3 New Sony Readers announced today, apps coming this fall

[jcatl]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

There's room for different approaches; let's see how consumers vote with their wallets. Variety is good. Competition is good. Time will tell if we're looking at a killer product or roadkill.

I don't think the Sony's are roadkill because there is a certain segment of the population who refuse to play Amazon's game.

From a mass consumer standpoint, they were roadkill the day the K3 was announced. Amazon and B&N have far, far superior shopping experiences, and both offer WiFi and 3G at prices lower than Sony's.

So, either build quality, touch features or ePub support are what set Sony readers apart from the competition and for most people these are not reasons to pay more to get less (from a pure reading experience). Obviously for people who need to do a lot of annotation and note taking, the touch features are indispensable and worth the extra $$ but again, that's a very small segment of the marketplace.

Obviously these readers were in the works when the K3 was announced or I suspect Sony might have taken a different approach.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

There's room for different approaches; let's see how consumers vote with their wallets. Variety is good. Competition is good. Time will tell if we're looking at a killer product or roadkill.

Absolutely; I want them to do well. But nearly 50% more expensive than your main competion which also packs in more features and a far better catalogue?

I was expecting to see these at £129 to £139, which would seem about right for the what customers will probably see as a more robust design and better styling. Touch screen vs wifi probably balance each other out for those that want them.

Still, the stores will probably discount them before too long.

Graham

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by jcatl

I don't think the Sony's are roadkill because there is a certain segment of the population who refuse to play Amazon's game.

Sure.
And there is a certain segment of the population that is still buying eReader and LIT ebooks. Doesn't mean the market as a whole cares about them.
They're not exactly relevant to the future of the industry, are they?

Sony was a pioneer in eInk.
Sony then became a close follower to other market leaders.
The question now is whether they can recapture lost ground (and relevance) or will fall further behind.

BTW, out of curiosity: what other approach *could* Sony have taken if they *had* known what K3 was going to be like and what it would cost. This *is* Sony, after all.

[mplkn]

Any ideas about what functionality the apps on the 950 will bring?
Dare I hope for a browser?
If so, it might make it worth the wait, rather than picking up a 900 at a closeout price...
Any news, rumors, or thoughts?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by mplkn

Any ideas about what functionality the apps on the 950 will bring.
Dare I hope for a browser?
If so, it might make it worth the wait, rather than picking up a 900 at a closeout price...
Any news, rumors, or thoughts?

Word is, the 950 has a WiFi-only browser.
No word on how good it might be.

[igorsk]

Yes, there was a mention of the browser on the 950 (over WiFi only, apparently).

[igorsk]

Manuals are up (PRS350, PRS650).

[mplkn]

Even a primitive wifi browser would address the one feature I'm envious of on the Kindle: access to Wikipedia
Even a primitive browser ought to be able to do alright with Wikipedia's mobile version....

[igorsk]

Some news from the manuals:
1) collections can now be created and managed on the device (yay!).
2) zoom level can be locked so it's not reset when changing pages
3) contrast/brightness can be adjusted (this we knew)
4) going to previous page (after following a link) is now one tap shorter (though I still wish they brought back the Back button)
5) can switch dictionary during look-up, no need to go to options
6) you can set a picture (or several) or a message as "standby screen".
7) auto-sleep after 10 minutes, auto-shutdown after two days

[sony_fox]

Waterstones added new models

Sony are genuinely doing a worldwide?? release at the same date, (or even just a US/UK joint release) this is a good thing. Not that I'll be buying one till my 505 dies.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by sony_fox

Sony are genuinely doing a worldwide?? release at the same date, (or even just a US/UK joint release) this is a good thing. Not that I'll be buying one till my 505 dies.

Would be nice (and surprising).

[goaspy]

What brightness is there to adjust? I understand contrast, maybe you can make the font thicker, but the display is reflective, I don't see how it can be too bright .

[igorsk]

Manual has this to say:
"A page that is hard to read, such as a scanned or color converted document, can be made more readable by adjusting the brightness and contrast."
Following options are available:
"[Saturated] Improves readability by emphasizing contrast.
[Details] Backlight compensation; brings up details in a dark area.
[Brighter] Increases the brightness.
[Darker] Decreases the brightness.
[Custom] Custom setting mode"

I guess this is mostly for badly scanned or color documents. It's also per-document, not global.

[goaspy]

Originally Posted by igorsk

I guess this is mostly for badly scanned or color documents.

This makes sense, thanks. Maybe someone will find it useful.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by igorsk

7) auto-sleep after 10 minutes

That used to be an hour. The new IR touchscreen must really suck down the juice.