Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Even at US$169, Sony had better be bringing something more to the game than we've seen in those pics and specs. (No 350/950 followups? Are they collapsing the line to one model?)
Bear in mind that Kobo has been aggresively improving the firmware of the Kobo Touch (US$129) and Nook (US$139) has way better ergonomics and a stylus, too, plus it's hackable to get to the android underpinnings. Both have way better stores.
If this is all there is...
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I'm one of the few who are less concerned about price than about build quality and features. I preordered my 950 from Sony at the full price without blinking an eye over the price.
But I agree that based on what is being described for the new Sony, I probably would buy the Nook Touch. The deciding factor for me would be the B&N bookstore.
If anything, I see this new Sony as being a lesser and smaller version of my 950. I think Sony needed to consider the 950 (disregarding the 7-inch size) as the gold standard and then had to create a new gold standard. But then I suspect that Sony was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Most negative comments about the Sony Readers focused on lack of wi-fi and price. Of course, I have no clue as to what it actually cost Sony to build each of the x50 devices, but considering that it has the weakest ebookstore of the Amazon-B&N-Kobo-Sony quartet, it wasn't in a position to take a loss on the device in hopes of making it up in ebookstore sales; the remaining triad could take this approach.
Consequently, I am not surprised that Sony moved to a plastic casing. But lowering price and adding wi-fi will not be enough, I suspect, to rally the consumer to the Sony brand of readers.