Review – Sony Reader Digital Book PRS-700

[Kris777]

http://krisabel.ctv.ca/blog/_archive...1/3972261.html

[DDHarriman]

Not having seen a Sony in real life - just posted photos or movies about it - I can say that the photos in the review show the 700 with a really washed out screen and poor contrast.

This can be from bad taken photos or poor ambience light, but, if it’s not and comparing it with my Cybook screen, no way!!!
It’s like an old saying in my country: “going from riding a horse to riding a donkey”.

Best,
Ps: (the saying was a bit adapted and It’s not intended to diminish donkeys, animals I think are quite nice and friendly)

[johnnyr]

Originally Posted by DDHarriman

Not having seen a Sony in real life - just posted photos or movies about it - I can say that the photos in the review show the 700 with a really washed out screen and poor contrast.

This can be from bad taken photos or poor ambience light, but, if it’s not and comparing it with my Cybook screen, no way!!!
It’s like an old saying in my country: “going from riding a horse to riding a donkey”.

Best,
Ps: (the saying was a bit adapted and It’s not intended to diminish donkeys, animals I think are quite nice and friendly)

Sadly, This is exactly what the 700's screen looks like. I'm hoping Sony realizes this and takes steps to fix the issue.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by johnnyr

Sadly, This is exactly what the 700's screen looks like. I'm hoping Sony realizes this and takes steps to fix the issue.

I'm looking forward to seeing one in person myself as I have a unit on order. I've current have a 505 with a lightwedge, have owned and used a 500, plus all the Gemstar, RCA and Rocket models.

I have to confess I find your obsession with the screen puzzling Johnnyr - you've just joined the community this month and out of some 56 posts, something like 45 - 50 are slagging the 700. Forgive me if I become a little wary re: your agenda. Do you work for Bezos?

Incidentally, this is what Kris Abel at CTV had to say about the Mobileread community:

Originally Posted by Kris Abel @ CTV

As my own personal photos included with my review show (not supplied to me by Sony), the PRS-700 is not "unreadable". The Mobileread gang have romanticized their early eBook experiences, both the Palm devices they used and the experience of being the first to really get the eBook trend, that they have become overcritical of anything new.

In order to add touchscreen capability, Sony has had to add an additional layer to the E-ink screen. The result is, if you compare the screens of the two devices under tight scrutiny, that the 505's text appears to be the sharper of the two. You are viewing the text through less plastic.

Its still the same size screen (larger than most eBook readers) but with the ability to display text in larger font sizes. It's actually easier to read from this device than most of the others on the market for that reason.

To characterize it as unreadable or to use it as the basis to dramatically write off the PRS-700 as useless is irrational.

Its a behaviour that exists with hard core fans across all gadget types. Audiophiles can't understand how people can listen to iPods, PC gamers insist consoles are useless without a mouse and keyboard, Blackberry users can't understand how anyone can use a virtual keyboard, etc. With obsession there's a loss of objectivity.

The screen of the PRS-700 is absolutely fine.

I look forward to getting mine shortly. If I don't like, I'll say so, and I'm picky. I went to the 505 because I found the 500 just too gray so I leapt to the chance to move to the new screen. I do find the light wedge annoying when it's not on, so I may not like the 700, but I do wonder if people aren't overreacting a little bit on here.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by BuddyBoy

I look forward to getting mine shortly. If I don't like, I'll say so, and I'm picky. I went to the 505 because I found the 500 just too gray so I leapt to the chance to move to the new screen. I do find the light wedge annoying when it's not on, so I may not like the 700, but I do wonder if people aren't overreacting a little bit on here.

And I look forward to your review.
Please do write about your experiences. I would be most interested in comparison with PRS-500, because this is what I have.

[Liviu_5]

Another informative review that touches on the salient points of he 700 which are that it is extremely fast and easy to use and has the best pdf handling I've seen for non-tablet/laptop devices.

The comments to the post are also interesting

[ddavtian]

Originally Posted by kacir

I would be most interested in comparison with PRS-500, because this is what I have.

