PRS-900 Pearl transplant

[jakeluck]

Is the 7" Pearl Vizplex screen on the PRS-950 pin compatible with a PRS-900? Is it possible to transplant the display?

[Hemmi]

I've always wondered. Love the look and feel of the 900 (and the ability to change the battery easily) but I'd love the screen of the 950 on it.

[Sing Sing]

If no one knows for sure then it would be relatively straight forward to try out a replacement prs-950 screen with your prs-900. You would need to take the back off your prs-900. The screen connector is then visible and you can unplug the existing screen, lay the replacement screen alongside and plug it in for testing.

It's not going to be possible to get the old screen out of a prs-950 in one piece, since they glue them in. So buying a replacement screen is the only option.

The part number is LB071WS1-RD02 (as opposed to LB071WS1-RD01 for the prs-900 screen). I've seen it advertised as a replacement for both the prs-900 and the prs-950 e.g. link, so there is a chance it does work. Either that or people selling them are mistaken.

It's probably worth mentioning that the prs-900 has a clear plastic resisitve touch layer over the screen, and that's part of the reason the prs-950's screen looks clearer. So you might not get that much improvement. The 950 has infrared sensors around the screen instead, so you're looking at the eInk display with nothing over it.

Here's a couple of videos of people replacing the screens of other Sony readers, to give you an idea of what's involved. They both test the new screen as a first step.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdyqXS_KU34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqbYWHJk8Tk

[jakeluck]

Originally Posted by Sing Sing

It's not going to be possible to get the old screen out of a prs-950 in one piece, since they glue them in. So buying a replacement screen is the only option.
...

It's probably worth mentioning that the prs-900 has a clear plastic resisitve touch layer over the screen, and that's part of the reason the prs-950's screen looks clearer. So you might not get that much improvement. The 950 has infrared sensors around the screen instead, so you're looking at the eInk display with nothing over it.

Thanks for the insight. I also updated the wiki

For the 600 video above:

At time 1:50 and 3:40, what kind of solvent is he injecting?

I see he is using a heat gun to glue on the new screen. Is it possible to similarly use a heat source to loosen the glue and detach the original screen without destroying it?

[Sing Sing]

Originally Posted by jakeluck

At time 1:50 and 3:40, what kind of solvent is he injecting?

I see he is using a heat gun to glue on the new screen. Is it possible to similarly use a heat source to loosen the glue and detach the original screen without destroying it?

I'm not sure what the solvent is. If you left a comment on the video asking what it is, maybe the video maker would let you know.

It does look like the adhesive is heat activated. So applying heat might also help getting it unstuck. But I can't see how it could be done without damage to the screen.

Heat activated adhesives tend to require fairly high temperatures, like 180 °C. So you'd need a heat gun, and it would make safe handling more difficult.