About a week ago, Sony finally got around to launching its new touchscreen e-ink e-reader—the PRS-T2 Reader—and the reviews, both pro and con, are streaming in faster than a T3 Trunk Line.

For those of you interested in the device’s specs and details, keep scrolling; we’ve got those for you directly below. At the bottom of the post, you’ll find links to a round-up of reviews …

¶ The PRS-T2 Reader is certainly one of the lightest e-readers ever, weighing in at just under six ounces. It’s retailing for around US$130.

¶ The PRS-T2 has a 6-inch touchscreen, an e-Ink display, a built-in stylus and Wi-Fi access. It also comes with integrated libraries that allow customers to borrow e-books wirelessly from public libraries. The device supports PDF, TXT and ePUB files, and will work with Adobe DRM. This means that users can buy from the Barnes & Noble Nook Shop as well as from Sony itself.

¶ The most unusual aspect of the Reader, however, may be the fact that it comes with a coupon for a free download of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, while supplies last. The only catch is that in order to get the free download, customers must purchase the black version of the e-reader. While the eReader also comes in red and white, it’s unclear why the coupon is limited to one color. (Anyone out there from Sony who might be willing to fill us in?)

¶ 1.3GB internal memory with microSD expansion card slot

¶ Support for TXT, JPEG, PNG, GIF, and BMP (support as well for ePUB and PDF with Adobe DRM, as mentioned above)

¶ Facebook and Evernote support (Emphasis ours, because we love Evernote to death. —Ed.)

¶ Six built-in dictionaries for translation support

Amazon and Barnes & Noble may still have the strongest hold on the e-book market, but it looks like Sony is seriously stepping it up with this latest endeavor. Those of you who might be thinking of adding the Reader to your personal collections might also want to check out some of the following reviews:

ZDNet | The Verge | GigaOM | PC World | Liliputing | The Digital Reader

7 COMMENTS

  1. Problem with this iteration: the Italian dictionary is no longer available. It still flashs horribly when you use Overdrive, etc. It is plasticy. No better really than the previous version. Amazon is still the best.

  2. I’d also like to question that it works with Nook DRM. The T1 sure doesn’t, so My impulse purchases have been more with Kobo and Diesel, which it does support (they use the original Adobe DRM – Nook uses a different security structure that is credit card, rather than ID, based.)

  3. Also, most of the links you provide aren’t reviews. With the exception of Nate at The Digital Reader, they are all reprints of Sony’s press relase, not a review of the device. And at least one of those credits Nate with those, too.

  4. What Kindle can’t do and Sony T2 can:

    1. read ePub, the most common of ebook formats
    2. handle PDFs and font resizing with line reflow
    3. organize collections intelligently
    4. use an additional SD card

    For me, these are enough reasons to opt for the Sony.

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