and all's good. The glare I don't find a big deal, just tilt the reader slightly and problem solved.

I do think that if I'd had a 505 before and 'upgraded' for want of a better word, to the 600 I might have had a problem. But I too had nothing to compare it with and so.... ignorance being bliss.... I'm loving it.

Also, I'm a bit foolish about how things look and buttons do my head in. I don't like stuff to be too 'busy'. The 600 in red looks so sleek and I'm prepared to compromise on other things.

Still can't get ADE to work on MAC or PC (everything authorised, all details the same), so no library books for me, which is really disappointing. I think the ADE issues mean Sony shouldn't claim full compatibility for MAC since ADE is - as far as I can see - fundamental for library borrowing. There should be a caveat on that one.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by Pangolin

Still can't get ADE to work on MAC or PC (everything authorised, all details the same), so no library books for me, which is really disappointing. I think the ADE issues mean Sony shouldn't claim full compatibility for MAC since ADE is - as far as I can see - fundamental for library borrowing. There should be a caveat on that one.

Use Sony's software instead to authorize the reader for ADE content, and can even use it to download the actual library books as far as I can tell. ADE on the Mac has never supported the Sony Reader, but you don't /need/ ADE here.

[Basalt]

Well, I left my PRS-700 on the plane this week and it doesn't look like I'll be getting it back. So, given that I have quite a few Sony formatted books already I'm looking at replacing it with another Sony.

Based on everything that I've read here it looks like I should be ok no matter what model I go with when considering contrast. I liked the light and the touch screen and the contrast was absolutely acceptable over the year that I had it. I even took it into the Sony Store near me and compared it to the 505. I don't see what the big deal is.

Anyway, it looks like there's no longer a model available with a built in light but everything else points me towards the 600 and the 900. I'm in Canada so the wireless is basically out. That means that the difference is down to a larger screen and a marginally more contrasty screen. The larger screen is really tempting but I think that benefit will actually turn into a negative when I travel.

So the 600 it is. Is there anything I missed here that might sway me to a different model?

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

A friend got the 600 for Christmas and is very happy with it. When she and her husband were over I compared the 505 and the 600 side by side (without her watching) and there was a big difference in contrast, the 505 being much brighter. But having nothing to compare it to she was absolutely thrilled by the device. In adequate lighting it is as easy to read as any other reader.

That's exactly what I permanently try to explain to the critics about Sony 600 or 900:
A friend of mine bought Sony 700 18 months ago. He did love it and now replaced it by Sony 600. Every time he sees one of my non-touchscreen readers, he's briefly disappointed about glare and contrast of his Sony (first 700, now 600).
But when he uses his Sony 600 again, standalone without permanently doing abstract comparisons, he's absolutely happy.
That's why Sony 900 still is my #1 unit. Yes, iRex 800 or BeBook Neo (both WACOM screens) have less glare. But Sony 900 is more than acceptable and simply a beauty.
Don't listen to those critics, be happy about your great Sony gadgets.

[Bltprf502]

Canada is the next to get the wireless with Sony. They are working the issue now.. I have the 900 and it is very nice. My 300 has a better screen as far as glare, but the touch screens have a layer that causes some glare. It is what it is.. I don't know which is best, but if on a budget the 300 nice for what you get. The 900 is the Porsche for sure.

Buy what you love... Love what you buy.

[kartu]

What I don't like about Sony's new line of models is, there is no direct substitute to 505. (hence in some countries it costs more than PRS-600 which should be more expensive to manufacture I guess). The only non touch screen version in the new line is 300, which not only has smaller screen (one could argue, that it's even better for some purposes) but also has no expansion slots/ less number of keys.

And to the "you can see the difference between 505 vs 600 only when comparing them" that's not true in my case. I used to comfortably (!) read from my 505 in a rainy weather using no artificial light. I can't do the same with 600.

One has to not though, that contrast even of the same models differs. It could be that I've got worse than usual 600 and better than usual 505...

PS
Regarding PRS 900, according to:
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewt...=367154#367154

3G module in the reader supports all GSM versions as well as EDGE and not only those (US), claimed to be supported by Sony.