Sony PRS-700BC Digital Book Reader w/ Accessory Bundle

I have never left a review on Amazon.com before, (out of laziness) although I have bought many products here over the years.
I decided to leave a review for the Sony Portable Reader 700, since there seems to be some misconception regarding this product, and there aren't ENOUGH (real) reviews here, as opposed to the Kindle (Amazon's own proprietary reader, which is heavily advertised here). I think the reason for this is because amazon reading device, is sold EXCLUSIVELY on Amazon.com to Americans. So it's only natural that it has many hundreds of reviews on this site.
The Sony Readers are sold in thousands of locations, airports, stores, online, bookstores etc. and in several countries around the world. Since very few Sony Reader owners bought their device on Amazon, it's only natural that the reviews here are much fewer. (Then unfortunately there are the Trolls, who leave fake bad 'reviews' for the Sony Reader, trying to damage the ratings for some reason known only to themselves).

This is Sony's 4th e-ink Reader. First the Librie in 2004 which was the very first e-ink reader in the world, then the Sony PRS-500 Portable Reader System, in 2006. The PRS-505 which came in three colors in 2007; Sony PRS-505/LC Blue Digital Book Reader, the Sony PRS-505/RC Digital eBook Reader - Red, and the Sony PRS-505 Portable Digital e-Reader System (Silver) and now, the LATEST offering, the Sony PRS-700 Reader Digital Book Portable eBook reader with 6" touchscreen display.
The reason I mention the 700's predecessors is to point out that Sony isn't new at the e-ink (e-paper) business. In fact, they were the first!

I had a hard time deciding between the PRS-505 Red and the PRS-700. The PRS-505 has a slightly crisper screen and I LOVED the stylish red color of the device, especially paired with a red leather cover. But for me, the PRS-700 has better features, and more fancy bells and whistles (and comes with a free cover).
I decided on the 700 and although it's only available in black, it has the features that I wanted most, and it is the latest :).

The device is very grown-up and stylish looking, great to hold, (not too heavy) and looks EXPENSIVE and nice! Non gimmicky and no cheap plastic here, but then again, that is what we have come to expect from a Sony product.
The touch screen is interactive and can be used as a virtual keyboard to make notes. Words can be highlighted and saved, pages can be bookmarked, small natural gestures to turn pages, (there are also small well placed buttons for page turns and zoom etc.) using either the stylus or your fingers. The last page on all the books you are reading, is remembered, so it takes only seconds to continue reading a book where you left off last time.

Page turns are super fast and there is an ability to zoom into PDF documents, and move them around on the page. Hundreds of books, documents, photos, images and mp3's can be stored on the internal device and there are two options for expanding. A SD Memory Card slot (a 4 GB card is in this bundle) and Memory Stick Duo slot, thereby increasing the amount space of books to virtually UNLIMITED!

The Sony PRS-700 supports many document types, PDF, ePub, TXT, RFT, to name just a few. So books can be bought from many sources NOT only the Sony Connect store. Your own documents and ebooks that you already own, can be easily and quickly transferred to your device. A free open source library software called Calibre, (that works very much like iTunes) works fantastically with your Sony and even converts file types and adds metadata and book covers for you.

Sony has recently partnered with Google books bringing their book count up to 600'000 books! The 500'00 Google books are free and mostly in the ePub format. Fantastic news!

Some people have complained about foggy screen, but I don't feel that to be the case. Yes, yes.... I hear that the 505's screen is crisper, but since I don't have one to compare with I don't feel the loss, and I'm quite happy - MORE than happy with my personal choice. I have sometimes forgotten that I am using a Reader and slathered my hands with lotion before going to bed (to read), but found NO smudges on the screen the next day. The Sony PRS-700 definitely has a fantastic NON SMUDGE screen.

Also complaints about glare.... WHAT glare? Honestly! The only (small) glare that I encountered was a small spot off the metal edge of the device, and then again only if an artificial light was shining directly on the device.. A tiny adjustment to to the angle - GONE! Oh, and the Sony Reader is fantastic to read outside!!

All in all, I highly recommend this product for quality, ease of use, support of many formats, thousands of books, stylish design, reasonable price, ability to read in the dark (built in LEDs), and 'coolness' factor!

On a final note I would like to add that there are many ebook and e-ink Readers and devices out on the market now. For eg. The Illiad, Kindle, Bebook, Bookeen Cybook, Hanlin etc etc. There is no wrong or right choice. Do your homework and find the ebook device that best suits YOUR needs. And all those fanatics that support ONLY your own device and try to damage the rating of others.... WHY! That is just plain silly. Who hates their neighbor because they drive a different model car, or hates their friends of family because their mobile phone is a different make or model? I think we should be open minded in order to increase the availability of e-BOOKS, not necessarily of a specific device. IMHOBuy Sony PRS-700BC Digital Book Reader w/ Accessory Bundle!