Rumor: New Sony Reader in August?

Will Sony soon have a PRS-505 replacement?

(Credit: Sony)

In recent weeks there's been lots of news about new e-readers hitting the market. The Cool-er is out. Samsung's just released its first e-book reader in Korea. Plastic Logic is talking up its partnerships with Barnes & Noble and AT&T. And the Kindle 2 had a price drop to $299.

But what's up with Sony? True, its $400 PRS-700 hasn't been out that long, but surely the company has to put out a new e-reader sometime soon or risk losing that precious piece of market and mind share it currently enjoys in the e-reader space?

Well, we've barely heard a peep about a new Reader, but there's been a little activity over on the MobileRead forums. Back in June forum member forkyfork wrote he heard from a manager at Books-a-Million that Sony is coming out with a new e-reader in August. The manager "mentioned that it's going to have Wi-Fi, bigger screen, and more memory. When I asked him if it would have a touch screen, he said 'no.' When asked what the price point would be, he said 'most likely $300,' which might explain why they [Sony] are trying to clear out the PRS-505's now."

Now, it's hard to put much stock in a message board comment from a random reader, especially one who goes by forkyfork, but I've heard from a few sources outside Sony that they expect Sony to have something new fairly soon. So, why not August?

Hopefully, the new Reader, whenever it does arrive, will only be sightly larger and not blown up to the size of the Kindle DX.

When it released the PRS-700, Sony did talk about how it was looking at a wireless option, so it would seem likely that its next model would offer this feature. Also, while we like the touch-screen interface of the PRS-700, the screen did suffer from glare and contrast issues. We also assume a nontouch model would be cheaper to produce, which would help Sony keep the retail price of a new model under $300. At this point, it really needs to match the Kindle 2's price or better yet, go slightly cheaper.

Comments?

[hafenbrack]

personally I have used both the kindle and the Sony PRS-700. I much preferred the Sony touch screen for turning pages and reading on. And I nver purchased a book over the whisper net, my compuer, a few feet away allowed me to load up enough books at once, where I didn't need to purchase any for quite some time.

[Police_States_of_America]

DRM *yawn*

[Waam]

Sony? Cheaper? Never.

[gilbertfh]

Both my sons have the PRS-505 and I personally want one myself but I will wait to see if they do come out with a new reader as suggested. I am sure it won't have it but I pray for the day when they come out with a viable color solution. Higher resolution and a bigger screen would be a bonus too but the convenience of books on the go take it over the top for me.

[Dalmatian28]

I don't get the logic when they design this readers! They all have purpose to replace books that are mostly
8.5 x 11 so why the readers screen is not the same size??? Isn't that what normal people would do so they don't have to scroll so many times!!! I think that Plastic Logic got it right with their reader. I just hope that it will have color screen, WiFi and Internet Browser! I also hope that they will not priced to high because than I can just buy tablet for that money!

[nelsonescorcio]

Well, why don't you buy that tablet then, since it is what you want - and not a dedicated ebook reader?

Eveybody wants everything as cheap as possible.

That is not possible. Something has to be sacrificed.

I want a ebook reader with a eink screen.
To browse the net and do anythin else there are other options.

[gilbertfh]

@ Dalmation28, 8.5 x 11 is standard letter paper size. The majority of books in that size range are preteen and youth. I really don't need an ebook reader for Curious George.

[1812dave]

No color. Too large of a form factor. I'm perfectly content (for now) using my Touch as an e-book reader, especially since I like reading in dim or no light. No way am I going to drag an dedicated reader around town, when my Touch fits in my pocket so easily.

[1812dave]

darn, no edit feature here. Make that "...going to drag a dedicated..."

[doughboy_10466]

I love the idea of a dedicated e-book reader and I love the e-ink technology that both Sony and Amazon implement. I also have an iPhone, but couldn't imagine myself trying to read an entire novel on that tiny screen. Its good for emails and light web browsing, but that's about all I want to put myself thru. I really don't want/need a color display on an e-book reader and a browser isn't a necessity either (because of the a fore mentioned iPhone). I like the idea of the Kindle's WisperNet. I can easily see myself buying books on the go, a lot like I buy apps while I'm out-and-about. And on the topic of size, I think a reader with a screen the size of a normal sheet of paper is too big. Hold up a regular letter size sheet of paper (portrait). Now imagine this thing being a plastic or metal device that you're going to carry around all day. Now imagine where are the buttons going to go? Will you make the screen smaller to fit buttons on the bottom and side, or will you make the device larger so you keep your 8.5 x 11 screen. That reminds me a little too much of the Kindle DX. Now, turn the paper landscape and fold it in half (right to left) and hold that in one hand. That feels good right? And it looks; about the right size for the screen. I just feel that if I were to carry around a device with a screen the size of a sheet of paper, I might as well carry around a 1/2 inch 3 ring binder full of papers.

Just one mans opinion.

[MarkT1964]

Sure, if a half inch thick binder was thick enough to hold all the papers that a single letter-sized display reader could contain. The idea behind a letter-sized reader, large form-factor though it may be, is that it is still orders of magnitude more portable than carrying around all the paper that a single letter-sized reader could potentially replace. A large form factor would be absolutely ideal for people that utilize a many different technical or scientific journals, which are typically formatted for letter or A4 sized paper, and wishes to have them all at his or her fingertips, wherever they happen to be... Some might say that what I'm describing can be accomplished by just having a laptop, but computer screens simply aren't very readable under the wide assortment of lighting conditions that paper and e-ink displays are, from a small LED desk-lamp all the way through direct sunlight.

[nekonoke]

I hope the new eReader hasn't got a screen as fragile as the PRS-505.

I don't quiet understand how a device designed to be use under normal conditions, can be so fragile. If any one does a google "PRS-505 broken screen" will get about 3,770 entries ...... that is a lot; however, so far, not lawsuit has been filed against the manufacturer, as it was done with the 1st generation iPod nano.

[zahne]

Did you not see this on Mobile Read??:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52303