Amazon Kindle 2 Vs Sony Reader PRS-700
Troy Richards asked:
It is now undisputed that e-book readers will one day replace paperback books. This revolution is spearheaded by Amazon’s Kindle a couple of years ago. The Kindle was the best-selling digital book reader since its launch and shows no sighs of waning in its popularity. Early this year, Amazon released the highly anticipated follow up to the highly successful Kindle, the Kindle 2. The new model not only features many improvements in function and design, but also a whole new host of applications.
To date, no digital book readers in the market come close to rival the popularity of the Amazon Kindle. But if you have to pick the best alternative to the Kindle 2, it will have to be the new Sony PRS-700 e-book reader. Since the launch of Kindle, Sony has worked very hard to grab a market share with the launch of the Sony PRS e-book reader series. Here is a quick look at how well these two popular models fare against each other.
Pricing: The price of a product is always one of the biggest factors in influencing a decision to purchase something. At the time of writing, the Kindle 2 costs $359 while the Sony PRS 700 cost $399. Although not a great price difference, the $40 gives Amazon’s model a slight edge over Sony’s model.
Features:The new model from Amazon feature tones of new features. One of my favorite new features is the dictionary function. Just glide the cursor over a particular word and the meaning automatically shows up in a pop-up box. There is no dictionary function in the Sony PRS model. Nevertheless, Sony’s reader does have some features not found on the Kindle 2. For example, it has LED backlighting that allows you to read in the dark. In totality, although the Sony reader does have some unique features, Amazon’s model has much more functions that are not found on any other digital book reader (e.g. free wireless capabilities through Whispernet, Wikipedia access etc).
Battery Life: Both these models have similar battery life spans. On a single charge, both models can last up to two weeks (with the wireless function off).
Storage: The Kindle 2 has 2 gigabytes of built in memory, while the PRS 700 only has 256 megabytes. Nevertheless, the Sony model supports memory cards and can handle up to 16g of memory.
Design: The Kindle 2 has a white casing with soft, rounded corners. The Sony PRS on the other hand, sports a black casing with hard and squared edges. Amazon’s reader has a little keyboard below the screen and a 5-way controller for easy navigation. Sony’s reader large depends on its touch screen to access the various functions. I personally prefer Amazon’s design. It has a sleek ‘cool factor’ to it and the strategically placed buttons adds to the convenience of use. It seems that the designers at Amazon gave the design a lot of thought compared to Sony’s designers.
It is now undisputed that e-book readers will one day replace paperback books. This revolution is spearheaded by Amazon’s Kindle a couple of years ago. The Kindle was the best-selling digital book reader since its launch and shows no sighs of waning in its popularity. Early this year, Amazon released the highly anticipated follow up to the highly successful Kindle, the Kindle 2. The new model not only features many improvements in function and design, but also a whole new host of applications.
To date, no digital book readers in the market come close to rival the popularity of the Amazon Kindle. But if you have to pick the best alternative to the Kindle 2, it will have to be the new Sony PRS-700 e-book reader. Since the launch of Kindle, Sony has worked very hard to grab a market share with the launch of the Sony PRS e-book reader series. Here is a quick look at how well these two popular models fare against each other.
Pricing: The price of a product is always one of the biggest factors in influencing a decision to purchase something. At the time of writing, the Kindle 2 costs $359 while the Sony PRS 700 cost $399. Although not a great price difference, the $40 gives Amazon’s model a slight edge over Sony’s model.
Features:The new model from Amazon feature tones of new features. One of my favorite new features is the dictionary function. Just glide the cursor over a particular word and the meaning automatically shows up in a pop-up box. There is no dictionary function in the Sony PRS model. Nevertheless, Sony’s reader does have some features not found on the Kindle 2. For example, it has LED backlighting that allows you to read in the dark. In totality, although the Sony reader does have some unique features, Amazon’s model has much more functions that are not found on any other digital book reader (e.g. free wireless capabilities through Whispernet, Wikipedia access etc).
Battery Life: Both these models have similar battery life spans. On a single charge, both models can last up to two weeks (with the wireless function off).
Storage: The Kindle 2 has 2 gigabytes of built in memory, while the PRS 700 only has 256 megabytes. Nevertheless, the Sony model supports memory cards and can handle up to 16g of memory.
Design: The Kindle 2 has a white casing with soft, rounded corners. The Sony PRS on the other hand, sports a black casing with hard and squared edges. Amazon’s reader has a little keyboard below the screen and a 5-way controller for easy navigation. Sony’s reader large depends on its touch screen to access the various functions. I personally prefer Amazon’s design. It has a sleek ‘cool factor’ to it and the strategically placed buttons adds to the convenience of use. It seems that the designers at Amazon gave the design a lot of thought compared to Sony’s designers.
