I purchased the PRS-700 mainly as a means of reading [...] extensive collection of out-of-copyright books without having to sit in front of my computer. The PRS-700 has been excellent for this task.

Some have complained of the contrast of this reader, but I have found the readability to be excellent. While it is true there is a bad glare if the reader is angled so that it is directly reflecting light into your eyes, the slightest of adjustments takes care of this problem. There is no problem using this device in incandescent, fluorescent, or sunlight. In fact, because it has a built in lights, you can use it in the dark as well. It isn't a back light, but rather a series of lights on either side of the page. This makes the illumination uneven, but there is no problem in reading the text.

Because I intended on using this reader with texts scanned by Google into PDF, I was a little concerned about how long it would take to do page turns. With PDFs that have selectable text, the file sizes are smaller, but when the PDF is essentially an image, the files are much larger. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find that that the PRS-700 turned the pages quickly, even in these PDF image documents. Page turns take less than one second -- definitely quicker than a regular book.

The biggest problem I have the the PRS-700, for the purposes I use it, is the zoom feature. There are two ways to zoom on the PRS-700. One increases the font size. This works well for books purchased from the Sony bookstore, or for PDFs or other documents with selectable text. Obviously, increasing the font size will not work on documents like Google's scanned books, since those are more like images than text. The other zoom is just like you would expect, and this works well -- except for one fact. The zoom is not persistent. If you are using this second method of zoom, after you turn the page it reverts to the original size and you have to zoom in again. This takes too much time. I wish Sony would make it possible to persistently zoom across page turns. Until then, I have to crop out the margins of some PDF files so that zooming isn't necessary.

That is a small complaint, though, and easy to work around. All in all, an excellent device. Very happy with my purchase.

Date: November 28, 2008

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!

This is a 2008 Christmas gift for my wife since she loves to read and due to the limited amout of space in our home I was tired of trying to find places to keep these books so after doing some research I took the $400 plunge and I must say I love it. Im a big electronics geek and of coarse had to open it up and play with it for a while. The prs700 seemed very well built and I was impressed right out of the box.

I keep hearing complaints of no wireless capability to download books but Ive been so used to using pmp (personal media players) and mp3 players where you must connect the device to a computer to add video or music files that I did't find it a problem whatsoever. I found the addition to play audio on the reader, very cool. The fact that it was able to read my pdf files with no problem and that the zoom capability from small to XXL works perfectly especially for me since my eyes are getting pretty bad.

The touch screen was kind of awkward at first I assumed all you had to do was drag your finger accross and it would turn the page but it was not that sensitive. I found that I have to press my finger lightly then drag my finger accross for the page to turn. After using it a while I realized it is better that it wasnt that sensitive cause I could of turned pages accidently.

I read a review that stated it could not be charged while reading which I found upsetting but fortunately that is only the case when using the usb charger. If you plug in the wall charger it can be used and charged at the same time. One thing I found cool was that my sony psp's (playstation portable)charger works perfectly with the prs700 so I dont have to dish out more cash for a new charger.

I found that the reader was very easy to understand and use. Between the touch screen and the buttons my wife should not have a problem using it. A built in slot for the stylus and memory card slots supporting SD cards and PRO DUO cards was a nice addition.

The two stages of brightness of the side lights work well for bedtime reading. I like the fact that the reader seems like an all in one item (as far as reading is concerned)and you dont have to carry around a night light. In all anyone who loves to read as much as my wife does (atleast a book every week)should love this and although expensive a very good device which serves its purpose. Anyone in the market for a reading device like this cant go wrong with the SONY PRS700

On the paper the PRS-700 is really what we waited for , more powerful CPU , light , touch , zoom in PDFs etc ...

However in reality addition of the touch screen and second layer for illumination caused the screen to be too gray , about the same level as PRS-500 while PRS-505 is way more clear - the white is whiter and the black is blacker :)

Touch is a really cool feature but removal of page forward and back buttons on the right side of the screen made it impossible to hold it in one (right hand) and read "with one hand" as we used to (and very convenient) on PRS-505.

Again being touch makes screen to become dirty too fast.

Bottom line - add to page buttons on the right and make screen better (at least 505 level) and it would be great product , without it ... better stick to much cheaper 505.