kindle

Hands on with Sony's new PRS-700 digital reader

When we found out a couple of weeks ago that Sony was going have a Reader event in New York on October 2, we assumed--but weren't entirely sure--that the company would be announcing a new electronic book reader. Well, Sony has introduced a new Reader, the PRS-700, and I got to play around with it at the event.

Before I get into impressions, let's start with the highlights: As rumored, the PRS-700 has a built-in LED "reading" light (though it's not a backlight). There are no wireless capabilities, but Sony's moved to a 6-inch touch-screen display. Also, the new Reader has expanded built-in memory (up to 350 books) while retaining its Memory Stick Duo slot.

It's zippier, too--when you turn a page, the e-ink on the screen refreshes faster (we were told the PRS-700 has a faster processor than the earlier PRS-505, but we're waiting to confirm what the processor is). All of these upgrades add up to a higher price tag: the new Reader will retail for $400 when it comes out in November. That's over $100 more than what you can get the PRS-505 for today.

If you can ignore the high price for a second, the PRS700 is definitely a step forward for Sony in the digital-reader arena. If ever there was device that would benefit from the switch to touch-screen navigation, it's an e-book reader (Irex was the first with an e-ink touch-screen display, but that device was prohibitively expensive).

Like the iPhone and other next-gen touch-screen phones that have been appearing lately, the Reader incorporates some gesture-based commands. You can swipe your finger across the display to page forward or back (you can choose between a left or right swipe to advance pages in the settings menu). Swiping and holding your finger down at the end of the swipe allows you to advance or rewind through pages at a fast clip.

With the included stylus or your finger you can highlight words and add annotations via a virtual keyboard. The Amazon Kindle offers this feature via a Blackberry-style keyboard. However, the Kindle doesn't have a touch screen.

It's also worth noting that Sony is continuing with its effort to brand its Readers as "open" devices that are capable of reading multiple file formats. The press release says: "With the included eBook Library 2.5 PC software, you can easily transfer Adobe PDF documents with reflow capability, Microsoft Word documents, BBeB files and other text file formats to the Reader. The device can store and display EPUB files and work with Adobe Digital Editions software, opening it up to almost a limitless quantity of content." … Read more

Fully Equipped: Is Irex's new digital reader a preview of the next Amazon Kindle?

Gizmodo posted a blog Monday on Irex's new line of "digital readers" and took a few whacks at the company for over-promising and under-delivering.

You see, Irex, which developed the full-featured but pricey Iliad reader, recently ran a little online teaser ad that alerted the world that, "A new era in digital reading" was set to begin on September 22. Well, the blogger at Gizmodo wasn't impressed with what Irex is now offering up: a series of three 10.2-inch monochrome e-ink displays that start at $649 for a base "read-only" model (… Read more

iRex delivers next-generation electronic book reader: Preview of the next Amazon Kindle?

Gizmodo posted a blog post yesterday on iRex's new line of "digital readers" and took a few whacks at the company for over-promising and under-delivering.

You see, iRex, which developed the full-featured but pricey Iliad reader, recently ran a little online teaser ad that alerted the world that, "A new era in digital reading" was set to begin on September 22nd. Well, the blogger at Gizmodo wasn't impressed with what iRex is now offering up: a series of three 10.2-inch monochrome e-ink displays that start at $649 for a base "read-only" … Read more

My Kindle is dead: Long live my Kindle

Amazon.com really knows how to treat its customers.

Although I've read a few dozen books on my Kindle by now, my use of it is erratic. I use it heavily for days or weeks at a time, then set it aside for a while to address the stack of paper books by my nightstand. (When Montalvo Systems shut down, I had two 2.5-foot stacks of unread books. After a long summer of unemployment, the unread stack is down to a mere five titles.)

Last Tuesday, I found an e-book I wanted to read, so I got out the Kindle and saw it was dead. (The battery lasts only a few days even if I'm not using it, which really isn't good enough.) I charged it overnight and moved the book onto the Kindle on Wednesday. Later that day when I wanted to read the book, I found the Kindle was out of juice already.

I charged it overnight again (with the radio off in case it was having some kind of issue), forgot about it Thursday and remembered it this morning. But it was dead again. I started it charging again before going out to a lunch interview. When I returned, I turned the unit on and just sort of kept an eye on it, pressing buttons occasionally to keep it mostly awake while doing some other work on my computer.

The battery ran down in less than two hours.

… Read more

Sony Reader hitting Target stores

I just got a news release from Sony that talks about how its $300 PRS-505 Reader Digital Book is slated to show up in Target stores nationwide this weekend along with its accessories. As I previously reported, Sony has a Reader event slated for October 2 as rumors of a next-generation Sony e-book continue to percolate (one CNET reader claims the new Reader will be called the PRS-700 and feature a built-in "lighting feature").

Here's what is in today's release:

This weekend, the Reader Digital Book by Sony will be available in Target stores nationwide. Beginning … Read more

E-books: The flexible future

Interesting news from the DemoFall conference held this week in San Diego:

Plastic Logic--a company founded to commercialize electronics built on flexible plastic substrates--demonstrated a prototype e-book reader (not yet named) and announced that it plans to ship this product in the first half of next year. You can read the press release for yourself.

This particular gizmo is very attractive. It uses a large, flexible electronic paper display based on technology from E Ink (the same company that makes the displays for Amazon.com's Kindle and Sony's Reader), but the device overall is remarkably thin and light.

And the whole thing is somewhat flexible, so it won't break if it gets slightly bent in a backpack or briefcase. Flexible doesn't mean invulnerable, but it's a lot better than the brittle glass displays of existing e-book readers.

Check out this video from DEMOfall, in which Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta demonstrates the prototype. I see some minor problems in the prototype's display--some dead lines and odd drawing glitches--but nothing that should interfere with the scheduled launch.

More importantly, even as a prototype, the display's contrast ratio seems to be better than that of the Kindle or Reader, mostly by virtue of the white being whiter--I'd have to make a direct comparison to be sure, though. I also see all of the critical features I want in an e-book reader: good display resolution… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 804: 'Spore' sporked by Dr. M

The evil power of Dr. M is even greater than we thought...strong enough, in fact, to tarnish the shining reputation of the long-awaited Spore. Also in the news today, DVD ripping goes legit, a little too late, thanks to RealDVD, but we determine it's probably not worth getting sued over. And we put gurus against geniuses in a battle to the tech support death. Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 804

Happy Birthday Google - 10 http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9930 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-09-06-google-ten-years_N.htm

DVD ripping goes legit with RealDVD … Read more

Sony Reader event October 2: New product coming?

Just got an invite to a Sony Reader event in New York on October 2. No word on whether this involves launching a next-gen electronic book reader or just promoting some new capabilities for the current model, the Reader Digital Book PRS-505, as we head into the holiday buying season.

Either way it seems clear that Sony isn't quite ready to cede the e-book market to Amazon's Kindle. Sony's got the better design, but the wireless download capabilities of the Kindle clearly give it an advantage. Anybody wanna predict what Sony's next move is?

Buzz Out Loud 799: Pop a cap in your usage

Comcast comes clean with its bandwidth cap: it's coming, it's coming in October, it's 250GB, and they won't give you any tools for monitoring their use, and if you exceed your cap twice, you get the boot for a year. So, we have a little fun with that. Also, a little fun with IE 8 Beta 2 bugs, the lack of Kindle this year, and the pseudo-alphabetical distribution of spam. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 799

Comcast puts a cap on Net usage http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/08/25/daily35.html … Read more