Portable Ebook Reader

The expanding popularity of portable e-book readers has e-gadget manufacturers climbing the walls to improve, innovate and expand operations, portability and user convenience. Amazon’s Kindle broke open the e-book reader market, although it wasn’t the first e-book reader on the scene. Barnes & Noble’s Nook is a terrific product as well, and its now-generation reader offers some tough choices for e-book fans that has Amazon concerned. Then bring in Sony products to further complicate matters. These top three e-book reader options can make an e-book reader’s head spin, so let’s compare them on size, capability and adaptability.

The information below reflects the common models within the same price range; it wouldn’t be fair to compare a “deluxe” model with a “basic” model. The approximate price range is roughly $115 to $160 and notes the Barnes and Noble Nook Touch Reader, Amazon’s Kindle 3 and Sony’s Reader Pocket Edition.

Size and Weight Comparison

BN’s Nook Touch Reader, hereafter called NTR for typing convenience, sports a 6-inch display and a 5 x 6.5-inch profile. Weighing in at 7.48 ounces, you barely know you’re holding or carrying it.

The Kindle 3 also offers a 6-inch display and a 4.8 x 7.5-inch profile; it’s a little longer than the Nook but not prohibitively so. The negligible weight difference with Nook, 8+ ounces versus 7.48 ounces, is noticed, but after the conscious notation, you barely notice it.

Sony’s Reader Pocket Edition boasts the smallest and lightest numbers of the three at 4.11 x 5.71 inches and 5.47 ounces. It also has the smallest display screen at 5 inches.

Capacity and Accessibility

The NTR can hold up to . Its battery can last up to two months on charge under minimum use capacity. In other words, you can’t get two months of use under full WiFi use or downloads—just reading. (Those general conditions restrict all battery use comparisons, however.)

The Kindle 3 can hold up to 3,500 e-books in its 4GB memory. The built-in, permanent battery can last up to a month on a single charge if WiFi is turned off. However, its WiFi capability draws a definite plus to this device.

Sony’s device can hold up to 1,200 e-books with a 2GB memory. It can also support word documents, Adobe PDFs, EPUB/ACS4 formats. The Pocket Edition is compatible with both Macs and PCs. Coming in a distant third in battery capacity, it provides only two weeks maximum average use prior to recharging. Sony’s product has no direct Internet access capability, so you must download from a PC or Mac into the device.

Distinct Advantages and Disadvantages

Sony’s device is great for short-term use and storage swaps, but its lack of direct connectivity is a drawback for many. It’s slimmer, lighter, more compact design is a plus over the others, however.

Nook’s longer battery life and expandable memory slot allows slight advantages over both the Kindle 3 and the Pocket Edition. Its multiple platform readability matches Kindle 3′s, and both Nook and Kindle stand above the Pocket Edition in direct Internet access.

Kindle 3′s biggest advantage is that the $114 price tag for the Kindle-With Special Offers edition. Completely identical to Kindle 3 in other ways, the Special Offers version provides a $25 discount for non-intrusive ads in the screen saver mode and on the main menu. Because there are no ads while reading, the ad-supported version is highly recommended.

However, the touch screen and button resign puts Barnes & Nobles’ Nook a half a notch above Kindle 3. Its longer battery life secures it in the number 1 slot—for now.

The author of this post is Holly Miller, who writes for Coupon Croc. In the market for the hottest gadgets? Save big when you shop online and use an Argos discount voucher.

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Carry your library with you anywhere with the Sony PRS-350

Get the lowest price on the Sony PRS-350 here!  And check out our review below!

The Sony PRS-350 is a great small sized e-reader that is highlighted by an exclusive and easy-to-use touch interface. It is a second edition reader also known as a Sony Pocket Reader as it can easily fit in your pocket. This 5-inch e-reader is the smallest & lightest ereader available on the market. Being 5.75”x 4.13”x 0.34” and 5 ½ ounces in weight it is surprisingly small, hence the name Sony Reader Pocket Edition. The Pearl display of the PRS-350 also gives amazing resolution.

