Review of Sony Reader PRS-350

I'm thoroughly impressed with the engineering behind the new Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350, as you'll see in this video review. They managed to create a touch screen which does not cripple the readability of the E Ink screen, and it weighs only 5 3/8 ounces, compared with 7 5/8 ounces for the previous Sony Reader Pocket Edition, PRS-300. The Kindle 3 weighs 8 1/8 ounces. But as a competitor to the Kindle 3, the new Sony Pocket fails because of price ($40 more than the $139 Kindle WiFi only) and lack of a wireless connection.
One thing I forgot to mention in the video: turning the pages on the PRS-350 is effortless and very cool -- a slight flick of the finger accomplishes the page turn, because of the excellent new touch screen.
--Len Edgerly, host of The Reading Edge and Kindle Chronicles podcasts.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Sony
• Reader
• PRS-350
• Kindle

[gregr209]

Excellent review! My heart still belongs to the Kindle even though I use an iPad now but the new Sony Reader is sweet. Of course Sony had to ruin it by making you need to connect it to your computer. That is just plain dumb!

[LenEdgerly]

@gregr209 I did not do much typing on the virtual keyboard of the PRS-350, except for some searches. It seemed awkward compared with physical keypad of the Kindle, but that's probably because I'm so used to the latter. The notes feature on the Sony looks as if it would be usable, and you'd be able to find the notes in a list, which is not possible on the nook. One cool thing the Sony does is remember every word you look up in the dictionary, so you can see a list of them.

[unlokia]

PS: Noone trusts Sony, so that is another reason to steer well clear of them.

[unlokia]

What *is* it with these asian designers and their ghastly, tacky chrome EVERYWHERE? Yuck, no thanks. Kindle for me.

[Dar70]

Nice review Len. Have you ever tried the 650??

[Parmenides13]

Very nice review. Thank you very much! Greetings from Germany!

[julebuggy]

For PDFs, there is no comparison. The 350 is FAR better with the unique quadrant view. I read academic papers, and I can get a better read in quadrant view. Not to mention I can annotate easily for keeping notes. Won't touch the Kindle for this reason alone.

[ichoose2bhappy]

thanks for such a great review. It's seems hard to find a reader with everything you want but, knowing what's out there does help.

[edisonphono1]

There's one thing that doesn't get mentioned that frequently: the appearance of the text. In my opinion, the text on the Sony is more elegant, closer to the fonts you find in a real book. Sure, the Kindle's font is easier to read, but it looks childish to me, like playing around in Word and finding a "cute" font. Plus, the Sony's status bar is so simple. Just a black bar at the bottom with page xxx of xxx, and battery. Not as much clutter as on a Kindle.

[steveseeger]

Great video! Just ordered one for only $136 including shipping to Canada from Borders.com. I'd take a Porsche over a fully loaded Benz any day!

Your enunciation really reminded me of actor Will Forte of Saturday Night Live fame.

[ContainmentFailure]

Since English is not my native language I'll definitely go with the 350 as the dictionary feature will surely help a lot.

[SheriLive]

Being a daily PDA user for over 15 years, I would feel like a fish out of water with no stylus or touch screen, so I knew the kindle was low on my list. so now the problem was deciding between wired or wireless! After careful consideration and realizing that I have many connected devices, I went with the 350. my only wish is that though its the lesser of their 3 readers, it still should include audio capabilities for audio books.