It looks like Sony has beaten Amazon in the race to launch a new digital book reader with the launch of an updated version of the Sony Reader Digital Book.  Amazon is rumored to be developing its own electronic book reader, the Amazon Kindle.

The new Reader Digital Book, the PRS-505, is not so different from its predecessor the PRS-500 in terms of its physical looks. But when it comes to features the PRS-505 is a big leap forward. Key improvements include:

• Electronic paper display offers a higher contrast ration with eight levels of gray scale,
• Thinner in profile
• Easier navigation with its intuitive button layout

In terms of price, the PRS-505’s introductory price is the same as the introductory price of the old Sony electronic reader. Likewise, storage capacity and battery life of the Reader Digital Book are the same as the old reader.
Sony’s announcement comes just as interest in the original book reader was starting to dwindle.

And to make things more complicated, mobile phone manufacturers are creating their mobile handsets with the capability to function as electronic book readers, which puts a question mark over whether they’ll be a need for standalone book readers.

Hopefully Sony’s Reader Digital Book with its open platform capable of reading Word and PDF files, together with copy-protected books available on the Connect eBook Store, will spark new interest in portable digital book readers.

Fortunately for Sony, Apple is not yet looking into developing its own electronic reader that could possibly run on the iPhone and iPod.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 7:31 pm under Uncategorized.

Read more entries by Arnold Zafra.
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