By Robert Nelson
Details for the Sony Reader PRS-T2 have been floating around for some time now, mostly due to an FCC filing that arrived back in early July. That bit aside though, it looks like the e-reader is just about ready for a primetime release.
So far we have yet to see anything official from Sony in terms of an availability announcement, but we have seen a pre-order product listing from the folks at J&R. The retailer has the Sony Reader PRS-T2 available for pre-order, however they have yet to offer anything in terms of an expected shipping date.
The e-reader is priced at $130 and comes with a free Harry Potter ebook pre-loaded. Otherwise, the Sony Reader PRS-T2 has features that will include a 6-inch (600 x 800) E Ink Pearl with Clear Touch Infrared Technology, 1.3GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, a weight of 5.9 ounces and a battery life of up to 2 months. A few other perks include 6 built-in dictionaries along with support for Facebook for Reader and Evernote Clearly.
Via [GadgeTell]
(Soon there will be as many kinds of reading devices as books in a library)
To wit; an inexpensive thin screen title. Each ITST book would be sold with its locked, resident content. It would be owned outright and could be collected into physical libraries but would also provide ancillary content and off-line-on-line directory easily up-dated. The ITST would weight only a few grams and be only a few millimeters thin with a screen dimension in three options of phone, tablet or lap-top sizes. These modules, like CDs would shelve compactly. The screen display would be electrophoric with touch navigation. Like an electronic toothbrush, the entire library could be recharged as needed.
What is not to like?
Same 800×600 6″ Pearl EInk screen we’ve been seeing on every major brand EReader for a couple of years now. It’s as if EInk development just stopped dead in it’s tracks.
Also, the specs on this are not much different from the T1. Hardware device manufacturers seem to be completely focused on rolling out new models with incremental feature updates while ignoring software improvements and even bug fixes for older models that were released just a year or two ago.
I seem to recall one of the biggest criticisms of the T1 was the lack of a place to put the stylus, like the old PRS-650 had. I wonder if they at least fixed that issue or (like all other major issues) if it fell by the wayside.