The Kindle Perfected – Kindle 2 Ebook Reader
Billy Jean asked:
First, Amazon pioneered online bookstores so people can purchase books without visiting the bookstores. Then, they redefined reading by enabling people to read books without the books through the Kindle ebook reader. And if those privileged with the initial Kindle are still gaga over it, wait till they catch sight of the Kindle 2. In a nutshell, the Kindle 2 is the original Kindle with a big step further into the future of reading.
As with most things modern, reading is inevitably trending towards being e-based. It starts with the shopping, ordering and then receiving (downloading) of the books. All this is accomplished in one go online in a matter of minutes. Even the reading proper is hi-tech. It is reading made easy by technology and if it could ‘change Oprah’s life’, it will change yours too.
There are quite a few brands of electronic book readers in the market but only a handful of them are generally considered to be up to mark. The two heavyweights are the Amazon Kindle and Sony PRS and they split bragging rights over various factors albeit not exactly in neck and neck fashion. If independent review sites are anything to go by, the Kindle has an emphatic overall edge and is powering away with its second edition – Kindle 2.
If you’re in the market for an e-book reader, you must act fast especially if it’s a Kindle 2 you’re after. Quoted delivery lead-time averaged 10 weeks during the holiday season although you can also buy Kindle 2 ex-stock on eBay but that would likely involve a price premium. People are packing away their hard copy books and they are going digital with their reading. That seems to be both fashion and function these days.
Analysts estimate that the original Kindle sold in excess of half a million units. Going by the current rate, the Kindle 2 is poised to sell lots more. That means it’s not only good for readers, it’s great for the environment. Electronic book readers can substitute the need for books so the Kindle 2 can save quite a few trees from being turned into paper for them. Yes, the Kindle 2 is green.
Most of all, e-books make economic sense too. They averagely cost half that of their hard-paper counterpart. On top of it, e-readers save on the conventional travel and logistic costs as the whole process of shopping, purchasing and receiving can all be done online free-of-charge through Amazon wireless Whispernet network anywhere in the US. Readers can also sample the beginning of titles free of charge before deciding to place order.
First, Amazon pioneered online bookstores so people can purchase books without visiting the bookstores. Then, they redefined reading by enabling people to read books without the books through the Kindle ebook reader. And if those privileged with the initial Kindle are still gaga over it, wait till they catch sight of the Kindle 2. In a nutshell, the Kindle 2 is the original Kindle with a big step further into the future of reading.
As with most things modern, reading is inevitably trending towards being e-based. It starts with the shopping, ordering and then receiving (downloading) of the books. All this is accomplished in one go online in a matter of minutes. Even the reading proper is hi-tech. It is reading made easy by technology and if it could ‘change Oprah’s life’, it will change yours too.
There are quite a few brands of electronic book readers in the market but only a handful of them are generally considered to be up to mark. The two heavyweights are the Amazon Kindle and Sony PRS and they split bragging rights over various factors albeit not exactly in neck and neck fashion. If independent review sites are anything to go by, the Kindle has an emphatic overall edge and is powering away with its second edition – Kindle 2.
If you’re in the market for an e-book reader, you must act fast especially if it’s a Kindle 2 you’re after. Quoted delivery lead-time averaged 10 weeks during the holiday season although you can also buy Kindle 2 ex-stock on eBay but that would likely involve a price premium. People are packing away their hard copy books and they are going digital with their reading. That seems to be both fashion and function these days.
Analysts estimate that the original Kindle sold in excess of half a million units. Going by the current rate, the Kindle 2 is poised to sell lots more. That means it’s not only good for readers, it’s great for the environment. Electronic book readers can substitute the need for books so the Kindle 2 can save quite a few trees from being turned into paper for them. Yes, the Kindle 2 is green.
Most of all, e-books make economic sense too. They averagely cost half that of their hard-paper counterpart. On top of it, e-readers save on the conventional travel and logistic costs as the whole process of shopping, purchasing and receiving can all be done online free-of-charge through Amazon wireless Whispernet network anywhere in the US. Readers can also sample the beginning of titles free of charge before deciding to place order.
How to Use Your Kindle?
James Kara Murat asked:
The amazing new e-book reader launched by Amazon, called Kindle is the talk of the town these days. About as small as a paperback book, this device is capable of reading all types of files right from Word docs to HTML to text files as well as .MOBI. Here are a couple of things you need to be aware of while using the Kindle.