Its aluminum front and back panel make it very visually impressive. Unlike Sony’s previous ereaders, the touchscreen of Sony PRS-350 does not present any glare problems so gives an exceptionally clear and dark text. You can even borrow eBooks from libraries with Adobe EPUB which also supports a large number of eBooks from various eBook stores. Wherever you go Sony Reader Pocket Edition brings your library with you. Its e-ink high contrast display makes it very easy to see in bright sunlight and does not affect your eyes. It also provides you with six font size choices for ease of use. The PRS-350 also includes a built-in dictionary for finding the definitions of any word.

Let’s have a look on the specifications of the Sony Pocket Reader PRS-350:

• Dimensions: 5.75”x 4.13”x 0.34”
• Built-in 2GB memory
• 5” monochrome e-ink display screen
• 4-bit image with 800×600 pixel display resolution
• Supports JPEG, PNG, BMP & GIF image file formats

And now some of the feature highlights of the Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350:

• Impressive Touchscreen – Unlike previous Sony models, the Sony PRS-350 has a new touchscreen with no additional layer over the top of the screen. NeoNode’s zForce infrared technology has made its touchscreen very responsive both with your finger and with the stylus.  Fingerprints are easily wiped off and are so much less noticeable.
• Hardware & Software – The Sony Pocket Reader has a 2GB built-in memory out of which 1.4GB is available for use. You can store around 1200 eBooks & documents. Its battery life is about 15 days or 10,000 pages per charge. Here are few on-screen features of the PRS-350:
• Favorite pages can be bookmarked.
• On-screen keyboard to add notes.
• Change font sizes within 6 given choices.
• View full page or split into 2 or 3 columns.
• Lock the page with a custom zoom dial.

• Added Text Styling – Out of the box The PRS-350 supports only one font, but you can add as many more as you want. Margin cut settings are also available in the case of some eBooks with white space.
• Formats & Languages – The Sony PRS-350 supports a wide variety of formats like Adobe DRM for EPUB & PDF. Thus you can even read eBooks from local libraries. RTF, TXT & Word files are also supported. Languages support includes English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

Here’s our quick pros & cons list for the Sony PRS-350.

Pros

• Lightest ebook reader on the market
• Easily fits into a pocket, highly portable
• Clear, high contrast touchscreen
• Supports EPUB

Cons

• Lacks WiFi & 3G
• No audio player

Verdict

The Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350 slips easily in your shirt or coat pocket, is as light as it gets and has a brand new glare-free incredibly responsive touchscreen. It’s perfect for anyone looking for a portable eBook reader with all the basic ereader functionality they need at a very competitive price.

Buy the Sony PRS-350 here!

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The Astak 5-inch Pocket PRO eBook reader is an inexpensive and compact device produced by a leading provider of customer electronics, Astak Inc. The Astak 5-inch Pocket PRO is set to work with Adobe Digital edition and bring customers a new way to turn their digital pages. The device is very compact sporting 5-inch screen and weighting 6 ounces.

It is a sharp 8-level grayscale E-ink screen with 600 x 800 pixel resolution. On the bottom of the device there is a 3.5mm headset jack and along the top there is the power button, miniUSB port, and SecureDigital card slot. For high speed page turns, Astak Pocket PRO comes with a 400 MHz processor and an internal Epson controller. Along with these, the integrated handy Scrollwheel makes page-turning even smoother.

The device is capable of supporting more than 20 DRM-free formats, including ADE (Adobe Digital Edition), PDF, TXT, PDB, DOC, HTML, FB2, LIT, MP3, EPUB, PRC, WOL, CHM, PPT, TIF, PNG, GIF, RAR, ZIP, DJVU, JPG, and BMP. As collaborating with Adobe Digital Editions, the gadget is powered with Adobe firmware allowing users to read DRM-protected PDF files in addition to public domain titles and copy-protected PDFs.

The manufacturer seems was very serious about users’ reading experience, as it comes packed with PDF reflow and text-to-speech functions. The first feature will make your documents more legible while the second will read them aloud.  With Astak’s 5-inch PRO eBook reader on your hands you won’t ever suffer from eyestrain after hours of reading. While reading to enhance your reading experince the EZ Reader Pocket PRO can also play mp3 music.

