E-book readers are gaining steady ground in terms of popularity among avid book readers. This implies a lot of things, including the imminent possibility that these devices will be the book of the future. One of these devices is the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-700.
Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-700 is the 3rd-generation ebook reader from Sony. Unlike the previous PRS-505, this version is touch screen, which is one of the nicest, most intuitive features that it contains. This feature alone definitely puts the PRS-700 above previous Sony ebook readers and other ebook readers in the market.
FEATURES
This ebook reader is about the same size as a regular paperback novel; a novel is a little bit taller but the PRS-700 is a little bit wider. It is 0.38 inches thick, and even with the leather binder, a 300 page novel would still be thicker than this device. The edges of a leather binder are magnetic; the cover snaps in place. The stylus, which you can use is also magnetic, and it sticks to the device for easy keeping. The PRS-700 has a very elegant and clean design. Since it is touch screen, the need for several buttons such as an extra keyboard is eliminated. The leather binder also makes the device even more sexier. External buttons and outlets include a power outlet, an outlet for earphones, a volume switch, memory stick and sd card dual slots for extended memory, and the on and off button.
Touch-screen
The touch-screen capability allows you to highlight a favorite text from the book very easily, much easier than using Kindle. You simply use the stylus or your finger and drag it across the line and it is automatically highlighted. Another feature which is made easier with the touch screen is dictionary access. Just double tap on a word, and a definition appears. By double tapping a word or highlighted phrase, then selecting search at the bottom, you can find other occurrences of that word or phrase in the entire book.
Page navigation
Page navigation is also made very easy with touch screen. Simply tap on the screen and slide your finger to the right or left depending on whether you want to move to the next or previous page respectively. To scan across several pages quickly, simply tap on the screen, drag your finger, and hold it in place, and the pages will fly until you reach the desired page. While you scan through the pages, you can take down notes by clicking on the screen, and a touch keyboard and empty slate appears. This eliminates the need of a physical keyboard which is present at the bottom of a Kindle. If you want to bookmark a page, just double tap on the top edge of the page, and a small bookmark figure appears. If you want to remove the bookmark, simply double tap on it again.
Side lighting and other features
Aside from the touch-screen interface, another new feature is the side lighting. This allows users to read in dark places. It comes with 3 different levels of brightness, and the first level alone is sufficient enough to see the content of a book in darkness. Other features include being able to store music. You can’t listen to the music through speakers. You need earphones or an external speaker to do so. Other than that, this feature is very good for an ebook reader, and is a good way to listen to background music while reading. The PRS-700 also allows you to organize your books in collections, and it allows you to zoom in at pdf files very well.
DRAWBACKS
On the other hand, there are several downsides to this ebook reader. Unlike the Kindle or previous Sony ebook readers, this one has less contrast and is harder to read. The extra glass screen necessary to allow side-lighting and another touch screen is responsible for this reduced contrast. These extra layers on top of the e-ink technology screen also causes glare when hit by a direct source of light. To remove this glare, you simply need to tilt the device, so that’s not much of a problem.
Another small concern is its connectivity. Kindle allows users to download books anytime and anywhere, whereas Sony uses manual transfer of books or other content such as pdf files, mp3 files or other files. You can purchase the books through the ebook library software which contains 100,000 books and counting, but its only available in PC. It doesn’t support Mac.
Conclusion
In conclusion, its definitely a great ebook reader. Its touch-screen interface makes reading more intuitive. Side-light is also a cool feature, but it increases glare and reduces text contrast. This ebook reader is quite pricey, but if you are an avid reader, the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-700 is definitely worth the price.
