Update August 31, 2011: It’s now official. New Sony Reader WiFi
Nate has the scoop: First look at the new Sony Reader PRS-T1!!!
What I can add:
– putting it in Standby mode will display the current book cover on the screen. This feature was pioneered by Kobo and is very popular with its users.
– it has a stylus (see photo of Black).
– look at the photo above to see the new way the cover attaches.
– Silver is gone, there will now be a White one (shades of Kindle!)
– the body is now all-plastic, gone is the classy aluminum.
It will be interesting to see if Sony went for a mimic trifecta — Kobo standby cover, Kindle white color — with the multitouch, doing what Bookeen did with the Orizon, allowing font resizing with pinch-zoom.
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
Not very impressed with the look. Next.
It might be another one of those things where it looks better in person. The Red is often different in person too.
It’s about dang time!!!! Is it a tablet too?
No. Based on Linux, not Android, and too much work to really do anything with, unlike, say, Nook Touch.
Hate to break it to you, but Android = Linux.
Android is on top of Linux. Sony has no Android over its Linux. See other Nook Touch posts here for videos from rooters.
Nice but sticking with the Kindle. Kindle does more than ereader. I can play online games without rooting or jailbreaking. Nice screen and easy reading too boot.
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“If it has a stylus… they blew it”
– S Jobs
Hey, 1999 called, they want their stylus back.
I was wondering what that stick-thing was.
“If you see a stylus, they blew it.”
To all three of you: I understand the anti-stylus Comment but remember, this is basically a book, not a full-blown tablet. And with a 6″ laggy eInk screen, I don’t think people want to struggle typing in a note when they can scribble one.
Seems to me they won’t bother at all, and that is a problem…
I’ve never actually asked if people use the stylus. I do know in the early days of the Reader — pre-Kindle — people wanted to do Notes. Given the limitations of eInk, I guess Sony thought a stylus was the only solution. People who have rooted the Nook Touch and turned into an Android tablet will tell you an eInk keyboard is more frustrating than useful.
The thing is, it will still be laggy even with a stylus. The only difference I see is that when someone lost their stylus, either they have to buy a new one or say goodbye to using the device productively.
Yes. eInk is laggy, period. Even using a fingertip for highlighting or tapping for dictionary lookup. It’s gotten faster, but it’s a long way from the speed of a conventional screen. It’s advantages are battery life and sunlight reading.
Firstly I’d question that last sentence, I don’t think typing on a touch screen is more difficult than persuading handwriting recognition software to decode your scribbles. Secondly using a stylus makes many other multitouch gestures (e.g. the pinch zoom you were speculating on) awkward at best, and often impossible.
This is the long version of what Steve Jobs expressed with much greater elegance and economy.
HWR would require a stylus. And there’s no HWR in any current eInk device. Processing would defeat the battery-sipping advantage of the eInk display.
So many excuses for bad products.
“If you see a stylus, they blew it.”
“If you see a stylus, then you know it’s for people who actually need an input method more precise than finger painting & who are more concerned with function than fashion.” -everyone who isn’t an iFanboy
Why? Does it serve an unmet need? Does it improve upon something established? Another strike against Stringer. Does he “get it” with anything?
This will be the third generation of Reader that features a stylus. Sony claims customers want it. Myself, I could do without it.
Edited to add: As for Stringer, I don’t think he gets much of anything.
Because nobody wants a stylus, and everybody wants a finger-based touch screen. Very simple.
“If you see a stylus, they blew it.”
COTB, Apple
Is that an “Itty Bitty Book Light” on top of the white model?!?!?
http://www.target.com/p/The-Original-Itty-Bitty-Booklight/-/A-567352
Sony has offered covers with built-in lights. The original was a Light Wedge case that had a plastic wedge that distributed LED sidelighting over the screen.
LOL I was right!
Maybe they should give you candles, for battery-free lighting.
Next!
Ha. I say that myself a lot.
I realize that the thing uses e-ink and therefore a mini-book light (as shown) is not out of place. At the same time, an e-book reader that needs a mini-book light these days is an Epic Fail.
What else does this thing do? Send faxes?
>>>What else does this thing do? Send faxes?
LMAO!
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Wow. Even the cover/case is trashy. Look the inside plane of the cover, you can see how the plastic outer side of the case ripples/bubbles over whatever it s they used to give it form. This whole thing looks like something from the late ’90’s. And seriously, a stylus? How is this supposed to compete with Nooks and Kindles?
Too big
The 90s called. They want their tablet back.
Amazon’s Kindle is far too superior than the e-reader….
is there any really wrong with a stylus?
I have an ipad for casual reading but it’s unusable for any academic work since I can’t write notes in the margins as fast as I can write with a pen.
I love the stylus on my 650. It is purely optional — you use it only when you want to. I have fat fingers, so for me the stylus is just fantastic. Makes it very easy to highlight text, do fast housekeeping with the menus. The reader is perfectly usable without stylus if you are inclined to use just your fingers. Don’t understand why it would be considered a bad thing for Sony to include the styles for who want that option?
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