The Sony Reader Daily Edition arrives December 18th, 2009 and we have a new comparison – Kindle DX Vs Sony Reader Daily Edition.
The $399 priced, 7″ screen Daily Edition is a good competitor for the $489 priced, 9.7″ screen Kindle DX.
Check out the PDF user guide – Sony Reader Daily Edition Guide (via MobileRead).
Kindle DX Vs Sony Reader Daily Edition – Does Daily Edition have a chance?
You have to think that the highs and lows of the Nook would have scared people away from new eReaders and they’re just going to go with the Kindle DX – the safe choice.
However, a little bit of digging reveals some interesting Daily Edition Features -
Things that give Sony Reader Daily Edition a chance
- Finally a Sony with 3G wireless access.
- Library Finder which lets fiscally responsible people save money.
- The option to read 2 pages at a time - It might not work on a 7″ screen.
- Remove margins, zoom, and change fonts (including changing fonts in PDFs, though formatting is usually lost).
- Handwritten notes. Add a handwritten comment to bookmarks and highlights.
- Create drawings.
- Create text memos.
- SD Card slot and Memory Stick PRO Duo slot.
- Replaceable Battery.
- Nifty new touch gestures – Drag and hold to do repeated page turns, double tap and drag to select multiple words.
It’s quite a good complement of features. Also, the user guide is very well done with an extensive troubleshooting section.
Things that hamper the Sony Reader Daily Edition’s chances
- The Price – $399 is too high for a 7″ eReader.
- The 7″ screen also becomes an issue for people looking for a bigger size i.e. the 9.7″ of the Kindle DX is far more appealing.
- Lack of Buzz – People haven’t even noticed the Daily Edition thanks to Kindle Vs Nook.
- [To Be Decided] Will the Daily Edition suffer from the same touchscreen glare problem the 600 suffers from?
- The usability is improved – However, it’s not improved enough (that’s what it seems like from the user guide).
- Sony eBook Store prices are still high – They have a 50% off sale at the moment and eBooks are $9.99 on sale.
- The page turn buttons are only at the bottom - as opposed to on the sides which works much better.
There are always choices and Sony might have made the wrong choice by going with the 7″ screen.
Kindle DX Vs Sony Reader Daily Edition
You have a few options since there’s a refurbished kindle dx (availability varies) -
- $349 Refurbished Kindle DX, US Version.
- $399 Sony Daily Edition.
- $399 Refurbished Kindle DX.
- $489 Kindle DX.
We’ll compare the Kindle DX and the Sony. For the Refurbished Kindle DX just reduce the price and factor in the ‘refurbished’ part.
Kindle DX Vs Sony Reader Daily Edition - Kindle DX advantages
- A much larger screen at 9.7″.
- Better prices on eBooks thanks to Kindle Store.
- Free Internet.
- Free Wikipedia.
- Better usability.
- Read To Me text to speech feature.
If Sony haven’t fixed scene glare then the Kindle DX will have much better readability too.
Kindle DX Vs Sony Reader Daily Edition – Sony Advantages
The Daily Edition has some advantages of its own -
- $90 cheaper than new Kindle DX (same price as refurbished Kindle DX).
- Library Finder to get Library eBooks.
- ePub support.
- Better PDF support.
- Touchscreen and drawing.
- Memory Card Slots.
- Replaceable Battery.
It’s very close – perhaps even a tie.
- The larger screen of the Kindle DX, the Free Internet, the lower priced eBooks and the Read To Me feature will appeal to some people.
- The lower price of the Daily Edition, the ability to read Library eBooks, ePub support, and the touch screen will appeal to a different set of people.
Perhaps the Sony Reader Daily Edition will push Amazon to improve the Kindle DX much as the Nook motivated them to improve the Kindle 2. That would be cool.
Filed under: kindle dx Tagged: | kindle dx vs sony reader daily edition, kindle vs sony
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Good review. I do like the sony daily edition for a few reasons in addition to those mentioned:
First, while the 7 inch screen may seem small, thke 9+ inch screen is way big, and combined with kindle’s real keyboard, the machine is very unportable. Actually, the sony screen is a great size for regular reading because it is about the size of a trade paperback.
And for those reading pdfs, the sony is decent because when one views them in landscape mode, the screen’s width is just the right size (of course, each page is broken into three sony pages, but that doesn’t bother me at all.
While the DX can support pdfs, it can’t do much with them. One cannot, for instance, annotate in their pdfs on the DX. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but one cannot adjust the font size either. Both of these things – in addition to zooming – can be done on the sony.
Lastly, as a PhD student, I actually use my kindle to take some notes on. Via the digital keyboard, one can take brief notes, and via the drawing screen, one can write down things that one doesn’t wish to waste paper on.
I like the Kindle though the DX is too big for me. The nice thing about the readers is having a nice size that is easy to carry. Any reader without the E ink technology will be hard on your eyes, so no Ipad, or laptop is an option.
I like the Sony over over the Kindle for several reasons.
1. Wifi on the Sony Daily Edition that the Kindle does not have.
2. Being able to obtain infor from your library on the Sony.
3. It looks better and comes with a nice soft case.
4. Google books web site looks easy to work on if you wnat to download books to your Sony reader.
5. Without having a keyboard at the bottom, you have more screen area to read the book.
Jason – 1. 2. and 3. are valid.
However Kindle DX has a 9.7″ screen compared to the Daily Edition’s 7″ – pros and cons.
Some people do prefer a keyboard to a touchscreen.
Don’t know about the Google Books website.