The device comes with 512MB of internal storage space, while an SDHC card reader will add up to 16GB of capacity. The EZ pro’s removable 1000 mAh Li-Polymer battery will  deliver up to 8,000 page turns on one full charge. The Astak 5″ EZ Reader Pocket PRO is available in six different colors, including Alpine White, Onyx Black, Slate Blue, Classic Maroon, Powder Pink, and Metallic Purple. The device is now available for preorders and will cost as low as $199 putting it at the small end of eReader continuum.

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Join Technology Limited is Hong Kong based Multinational Development and Manufacturing Company. It products range consist of mini laptops, e-books and mini projectors. Join Tech got famous after releasing world’s cheapest mini laptop J-Pro JL7100 in 2008.

The new JoinTech JE200 e-book reader by the company is the latest addition to Join Tech family and the successor of the JE100 with more features and better performance. Join Tech JE200 is an elegant and slim device with innovative design and exclusive look. The e-reader features 7 inch color TFT LCD with a touch screen.  The slim product is designed with maximum LCD front coverage and no navigation buttons to feel a realistic book.

The color JE 200 e-reader runs on WinCE 5.0 operating System, providing the readers a very fast and more natural reading experience. Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft including variety of features and aspects of Windows CE development. Running on JoinTech400 MHz JTOS Processor the Join Tech JE 200 e-book reader offers fast operating and browsing speeds. The Li-ion 3.7V (1500mA) comes with e-book reader which is compatible with Nokia BP-4L battery for E90/E71 and can deliver 3 to 6 hours. The product allows easy software up-gradation and third-party e-reading software addition making it an ultimate, powerful yet user-friendly color e-reading device.

With JE200 on your hands you are able to download from the internet many software or applications targeting the WinCE OS. Don’t worry about the slider’s memory: the JE 200 is powered by OS storage 128MB which can be supported by SD card support up to 16GB (SDHC).

Just like the JE100 the JE200 comes with a 2 GB MicroSD card.

The JE200 can be ordered from Sales4Online for $299 USD.

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With the growing e-readers’ production these handheld reading devices are making a huge impression on their expanding category in the electronic gadget world. As everyone notices the iPad launch getting ever closer, other manufacturers are starting to show their part in the digital readers market.

The Asus electronic manufacturer has its big piece of the pie in the electronic gadget world too. Recently, one of the talked about e-book reader at the CES is the DR-900 produced by Asus. This device is perfect to maximize the reading experience, expand the reach of the reader, and attract them with its features and specs. As the company announced, the DR-900 is the first 9-inch e-book reader by Asus. The Asus DR 900 is a stylish and affordable e-book reader based on the Linux operating system.

The Asus DR 900 is quite light in the hand, it weighs just 370 grams and has dimensions of 222mm x 161mm x 9mm. Text is clear  and very natural looked on SiPix 9-inch e-paper touchscreen display. Featuring 1024 x 768 resolution this e-ink display takes about a second or two to refresh the read document. Asus DR-900 is expected to support various file formats including MP3, ePUB, PDF, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG and TXT formats. There is also auto-rotate function that allows you to choose exactly how you’d like to orient your device.

Speaking about the apps, the Asus DR-900 comes with pre-loaded range of applications including a web browser, handwriting recognition, onscreen keyboard as well as music player application, study tool along with the eBook application. There’s also talk of text-to-speech and RSS apps on the board. The Asus Digital Reader is equipped with 4GB internal memory, which is perfect for holding books. User is able also to add more memory thanks to the SD card slot.

For connectivity the Asus 900 e-reader includes optional wireless 802.11g connectivity and 3G. The 900’s browser is well developed that will allow  users to enjoy high speed performance and RSS feature. When producing the DR-900, the company was also serious about the battery life. It is very attractive, and can deliver 2 weeks without Wi-Fi and 4 days with Wi-Fi. This electronic gadget is thought to be launched this spring, but the pricing of the device isn’t available yet.

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