Word doc transfers frugally
If you wish to transfer a Word document using Kindle you will need to shell out 10 cents for every file sent. So for all of you who are frugal minded there is a free alternative indeed. For obtaining free transfers of files you just need to send the attachment to ‘name’@free.kindle.com where name stands for the ID used for your Kindle email address. So if the Kindle email ID is joanna@kindle.com then attachments need to be sent to joanna@free.kindle.com and then the file gets converted and emailed to the associated Amazon account. Then simply transfer the file to Kindle via a USB port.
Be in touch with the news
If you’re a busy traveler who needs to be in sync with what’s happening in the world, you can do so easily with the Kindle. It allows you to read through diverse newspapers and magazines via access through the EVDO internet connectivity. You can easily transfer these files onto your laptop for easy reading later! So if you are stuck at an airport or are on a plane you can always be in touch with the news no matter where you are. No need to print because you can directly read the news on Kindle itself!
Search ability
Kindle’s Now. Now is a brand new search functionality which enables you to hunt for virtually anything you wish for. Using a query string you can now search for any topic you want. The search functionality provided by Kindle Now is powered by Mechanical Turn from Amazon which is a distributed work system.
Formatting convenience
Most standard pages follow the 8.5×11 inch dimension format. Transferring them into the reader like Sony’s will mean that you need to format them yourself which can be very tedious and time consuming. Instead, Kindle can do the formatting for you perfectly for a small charge. You just need to send the file to Kindle and Amazon will convert and email the file back to you. Instead of doing the formatting all by yourself this seems like a great utility.
More fonts and faster page access
Now you can avail 6 new font types instead of the regular 3 fonts found in the Sony Reader. The new Kindle has 6 font types which make reading a pleasure. Besides this you can also turn through pages much faster and even their scrolling keys are a great feature.
Easy on your eyes and lightweight
On a sunny day you don’t need to worry about the glare hurting your eyes while reading the Kindle. It has the unique e-ink technology which uses reflected light as compared to transmitted light. Also it has an electronic paper display which is easy on your eyes no matter what the weather is. Besides this it weighs just 10.3 ounces and so is completely lightweight and easy to carry.
Free wireless access provided
Considering that you get EVDO connectivity free of cost, the charge to convert files is a small price to pay. Besides this compared to the host of features Kindle provides the market price of 400 dollars isn’t all that much.
The amazing new e-book reader launched by Amazon, called Kindle is the talk of the town these days. About as small as a paperback book, this device is capable of reading all types of files right from Word docs to HTML to text files as well as .MOBI. Here are a couple of things you need to be aware of while using the Kindle.
Word doc transfers frugally
If you wish to transfer a Word document using Kindle you will need to shell out 10 cents for every file sent. So for all of you who are frugal minded there is a free alternative indeed. For obtaining free transfers of files you just need to send the attachment to ‘name’@free.kindle.com where name stands for the ID used for your Kindle email address. So if the Kindle email ID is joanna@kindle.com then attachments need to be sent to joanna@free.kindle.com and then the file gets converted and emailed to the associated Amazon account. Then simply transfer the file to Kindle via a USB port.
Be in touch with the news
If you’re a busy traveler who needs to be in sync with what’s happening in the world, you can do so easily with the Kindle. It allows you to read through diverse newspapers and magazines via access through the EVDO internet connectivity. You can easily transfer these files onto your laptop for easy reading later! So if you are stuck at an airport or are on a plane you can always be in touch with the news no matter where you are. No need to print because you can directly read the news on Kindle itself!
Search ability
Kindle’s Now. Now is a brand new search functionality which enables you to hunt for virtually anything you wish for. Using a query string you can now search for any topic you want. The search functionality provided by Kindle Now is powered by Mechanical Turn from Amazon which is a distributed work system.
Formatting convenience
Most standard pages follow the 8.5×11 inch dimension format. Transferring them into the reader like Sony’s will mean that you need to format them yourself which can be very tedious and time consuming. Instead, Kindle can do the formatting for you perfectly for a small charge. You just need to send the file to Kindle and Amazon will convert and email the file back to you. Instead of doing the formatting all by yourself this seems like a great utility.
More fonts and faster page access
Now you can avail 6 new font types instead of the regular 3 fonts found in the Sony Reader. The new Kindle has 6 font types which make reading a pleasure. Besides this you can also turn through pages much faster and even their scrolling keys are a great feature.
Easy on your eyes and lightweight
On a sunny day you don’t need to worry about the glare hurting your eyes while reading the Kindle. It has the unique e-ink technology which uses reflected light as compared to transmitted light. Also it has an electronic paper display which is easy on your eyes no matter what the weather is. Besides this it weighs just 10.3 ounces and so is completely lightweight and easy to carry.
Free wireless access provided
Considering that you get EVDO connectivity free of cost, the charge to convert files is a small price to pay. Besides this compared to the host of features Kindle provides the market price of 400 dollars isn’t all that much.
What are people saying?