a built-in light and a touch-sensitive display, features that set it
apart from Amazon.com's competing Kindle reader.
The PRS-700 is Sony's third model of the Reader, and will go on sale
at the end of the month for about $400. It represents further
experimentation on the part of manufacturers trying to find the right
formula to make e-book readers more than a niche product. Neither Sony
nor Amazon has revealed sales figures for their readers.
Like
earlier models and the Kindle, the PRS-700 has a 6-inch screen of
"electronic ink," which presents dark gray text on a light gray
background.
Unlike the liquid-crystal displays of laptops and
cell phones, e-ink displays cannot be lit from behind, but the PRS-700
has light-emitting diodes that can be turned on to illuminate the
screen from the sides.
The 10-ounce device also comes with a stylus, which can be used to highlight text or make handwritten notes.
It can hold 350 books in its internal memory, and more in a memory card.
The
PRS-700 does not have an equivalent of the Kindle's signature feature:
wireless access to Amazon's e-book store for near-instant book
downloads. Instead, books are loaded on to the device by connecting it
to a PC.
Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading
Business Division, said the company aims to have a wireless version,
but it would have to work with multiple book vendors.
While the
Kindle downloads books only from Amazon's store, Sony is
differentiating itself by de-emphasizing its own store and opening up
its Readers to e-books from other vendors.
From : http://www.courier-journal.com/
