You may recall that I wasn't very impressed with Samsung's E60 e-book reader. Sony's new Reader Pocket Edition is a very different page out of the book. Sony Reader Pocket Edition Sony's Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350: the acme of e-book readers? Where the E60 is thick, the Reader is thin - and weighs a mere 155g. The E60 …

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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:44 GMT Jules 1

Calibre?

I've not yet used the sony supplied software with my PRS-350. The open source calibre program (http://calibre-ebook.com/) had no difficulty putting drm-free pdf files on the unit, so whilst you may not be able to simply drag and drop pdf files there is a way to manage it without the obnoxious sony/adobe software.

It's also been on offer at £130 from Waterstones since it was released, only £21 more expensive than the cheapest kindle. I think that's well worth it for the better build quality and touch screen.

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Calibre rules!
  
  With calibre it is trivial to batch convert pdfs into whatever format you want; so you can ignore adobe totally.
  
  Also; "You can copy over pictures too, but what's the point on a 160-greyscale screen?"
  
  Manga.
  
  Manga is usually grey scale and usually in a small format, and as such is perfect on these devices.
  
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:44 GMT stucs201

very noticeable lag that reminded me of passive matrix LCDs of old

Not just the lag. The whole appearance of these e-ink screens reminds me of them (and the reasons we got rid of them!). Which makes me wonder what the point of e-ink is, even the low-power advantage isn't as great when compared to a passive mono lcd and as a brightly backlit colour one.

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:00 GMT James Hughes 1
  
  Could be a bit out on the figures...
  
  but eInk displays take between 50 and 100 times less power than passive monochrome LCD, depending on the refresh rate. Most of the time whilst reading they take no power at all, unlike LCD which draw all the time.
  
  That a lot of extra battery life, as shown by the two week figure quoted, vs 1day for a iPad?
  
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  1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:01 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
    
    Re: Could be a bit out on the figures...
    
    The iPad will last longer than a day if all you do is read on it. For an LCD-based device it has some truly impressive power management.
    
    But, yes, an E Ink screen will run for longer.
    
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2. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:48 GMT johnnytruant
  
  the main advantage of eInk
  
  Is that reflective screens are a heck of a lot nicer to read on than transmissive ones.
  
  It's one of those things (like HDTV) than screenshots simply can't make clear - you have to see it in the flesh. Next time you're in Waterstones/Borders/whatever, see if you can have a look at am eInk reader in action and you'll see how different reflective screens are to look at.
  
  I can't read for hundreds of pages straight on an LCD, no matter how high-res it might be. My (mere!) third-gen eInk screen, I can read for days on, not to mention in full sunlight.
  
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3. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:50 GMT Geoff Campbell
  
  eInk advantages
  
  The main, over-riding advantage of eInk is that it is completely passive, like paper. This means that you can read it in pretty much any lighting conditions from twilight to direct bright sunlight.
  
  It also means lower levels of eye-strain for long periods of reading. However, modern LCD/OLED screens are much better than old LCD screens in this regard, so that's not so important.
  
  GJC
  
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4. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:51 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  e-ink
  
  Just try and read your lcd screen in bright sunlight, then compare it with an e-ink screen in the same conditions - the e-ink wins hand down, as well as having a very low power draw (only draws power when changing the screen).
  
  Also, backlit lcd screens are hard on the eyes if you are reading them for a long time, not so e-ink.
  
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  1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 15:30 GMT stucs201
    
    I've looked at one
    
    It looked exactly like the old (*non* backlit) mono lcd screens I've seen. The sort that reviewers used to critisise for being readable only in bright light. I'm not (as some of the people replying seem to think) comparing with a modern backlit lcd.
    
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:45 GMT Lickass McClippers

So...

"But... it's still £51 more expensive than the new Kindle, which comes with Wi-Fi, and pricier too than the Kindle with 3G. Lack of connectivity doesn't bother me, but the thought I can get an e-book reader with a comparable-quality screen and twice as much storage for a lot less money does."

