After a lot of silly games Sony have finally come clean and sent out a press release all about their newest ereader, and it seems a good one too.
As you will know if you have been following my several posts on the launch of this latest ereader from Sony, there have been no end of rumours and speculation about exactly what it will be, well now we know.
Finally they open up:
In a press release yesterday, Sony finally came clean and told us everything we might wish to know about it.
They have decided to only produce one model, to replace the three models they launched about a year ago, which will be a 6” screen monochrome e-ink screened ereader, which looks exactly like the PRS-650, but there are differences in it. In order to make it the lightest ereader in the world (at 5.9 ounces) they have changed the case from its previous metal to plastic, which to be honest saddens me, as the metal case, while it added to the weight, made it such a strong and robust ereader that felt solid in the hand.
That is about the only negative thing I can find to say about the PRS-T1, or as I think they prefer it to be called, the Reader WiFi, for the rest, everything seems even better than before.
With the addition of the built in WiFi they have got rid of one of the major problems for a lot of people with the earlier ereaders from Sony, that was the need for a computer to get ebooks and to load them into the ereader. This will no longer be needed, since with the WiFi it has we will be able to link directly to the Sony ebook store, and any of the myriad online shops who sell or give away ebooks. This is a major step forward for Sony, and brings them nicely into line with all the other major ereaders out there.
Of course, you will still be able to do all of this via your computer if you wish, via a USB link between the ereader and your computer, which you will need anyway to charge its batteries.
They have also changed the way the touch screen works, so that it will now support not only finger swiping to change pages, but also the various other ways we are used to working with touch screens, such as pinch-and-grab for zooming in and resizing, tap-and-hold on a word to look up a definition in one of the 12 on-board dictionaries and so on. All very good and useful additions to the rather limited touch screen possibilities of the 650.
As I mentioned earlier, it looks exactly like the PRS-650, including the group of navigation buttons along the bottom of the screen for those of us, who like me, prefer to use buttons to turn pages and so on, which is good to my mind. Not all of us enjoy using finger swipes to turn the pages.
As with the PRS-650, it comes with a stylus so you can write notes, or make scribbles on the page if you wish, you can also do this using your fingers if you wish.. Hmmmmmm….
I shall place the known specifications at the bottom of this post, so I shan’t describe them all now, as most of it isn’t very interesting to read about, but important nonetheless if you are trying to decide which ereader to buy.
There is one other very interesting aspect to this ereader, especially for you who live in either the USA or Canada, and that is the addition of the necessary software in the ereader to enable you to borrow ebooks from your public libraries, this is a first iin the world, which for once puts Sony ahead of the competition. The Overdrive software that makes this possible:
As they say in their press release:
As part of Sony’s continued effort to support the Public Library System, Reader Wi-Fi will also be the first eReader to offer wireless connectivity to the public library system in the US and Canada via a dedicated icon on the device to allow easy and convenient borrowing of free e-books with a valid library card. Readers can access and download over 2.5 million titles via a Wi-Fi connection from Reader Store or shop from a wide range of bookstores and other websites that provide books in digital formats compatible with Reader Wi-Fi, such as EPUB, PDF and TXT.
“We believe in giving readers more freedom and flexibility while reading, and the new Reader Wi-Fi gives avid readers more access to content than ever. Bibliophiles can now buy, borrow or download free books wherever there’s a Wi-Fi connection,” said Phil Lubell, vice president of Networked Technology and Services Division at Sony Electronics.
This is a great initiative on Sony’s part, and shows that they are still in there fighting for their share of the market.
The price of this device also shows their fighting spirit, at about $140 it is well placed to compete on the price level with its direct competitors, Kindles, Kobos and Nooks, rather than lagging behind as they were with their last range of ereaders, which all cost more than $200 each.
And as the last extra with this ereader, they will also be bringing out another model (the same in all respects bar one) which will glory in the name of PRS-T1HBC (now there is a name that says it all!!!). This one will come with a voucher that enables Harry Potter fans to download free the first Harry Potter eBook title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, from Pottermore, when it becomes available. As you may know, Pottermore is a website set up by JK Rowlings to sell her Harry Potter books as ebooks, and a range of other activities all set in and around Hogwarts.
