Sony Ebook Readers

Sony were amongst the first to produce a viable electronic reading device.  Their range has come a long way since the first e-ink based reader; the Sony LIBRIé.  Now the company offer state of the art e-ink displays that incorporate both touch-screens and wireless technology, taking the portable reader to a whole new level.

Sony PRS-350 Pocket Edition Ebook Reader

Perhaps the most popular of the Sony range of eReaders is their Pocket Edition pictured.  With a 5″ display and a tiny weight just under 5.5 ounces this is the perfect eReader to put, quite literally in your pocket.

Sony are using the latest Pearl e-ink display so the clarity and contrast is excellent.  This is what the hugely popular current Kindle is using too.  But what you don’t get is something many of us have come to expect; wireless capability.   Though this is perhaps the most portable of today’s reading devices, it is one of very few left that you will have to stock up on content at home.  To be honest it hardly takes any time, transferring files from your computer, via the high speed USB cable, to the reader.  But it of course means that you do need to be a little more organised when it comes to leaving the house and having lots of good books to read.

With an ample 2GB of onboard memory you should be able to store around 1200 titles on this nifty little gizmo.  The memory is not expandable though so you’ll be glad of the computer back up.

What sets this (and the other Sony readers) apart is that you can download books from just about everywhere, since multiple formats are supported.  This is a great choice for those wanting to borrow ebooks from their library.  But for one click ordering you might be a little disappointed by the Sony book stores choice (and prices).  But since you don’t have to buy from them, you are free to bag yourself free content (and cheaper titles) elsewhere.

This is a great entry level ebook reader, but you might be surprised to find that it is not actually that cheap.  At around the same price as a Kindle or Nook you have a smaller device, that at times may be more convenient.  It is easy to use, and providing you aren’t expecting wi-fi or 3G you should be pretty happy with its simplicity and functionality.

Sony PRS650 Touch Reader

The mid-range Sony Ebook Reader is the PRS650 Touch Edition, available in black or red (pictured).  This offers a perhaps more obvious ebook reader, with its larger 6″ Pearl e-ink display.

Again touch-screen navigation is really intuitive and allows you to turn the page with a swipe of the finger (a novelty that never really wears off).

However, again this does not have wireless.  Yes it is more flexible than the Kindle, since you can view more file types.  But at significantly more cost than Amazon’s reader, we really cannot see this one being a huge competitor.  The smaller Pocket Edition seems to have a purpose, portability.  But the Touch, is just a larger Pocket edition really.

For something really worth looking at, we prefer the next offering from Sony:

Sony PRS950 Daily Edition Ebook Reader

Sony’s biggest ebook reader gives it an edge.  With its 7″ Pearl e-ink display this is by far the best way to view PDFs and newspaper files, within the field of portable e-reading devices.

If these two file types are something you wish to view often, we recommend the Sony Daily Edition.  It’s still light and compact, but the displays size brings these larger formats to life like no other hand-held reader as far as we can see.

Also, at last this reader comes with 3G and wi-fi capability so that you can download content directly to the device rather than having to pop home to your computer whenever you want something new!

You do pay more (obviously) for the larger screen size, but when compared with the Amazon DX (probably the most popular larger ebook reader in competition with this), the Daily Edition wins hands down.  Yes it is larger, but not so large that you feel you may as well have brought a netbook with you.  Plus of course the touch-screen frees up space since no keypad is needed.

Of all the Sony eBook Readers available today, the PRS950 is by far the best, but only if you need that larger display.  If PDFs are not your thing the Nook or Kindle both offer a much cheaper (if less pretty) alternative.

Sony Ebook Readers

Sony have come a long way indeed since the first e-ink ebook reader was released in 2004.  But, whether they can compete with those brands offering wi-fi as standard, and huge online content stores remains to be seen; at least in the US market where book-stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble remain king.