Sony Expands E-book Reader Range

Sony, one of the world's leading electronics manufacturer, has announced the launch of yet another electronic book reader in November, this year.

“Readers now have another choice in digital books”, said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reading Business Division.

Having started with PRS-505 as its first e-book reader, the company is now ready to expand its range by introducing PRS-700 in the US market. Though quite similar to PRS 505, some interesting and distinguishing features have been added to this new model.

Haber said, “This new model has the eye-popping design and intuitive functionality that people have come to expect from Sony.”

With the same 6-inch sized display screen as in PRS-505, the PRS-700 comes with an additional touch panel that makes it extremely user-friendly. This touch panel enables readers to browse through the entire e-book by turning pages on-screen. The readers can add notes and annotations by entering text with the help of a stylus on a virtual QWERTY keyboard. This also allows them to search for specific phrases in the content.

Coming to its storage capacity, the PRS-700 can store about 350 e-books in its internal memory. A memory stick can also be used for storage. Once fully charged, it allows the readers to read up to 7,500 pages at a stretch. This product is compatible with a wide range of formats that include Microsoft Word documents, Adobe PDF, the International Digital Publishing Forum's XML-based EPUB format and Sony's BBeB (Broadband electronic book).

Along with features like high-resolution, high contrast electronic paper display technology, Sony has given special attention to the readers' eyes by offering a built-in LED reading light for times when ambient light is not available. Also, five pre-set text sizes in the product bring the readers to an ease.

As compared to the 260 gm PRS-505, the PRS-700 weighs 280 grams.

The PRS-700 will cost about $400, making it a hundred dollars costlier than its close relative PRS-505. It will hit the markets this November.

However giving tough competition to Sony is amazon.com who according to sources, has a similar kind of product named Kindle reader in pipeline.