Article Review: Amazon vs. Sony: E-Book Reader Face-Off

With the advancement of e-commerce and technology as a whole, companies are introducing more innovative and sophisticated technological devices. An example of such a device is the e-book. An e-book, short for electronic book, is an e-text that forms the digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book, often protected with a digital rights management system. E-books are usually read on personal computers or smart phones, or on dedicated hardware devices known as e-book readers or e-book devices. Many mobile phones can also be used to read e-books. The article written by Melissa Perenson in the May 2009 edition of PCWorld, explores the second iteration of Amazon's e-book device, the Amazon Kindle 2 and Sony's Reader Digital Book PRS 700.

On February 9, 2009, Amazon announced the Kindle 2. It features a 6-inch display and became available for purchase on February 23, 2009 for the price of $359. The Kindle 2 features improved battery life, 20 percent faster page-refreshing, a text-to-speech option to read the text aloud, and overall thickness reduced from 0.8 to 0.36 inches (9.1 millimeters). The Kindle 2 has 2 GB of internal memory of which 1.4 GB is user-accessible. Amazon estimates that the Kindle 2 will hold about 1500 e-books. Unlike the original Kindle, Kindle 2 does not have a slot for SD memory cards. On March 3, 2009, Amazon.com launched an application entitled Kindle for iPhone in the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch owners to read Kindle content. Through a technology termed "Whispersync," customers can keep their place across Kindle hardware devices and other mobile devices. Amazon typically sells downloadable e-books on its e-commerce site for $5-$10 per book.

A competitor of the Kindle 2 is the Sony Reader Digital Book PRS 700. Sony's latest release of its e-book reader costs $400 and differs dramatically from the Kindle 2. The most obvious differences are the absence of a keyboard, in return for a more compact shape. Additionally, like the iPhone and other next-gen touch-screen phones that have been appearing lately, the Reader incorporates some gesture-based commands. You can swipe your finger across the display to page forward or back (you can choose between a left or right swipe to advance pages in the settings menu). Swiping and holding your finger down at the end of the swipe allows you to advance or rewind through pages at a fast clip. With the included stylus or your finger you can highlight words and add annotations via a virtual keyboard. The Amazon Kindle offers this feature via a Blackberry-style keyboard. However, the Kindle doesn't have a touch screen.

Reference:

Perenson, Melissa (May 2009). Amazon vs. Sony: E-Book Reader Face-Off. PCWorld, 42-45