(no subject)

I got a chance to visit Fry's Electronics yesterday to look at what they had. They had four models of ebook readers. Three of which were e-ink devices. They had the Sony PRS-505 and PRS-700 models, one of the Astak reader, and the ECTACO jetBook. Didn't really look at the Astak much since the display model looked damaged. The display on the PRS-700 is indeed a bit on the foggy side. I had read about that but seeing it first hand I have to really wonder what Sony was thinking. Do they really think consumers want to have a touchscreen and a backlight with the trade off of having less than crisp and clear text? I really like the PRS-505 though.

While I haven't completely taken the jetBook out of consideration. The fact that it has an LCD display rather than e-ink is a big minus but still it can be found for such a nice price if you watch the sales.

e-ink has changed a bit since the demonstrations I saw five or so years ago. The text on the 505 is clear, crisp and does indeed look like fresh black ink on paper. What I saw a few years ago had this odd yellow tint with a slightly faded newsprint look. Nice to see that isn't the case with the devices on the market. Whatever it was I saw back then I'm not even sure it's in the same lineage as what they call e-ink now. If anybody remembers that stuff, let me know. I think I saw it at some trade show or something. Can't remember.