And yet it still receives an 80% rating, versus the cheaper and better specced Kindle, which only received an 85% rating. Are you being paid by Sony..?? Don't get me wrong, I'm a Sony whore, have been for years, but the Kindle offers much more, and it only awarded an extra 5%...

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:56 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
  
  Re: So...
  
  Kindle offers only two things more: Wi-Fi and a lower price. Wi-Fi is a 'nice to have' rather than a 'must have'. The keyboard even less so.
  
  By contrast, the Sony is smaller/more portable, has a touchscreen, and can present ePubs without the need for third-party conversion software.
  
  Price is the big issue here, and that puts the balance in favour of the Kindle, but only just.
  
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2. Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:59 GMT Neill Mitchell
  
  Touchscreen
  
  The Kindle does not have a touch screen. The touchscreen GUI is really rather good. I guess you are paying for this and the sleeker design if you choose the Sony.
  
  Also remember that the Kindle does not support ePub (and Calibre cannot convert DRM'd ePubs). So you are tied to Amazon and cannot borrow ePub books from UK libraries.
  
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  1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:53 GMT Anonymous Coward
    
    Screen
    
    Kindle has a 6 inch screen. Sony has a 5 inch screen. Did you all genuinely miss that?
    
    Wifi / 3g is not a "nice to have", it's an absolute dealbreaker. I want to subscribe to a newspaper and get it delivered every day, whatever country i'm in, without connecting my ereader to the usb port of a laptop. The kindle can do that. The sony can't. A touch screen is a "nice to have", or even a "largely pointless"
    
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    1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:57 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
      
      Re: Screen
      
      An extra inch in the diagonal - fnar, fnar (before someone else mentions it) - makes no real odds.
      
      Fair point about newspaper subs, but are there any? I get the Times on my iPad, but I'm not of any e-book reader specific ones, whether for Kindle or the Sony.
      
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      1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 15:32 GMT Dapprman
        
        At present ...
        
        The reviews on the Kindle papers are poor and only partly due to price, which is not helped by the fact that on the 3G model you can browse the same papers online for free and get more information/. Having said that you do get a 14 day free trial, and over time they may improve both in quality and price.
        
        Magazines there are more of. I'm only subscribed to Asimov (monthly) but it is nice that I don't have to think about downloading it, the new issue just appears - more an ease of use thing though.
        
        For me, one thing the kindle does well and touch screens do not it change of pages. I just don't like the extra action to swipe, but then for me the Kindle's side buttons are in the perfect place for my hands, so I just need to move my thumb to go to the next page.
        
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      2. Wednesday 13th October 2010 15:35 GMT Anonymous Coward
        
        Newspaper subs
        
        To be honest there's not loads of UK ones, unless you want the telegraph or the FT (no thanks to either). But there's over 100 international newspapers, including biggies like the NY Times. Mostly US based ones, as you'd expect;
        
        http://www.amazon.co.uk/Newspapers-Kindle/b/ref=sa_menu_knews2?ie=UTF8&node=341691031
        
        Then there's also magazine subs, inclduing some tech ones;
        
        http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magazines-Journals-Kindle/b/ref=sa_menu_kmag2?ie=UTF8&node=341690031
        
        You can also subscribe to blogs and rss feeds on the kindle. And download sample chapters from any of the 500,000+ books in the kindle store for free, kind of a "try before you buy" thing, as if you were flicking through a book in a shop. None of which is possible on the sony (without a laptop)
        
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        Thursday 14th October 2010 13:53 GMT behzad
        
        Charging for blogs
        
        Shame Amazon has the audacity to charge for them when they are completely free online. Way to cripple a very cool feature.
        
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:46 GMT David Lawrence

I see nothing here......

... to deter me from buying the Kindle for my Wife as a Christmas present. Much nicer spec at a lower price. That is all.

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:52 GMT Geoff Campbell
  
  Yes, I'd get a Kindle for the Wife....
  
  ....so that I could keep my Sony for myself, which you can have when you pry it from my cold, dead hands [Omnes: "You terms are acceptable"]
  
  Actually, you can have my Sony 505 shortly, 'cos I think the 350 might be a worthy enough upgrade to make it worth spending the money.
  
