Gizmodo
During the past week, many readers have asked us to compare the physical traits of the second-gen Sony Reader and the all-new Amazon Kindle. (If you feel a bit behind, catch up by reading our full Amazon Kindle review and verdict from last Friday.) The Sony Reader is much smaller, and weighs three ounces less than the Kindle, but the screens are exactly the same size, and use the same E-Ink technology. They have more or less the same comfort advantage over LCDs and other glowing screens—and of course, they have no backlight.
For seven days now, I have comfortably read in many lighting conditions with the Kindle and can safely say it has not been a strain of any kind. I'm a guy who stares at a laptop screen for hours on end, and that can suck. Reading E-Ink from either the Kindle or the Sony Reader is a vacation by comparison. My wife has also stolen it from me every chance she's had, and especially likes reading the New York Times on an airplane, something she says she wouldn't normally do because it's just too much paper. No complaints about readability, guys. I wish you doubters could experience it.
Side by side, fonts appear smoother on the Kindle than on the Reader, and the Kindle has a choice of six font sizes, as opposed to Reader's choice of three. Both let you bump font sizes up or down on the fly, a major convenience. The Reader has active screens—showing animated status indicators and so on—while Kindle screens are always static. If anything on the Kindle page changes, the whole screen does a full refresh.
The Sony has a dedicated music player and JPEG viewer; Amazon hasn't quite nailed that yet. However, the Kindle does have one thing the Reader doesn't have in this department: a speaker. It's not bad either, if you're mostly hoping to hear audiobooks and background music.
Even though you can drag and drop files to the Reader, you can only do that with unprotected stuff like PDFs, MP3s and JPEGs. Kindle's drag-and-drop potential is even less, since you can only drag a certain subset of compatible files over to it.
USB disk folder appearance of Sony Reader:
USB disk folder appearance of Amazon Kindle:
There's no way to download books from Sony's store without using the special eBook Library software, which is cumbersome and works only with Windows PCs.
Using the eBook Library with the Reader, you can get certain views of content that you cannot get in any way with the Kindle, and you can even read books on your computer that are stored on the Reader (though I am not entirely sure why you'd want to do that). Here's a look at the eBook Library interface: This is not a true to-the-death Battlemodo, but it was an attempt to show you the differences between the two devices, beyond mere specs. I have to say, it is this Windows-only, iTunes-wannabe PC reliance that hurts the Sony Reader more than anything, especially because Sony Electronics will never admit to being as bad at software design as they are good at hardware design. The extra $100 for the Kindle means freedom from the PC—if at the same time it means a shackle to Amazon and its potentially limited file friendliness. When you talk to regular non-geeks, downloading books—and those all-important magazines and newspapers—directly to the device makes the most sense. [Sony Reader; Amazon Kindle]
Comments
Can you guys do a Battlemodo against the Bookeen Cybook. This looks like a very good device with some great format support. Thanks
Where's the Seiko?
[gizmodo.com]
I think Sony should enter into an agreement to make the devices for Amazon. We will then have the best of both worlds. Sony is missing some key features and content while Amazon is clueless about device designs. They should allow the new reader to acccept both DRMs so that Sony cleints who bought books already would not lose their purchases.
All I see are big, huge horse teeth. Horsey!
I noticed with the document you're using there, the Reader justifies to both sides while the Kindle only justifies on the left. Is this the way things are across the board with the Kindle or does it vary between documents?
Sony.. FTW... just cuz it looks better..
@Noobs-R-Us: it would be a smart move for Amazon to license the wireless tech to other companies. They're going to make a lot more money on the content than they will on the hardware if they make the brilliant "whispernet" an industry standard on ebook devices. Heck, if they released a program for WM and Palm OS they'd probably have a lock on the ebook market in no time.
But no-one even knows who Sony's CEO is.
@weatherman: I hardly think they can license it since it's not a patent. Sony will likely included one also, if not, a WiFi version in their next device. I think instead of going to war they should just work with Amazon. In this scenario everyone wins. Amazon wins because they get to sell content, Sony wins because they get to sell hardware, and customer wins because they get the best of both worlds and not two different DRMs.
my iphone has a book reader
Kindle is just plain ugly. When I first saw spy photos, I thought it was prototype that never meant to leave the lab. It reminded me the good old 48K Sinclair Spectrum keyboard. Is it a reading device or data entry. Why did they put such a big ugly keyboard in a focal point. Couldn't they come up with fold-up design that hides the keyboard 98% time your are reading.
@europria:
agreed its seriously hideous
@Noobs-R-Us:
I dont think it's a patent, but access to the network/store and the DRM. But it won't happen, because Sony likes control.
The Sony Reader looks great... I agree with the above posts- we need the amazon software on the sony reader! that would be ideal.
Bill Buford: nice!
A killer kindle feature would probably be excellent text-to-speech so any book you download as text you could also have read to you.
With the customer reviews on Amazon more people give it 1 star (hate it) than any other category. However, the second biggest category is 5 stars (love it), so it seems like most people either love it or hate it with the haters winning at 237 votes to the lovers at 171.
Wow Sony actually did something right. Props!
Sony has so little content that it negates the beauty of the device.
If I could download a wide variety of content wirelessly and use the thing as a browser, I wouldn't care what it looked like.