So, apparently a really nice and interesting ereader will be upon us soon. And one that as a long time user of Sony ereaders I feel I can recommend to you with absolutely no reservations, since they have come in line with the rest of the ereader world in most things now.
Technical specifications:
Display: 6″ E-Ink® Pearl V220 touch screen,
Supported formats: ePub, TXT, PDF and probably several others, not yet announced.
Battery endurance: With WiFi on, about 3 weeks, WiFi off, about 4 weeks.
Weight: 5.9 ounces
Connectivity: WiFi
Colours available: Black, red, white.
Installed dictionaries: Two English, 8 translation, such as German, Dutch, French Italian, Spanish.
Internal memory: 2GB
External memory: SD card, up to 32 GB
Font size: 8 font sizes
Font styles: 6 different fonts
Price : $ 149.00
Where to get it ? http://store.sony.com. And other normal places.
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September 2nd, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Hmmm. So Sony is making a “me-too” Reader. Except for the icon/Overdrive access, what does this new device offer (of real substance) that the 950 doesn’t have or that the Kobo Touch and Nook Touch do not have?
As you know, Tony, I own 2 Sony Readers and have been a great fan of both of them (the 505 and the 950). I was looking forward to new Sony Readers that might entice me to replace one or both of my current devices. Alas, the T1 is a no sale in my house. Because it isn’t offering any breakthrough technologies, which is what Sony offered when it released the x50 Readers, it has to offer the one thing that it apparently doesn’t: the updated Adobe ADE that includes the B&N DRM schema. In the absence of that upgrade, there is really little to no reason to buy the Sony as opposed to the Kobo and Nook, both of which get regular firmware updates and both of which can do nearly everything that the T1 is offering to do.
It appears to me that Sony hit its device peak with the 950 and now is slowly going downhill. Other than price, the 950 was/is the cream of all dedicated devices, well worth the premium charged. The T1 makes Sony one of the overcrowded. I’m sticking with my 505 and 950, and when the time to replace comes, I’ll be giving the Nook Touch a long look.
September 3rd, 2011 at 6:53 am
@ Rich,
I rather agree with you in your comments above, as has been remarked elsewhere, it is getting harder to tell one ereader from another. I suspect this will ultimately end up with there being two types of ereader, monochrome, or colour, and for the rest they will be interchangable in fact… much like cars have become.
Remember in our youth, one could teel instantly what sort o a car we were looking at, now that is no longer the case, all cars, in the four main types, all look pretty well identical to the others in their type class. So in the ned for ereaders it will come down to small differences between one model and another.
Booriing, eh?
September 3rd, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Tony, I thought it was just me that can no longer tell one car from another. Glad to see I’ve got company, but sad that it is us old folk who can’t tell.
But then I suppose at least one good thing has come about as a result of that inability — I stopped looking at or buying any brand car than a Subaru 4 purchases ago. My wife and I agreed after we bought our first one that we liked it (and the dealer) more than enough to warrant our not looking at other cars and models.
Of course, there is a caveat: Should I win the lottery I will consider something much more elitist than the Subaru
.
But back on topic: The more I read about the new Sony and the more videos I see, the less thrilled I am with the new Sony. Sony has taken what was a premier product worth a premium price and turned it into a run-of-the-mill product that will, in the end, at least here in the United States, be noncompetitive and not sell well. Given the choice between the new Sony and the Nook Touch, even I am increasingly leaning toward the Nook.
September 4th, 2011 at 8:41 am
@ Rich
Yup, us crumblies are able to see the trees between the wood, it seems…. But still can’t find our cars in crowded car parks.. Like everyone else, unless you happen to have a shocking pink VW Beetle, or an out of work Hearse of course. I used to drive around in an 8 ton, fully armoured ex military armoured personel carrier, never had a problem finding that baby in car parks!
Sadly I find myself in agreement with what you say, and now it seems the Kindle has gone the same route, and become merely a Nook clone.
I understand that Amazon have no interest in the sort of technology they sell, they are content sellers after all, and the device is only relevant to them in so far as it will help sales, and they have obviously come to the conculsion that colour, video and music are the way to go…
Pity though.
We will have to hope our current ereaders, be they Sony or Kindles, wil go on working for a long time yet, until serious colour e-Ink becomes available
September 10th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Com’on you crumblies, come out of your “complaint age”, for this a hell of a reader ! It’s my next Sony.