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E Ink’s progress in a few years: Brad’s old Sony PRS-500 vs. his spiffy new PRS-300 Pocket Edition
September 8, 2009 | 3:10 am
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By David Rothman
I’m still grumpy about E Ink’s contrast or lack of it. Even so, maybe that’ll change in a few years—if you go by past progress.
Brad Vertrees of Brad’s Reader pointed me to some photos he had taken after he bought Sony’s new PRS-300 Pocket Edition to replace his PRS-500. Nice the stark difference in E Ink quality? It still isn’t to the point I’d like it. But this is still a definite improvement.
Paul Biba, TeleRead co-editor, will be along shortly with his own review of the PRS-300, but meanwhile here’s Brad’s preliminary verdict:
“Reading on the Pocket Edition is about like I suspected, great! The improved display contrast makes for a pleasant reading experience. I will only have to get used to reading off of a slightly smaller screen than my older eReader, which is no big deal considering I read a lot of digital content on my iPhone.
“Another part of the PRS-300 I like is the simple controls. There’s a button for all the functions you will need with numbered buttons down the right-hand side for selecting menu options. This device is made for just reading, so Sony has minimized the distractions on the user interface.”
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Comments:
Makes me nervous to see any contrast comparison with the PRS-500, which used a previous generation of eInk display (not the current Vizplex), and has, I think, the worst contrast of any eReader, ever. Compare it to the -505, or the kindle, or Cool-er, etc., then we’d learn something about the state of the art.
But, Bruce, that’s the point…to show how some progress has already happened. The 500 is probably the oldest E Ink machine except for the Librie; the PocketBook, among the newest. Thanks. David
I would like very much to see a dpreview-type review of each of the readers screens. Refresh rates, contrast, glossiness, font choices available – all these are going to be increasingly important to the discerning e-reader shopper. For instance – is the kindle 1 screen as good as the kindle 2 screen? Are they identical?