We are only days away from the release of Sony PRS-700BC, the alleged Kindle killer. Sony has been in the e-Book business for quite sometime. They have invested a lot of money in it, and this is a fight they are not going to give up anytime soon. But let’s see how they stack up.
Display: Sony PRS-700BC with a 6″ display. It’s has about the same real estate than Kindle on the surface, but it comes with touch screen technology.
Keyboard: unlike Kindle, PRS700BC comes with a digital finger touch keyboard. While its easy to use your finger to turn pages or bookmark them, I still would like to have the keyboards too.
E-Ink Technology: rumors are going around that Sony is using the new generation E-ink technology that will be used with Kindle 2.0.
LED Light: I have talked about having the backlit feature on Kindle, but Sony has implemented this feature with PRS700BC. The problem here is that I haven’t heard the same feature being offered with Kindle 2.0. Shame.
Thinkness: Kindle is about 0.6″ in thickness whereas Sony PRS700 stands at 0.4″. So the advantage here goes to Sony. But both devices weigh about the same.
Memory: Sony does support SD cards and Duo cards. Kindle only supports SD cards. Both devices come with internal memories.
Price: Sony PRS700BC is priced for $399. You can get it for $299 if you get a Sony card.
Even if you get Sony PRS700BC for $299, you still have to think about whether the free life-time wireless service provided by Amazon is worth the extra $60. I think it is worth way more than that, which is why PRS700BC will not have a home in my house. But Sony PRS700BC still is a cool gift. I am just not sure why someone would go for Sony instead of Kindle for the holiday season.
2 Comments »
November 28th, 2008
JOHN HOVING Says:Pros: the onboard light
Cons: so many!
I have had every ereader sony has made, both models, and have loved them both.
This one is just awful, an out and out disaster. Leave it to Sony to take a great product and turn it into a piece of junk.
BOTTOM LINE: YOU CAN NO LONGER READ COMFORTABLY BECAUSE OF THE TERRIBLE REFLECTION GIVEN OFF BY THE NEW TOUCHSCREEN.
WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE!
WHO ASKED FOR A TOUCH SCREEN?
WHO NEEDS IT, WHEN THE TRADE OFF IS A REFLECTION THAT IS SO BAD YOU CAN NOT READ YOUR BOOKS ANY LONGER!
People could’nt push one of the two sets of buttons you once had with the 505 ereader?
IT IS JUST TERRIBLE- GO TO THE STORE AND DEMO THIS BEOFRE YOU BUY IT AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.
YOU WILL END UP BUYING THE 505 unless they discontinue it in favor of this, which is what they will probably do!
I kid you not, I am soooo disappointed with this product.
It as though you are looking at a sheet of glass and then some fuzzy lettering.
They have changed all the well designed buttons they painstakingly added after the 500 got so many complaints. The navigation buttons originally, there were 2 then they added two more with the 500 and then now they left us with 2 again and really badly place. Forget about one hand reading anymore! An the swiping thing, just horrendous, it barely works, a lot of hesitation, sometimes it turns the page other times it freezes. You’ll go nuts trying to turn the pages on this thing.
There is not even an option like on the iphone to swipe in different directions! Or tap ti turn would have been kind of a no brainer! And the 8 grey scales, one would never know it!
The only redeeming thing this has is the built in light which if you use it takes away the reflection but use that the whole time your reading and you’ll have no battery left!
I don’t know what these morons were thinking but they blew it in a very big way. There must have been someone at Sony who said, hey, what are we going to do about this reflection? Ahh, nothing stupid Americans they’ll never notice!
I guess they did cause when I spoke to customer service and it is the number one complaint and the guy told me that Sony is aware of it! Ha, they were aware of it when the damm thing shipped.
Apparently they are going to do something about it hardware wise, here comes another model. Or they will be shipping a lot of screen protectors out to people who purchase this and then find out they can’t stand using it.
Great concept, really poor implementation of the technology.
I suppose those who have never has an ereader before will never know the difference and how perfectly awesome the other models were, how clean and legible the words were in almost any kind of lighting.
Now you need a light to see the words, and have to angle it in such a way so your not looking right into your own reflection!
I was really extremely excited to learn about this new 700BC, especially with the built in lighting which really would come in handy instead of carrying around yet another thing, a light to be able to see in bed. That problem solved, so lets add another one, make it useless during the day!
I received mine today and it is going right back. I read another review here that warned about this terrible reflection and thought how bad could it be?
Well, its worse than I could possibly have imagined.
WHY SONY DID YOU DO THIS TO THIS THIER WONDERFUL PRODUCT?
If they don’t fix it, I am sure the kindle will have an onboard lighting system shortly and i’ll move over to that, the books are way cheaper on that system and you have an identical screen!
November 28th, 2008
P. Rad Says:To be fair, and I am biased, I think Kindle as a package tops anything Sony has offered so far. Sure. Kindle is not the best designed product, but I am impressed with Kindle 2.0 improvements, and Sony has not offered any feature that would make me want to buy anything from them.
As far as the lighting problem, I think we covered that a while back. To be honest, I think it’s subjective a bit but I know that is a big issue for Sony fans.
To be honest, I think you save yourself a lot of headache by just going with Kindle. I gave Sony $400 and a chance a couple of years ago, but I have got way more for my buck from Amazon than Sony.
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