Last October Sony released the next generation of its e-reader to the world: the brand spanking new Sony PRS-700. This e-reader comes jam packed with some great technology that makes it leaps and bounds above the PRS-505, the Kindle and almost every other mid priced e-reader on the market.
Even though there are improvements galore, the core of the e-reader stays the same. This core is a very good solid base to build upon, but still contains some flaws that plagued the PRS-500 series that came before it. Will this be the Kindle Killer? Let’s find out.
The New Touch Screen Display
The biggest improvement is the touch screen display. This display takes the already smooth and powerful interface of the PRS-500 series and makes it even more simple and user friendly than before. There are no buttons to be found on the device, and no clumsy keyboards for tiny note typing.
Instead you get a combination of gestures and chunky icons for navigating around your digital library. The icons reminded us of the iPhone interface, which is a very good thing indeed. It’s very easy to figure out where you are and what you need to do.
The gestures are the coolest way of moving through a book. To turn a page you simply swipe down in the direction you want the page to turn. Nothing could be easier. To add a note in a section, you just tap twice on a page. It’s so easy to use that it makes other e-readers clumsy in comparison.
Faster Screen Refresh & More Formats Supported
One of the biggest improvements for this e-reader is the screen refresh. Even though the PRS-505 did move a little faster than the 500 model, the 700’s refresh rate is nearly instantaneous. Every time you swipe your finger down the page it zips by, moving almost as fast as manually turning the page in an old fashioned print book.
It also comes with a bigger hard drive, allowing you to pack in a little over twice as any books as the PRS-505 model. The old model held around 160 books in a single device, while this one holds about 360 books. And, if this isn’t enough for your reading pleasure, you can still expand with an SD card for a few hundred more books. It also reads more formats than the 505 model did, now including Adobe EPUB/ADAPT formats. Sadly, it’s still missing support the popular MobiBook format.
And one last killer feature is the brand new front light. There are small LED lights on either side of the display, allowing you ample reading light if you’re up at three in the morning and want to read without waking up your significant other. It’s about as bright as a book light and has about the same effect. And if you find the glare is a bit much, you can always tone it down to get the right amount of illumination.
Disadvantages
Of course, there are some drawbacks to the new device. It still doesn’t support Kindle’s proprietary format for e-books, and therefore has far less of a library as its Oprah backed rival. That’s not to say its slim picking over at the Sony Bookstore, but it still doesn’t compare to the massive library of e-books offered by Amazon in the Kindle format.
Another drawback is the lack of wi-fi in this model. You can’t easily connect and download magazine and newspaper subscriptions, or books like you can with the Kindle. You’ll still need to tether it to a laptop, and this makes it a little less portable than it could be.
And even though the touch screen interface makes browsing your library a breeze, it still has a little bit of lag time. So you’ll need to do the same action two or three times before the screen registers it right away. While this isn’t a huge deal, it can be a bit cumbersome if you’re in a hurry.
To Buy or Not To Buy?
So, what’s the skinny on this new device? Well, if you’re a fan of the Sony series of e-readers you’ll love this new model. It’s also much better for college text book reading and studying, since you can bookmark for later, highlight and notate with ease. Sure, the Kindle had these features before but the touch screen interface makes it all the more easier to use.
On the other hand, if you must have wi-fi and the immense selection of Amazon, then this e-reader isn’t for you. Stick with your Kindle for now, and hope that version 2.0 has a touch screen interface as well. Because really, once you start using the gestures you’ll wonder how you used an e-reader without.
Price: $399
View Reviews of the Sony PRS-700 Here
By Paul Jessup
e-reader, sony, sony prs 700
IT looks awesome all our University textbooks in an e-book reader that will be fantastic. But lets say a chemistry e-textbook cost $85 can we resell the book after we are done to other students?
CANT WAIT TO BUY ONE
Your comment ” It still doesn’t support Kindle’s proprietary format for e-books, and therefore has far less of a library as its Oprah backed rival. ” is ok as far as buying over-priced non-paper books is concerned, however any device that doesn’t support pdf is poor - therefore the sony rocks vs kindle “a nice little money earner for amazon” but no use to everyone who uses pdf, and who doesn’t?
Ok, now you have to pay kindle tax of 10 cents (apparently) if you have a kindle dx and want to use pdf - can it get any more cynical ? just get a sony, buy pdf (or any other easy to use format - i’m not actually an adobe fan - go silverlight, go. But i love pdf -thanks adobe)
thanks sony, bring the 700 to the uk as soon as possible.
The Sony reader PRS 700 is a joke. I got one as a gift, but I can read much better from an iPod Touch. Panning an oversized page is so slow as you need to zoom on the text, which is very difficult to read on the dull screen with the black.lettering. I am hoping that Apple comes up with something far superior. Total disaster.
B. Lismer said:
The first compaint is really a software issue and a roblem of trying to read a pdf on a small screen - just re-size the pdf is surely the answer? Although the b/w screen does look dull, it has a contrast ratio approaching that of paper, so it is just like reading a book in terms of contrast. The apple may seem easier to read on, but it is a backlit LCD so after any length of time reading, most people will get headaches etc from flickering. I was quite impressed with the 700 personally - looks and reads like paper, and if you have the documents right before you put them on there - ie A5 sized, then it is an excellent peice of kit.
PRS-700 has a screen glare in direct light, and it is no so pleasant to read because of ‘foggy’ touch screen. I agree that a touch screen is a great idea, but not at the price of quality in respect to its primary function – reading books! If you are a student, who has lots of papers and need to take notes, ect., then obviously PRS-700 is a good choice, considering that this single benefit will outweigh its lack in text quality. As for reading image PDF files, i.e. those when text is ’scanned’ and is ‘as image’ in the PDF file, then this new PRS-700 device is as useless as its PRS-505 predecessor. I haven’t had a chance to test image PDF files on Kindle, but my guess is that it would be the same as on SONY Reader. All I know is that my old Toshiba laptop with only 256MB memory module reads the same files much faster than the ‘NEW’ PRS-700. Yes, I admit that at least in PRS-700 you could zoom into such PDF page, but it would work only for a file with a couple of pages in it, not with a couple of hundred pages, because PRS-700 just ‘hangs’ forever with all its so-called ‘increased’ and ‘improved’ memory, etc. As I’ve told you already above, my old Toshiba handles those image based PDF ten times better and faster.