Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

Sony have been very clear that they feel color eInk isn’t ready and that they’re going to stick to black and white eInk for the near and mid term.

They also seem very zen about the threat of the Kindle and the Nook. They’ve said -

1. Sony Reader Sales in December 2009 increased 4 times from a year ago. 
2. They were surprised that the Touch Edition sold more than the Pocket Edition (Well, they did severely handicap the Pocket Edition).

Let’s try to figure out what they might have in store for the next version of their flagship reader – the one to replace the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600.

Predicting Sony Reader Touch 606

What have Sony hinted at and what do Sony’s past Reader models hint at?

1. Sony are sticking with black and white until color eInk is truly ready. That means little chance of a color Sony 606.
2. Focus on a great reading device as opposed to a great service. It’s quite possible that Sony 606 will be the best reading device with the worst ebook prices and passable service.
3. Focus on making the device light and compact.
4. Expect another good-looking Sony Reader available in various colors.  
5. The introduction of the Sony Reader Daily Edition means Sony might finally add wireless downloads to their main line.
6. Touch keyboard instead of a physical one.
7. Focus on a touchscreen.
8. Sony 600 managed to do very well on freehand drawing so handwriting support in the Sony 606 would not be a surprise.
9. Good support for PDFs and excellent range of fonts.
10. A lot of openness – Sony is the only big eBook store that sells books readable on other Adobe Digital Editions capable devices.
11. Slightly awkward user interface.
12. Folders support – Sony calls them Collections.

Sony Reader 600 is arguably the best eReader let down by three flaws -

1. A lack of supporting services i.e. no wireless downloads, no wireless syncing across devices.
2. Glare and lower readability due to the touch layer.
3. High eBook Prices.

Look for Sony to work on the first two weaknesses.

What are Sony owners asking for?

This is rather difficult to figure out as Sony don’t have an official Sony forum (to the best of my knowledge). These responses are mostly culled from MobileRead -

1. Better book prices.  
2. Apps for Sony Reader. 
3. Hierarchical Folders. 
4. Wireless Downloads via 3G.
5. WiFi. 
6. Screen without glare.
7. A USB port.
8. Bookmarks for audiobooks and music.
9. The ability to delete books from the reader itself.
10. An easy way to see what the time and date are.
11. Full Justification for ePubs.
12. Analysis of Reading Stats (for use by the reader and not by Sony) i.e. time per chapter, time per page, words per minute.
13. Unicode Support.
14. Sony Reader to PC printing.
15. Better PDF support.
16. T9 predictive text input support.
17. User programmable buttons. That’s a really good suggestion.

By the way a pretty cool tip for the 600 is – When using the touchscreen to flip pages keep the stylus or your finger held down after the flick to flip through multiple pages.

You can also do this by pressing and holding down the physical page turn buttons.

My Personal Sony Reader Touch Edition Wishlist

There are some features that would help Sony deliver a really compelling eReader and Service -

1. Lower Price – around $225 to $235.
2. Wireless and WiFi.  
3. Unrestricted Browsing over WiFi. 
4. Cheaper eBook Prices.
5. Sony Reader Apps.
6. Fix for the screen glare issue.
7. Handwriting support.
8. Improved touchscreen keyboard.
9. Reprogrammable buttons.

The Sony Reader really is an excellent reader – it’s just the service and high ebook prices that are handcuffing it.

What will Sony 606 be like?

Features that are very likely in Sony 606

1. $270 price.
2. Full blown handwriting support. 
3. Much better way to add notes and highlights and switch between the two. 
4. A fix for the screen glare issue. 
5. Faster refresh speed for the eInk.
6. Wireless Downloads and 3G and WiFi.
7. Lighter and Thinner Design.
8. Better PDF Support.
9. Various incremental improvements – time checking, better freehand drawing app, better font support, better folders, and more language support.

Expect Sony 606 to figure out the screen glare issue and add wireless book downloads – making it an excellent eReader.

Features that would be a home run and a surprise

1. $235 price.
2. Sony Reader Apps. 
3. $9.99 eBook Prices.
4. Color – It’s highly unlikely though as the Sony Reader Head has said they’re in no hurry to add color.
5. Unfettered Browsing over WiFi.
6. Subscription Plans for Content.

Sony Readers are very good devices let down by the lack of wireless downloads (except the Daily Edition).

With the Sony Reader 606, Sony has the opportunity to create a truly excellent eReader – compact, light, with handwriting support and a touchscreen, pretty, fast, open, and with 60 second downloads and good ebook prices. Let’s hope Sony makes the most of the opportunity.

Filed under: sony reader Tagged: | sony reader 606