Comparison photos of new Sony 350 and Kindle 3

[901hw]

no problem thank you anyway. This thing with the zoom and article mode is perfect for me. I think its settled I am sending my kindle back and getting the 650!!
Also because I have now several times tried to highlight something in a pdf on the kindle and everytime it froze so completely I needed a hard reset which was really silly. I dont really need wifi as I anyway already have enough books to read, several thousand still to go! Also the wikipedia and webbrowser is cool but I anway always have my phone with me for that and would rather have the better reader. The price actually, at least here isn't even much different for students between kindle 3g and sony 650.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by 901hw

no problem thank you anyway. This thing with the zoom and article mode is perfect for me. I think its settled I am sending my kindle back and getting the 650!!
Also because I have now several times tried to highlight something in a pdf on the kindle and everytime it froze so completely I needed a hard reset which was really silly. I dont really need wifi as I anyway already have enough books to read, several thousand still to go! Also the wikipedia and webbrowser is cool but I anway always have my phone with me for that and would rather have the better reader. The price actually, at least here isn't even much different for students between kindle 3g and sony 650.

Before you send the Kindle back, you may want to consider some of it's virtues. It's much better at note-taking and copying text than a Sony, and the Keyboard is right there below the screen -- you don't have to cycle through menus to call it up. True, you can make hand-written notes on the Sony, but the the Sonys have an annoying habit of truncating the typewritten text you copy when you go to upload it to a computer, and the Reader computer software can be a pain to deal with. Because of this, I use my Kindles for everything except PDF documents. I suggest you keep the Kindle and buy a Sony for it's better handling of Adobe documents.

[Boston]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It doesn't have a fixed number of zoom options - at least on the PRS-600 it's just a slider on the screen that you can set to whatever value you want.

Its problem is that it "resets" every time you turn the page; you can't set a particular zoom value and then have that "stick" throughout the book.

I tried the "zoom" function on the PRS-350 while at the store to see if it addressed my desire for a font size in between what was offered.

It is a slider and the good news is that you can lock it.

I am not sure what you mean by not needing "reflow". The zoom just enlarges the display..but in doing so, it cuts off the the text on the sides. So Zoom mode is not suitable for reading, in my opinion.

[HarryT]

I think you misunderstood me - I certainly didn't say that you don't need reflow. On the contrary, reflow is essential. "Zoom and pan" is a tortuously painful way to read a book.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think you misunderstood me - I certainly didn't say that you don't need reflow. On the contrary, reflow is essential. "Zoom and pan" is a tortuously painful way to read a book.

Agreed. Someone needs to tell Amazon!

[901hw]

I have lots of pdf books which simply have very large margins which makes reading them with zoom no problem so wouldnt need reflow for that but it would certainly add a lot to the enjoyment. As I only make notes in pdfs I still couldnt use the Kindle, anyway I unfortunately cannot afford both although it would be nice to have. For real notes I always carry a little notebook and a nice fountain pen with as I still enjoy writing without a computer a lot!
I know it still is a very close tie between kindle and sony but at least for me and for now the sony is winning.
But what do you mean with copying text? Do you mean highlights or ??

[Robert22]

Originally Posted by 901hw

I have lots of pdf books which simply have very large margins which makes reading them with zoom no problem so wouldnt need reflow for that but it would certainly add a lot to the enjoyment.

When I was in the store looking at the new Sony's there was a feature to remove the margins, so this may work for you without having to zoom. I did not try this myself since there were no books on the unit that needed it.
HTH.

[sbtx99]

For most of the PDF's I've purchased, the PDf reflow on the Sony readers has been pretty sad, resulting in ugly text. Line breaks where there shouldn't be line breaks, no paragraph breaks where there should be paragraph breaks, and pages mid-chapter with only a couple lines of text on them. Lots of times it will take an entire page of dialogue and reflow it into one long paragraph, making the dialogue difficult to follow. I've even come across some ebooks where the reflow has rearranged entire paragraphs (displays part of paragraph 1, followed by paragraphs 2 and 3, followed by the rest of paragraph 1). I don't think there's much they could do to improve the reflow on those ebooks, so I usually just read PDFs in landscape mode on the 6" reader without the reflow.

In that respect, the 6" Sony and 6" Kindles would probably end in a tie for me. As long as I can read PDFs in landscape mode without having to resort to reflow, I'm happy. The PRS-350, though, would probably lose the battle with the Kindle 3 based on my reading habits. Even in landscape mode the fonts would still be too small for me to read on the 350. At least that has been the case with my current PRS-300.

[Rebo]

Thanks for the pictures. The new Sony is so cute and small. Touch screen is definitely a plus since it saves valuable real estate. I love the WiFi/3G ability of the nook but I can always use another ereader that I can carry in the small purse everyday. I went to the Sony store during the weekend hoping to check out the new models but they have only the old models

[GlenBarrington]

I personally don't think the PRS350 is over priced. It sounds like, for roughtly $180, you get a rugged, SMALL, and very legible eReader.

And from that perspective, it would seem that the 350 beats the K3, hands down. I think for a comparison to be valid, you need to add the last generation ereaders (now selling for around $100) to the mix. Doing that, and the 350 looks reasonably priced compared to the opposition.

That way, you get your choice, lots of features versus an elegant and very usable design versus low cost with lower legibility.

Personally, I think the 350 will do very well with people who have been trying to read on a smart phone or PDA (And there's a lot of them out there, still). Many if not most of them will value a small size with enhanced legibility over everything else. It looks to me as if Sony did their homework on this device.

[simplyparticular]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Personally, I think the 350 will do very well with people who have been trying to read on a smart phone or PDA (And there's a lot of them out there, still). Many if not most of them will value a small size with enhanced legibility over everything else. It looks to me as if Sony did their homework on this device.

I agree, and this is why I loved the PRS-300, except its limited memory. I kept the Opus for its organization and pocketability, but it certainly isn't as rugged as I need with a purse and two kids under 5

[ManosHandsOfFate]

Thanks for the great pictures. I own a K3 so this really helped me get a good sense of the size of the 350. My main concern right now is that it might actually be too small to hold comfortably.

[viviena]

For what it's worth, I find it very comfortable to use. It's very, very light, and I can both hold it and turn pages with the one hand, so for me the 350's provided a very pleasurable reading experience. I have small hands though, and I'm not sure if those with larger hands would find it as comfortable to use.

[astrodad]

Originally Posted by charleski

<sigh>


Frankly, I don't get the point of wireless anyway. It's good if you don't want to have to cope with syncing with a computer and it's good if you're often away on the road for stretches of time.

Haha, didn't you just provide two "points" for using wireless?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by charleski

<sigh>Frankly, I don't get the point of wireless anyway. It's good if you don't want to have to cope with syncing with a computer and it's good if you're often away on the road for stretches of time. But I don't feel the need for instant personal gratification when it comes to buying new books.

I find wireless to be invaluable sometimes. Many times I'm reading something and come across an unfamiliar term and want a fuller definition than what's in the dictionary or historical person whose name doesn't ring a bell with me and I'm nowhere near an available computer. That's when it's really nice to be able to do a Wikipedia search. It's also nice to be able to re-download books from the archive when searching for a particular passage or quote. Wireless rocks!