From the press release:
Rounding out availability for its beautifully-designed new line of Reader™ digital books, Sony today announced that the wireless Reader Daily Edition™ is now available in select retail outlets and online at SonyStyle.com. The new Reader Daily Edition, equipped with Wi-Fi® in addition to AT&T’s 3G network, will provide book lovers the ability to browse, purchase and download books as well as select newspapers and magazines on the go. Like the new Reader Pocket Edition™ and Reader Touch Edition™, the Reader Daily Edition is also outfitted with first-to-market optical touch screen technology, which enhances ease of use and increases reading clarity on its seven-inch, full touch screen.
The Reader Daily Edition gives consumers wireless access to Sony’s Reader™ Store from most of the U.S. via Wi-Fi or 3G, powered by Gobi™ Technology by Qualcomm. It also provides basic Web browsing functionality via Wi-Fi and pre-loaded, reading-based URLs, including: Google.com, Wikipedia.org, Twitter.com, Facebook.com, cnbc.com and cnet.com. There are no monthly fees or transaction charges for the basic wireless connectivity and users still have the option to side load personal documents or content from other compatible sites via USB.
New features on the Daily Edition include intuitive content zoom, adjustable contrast and brightness control, as well as automatic multiple page creation to make documents designed for a standard sheet of paper easier to read. Also, personalized standby screen options give users the ability to download their favorite photos or other images as a screen saver. The collections functionality allows users to group their favorite reads by author, category or other criteria. In addition, the new Reader line offers users on-screen functionality to look up words and phrases with the built-in New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition and Oxford Dictionary of English eDictionaries, as well as 10 translation dictionaries in languages such as French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. Just double tap any word to get the dictionary definition or translation and with one more tap, learn more about the word through Wikipedia. The Reader Daily Edition includes 2 GB of memory and expansion slots for additional memory (up to 32 GB). It is available in silver and currently retails for about $299.
Still can’t figure out why Sony can’t offer an international version of this? Amazon does.
-> Devini:
I suppose it’s because there is only an American and Canadian Bookstore. And they can’t be bother to make them internationally available.
I wish they would, at the moment I am hesitating to buy the 650 because it’s lacking the wifi.
I know. It’s like Kobo. Why didn’t they put the wi-fi in right from the beginning. The same with Sony. It’s almost like they want to fail; or, they have people advising them who don’t have a “clue”.
I’m waiting to see if long awaited iPhone app from Sony is available in Canada. If it isn’t that’s it for me. I’ll refuse to buy another book from them. All my business will go to Amazon first and Kobo second.
Rob,
It’s costly, and Amazon’s motivated by its bookseller-oriented focus though those e-book digital rights seem quite a headache.
I forgot to mention that Sony has never bothered to make a Sony Reader for people in Japan who read in Japanese ! They plan to this year. They’ve only been out since early ’06 .
@Andrys: I think Sony had a reader in Japan years ago, but it wasn’t popular at all and Sony cut it. The Sony Readers we have now are largely from Sony America, I believe.
Ben, that would make sense, but newspapers from Japan have described it as Sony’s first attempt to do a reader for Japanese readers. Maybe it’s just forgotten or newer writers don’t know about it.
Sony’s first eInk reader, the Libre, was made for the Japanese market in 2004. It had a whole 10MB of on board storage and was rendered pretty much useless for most consumers by DRM which had the books you bought expire after 60 days.
AnemicOak,
Fascinating. And Unreal !
I’m hoping someone might be able to answer my question. I’ve decided to purchase an ereader. Right now it would seem like the Sony 950 Daily Edition is in the lead. For the record, I’m not the most technologically intelligent person. I’ve been obsessed with trying to make my decision, therefore have been researching it to no end the last 3 weeks, sometimes coming out more confused in the end.
The down fall with the Sony, wifi/3g, not available in Canada. Does anyone know if it will become available in Canada? Or, should I just start considering another brand ie: Kindle, Kobo?