Well .. Well, I might not have extensive technical research on the two e-book readers in the market, but have done a decent study. Off late, I am getting more passionate to buy one of them as I can save space at home. Today, its fine, but when I think of life ahead, I will need to move to electronic book reader, rather than keep buying books and fill the house…
Currently, there are only two e-book readers available- Sony PRS 700 and Amazon Kindle (as I know, and if you know more, please let me know) and both of them have their own monopoly. Binding their customers to themselves and not providing much of flexibility. Also, I tried quite a few online book stores, and no one sells e-books 🙁 What if i just want to buy an e-book and read it on my laptop? Unfortunately, no one can help me with this.
I live in India and so, my options are much narrow. Well, for ease of supporting my current decision, look at the table below.
| Features | Kindle Dx | Sony PRS-700 |
| Display | 9.7″ | 6″ |
| TouchScreen | Yes | Yes |
| Built in Reading Light | Yes | Yes |
| Search | Yes | Yes |
| Annotations | Yes | Yes |
| Highlight | No | Yes |
| Text Adjust | Yes | Yes |
| e-Book Stall? | Yes | Yes |
| Formats Supported | Kindle (AZW), PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP | PDF, Doc, BBeB, Txt |
| Battery Life (Single Charge) | 2 Weeks | 2 Weeks |
| Wireless | Yes | No |
| Horizontal View | Yes | Yes |
| Expand Memory? | No | Yes |
| Inbuilt Capacity | 3,500 Books (4 GB) | 350 Books |
| Read-to-me | Yes | No |
| Audio | 3.5mm Jack | No |
| Built in Dictionary | Yes | Yes |
| Music and Podcast | Yes | No |
| Sold in India | No | No |
| Price | $489.00 | $349.99 |
| INR | Rs.23,299.94 | Rs.16,676.37 |
The above prices are on the day I compiled this post (not posted).
Guess what I have closed in as of now? None other than the PRS700. Why? It is simple, even though Kindle provides more flexibility, there is no point in buying it because Amazon does not allow me to buy a book, download into my Amazon account and then transfer to the reader. I can order on the web, but the book will be directly delivered to the reader through the wireless and for this you need to be only in US. There is no point in discussing this gadget anymore.
Coming to PRS 700, this is not sold in India (also I checked with Sony India if they can bring it for me, but they bluntly refused). Here is the list of key differentiators as to why you need to buy PRS 700 if you in India…
- Sony e-Book store delivers to your account and you can transfer the book to your device through USB.
- You can also transfer PDF files easily.
After posting this post, I stumbbled upon few interesting links for e-Book readers, do check them out…
e-Book Reader Matrix, Hardware e-Book Readers, Where to Buy
someone i know here at NSRCEL is purchasing the smaller kindle. will have a dekko at it sometime next week. he is not sure if there will be any preloaded books on it. while i am greatly tempted the joy of walking into a room full of books is completely different from walking into an empty room with a device that has all the books in the world. having said that, i sure would like to have one such device.
There are few free freebies, but Kindle does not make sense for India. You cannot buy books from here.
I bought a Sony PRS-500 for less money than the PRS-700. It lacks a touch screen, and the associated screen glare. This is a perfect fit for me… until ebook readers become what I really want to have.
That nice Jayce. Where do you live?
Hey Hari,
Very comprehensive comparison made there. Good Work. E-books however, can never put books out of style. Won’t you agree?
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Hi
Is there any chance that the reader will be available in india shortly ?
Not in the near future Anand. It’s better you buy it from the US.