Sony Pocket
With a sharp 5-inch screen and a sturdy design, the Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300 adds another level of portability to the e-reader revolution. The Pocket combines decent battery life with Windows and Mac compatibility, although it’s a shame that there’s no support for image or audio files.
Compare Price:
| Product Name | Store | Cost | Postage | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sony PRS-300 Pocket | John Lewis | £149.00 | £0.00 |  |
| Sony PRS-300 Pocket | Waterstones | £169.99 | £0.00 | |
| Sony PRS-300 Pocket | Amazon | £174.95 | £0.00 | |
Design:
Measuring 158mm wide and 108mm high, the Sony PRS-300 may be a little larger than most things you deem to be “pocket sized” although there’s no doubt that the device will quite happily slip inside the pocket of most jackets, coats and trousers. It’s also nice to see a neoprene cover included in the box to help protect the reader, although regular users may well want to invest in something a little more sturdy looking.
The design of the Pocket comes in a blue, silver or rose colour and echoes the look and feel of Sony’s earlier readers. Due to the lack of any touch screen functionality, its design isn’t quite as sparse as the Sony PRS600B Touch but things are still layed out nicely with a directional pad and five buttons placed at the bottom of the reader and a further ten buttons to the right of the screen to deal with navigation options and menu screens.
Display:
While the PRS 300’s screen is slightly smaller than its competitors, it still incorporates an 800×600 resolution and the same elight levels of greyscale that it’s more advanced “Touch” counterpart posesses.
The screen also uses the same eInk technology that all ereaders do in order to make the letters of each word contrast heavily the screen background. When a page turns, this technology needs to refresh for a fraction of a second longer than the Sony Touch which, while noticeable, isn’t frustrating.
The Pocket does tend to have a few issues dealing with PDF files though as page turning can become slightly sluggish when reading large PDF’s and the reader’s ability to increase the size of the text is limited somewhat when they are accessing PDF 10 files.
Mobile Library:
The great news for all Sony customers is just how flexible Sony has become when it comes to allowing users to access books. Previous eBook Readers only allowed users to access books which had a particular security setting in place. Thankfully those restrictions have been lifted now allowing users to purchase their books from a wide range of places … and not just from Sony’s eBook library.
Having said that, Sony’s online bookstore has increased dramatically now offering over 1 million titles at very reasonible prices. Unfortunately, the Sony Pocket reader doesn’t come with any wireless functionality meaning that these books need to be copied across from your PC or Mac in very much the same way that you’d copy music on to your iPod. It’s all very user friendly though and is a mark of how far Sony’s software has become.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for an eBook Reader that offers a lot of functionality such as the ability to add custom notes and access dictionaries, then the Sony Touch may well be what you’re after. What the Sony Pocket offers though is a great introduction to digital reading at a price which offers very good value.
The ability to view a wide range of file formats is definitely a plus (although it’s slightly disappointing not to be able to view images) and the screen is still just as easy to read as those which are slightly larger. Battery life is equally good and easy to charge but buyers should be aware that the battery is sealed into the unit meaning that if there are any problems it will need to be sent away to Sony support.
All in all, the Sony Pocket offers an excellent no-frills eBook reader at a very reasonable price.
Technical Specifications:
Dimensions:
Height: 158mm
Width: 108mm
Depth: 10mm
Weight:
225g
Display:
800×600; 5″; E Ink technology;
Internal Memory:
512MB (approximately 350 books)
File Formats Supported:
| BBeB Book | ePub | |
| BBeB | TXT | Microsoft Word |
| RTF | ||
Battery:
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery lasts up to 7,500 page turns on a single charge
Warranty:
One-year
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