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back to article Sony Reader PRS-350 Pocket Edition

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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  1. 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. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)
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      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. Neill Mitchell
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      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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  2. 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. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)
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      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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  3. Richard 12 Silver badge
    FAIL

    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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