Related Sections: Portable Gadgets
Sony responds to Kindle onslaught with Reader Touch and Pocket
I guess Sony's been a little jealous of all the attention the Amazon Kindle e-readers have been getting lately. The company just announced two new portable Readers, the PRS-600 and 300, a.k.a. the Reader Touch (left) and Reader Pocket, respectively. The Touch, available in red, black, or silver, replaces the current touchscreen Reader, discarding that model's reading light for better touchscreen responsiveness. It has a 6-inch screen, packs a stylus and includes the Oxford American English Dictionary. The internal memory is a paltry 512MB, but it's expandable via a Memory Stick/SD card slot.
The Reader Pocket has a 5-inch screen and a smaller casing, which comes in blue, silver or pink. Its sacrifices for that extra portablilty are legion, though: besides that extra inch, there's no touchscreen, free dictionary or card slot. The biggest absence, though — on both models — is wireless. There's no connectivity on either Reader (apart from the USB 2.0 port), but Sony says a Wi-Fi model is coming soon. Nice bonus in the meantime: The new models are Mac compatible.
Both readers are slated for the end of August; the Touch will be $299, and the Pocket just $199. Sony's also reduced the price of bestselling books to $10, or about par with the Kindle store. Still, that lack of wireless is a killer. Does anyone really like touchscreens (or pink) that much to go with a Sony Reader instead of a Kindle? We want to know who you are.
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Via Engadget
By Stan Winstone at 10:19 PM ON 08/04/09
It takes me about a week to read an average book so not having constant wireless is nothing like a deal-breaker. I can download a book or two for a trip and be all set. Besides at least I know I'll be keeping my f-ing content from being deleted at any second by Amazon!
By Xanapus at 11:21 PM ON 08/04/09
A book doesn't have touchscreen or wifi so those aren't a deal breaker, the price is. I've said in the past that I am waiting for touchscreen and color but I'd sacrifice those for a nice price. $199 is a great price and it's still going down so I'm going to continue to wait.
Although I do like the wifi (kindle) for it's automatic newspaper/magazine subscription delivery so that is kind of a deal breaker for me. Maybe Sony will do that too when they get wifi (offer newspaper/magazine auto delivery).
By pdaviesoz at 3:45 AM ON 08/05/09
So $300 for an eBook reader, OR $329 for an Ipod Touch with Stanza, which does so much more.
There's a really hard decision...
By wm at 3:46 AM ON 08/05/09
the icons looks similar as itunes store,
ipod track wheel combine into a kindle lookalike with a sony logo on top.
Sony, not much innovation there.
By Norge at 6:57 AM ON 08/05/09
I really don't understand why wireless should be so important? It's not for web surfing, it's an ebook reader. I have all the texts on my PC, so what do I need a wireless connection for? For me a nice PDF support is much more important. And the possibility to make comments with a stylus really comes in handy.
By Mihos at 7:34 AM ON 08/05/09
@wm that isn't a track wheel, its the same arrow keys that have always been on Sony readers since there first release.
I like the Sony readers much more than the Kindle. The DRM the Kindle uses and the whole "remote delete" of content is a huge downside. The Sony one just feels so much better in your hand during actual use also.
By Denacopoliez at 8:23 AM ON 08/05/09
I have a PRS-700 the first of the sony Readers.... Love it... I have 1000's of Tech related PDF's that i need and i have my collections of WWII and SciFi books that i can carry around with me every where but i had all these PDF's before i got the reader and Kindle doesn't support them so the Sony what without a doubt the choice!
By Avro at 8:49 AM ON 08/05/09
@wm: wow. everything you look at must be a rip from apple from your point of view. very sad.
I'd suggest to everyone who's never seen e-ink in person to check it out. I wasn't convinced until i did and tried to peel off what I thought was a sticker on the screen showing what it looks like turned on, like most electronic devices have. Nope, it just looks that crisp. There is no way I could read a book on the lcd screen of my iphone instead.
By Giggity at 10:10 AM ON 08/05/09
Hey Avro...dont you know?
When God created the heavens and the earth he copied off Mac?
By Traveler at 10:46 AM ON 08/05/09
At least there's no wasted size on a useless keyboard like the K.
By Old Man Dotes at 11:21 AM ON 08/05/09
Well they look nice. But they're sold by Sony. I won't ever again buy ANYTHING from Sony, because they are the only International corporation ever to have gotten caught distributing rootkit viruses surreptitiously on consumer audio CDs; they cannot be trusted.
By battleguard at 1:58 PM ON 08/05/09
Hey in case anyone missed it the Ipod / Iphone has a kindle link now, so if you have one you don't need to buy another reader.
Works pretty well.
By bus at 5:19 AM ON 08/06/09
Such a good decision...
By Maj at 6:59 PM ON 08/07/09
Yeah because everyone wants a "feature" that allows big brother to delete their books.
That aside, I really don't need another device that can be used to track my location.
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Maj:
Yeah because everyone wants a "feature" that allows big brother to delete their books. That aside, I really don't ...More »