Sony PRS-700 Review

When it comes to enhancements, the PRS-700 is truly impressive. What we mean by this is compared to the earlier model (PRS-505), the Sony PRS-700 is far superior, and superior in many important ways.

The Sony PRS-505 is still an excellent choice for those who simply want to read e-books. But for those who need more power and more flexibility, the PRS-700 is by far the better option.

The PRS-700 is the 3rd generation of e-Book reader from Sony. One of its major improvements is the addition of a touch screen. This is unique in that all readers that use e-Ink technology provide a paper-like display that is non-glare and high contrast and does not require backlighting. Sony, in the PRS-700, was able to combine the best of e-Ink technology with touch screen technology by adding a touch layer on top of the e-Ink display. They then added LED side-lighting into the body of the device which provides the added light needed for this type of display.

What you get with the PRS-700 is a touch screen that is responsive, accurate, and allows you to turn pages with a finger swipe.

The layout of the main menu has also been improved. Through the use of large icons, users can do a variety of tasks such as continue reading from the current book, view a list of books that are stored in its library, review notes, and many other tasks.

Another major improvement that will be of interest to those with vision issues is the larger font size selection. The older PRS-505 only had three selections; the PRS-700 has five font size selections.

Many consumers need the ability to make notes in their books and the PRS-700 offers such a feature. Users can easily annotate books by simply highlighting the text with their fingertip (or the stylus that is included) and then entering their own notes through the on-screen keyboard. Notes are then stored and can be accessed later through the main menu. Simply tap on the note you want to go to, and the device takes you there.

The Sony PRS-700 uses a 532 MHz Freescale CPU, while the PRS-505 has a 200MHz ARM CPU. This added power accounts for the very fast speed you find in this device, and is the reason many of these new features are even possible.

For those who need to read PDFs, the PRS-700 outperforms the PRS-505 and the Amazon Kindle 2. The Kindle 2 cannot natively read or display PDFs. The PRS-505 can read PDFs, but it is slow and the formatting is often not accurate. The PRS-700 offers users a much faster processor and accurate formatting which are both crucial to reading Adobe PDFs. This one feature can make the difference for many business professionals and others who must have access to PDF documents.

As with the PRS-505, the 700 model must be used through the Windows desktop. Sony provides the needed software for this as part of the device package. Installing and using the software is fairly simple and straightforward. The Sony software is used to download books and used to transfer the download over to the device through its USB port.

The increase in storage capacity between the 505 and the 700 is substantial. The PRS-700 can store up to 350 books whereas the 505 was limited to around 160 books. Because of the ability to use memory sticks, storage is not actually an issue with most users. Memory cards can give users unlimited storage. Other types of documents can be copied to a Memory Stick Duo or SD card for use on the Sony Reader.

The PRS-700 will also play audio files. It supports both MP3 files and AAC, which are iTunes. There is no internal speaker with the device so headphones must be used.

One downside to the Sony PRS-700 is that it does not support Mac at all. This is strictly a PC device.

The Sony PRS-700 can be recharged in 4 hours over the USB or it can be recharged in about 2 hours if using the optional AC charger. One side note here: The PRS-500 AC charger and the Sony PSP charger will work on the PRS-700. If you have either of those, you can save yourself a few bucks.

Overall Conclusions: The addition of the touch screen makes this one of the most user-friendly e-readers on the market. The screen is responsive and laid out in such a way that it is very intuitive. Improvements in the menu also enhance the user-ability of this device. Those who must often work with PDF files will find that this device does what needs to be done with little fuss. PDFs do not need to be sent off for conversion and can be read straightaway, while maintaining its format settings. The PRS-700 supported formats, both DRM and non-DRM, makes this one powerful little device that should meet the needs of just about anyone.