New Sony eReaders no comments
The Sony Style website is showing three new ereaders that will possibly get their official unveiling at a Sony event tonight in New York City.
If you were one of the many people put off by the glare of the touchscreens Sony has been using in their ereader, there is good news. The new touchscreen is by Neonode which makes optically clear and very responsive IR based touchscreens. The new ereaders will also be sporting the Pearl display from E Ink with its improved contrast. On the downside – only the new Daily Edition will have a Wi-Fi or 3G connection.
More info will probably be available tonight, but so far here are a few details Sony has announced about its new line of ereaders:
Sony PRS-650 Touch Edition
- 6-inch Pearl e-ink display with 16 grayscales; resolution 800 x 600.
- Battery life: 7,500 page turns, 2 weeks; recharge time 3 hours USB or 2 hours AC.
- Internal memory 2GB; SD and Memory Stick PRO Duo card slots.
- Device size: 6 5/8 x 4 3/4 x .38 inches. Weight is just under eight ounces.
- Integrated dictionaries: New Oxford American and Oxford Dictionary of English. Also includes 10 built-in translation dictionaries.
- MP3 playback.
- Will be available in black or red.
- Six font sizes.
- Freehand highlighting and note taking.
Notes can be exported to your computer. Stylus is included or use virtual keyboard. - Priced at $229. Should be available within a few days.
Sony PRS-350 Pocket Edition
- 5-inch touchscreen, Pearl e-ink display. 800 x 600 pixels; 16 grayscales.
- Includes the dictionaries same same as PRS-650.
- Dimensions 5 3/4 x 4 1/8 x .33 inches. Weight 5.64 ounces.
- Battery life 10,000 page turns. Charging cycle same as PRS-650.
- Available in silver or pink.
- Priced at $179. Should be available within a few days.
The previous Pocket Edition was often panned for its lack of features. Sony seems to have listened to the complaints. The new ereader seems to only be missing MP3 support and expandable memory when compared to the PRS-650, but the improved feature set does come with a larger price tag.
Sony PRS-950 Daily Edition
The PRS-950 Daily Edition ereader will add a 7-inch screen
and will come with Wi-Fi and a 3G connection that will be good for connecting to Sony’s Reader Store. Priced at $299. Should be available in time for the holidays.
Sony also says that it has improved the PDF handling capabilities of its ereaders. Users will also be able to use their own photos as screensavers.
Sony is also developing ereading apps for the iPhone and Android that you will be able to sync – but since there is no wireless on the PRS-350 and PRS-650 you would have to sync these with the USB.
The new Sony ereader lineup looks much stronger than the last generation, but it is now facing much tougher competition – with the higher prices it remains to be seen how well they can compete in the US. It is encouraging that Sony has apparently been listening to user complaints and reviews and appears to be addressing some of the issues many had with its previous ereaders.
The touchscreen, with its note taking features, will be well received by many users; but the lack of Wi-Fi or 3G in the Touch and Pocket Editions is a major weakness. The Sony Reader Store also does not compare well to the Barnes & Noble ebook store or the Kindle Store, although Sony says that they are working on improving that as well.
I’m thinking that Sony will enjoy more success with its new ereaders in the international arena than it will here in the US, but nevertheless I will be happy to see a strong showing from Sony – the competition is good for all of us who like to read digitally.
£149.00
£109
