Skylarking: The Tech Tip Blog

I’ve expanded Monday’s post “Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader for $129 at Borders Books” with additional information on book formats, price and size comparisons, and some pictures, too.

Sony PRS-350SC Pocket Edition tech specs

• Released: September 2010
• Predecessor: PRS300
• Languages Supported:
• File Types Supported: ePUB, PDF, BBeB, TXT, RTF, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP

Overview. 5″ reader using the latest Pearl E Ink screen and featuring an IR based touch screen. Battery life is stated to be 2 full weeks of reading on a single charge. It is available in Silver or Pink. Features both right and left hand page advance and 6 font sizes. A handy search function lets you look up words in 2 English language dictionaries, including The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition and Oxford Dictionary of English, Revised Edition and 10 built-in translation dictionaries.

• Dimensions: 5 3/4 x 4 1/8 x 11/32 inches (H/W/D)
• Weight: 5.47 oz
• Text Formats: ePub (Adobe DRM protected), PDF (Adobe DRM protected), BBeB Book (PRS DRM protected), Text, RTF
• Image : JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP
• Memory Size : 2GB User available capacity: Approx. 1.4GB
• AC Power : Built-in rechargeable battery: 3.7 V DC, 940 mAh
• Battery Life (Approx) : Approx. 10,000 pages turns
• Recharging Time : 3 hours with a USB connection, or about 2 hours by the optional AC adapter (PRSA-AC1)
• Display: 5″ E Ink® Pearl 800 x 600 pixels 16-level gray scale
• Touch screen: clear screen using IR
• USB: 2.0

Borders Books started selling the Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader for $50 below its regular price of $179 today. It doesn’t have wireless (WiFi) but its a great price all the same.

The Sony Pocket Reader has a grayscale touch screen, holds over 1,200 books, and the battery holds a charge for 2 weeks. It’s very compact, too. You can see in the picture below that it’s a little bit smaller than a paperback novel, and it weighs about the same, too.

Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader (PRS 350)

So if you want to get yourself an e-reader but you don’t want to be locked in to Amazon or Barnes and Noble only, then run out and get a Sony Pocket Reader today. They’re not going to last at this price. It’s $20 less expensive than the basic Nook (Barnes & Noble), and $10 less than the cheapest Kindle.

Note: Amazon only sells digital eBooks for the Kindle. The Kindle reads Amazon’s proprietary “AZW” eBook format, but doesn’t read the EPUB format supported by most other modern eReaders. Consequently, most books available for the Kindle are only the ones Amazon has converted to be read on the Kindle. So when I went searching for some Isaac Asimov novels I wanted to read they couldn’t  be found for the Kindle, but they were available on other eBook webstores such as BooksAMillion.com. (You probably haven’t heard of Books a Million, but they are rated as one of the top 5 book retailers in the US.) They were in the EPUB format, and EPUB formats cannot be read on a Kindle.

Size Comparison

What can you read? The Sony Pocket Edition Reader supports the standard EPUB and PDF formats supported by most other readers on the market.

Magazines and Newspapers. I was able to find newspapers and magazines that could be read on the Sony Pocket Reader, such as my local paper, Newsday; and there were a small variety of magazines available, but I suspect I’d find more with a little searching.