  GJC
  
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  1. Thursday 14th October 2010 08:46 GMT Geoff Campbell
    
    Oh, and can I just be the first to say....
    
    ....a Kindle for the Wife? Sounds like a fair swap.
    
    GJC
    
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:48 GMT David Evans

so...

...get a Kindle then?

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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:49 GMT Tom Chiverton 1

Quick follow up questions

How does the 'bonding' process to allow you to read plain PDF work ?

Does it *require* software on the PC, or can I just plug it in and use it as a USB mass-storage drive to drag and drop to ?

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:56 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
  
  Re: Quick follow up questions
  
  You can use it as a mass-storage device - I copied all my sample ePubs and PDFs that way.
  
  But the PDFs won't open on the device - even the DRM-less ones - unless you register with Adobe and copy the files across using Sony's software.
  
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  1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 15:32 GMT Anonymous Coward
    
    +1 internets for saying so in public
    
    This so enrages me, I refuse to do it, and all gadgets that work this way will be marked down for it.
    
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    1. Thursday 14th October 2010 08:46 GMT Anonymous Coward
      
      sounds like..
      
      a tip of the hat to Steve Gibson and his "its my computer" rant of the late 90's
      
      btw he's right!
      
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:55 GMT John 73

Sony vs Kindle

Sure, this is more expensive than the cheap Kindle but it's got a touchscreen. On pure tech terms, the user needs to choose which is most useful to them - touch or wireless. (Plus, this device is smaller than the Kindle because it doesn't have that stupid keyboard. How often do you really need to use a keyboard when reading?)

For me, though, it's the EPUB support that's the killer. If you buy the Kindle, you're locked into Amazon's closed ebook world. If you buy Sony (or BeBook or most others), you're in the wider world of standard formats and a proper market. Adept DRM is rubbish, but it's unfortunately the reality at present for many commercial ebooks, and dissing the Sony because of it's rather unfair when you conside that the Kindle is locked down even harder.

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 18:14 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Unlock the Kindle with Calibre
  
  It's absolutely untrue to say you're locked into Amazon's closed ebook world with the Kindle. It's very easy to convert ePub or any other format into mobi format. What's more with the connectivity on the Kindle you can just get Calibre to email it over without need for any wired sync.
  
  In fact, the killer feature of the Kindle is its connectivity. The fact that I can wake up and know that the FT has been delivered to my Kindle overnight (again using the wonderful Calibre) makes considering a non-wireless eReader absolutely laughable.
  
  Couple this with the Kindle being significantly cheaper and with a bigger screen and you start to wonder why anyone would buy the Sony. And yes, I normally am an absolute Sony fanboi, but this time they really aren't the best.
  
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  1. Thursday 14th October 2010 08:42 GMT Neill Mitchell
    
    But it's not!
    
    "It's absolutely untrue to say you're locked into Amazon's closed ebook world with the Kindle. It's very easy to convert ePub or any other format into mobi format"
    
    You cannot convert DRM'd ePub files with Calibre! So you are tied in to Amazon. How many times does this have to be said!
    
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    1. Friday 15th October 2010 14:23 GMT Anonymous Coward
      
      DRM ePub ties you to Amazon?
      
      "You cannot convert DRM'd ePub files with Calibre! So you are tied in to Amazon. How many times does this have to be said!"
      
      It sounds to me like you're tied in to your DRM'd ePub vendor rather than Amazon ;-)
      
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2. Wednesday 13th October 2010 19:07 GMT Paul Eagles
  
  Keyboard for reading? No. For purchasing? Hell yes.
  
  True, I don't need the keyboard for reading but I do need it when I'm browsing the Kindle store from my Kindle and choosing what book I want to purchase next.
  
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  1. Thursday 14th October 2010 06:29 GMT Anonymous Coward
    
    Amazon and Sony have a different focus
    
    Amazon's primary goal is to make it as easy as possible to buy books, Sony makes it as easy as possible to read books.
    