I had 500 for long time, sold few days ago. 700 screen without light looks the same as in 500. With light on, 700 is better, not as sharp as 505, but close.

It's faster than 500, touch screen works very well. Page buttons are comfortable (I'm lefty).

My only problem so far has been 700 crashing on feeds from Calibre. Few of my favorite feeds, in both ePub and lrf (directly transfered) formats, do not work well.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by kacir

And I look forward to your review.
Please do write about your experiences. I would be most interested in comparison with PRS-500, because this is what I have.

Sony just sent me an email - it shipped today!

[Kris777]

another review with pictures to compare sony screens:
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/gadg...er-PRS-700.htm
...
What's the catch? The touch screen layer reduces contrast. Digital readers like the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle use e-ink technology, a very low power, paper-like display that's non-glare and high contrast (much like a book's pages). Touch isn't part of the e-ink technology, nor is backlighting, so we rarely see a reader offering these. Sony, cutting-edge company that they are, found a way to add these two desirable features. Sony added a touch layer on top of the e-ink display and embedded LED side-lights into the frame that surrounds the display. Clever. But this comes at the expense of contrast and glare, and the Sony Reader PRS-700 looks more like a grayscale notebook screen than an eBook reader. The glare isn't nearly as bad as the average PDA or gloss notebook display-- it's on par with matte finish notebook displays.

[Ervserver]

wow the 700 screen really looks crappy....I'm hoping those pictures are just poor

[lowlife]

The pictures are close to accurate. I own the PRS 505 and 700. The touch screen appears to be about 4-5 mm above the actual screen and causes some haze. The haze is only noticeable if you have them side by side. In dim situations the light negates the haze effect. All taken together I believe it is a worth while upgrade considering all of the extra tricks you get with the 700.

What you really have to ask yourself is did you buy a reader for just pure reading, or does a couple of tricks make reduced visibility worth it?

P.S. I just took them both out side and noted that the 700 is harder to read as the screen is reflective.

[ColdSun]

I'm not sure where this Kris Abel fellow gets his information about us MobileRead folks, but I've seen maybe one or two people classify the 700 unreadable. His article is a blatent misrepresentation of our forum users. I myself purchased a 505 instead of the 700. Sure, the screen was one of the reasons I made the choice, but it wasn't because the 700 was not readable. It was because the 505 was just better (in MY opinion). I also like the layout and I don't really want a touchscreen - I know some folks love that feature, but not me. Anyhow, I'm wondering how a writer or reviewer can be so irresponsible when it comes to a community? There are many people here who love the 700!

This is hands-down the BEST community to get information about ebook devices. Most of the people here are very open-minded and excited about any technology involving ebooks.

One last thing - I was able to get a 2 year warranty with my 505 and still pay about as much as I was going to pay for a 700 without the warranty. Personally, I think $400 is a bit steep for the 700. The reviewer could at least mention the difference in prices between the two models and why some folks may not find the 700 worth it!

[sarah7700]

^^ do you mean the 505? There is no Sony 550...

[dhbailey]

While ColdSun may be right that there have been only one or two posts which actually claimed the 700 was unreadable, there have been many many posts which would leave the reader thinking it is unreadable without specifically saying so.

So many that while waiting for my 700 I was beginning to panic wondering if it would be as bad in person as everybody on this forum was making it out to be. There isn't a SonyStyle store nearby for me to go check it out, so I had to purchase it "blind."

Boy was I relieved when it showed up and is so much better than all the naysayers had indicated.

That's what I think Kris was talking about. And Ervserver's remark about how the screen "is really crappy." If that doesn't imply "unreadable" I don't know what it does imply. In any event it certainly would make people avoid the 700.

[Trek]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

While ColdSun may be right that there have been only one or two posts which actually claimed the 700 was unreadable, there have been many many posts which would leave the reader thinking it is unreadable without specifically saying so.

I guess you won't enjoy this latest review much then =) :

http://gizmodo.com/5097999/sony-prs+...l-improvements