Sony has unveiled two new e-book readers to take on Kindle in the US market. Off the two, the PRS-300 Pocket Edition aims for the budget friendly crowd that gives the freedom to store hundreds of books at an affordable $199 price tag. It sports a 5-inch screen and easily fits in a jacket pocket or a purse. With an ability to store at least 350 books and can provide up to two weeks of reading on a single battery charge.
PRS-600 Touch Edition ups the ante by bringing in more features and expectedly, at a higher price. This version has a 6-inch touchscreen display, expandable memory with MS PRO Duo or SD card, supports finger swipe gestures like page turning and highlighting, can take handwritten notes with the stylus and has a built-in Oxford American English Dictionary that pops up the meaning by simply tapping on the word. It will sell for $299.
Sony also announced that all the new releases and New York Times bestseller titles will now cost $9.99 each. But if you’re looking for some free content, the new readers also support over one million public domain books from Google.
Both the e-book readers will be available by the end of August.
I think that e reader technology is not developed yet. Readers are too expensive, have too few options and are difficult to buy unless you order it online. It seems that it will take a few more years until this technology is mature for a massive consumerism.