[Salgueiros]

I bought it for the following reasons:

1 - I trust the brand. I always was very satisfied with the products SONY releases. I still have magnetic tape walkmans that work wonderfully.

2 - Perceived quality. The devices looks solid and well built. I feel they might work without problems for a very long time.

3 - Screen quality. I had the PRS 300 and as soon as i saw a 350 i had to buy it. The sharpness and contrast was so much better.

4 - Dictionary and ease of access to the dictionary functions. I had a dictionary in my previous readers but it was such a pain to look for the word i wanted and then suddenly the touchscreen function makes it so easy and fast! I also like that it has several languages and i also hope i will have a Portuguese language dictionary soon. The prospect of having more languages in the dictionary mode was also a motivation.

5 - Availability of formats. Kindle is a big no for me because of the format restriction. I know you can convert, but i don't want to have the trouble.

6 - Aesthetics. I could never have a reader that i thought it is ugly. Design and aesthetic appeal is very important to me. And in my opinion Sony has the nicer looking devices in the market. I Find Kindle so-so, and other readers like Pocketbook or Aztak, iRex, Aluratek, Ectaco and Bookeen frankly grotesque. The Nook looks good.

7 - Portability. I think the 350 is the smallest or one of the smallest devices around. With a reasonable screen size, and no space lost to a keyboard, it makes a great screen size/total size ratio.