The Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1's core specs are on a par with those of the other big eReaders, too. In spite of this model's handy buttons, however, it stumbles in overall usability and navigation. See also: New iPad review.
The Reader Wi-Fi carries a competitive price of £130. One of the Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1's distinguishing attributes is the row of buttons on its front face. It has lots of buttons, in fact - something that its touchscreen competitors skip. The button navigation is consistent with previous Sony eReaders. I found the arrangement convenient, particularly for one-handed page turns when I held the e-reader in my left hand.
In terms of design, Sony gets a lot right with the Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1. This model is the narrowest of all e-readers available to date, And it ties the £89 Amazon Kindle (fourth generation) as the lightest e-reader you can buy, weighing just 168g. That light weight, together with the e-reader's narrow shape, makes the Reader Wi-Fi feel comfortable in the hand.
The Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1 looks stylish and svelte, as well. The MicroSDHC card slot sits under a snap-in cover on the back. At the bottom edge is a Micro-USB port for charging and for transferring data, plus a headphone jack and a power/wake button.
About half an inch up from the bottom of the e-reader is the row of physical navigation buttons: page back, page forward, home, return, and menu. Sony is the only manufacturer to offer physical page-forward and page-back buttons at the bottom of an e-reader, a feature that I found especially useful for those times when I held the e-reader in one hand by the bottom (something this model's balanced feel allows). Of the touchscreen e-readers currently out there, only the Barnes & Noble Nook also offers physical page-forward and page-back buttons, but those are awkward to press.
This Sony e-reader has a piano-black plastic bezel in lieu of the metal that previous versions used. The bezel is a fingerprint magnet (one of my few design complaints). The back feels good in the hand, with a smooth rubberized surface that makes the e-reader easy to hold.
I reviewed the Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1 in black (model PRS-T1BC), but it also comes in white (PRS-T1WC) and red (PRS-T1RC). Although the colours can be fun, in general I find a black bezel to be best on an e-reader, since that colour typically enhances the e-reader's readability by giving the visual illusion of boosting contrast. See also: Group test: what's the best e-reader?
Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1: Performance
Speaking of contrast, the Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1's display is typical for its competitive set. I liked the texture of the screen; it is a smooth, light gray, similar to that of the Amazon Kindle Touch, as opposed to the newspaper-texture gray background of the Kobo eReader Touch Edition. Like most of its competition, it offers eight type sizes (most of them useful) and six font options. The largest font is fractionally larger than on the Nook.
Text looked good and highly readable in my tests. And the infrared touchscreen was very responsive, even when I typed quickly on the on-screen keyboard. I like Sony's decision to include a narrow stylus for those people who prefer to use one, but since the Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1 e-reader lacks a place to store it, I never sought to use it. My fingers did just fine for navigation, and I could swipe my way through book pages, or even pinch and zoom to enlarge content. That said, you can use the stylus for handwritten input - another unique feature among e-readers.
I also found the physical buttons useful in combination with the touchscreen navigation. Between the two, getting around was easy.
My bigger gripe with the menus concerns their uninspired design. The angular, text-heavy appearance lacks the design sensibility one would expect from gear that looks as fashion-forward as the Reader Wi-Fi does.
You get two English-language and ten translation dictionaries, a nice addition for owners who use a lot of foreign-language texts. You can also look up words and information on Google or Wikipedia via the built-in but sluggish Web browser.
The Reader Wi-Fi supports PDF, Microsoft Word, and text files, in addition to EPub and Adobe Digital Editions books, as well as JPEG, PNG, GIF, and BMP image files. If you read a lot of text-heavy PDF files, take note: The Reader Wi-Fi has the rare ability to reflow text by changing the font size. Other e-readers have tried this technique before with mixed success, but the current models out there all rely on zooming in to the PDF, not reflowing - which makes a tremendous difference in the overall viability of reading text PDFs on the 6-inch screen.
The Reader Wi-Fi has 2GB of built-in storage. Sony says the battery will last for up to five weeks of reading (with Wi-Fi disabled). In addition to being tied to Sony's Reader bookstore, the Reader Wi-Fi supports public library lending in the United States and Canada, and it has a menu option for easily accessing free Google Books. Sony supports audio playback, but not for audiobooks.
Sony has released Reader desktop apps for Mac and Windows computers. The company hasn't released a mobile app for Apple's iOS, however, and its Google Android app lacks the polish of, say, Amazon and Barnes & Noble's offerings. Likewise, the Sony Reader store isn't as diverse as those two, though you'll still find plenty to like.
Comments
Kaylacarla said: it stumbles in overall usability and navigation Im a bit confused is this talking about the Sony T1 compared to the kindle its a god sendI own both a kindle touch and a Sony and yes the kindle is hardly ever used the Sony is everything I need from a E readerI would be amazed if anyone could tell me a better and easier to use reader The software glitches on its release have been solved and I have no problems with it at allHaving chucked countless formats at it the only issue I found was a random few made it slow down but the point is it managed to display anything unlike my poor kindle which seems to hate so many formats so much its the reason I got a Sony BUT if I used the MOST EXCELLENT program CALIBRE cant say how great this program is then I could reformat to same coding or any other and it played great thanks calibre -PDF files are handle excellent still not aware of any reader that does it better my kindle tends to produce weird hieroglyphics which I take is its way of laughing at me - With the Sonys huge storage of nearly 34GB my kindle just shrugs and says its not needed 2GB is plenty LOLBattery I read every day before going to bed sometimes during the day when I get a break at work Its never gone flat yet I top it up once a month but there always seems to be about a quarter charge lefteven on my 2 week holidays hammering it every day didnt faze itI can get any book I want using the great E pub format not that weird and useless format nobody uses that the kindle tries to fob off on meI get annoyed by the comparison the Sony has with the Kindle and just sit the amazed wondering if the reviewer has ever used a Kindle
Captain Bazza said: Unfortunately the device is let down by the stupid software The Sony Reader for PC software is quirky and annoying with the distressing habit during synching with the device of wiping all the books off the reader and replacing them with whatever you are uploading For instance you might have forty books on the device but if you decide to upload just a few more then unless you are clever the books already on the reader will be automatically wiped and youll only have the books uploaded this session You then have to go back to the reader and make sure you synch ALL the books you want on it The software is poorly written and is not intuitive Have Sony learnt nothingGenerally the device software is also buggy and fixes are few and far between Its like Sony is trying to discourage you from buying future version of the e-readerI like using the device and chose it over the Kindle which was experiencing horrendous problems with the displays breaking Never their fault of course Ill give the Sony e-ready 410 marks Its let down by the cruddy software package Shame on SonyCheers Bazza