    I was all set to buy the new kindle and then the new Sonys came along. I bought the 350 because I wanted something small and light and it has better format support. Having a touch screen means they were able to do away with the mostly useless keyboard. The Kindle is bigger because it takes up space with a keyboard which will primarily be used when buying books. How much time do you actually spend buying books every month? For those 15 minutes or so each month I'll just use my laptop to find the books I want.
    
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:56 GMT Code Monkey

Rotation, Dictionaries and Roald Amundsen

Thinking on how I read "proper" books in bed, the lack of auto-rotation sounds like a bonus to me.

The addition of tranlsation dictionaries suddenly makes this whole e-reader idea a lot more interesting.

Finally no "Roald Amundsen is a wanker"? I feel let down.

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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:56 GMT Trygve Henriksen

Speed?

Is it as glacially slow to open files or turn pages as the PRS-600?

(I have a PRS-500, a PRS-600 and now I'm using a Kindle. )

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:01 GMT Neill Mitchell
  
  Much quicker
  
  Don't worry. The 350 and 650 are much faster than their predecessors.
  
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:57 GMT Neill Mitchell

Non DRM PDF's

Perhaps the 650 is different, but one of the first things I did was drop a PDF of the London Tube map on mine and it worked fine.

Your pictures of the screen don't do it justice by the way El Reg. The 650 is the first reader I've owned where the screen is finally better than a printed book IMHO.

Finally, the lack of wifi. I guess it's a choice Sony have made to maximise battery life with a decent form factor and weight. I sync mine once a day and have never thought I'm missing out on wireless connectivity. Sony's are primarily book reading devices, and they perform this task very well.

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1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 12:59 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
  
  Re: Non DRM PDF's
  
  I've seen both the 350 and the 650, but there's no way I'd say either device's screen was as good as a printed book.
  
  One day, maybe, but not now.
  
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  1. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:47 GMT Neill Mitchell
    
    Really?
    
    "I've seen both the 350 and the 650, but there's no way I'd say either device's screen was as good as a printed book."
    
    Are we talking paperbacks or nice high quality hardbacks here? I'd honestly say that my 650 is easier to read in low light than a book. In fact, I tried the paperback edition of a book next to the 650 version the other night in bed and was pleasantly surprised how much better the electronic version was.
    
    You can also zoom the font of course and you don't have the bother of trying to hold a book open to read both sides whilst lying down.
    
    One other cool thing for the brave is to flash the device with Boroda's custom firmware that allows you to change the fonts. I now run with Liberations Sans and books are a joy to read.
    
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2. Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:46 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  PRS 950
  
  In the US they have the 6" PRS 950 which comes with a WiFi link to the Sony eBook store. It's a really nice piece of kit, but useless over here as it only goes to the US store (which needs a US credit card billing address). Sadly as long as Sony have their link to the Waterstone's store I don't think we'll see the 950.
  
  The PRS 650 big brother to the 350 is a fine reader. In black it makes the screen look even more contrasty.
  
  But yes, unless Sony can make their readers immediately more compelling to newcomers, Amazon will end up owning the market. Call me radical, but it'd help if Sony tried advertising the bloody things. I've lost count how many people have come over and said 'what's that?' and then 'I didn't know these things existed' followed by 'where can I get one?' when I've been out and about with my Reader.
  
  BTW. Thanks for the reminder, I have to charge mine before my day trip to the security checks at Heathrow.
  
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Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:46 GMT frank ly

Home Brew Efforts

"There's no memory card slot on the PRS-350, but with 2GB of on board storage, you may not need one "

With my PRS-505, I can load up home made pdfs via the SD memory card slot (I use free PrimoPDF, there are many others). These can of course include maps (ripped from Google Maps) and whatever text you fancy that you can type or copy and paste. Hence, if you do want lots of documents like this, an external memory card is a good facility. Why would you want to do that? - If you're going on holiday in the wilds of Wherever, you can load up with maps, guides, lists of places to visit, etc and have them all on one lightweight, low power consumption reading device.