What is really interesting (or revealing) is that most of the people who left 1 star reviews have never touched a kindle. The 5 stars mostly come from those who have used the device, while the 1 stars come from people who give their 15 minutes of fame rock star opinions (unless, of course, they live in the boon docks, where they have a limited right to be pissed).
I think Amazon should restrict feedback to those with actual serial numbers.. Just my 2c.
@frigg: My guess is that most of those who voted have never touched the thing, which kinda makes the whole voting process even more problematic. I mean, the product was only announced 7 days ago, right before a holiday weekend—how many people have actually received their units?
Should point out that the Sony software doesn't work on Windows Vista 64. I had to create a virtual machine running XP *just* to get their software working. My Kindle just plugs right into Vista 64 without problems.
What filetypes can the Kindle read? Any way to put Project Gutenberg works on it?
ereader looks sexier
License doesn't just refer to patents.
That's exactly my point. Brilliantly restated though. :)
yeah, amazon's store on sony's reader would be great. as it stands, though, i would have to pick the sony one, mainly because of price. the extra convenience doesn't justify the difference in price for me--but then, i'm a college student and they're both way out of my range. paper, thanks!
@Wilson Rothman: You're right. Just scanning a few pages of reviews turned up a lot of OSNOs (One Star Non Owners). On the other hand, some of the 5 star reviews gushed with the ominous force of an emerging new fanboyism like the latest virus to emerge from Kinshasa. Personally, there's enough genuine beefs that I wouldn't be an early adopter, but a 3rd generation Kindle for $49.99 on black friday 2009 is probably a no-brainer.
Two reviews for such a niche product? Is this a sponsorship by Amazon?
The Kindle is so utilitarian looking that the only model I can think for it is as a free giveaway.
Imagine if as you board a train or plane that these are available from some type of charging tray by the entranceway. Then you can download your entire book library (for a fee) to read while enroute.
If that happens, I'm interested. Very cool if I no longer have to carry a ton of books/magazines to read. Not so cool if I have to worry about bringing my own reader from home in my luggage.
As a standalone with blech web client and crippled ability to load my documents, it's priced about three times reality of the marketplace.
But that's not what Amazon is looking to do. I don't think they are projecting to sell a lot of these. It's simply an Alpha release for (a) proof of concept and (b) introduction to the general public that Amazon has this great digital library.
The real cherry that Amazon is chasing is to become the primary distributor for digital content. And no, as a matter of fact I don't think it's going to take off until the reader is free and people don't carry them around but either pick them up while travelling or read the content from some type of universal reader built into a seat back or tray table.
I think it's far more interesting to ponder WHY Amazon would want to become the primary distributor of digital content. Do they think they can 'own' the channel for books a la iTunes dominance of .mp3 music? Apple doesn't make any money doing that; it powers iPod sales, on which they make a bundle. Amazon is set up to distribute hard commodities -- books, clothing, whatever -- and it has a competitive advantage doing just that. If it were to switch its business into digitial media, it slashes both its margin and positioning, doesn't it?
I still think it's a really intriguing move, even if the Kindle is sort of like Amazon's Newton. Real innovation in our interface with the written word will go beyond little screens...
I've written a bit about the branding implications of Kindle at DIM BULB: [dimbulb.typepad.com]
@MacAddict21: Granted it's slightly off topic but I love the ebook reader on my iPhone too. The screen is big enough that I can read it fine and I can load whatever I want on it. Plus it has about 30 fonts, any font size I want, invert colors (blackscreen, white text), easy navigation, backlight, automatic bookmarking, cover art, etc., etc., etc. At this point I won't even bother really looking at the ebook readers until they improve a lot more like Jon Stokes mentioned.
I don't doubt it, I guess pictures do not do it justice, through photos and the computer screen you loose it, I would like to see it in person.
I would buy one, but I still like buying books, and having the actual book. They each have down falls and upsides, which is why I would like to use both. Both a book and a PAD can burn in a fire, but electromagnetic problems will never interfere with a good book, you also don't have to charge a book. But chopping trees is bad. Like I said I would buy one of these, but not for books or novels, but for newspapers and magazines.
ps I love the fact that most ideas like E books and tablets came from good ole star trek. Technology is growing so fast. I like to see where this kind of technology goes. Id love to get my hands on the Sony reader and a future apple tablet. Ill wait a bit, Sony will put a speaker in very soon. One day these e books will probably even merge with a tablet, mobile phone, and camera to give you a full mobile communications and database device. You can have color and high res graphics for photos, movies, or real time visuals as well as the option to turn an internal light off so you can read a book soothing for the eyes. Ill give it a couple years then ill buy one, these devices are still a little flawed. You could say that you have the latest technology and I don't, but I will say you are buying the experimental devices and ill buy the devices when it has more functionality.
Is anyone really going to buy this crap for 399$ ?
I think the best computer gift is the 2008 data dreams calendar, computer equipment and girls what a great idea !
I still don't understand why the kindle got so much press and hype. It's not even that much better than sony's reader. Plus it's uglier and (I think) more expensive. WTF?
@Jitty: True, it's not really better than the reviewed Sony Reader. The second generation Sony Reader.
Not bad for a first generation product from a company that has never designed hardware before.
I'm still very happy to do my reading with my Treo 650. It has back lighting, it's small enough to hold in one hand, I can clip it to my belt and read while standing in line at the bank, and I can do a whole lot more with it than just read. When they finally get around to adding backlighting to these devices and get the price down to around $100, then I'll be interested.
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