Not wanting to be left behind in the e-reader race, Sony has revamped its range of e-readers to compete with the popular Kindle and Nook. While the updated Sony family doesn’t go head-to-head on price with its sub-$150 competitors, it does have some neat features that might make you look closely.
Sony’s new family of e-readers consists of the Sony Pocket Reader (PRS-350), the Sony Touch (PRS-650) and the Sony Daily (PRS-950). The most interesting improvement in this family of readers is that the Pocket Reader and the Daily Reader have joined the Sony Touch with a touch screen. These touch sensitive screens are improvements over Sony’s previous attempts to add touch sensitivity to their screens. Not only does the display have the latest Pearl eInk displays with 16 levels of contrast, but the new touch layer doesn’t blur the contrast, as was the case with previous Sony Touch versions. With touch screen functionality, this changes the way the reader interacts with the device. Instead of pushing a next page button can stroke the screen to turn a page. This gets you close to the typical way someone would use a paper book. Interaction with Sony e-readers can be done with a finger or with an integrated stylus. By interacting with your eReader, you can use single and double tap actions to look up words, bookmark pages, and search your eBooks. There’s also a handy slider at the bottom of the screen that you can move to change pages. With the stylus, you can write notes or draw pictures on the page that can be saved and transferred to your PC.
Another strength of Sony eReaders is that they support a multitude of formats. They can read ePub eBooks, which is a non-proprietary file format. This means you won’t be locked into one eReader provider if you decide you want to change your eReader type at a later date. Sony eReaders also support pdf, txt, rtf and graphics formats, jpeg, bmp, png and gif. The pdf format is particularly good, it is displayed with the eReaders zoom ability.
Sony hasn’t neglected its content either. It has made several improvements to the Sony Reader Store, which offers more than 1.2 million titles. It is also expanding its titles to include local content from Italy, China, Spain, Australia, and Japan.
So let’s take a closer look at each of Sony’s eReaders.
The new Sony Pocket Reader (PRS-350) is the most compact in the Sony range. Sony’s new PRS-350 measures 5.7 x 4.1 and weighs less than half a pound. It comes with a price tag of $179.99, has a 5″ screen size, and holds 1200 eBooks. On the downside, the PRS-350’s $179.99 price tag is at least $30 more than its competitors with equivalent functionality. It’s also wireless connectivity is lacking, requiring you to connect your eReader to your computer via a USB connection.While this may not be a problem, some people prefer the convenience of not fussing with cables and connections.On the plus side, Sony offers a state of the art touch sensitive screen that is not found anywhere else on the market If you are a touch person this might be the eReader for you Another advantage is that unlike the Kindle Sony uses the ePub ebook format This allows you to switch easily Finally, the Sony Touch with its 5′ screen is smaller than the Nook and Kindle’s 6′ screen size, however the device itself is noticeably more compact than its competitors with the keyboard integrated into the touch screen.
The Sony Touch Reader (PRS-650) is the middle brother of the Sony family. It’s priced at $229.99, and like the Sony Touch, it can hold up to 1,200 eBooks. Its 6″ screen size is the same as the Kindle and Nook, but slightly larger than the PRS-350. Aside from the larger screen size, the Sony Touch Reader is very similar to the Sony Pocket Reader. It comes with a touch-sensitive display Pearl eInk display, an on-screen keyboard, and support for open source eBooks Plus, compared to industry standards (Nook and Kindle), the lack of wireless connectivity and its higher price something uncompetitive for $229.99 can be significant drawbacks for some consumers.
The Sony Daily Reader (PRS-950) is the only member of the eReader family with wireless capabilities. It offers built-in Wi-Fi and free 3G wireless access to the Sony Reader Store. The new eReader won’t be available until November and will cost $299. The Daily Reader offers a 7″ screen size, which can be a good compromise for people who find the Kindle & Nook’s 6″ screen too small and the Kindle DX’s 9.7″ screen too much. Large With the larger screen size, this will certainly appeal to people who require larger format readings such as textbooks, newspapers, etc.
Is the Sony eReader right for you? It’s clearly not going to be the first choice for price-sensitive consumers, and there’s a conspicuous lack of wireless connectivity with the Pocket Reader and Touch Reader. However, Sony’s e-readers are set apart from the rest of the market by their touchscreen capability, the way people can interact with the device, their support for ePub files, and perhaps the fact that some people want an e-reader. make it just a little different