As Jules 1 indicated in the first comment, it looks like home brew efforts get the best out of these devices. I've never used the provided Sony software; it's a pain. Calibre is great.

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Wednesday 13th October 2010 13:49 GMT hammarbtyp

Tried Sony, Never again

I've had a Sony reader in the past. The truth is I soon got tired of the touch screen and I found the basic page turning controls small and fiddly. Touch screen is great on a phone where portability and size are important, but there is plenty of space on a e-reader without having to resort to putting your greasy mits over a screen or "shudder" use a stylus. In the end I found the Sony experience poor and was not to unhappy when it failed in the warranty period and I could get my money back.

I have finally ordered a kindle. While I understand people concerns about tying it to amazon, I do tend to get most of reading literature from there anyway. But the most important factor was the 3g access. The fact it provides contract free 3G access for a small outlay seems a bargain. Especialy since it is still less than the cost of the Sony Reader

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Wednesday 13th October 2010 15:32 GMT Campbeltonian

Expensive device for expensive ebooks

I see that Sony's new batch of Readers still can't display ePubs with justified text. Poor.

It's not just the extra £51 for the device that you have to think about, but the extra cost of the ebooks themselves relative to the Kindle store. Most places that sell ePub/Adept books price them higher than paperbacks.

I've taken to buying eBooks from the Kindle store, cracking the DRM and converting them into BBeB format, the old, proprietary, deprecated Sony format that my PRS-300 can display with justified text. It's far from ideal but it's a hell of a lot cheaper, and the end result is superior.

I wouldn't be surprised if I've dumped the Sony and bought one of those new Kindles by the end of the year.

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Wednesday 13th October 2010 15:35 GMT J. Cook

Calibre and Sony e-readers = WIN.

I recently purchased a refurbished PRS-600 from one of the deal-a-day sites in the US, and one of the pieces of advice is the one I'm passing on here:

Ditch the sony software, it's not all that great. Calibre is a MUCH better option and supports pretty much all the sony readers from the get go.

As far as the touch screen is concerned- I've found that I don't actually use it all that much. I prefer to use the page turn buttons, which are located right under my fingers regardless of what orientation I'm holding it in.

As far as speed: mine is not all that fast, but I suspect it's partly because my books are loaded via one of the memory cards instead of the internal memory.

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Thursday 14th October 2010 06:30 GMT John Sanders

What no SD?

No buy, and I'm really sorry because this one looked okay.

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1. Thursday 14th October 2010 13:55 GMT Neill Mitchell
  
  Then consider the 650
  
  It has the bigger 6" screen plus SD and MemoryStick slots. That's if 2GB of internal memory is not enough for an eBook reader...
  
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Thursday 14th October 2010 11:00 GMT Anonymous Coward

DRM

There's a lot of criticism of the Kindle based on the books from the Amazon Kindle store are DRM'd.

Does that mean the the books on the Sony Book store aren't?

Or is that books from other sources that contain DRM can be viewed on the Sony but not on the Kindle? If so, how does that work?

I know that Calibre cant convert DRM'd ebooks... and the Kindle doesn't display epubs.

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1. Thursday 14th October 2010 13:56 GMT Neill Mitchell
  
  ePub is widely supported
  
  The ePub format is a standard. So if your reader supports it, you can buy or borrow DRM'd eBooks from anywhere that sells/lends them in your country.
  
  The crazy thing with Amazon is that the publishers supply the books in ePub and then Amazon has to convert them to Kindle!
  
  One other thing, ePub is a much more modern and versatile format. It handles graphics and tables better. Compare a Kindle book with illustrations and tables with the ePub version to see the difference.
  
  However, I guess this is more a battle of the DRM's than the actual underlying format. It's a pity the actual book format couldn't be DRM agnostic. We might get somewhere towards a single standard then.
  
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  1. Thursday 14th October 2010 19:37 GMT Anonymous Coward
    
    Thanks Neill
    
    But i have a follow on question. Does that mean that an Apple iBookstore (or whatever its called) ePub book is readable on the Sony and vice versa?
    
