Sony Reader PRS-350 and PRS-650 rumored for release, 3G teased for the latter
By Darren Murph 
posted August 13th 2010 1:52PM
posted August 13th 2010 1:52PM
It's about that time, folks. And by "about that time," we mean "time for Sony to release another round of Readers." If you'll recall, the outfit dumped a few on us last year right around this time, and the sleuths over at Sony Insider have dug up information that they purport to be true about Sony's next Reader duo. Reportedly, the outfit is gearing up to reveal the PRS-350 and PRS-650, each of which will boast E Ink displays and be thinner / more longevous compared to the existing PRS-600 and PRS-300. It's bruited that they'll be under 10mm thick, while the 650 will boast a 6-inch display and the 350 a 5-inch panel. We should also see a bump from 512MB to 2GB in terms of internal storage space (at least on the 650), and we wouldn't be shocked to find both 3G and WiFi support on the higher end of the two. As for software? We're told that the Reader UI will be refaced somewhat, and the note-taking program in the PRS-600 will find its way onto the lower-end PRS-350. Mum's the word on pricing, but it shouldn't be too long before all that gets cleared up -- think it over good, Sony. We've got options, you know.
No Jason? For shame!
Is the eBook market the most bloated in conjunction with having little differentiation?
@d0mth0ma5 eBook Reader market. As obviously the eBook market has rather impressive differentiation.
I guess that means the PRS-350 will be a resistive touch screen too now? I tried both the PRS-600 and PRS-300 (each for ~20 days) and found the non-touch-screen version way better, the glare from the touch screen was definitely a bigger problem than the extra size.
@tux2005
The poor screen on the 600 is why wife won't give up her 505. If these new one's don't have a screen better than the 505 she'll skip this generation also.
I know the cost already, it'll cost expensive.
I bet the book on the screen is a Jason novel.
Yet again I'll be the first to get one of these for my wife. We've had every model so far and she's just spoiled. The sony's are much better quality than pretty much the rest of them and with better format support + calibre, she can put just about anything on there to read.
Its still not a dual station, so it will not be the replacement of an actual book that one can hold with him thumb and read on his bed or couch. Until then, we continue to chop trees for our reading pleasure.
fingers crossed for a $99 model, but somehow i don't see it coming from sony.
I'll take a black&white non-glare version for $99.
I'll take a colour screen model (without obvious deficiencies and with wide-availability of books from more than just one lock-in vendor) for double that.
Waiting.
Paul Reed Smith
I just hope they finally fix the glare and clarity loss that their touch screen "adds"
I'd love to upgrade my aging PRS-505, but the 600, like the 700 before it is a step down in visibility, and that is unacceptable.
@kaitou
I assume they are using the newer e-ink screens, which have higher contrast, so that they can then reduce it again with the touchscreen layer. Sigh.
Sony have the best designed readers but they really need to fix that one obvious problem...
God damn it, sony! I don't need more bells and whistles on my readers, or them being red or pink or blue or having touchscreen... I want them LARGER! And not injust only one dimension (evilstares the prs 900). >:(
So the new Sony models, not yet available, might be almost as good as the current Amazon Kindles you can buy now. Anyone remember when Sony invented things?