Amazon may have snatched the majority of the attention when it comes to eBook readers, after the company launched the upgraded second version of its Kindle in February this year.
But the Kindle isn't the only eBook reader out there. Prominent among its rivals is the Sony Reader. The latest version, the Sony Reader PRS-700, was unveiled towards the end of last year and also offers an e-paper display. While it doesn't boast a 3G connection, unlike the Kindle 2, it does have backlighting and a touch screen.
At time of writing the Sony Reader was priced at £349 while the Amazon Kindle 2, which is not currently available in the UK, costs $359 (£249) in the US. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. In order to find out which one suited which readers, I tried out both.
The Amazon Kindle 2
This was an informal test, so I didn't run any performance figures. What I did was live with each of these over the course of a few days - uploading books, reading, carrying it around - to try to figure out what the differences were and how well they suited at least this reader's lifestyle.
So now that the bloom is off the Kindle rose (at least somewhat), which of these two eBook readers should you buy, assuming you are in the market for one?
NEXT PAGE: Our thoughts on Amazon's Kindle 2
Comments
Anthony said: At present all book readers use the same display so quality will be very similar I would not buy a Sony reader as I would then be tied to Sony and no real open source booksI have been using Mobi pocket for around 10 years on Palm and WinCE Amazon now own mobi so their new and previous readers are both based on thisBut then so are other book readers such as the Bebook and Cybook Cybook has been out the longest and has the best support for mobi including dictionary look upCybook reads pdf but very easy to convert pdf to mobi buy the time you take your finger of the mouse button it will be readyFor me it had to be Cybook at only 179 from WHS a bargain All works very well and dictionary look up is very useful mines runs for a week or two in between charging and I usemobis own news feeds IE BBC News on my CybookAnyway I thought the Amazon reader was not available in the UK