    It's rather sad... I've been waiting for years for these things to come down to a reasonable price and have a reasonable number of books I want to read at an appropriate priced and now I'm being put off by all this DRM stuff.
    
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    1. Thursday 14th October 2010 19:42 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
      
      Re: Thanks Neill
      
      Nope. I tried it, and iTunes-sourced DRM'd ePubs will not open on the Sony.
      
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      1. Friday 15th October 2010 13:31 GMT Neill Mitchell
        
        Well, Apple plays by their own rules.
        
        I guess Apple has extended the DRM so books only open on an Apple device. Only one thing worse than lock in and that's double lock in.
        
        Jobs is quite happy for iPad users to leverage Amazon though. Two faced or what.
        
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Thursday 14th October 2010 13:55 GMT behzad

Library loans

One thing this review missed is that you can borrow ebooks from the library - eg. for Londoners check out http://llc.lib.overdrive.com

You can't do that with the Kindle.

The reason the Kindle is cheaper is because Amazon is prepared to take a hit on the device in return for locking you in to their ebook store. I'd rather pay a bit more to be part of an open system. That, and the Sony is actually quite pocketable.

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Thursday 14th October 2010 13:56 GMT Dick Pountain

Search me guv

I have yet to see a review of an ebook reader that mentions the presence or absence of a text search function. I read mostly non-fiction and reference works in e form, and the absence of search on my old Sony was a deal breaker (no text input at all). So does this one have it or not?

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1. Thursday 14th October 2010 14:00 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
  
  Re: Search me guv
  
  Yes. Open a book, tap the Options button and select Search. Tap the on-screen buttons that appear to move on to, or back to the other appearances of the search string in the book.
  
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2. Thursday 14th October 2010 14:35 GMT Neill Mitchell
  
  Yes it does
  
  You stick in your search term and it highlights the found text on the page. You've also got nice semi transparent forward and back buttons that navigates you through the instances.
  
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Thursday 14th October 2010 14:00 GMT Wayne

Only 5" ?

It sounds good, but 5in is still too small for me. The PRS-505 is the perfect size and anything smaller is _just_ too small.

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1. Thursday 14th October 2010 14:01 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware
  
  Re: Only 5" ?
  
  That's what I thought at first, but I've warmed to the 5in screen. It helps keep the overall device size down - the 350 is very pocketable - and doesn't seem any harder to read. if you find it is, there's always the zoom function.
  
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Sunday 17th October 2010 21:06 GMT Richard 12

I really, really wanted to like this

But when it got to the point of mentioning that you need special software from Sony and have to ask Adobe nicely simply to put an unprotected PDF (even one I made myself) onto the device in a readable format, I decided I couldn't buy it. (PDF is an ISO standard - Adobe do not own it!)

- The alternative Calibre software is interesting, but it still means I can't simply plug my eReader into a computer, copy the PDF onto it and have it work - which I do a *lot* with system drawings.

(Not to mention that Sony have repeatedly proven willing and able to wilfully disable 3rd-party functionality, so I can't trust them not to do that again.)

At some point the manufacturers of these eBook readers need to realise that their foolish insistence on ridiculous DRM is badly damaging their market.

I know one person who's got a Kindle (she bought it before Amazon broke into hundreds of houses and stole a book out of them), and fifteen who'd really like one if it wasn't so badly castrated by ill-conceived 'protection'.

I fly a lot on business, and I really want an eBook reader - it should be great for books on the flight, taxi, hotel, and manuals on-site as it should be much faster to start up and load the relevant document than my laptop.

But Amazon have proved they can take back a purchased work without asking (and therefore can be compelled to do so by the courts), and also decided to rely on their own proprietary format (so I can't borrow from my library), and Sony have decided that they won't allow me to read my *own* documentation without additional software (and asking Adobe).

Not to mention that the prices for an eBook are still astronomical and appear to be bound to the brand of device (if not a specific unit) - so not only am I forced to buy my next device from the same people, but if they decide to stop supporting that model, go out of business or get taken over I lose everything.

So that leaves me with no product I can trust.

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