There seems to be quite a few people who own or have used both the new Sony Readers and the Kobos. I have the 350, but kept the Kobo too.
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Originally Posted by terraskye
I've heard that you can still use the kobo bookstore to use on the sony via Calibre (?) and I can also use it for ebooks at the library. I also find the button feature on the kobo a bit hard to use with longer nails.
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If the book you've bought from Kobo is EPUB, then the Sony won't have any problems with it. You can either use the navigational buttons or use a touchscreen gesture -- very responsive, and hardly leaves any fingerprints, contrary to what one might expect.
Definitely go and look at the Sony models in person though... not so much for the Sony functionality, but rather for the form factor of a 5". See if you could adjust to it or would prefer a 6" inch.
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Are there any advantages of one over the other? Does the Sony have a Dictionary function as that would be nifty...
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Sony has the new Pearl screen, dictionaries (English and translation types), note-taking abilities, much faster page-turning. It feels sturdier than the Kobo's plastic as well. Wakes up instantly from sleep mode to the page of the book you were at (I've never had to use shutdown mode). The auto-shutdown on the Sony is a lot lot longer than the Kobo's 30 min. If you ever read fiction that comes in PDF,* the Sony's PDF controls are better than the Kobo's and it supports PDF reflow. (Of course, for technical or reference PDFs, 5" and 6" ereaders are still a bad idea.) Any other advantages I can think of depend on the person -- for myself, I like its smaller size and lightness, just because I like to use it outdoors, on public transport, etc. Lack of wifi isn't a negative for me (I feel like I'm constantly tethered to the computer as it is), but it's understandably important to many.
* (Like seemingly half my local library's offerings, grr.)
Possible downsides as compared to Kobo? Not that the Kobo desktop software is brilliant, but I hear the Sony Reader software is rather bad. As a happy user of Calibre, I've never had to form my own opinion on this, but it may factor in your decision. Lack of expansion card slot. Admittedly a very petty quibble, but also the Sony Readers don't display book covers in sleep mode, rather images of your own choosing -- a function I've grown to like, but I'd always been fond of the book covers that a powered down Kobo (with the original firmware) showed.
I can't really think of anything else to say, except that for what it's worth, I vastly prefer the 350 to the Kobo nowadays and use the former exclusively -- the latter is currently lent to a relative. That said, I haven't regretted either purchase.