Sony Reader PRS-T1 Rood

Before I start with the review I would like to thank both “tweakers.net” and “bol.com” for choosing me among their winners to win a fantastic Sony Reader PRS-T1. I feel obligated to write a review as my thanks in return.


Reception

The Sony Reader comes in a long flat sturdy box with its common Sony design. Inside is an brown eco packaging with all the contents, consisting of the reader itself, ‘Quick Start Guides’ in ten different languages, safety advice about headphones, EU guarantee information document, registration form, an important product information booklet, stylus and last but not least a USB cable.

First impressions

After unpacking we quickly noticed the feather-light weight of the reader. In our cause we received it in red which is somewhat more like a glossy pinkish red color tone. The perfect color for your lovely girlfriend or those whose name is Ken. The 6” reader is comparable to a pocket book which gives you the feeling of reading a regular book, yet you can hold it in one hand due to its light weight, size and flatness.

Let’s have a quick look at its exterior. At the bottom we find a reset hole, mini USB connector, a headphone out, on/off button. On the left side we have the micro SD slot. On front we have a back & forward, home, return and settings button.

Specifications

• Kleuren: Zwart / Rood / Wit
• Scherm: 15,2cm (6") E link® Pearl (800x600)
• Touch screen: Helder IR Dual Touch Screen
• Ingebouwd geheugen: 1,4GB vrij geheugen (circa 1200 boeken)
• Compatibele geheugenkaart: MircoSD-kaart, maximaal 32GB
• Meertalige woordenboeken: ENGELSE (Brits / Amerikaans) + 10 VERTALINGEN (uit en naar het Frans / Duits / Spaans / Nederlands / Italiaans)
• Audio Playback [Audio afspelen]: Ja
• WI-FI: Ja (802.11b/g/n)
• Notities: Ja
• Zoeken: Ja
• Zoom: Ja
• Verzameling: Ja
• Favorieten: Ja
• Lettergrootten: 8 (XS - XXL)
• Levensduur accu: Meer dan 100 uur lang lezen


Usage

Now it’s time to finally turn it on and have a look at the interface. Booting up the device may take up to 40 seconds. The first page of the main screen is all about books. At the top we see the “last read” followed by “recently added”. At the bottom we see four large buttons and a small one. The large buttons are “Books”, “Store”, “Collections” and “All Notes”. On the bottom we have a small button that leads us to the next page of the interface.

Here we can access all the extra features and settings which include a “web browser” and “periodicals” under network features. In the category “Reference” we have a “Dictionary”, “Handwriting” and “Text Memo”. The section “Multimedia” consists of “Pictures” and “Audio”. The last and final button is under “System” which is “Settings”. On the bottom appears a small button that leads us back to the previous page of the home screen. We also have a status bar at the top which indicates the Wi-Fi status and battery level.


Reading Books

The Sony Reader supports ‘epub’ and ‘pdf’ formats as an e-book. For an optimal reading experience you should prefer to use the ‘epub’ format as it’s always scalable to your preferred font size. With ‘pdf’ files you most likely end up scrolling around the screen once zoomed in as most of them are possibly not scalable.
Once you open an e-book you’ll get to see the text crisp and clear on the 6” screen. The font and it’s size can be adjusted with several fonts in eight different sizes. Now every user can set it to their preferred needs. Changing pages goes within 2 seconds due to a double refresh with seizure effect. By that I mean the page gets cleared by turning all pixels negative, positive, negative, positive to prevent the ghosting effect which would have normally shown you a blur of the last page through the new page.
Due to its weight it’s quite comfortable to hold, making it a pleasure to use it as a reading device. This along with the 6” e-ink screen gives you nearly the same experience as reading a regular book. What’s nice about the Reader is that you save the books on a storage medium which is out of the box 2GB but can be expanded with a micro SD card of up to 32GB. That means you can carry an entire library in your bag as where you normally would have need to drive a small truck to transport such an amount of books. Now you will have always something to read anywhere you are!


Browser

Another nifty feature of the Sony Reader is that it has a build in browser. You can go online using any available Wi-Fi network. The browser on the Reader gives you a similar experience to that of a smart phone or tablet. Both portrait and landscape mode are supported as a viewing mode. You can change this in the settings menu. The large screen gives you a comfortable amount of space to show any webpage. Loading a page doesn’t take very long. What is worth to mention is that ‘Flash’ is not supported. Scrolling through a page may go a little awkward as while scrolling the screen turns to black & white instead of gray scale. The more you keep scrolling the more blurry the page becomes. Once you stop scrolling the screen refreshes and you get back to a nice clear and sharp grayscale screen. The Reader also has a onscreen keyboard that is nice and large which makes it very easy to type whatever you need to write.


Other features & battery life

The Sony Reader PRS-T1 has a touch screen which comes with a stylus. This allows you to easily write memos or even make drawings on the device. Another nice little feature is the multimedia section which allows you to look at pictures and listen to mp3 files. That means you can also listen to audio books on this device.

You've got to keep in mind that using Wi-Fi and listening to music will discharge the battery quite fast. If you just use it for reading books you should be able to get through a whole month without charging. According to Sony the battery should be capable of displaying 14.000 pages.


Conclusion
Those who seek a solution for carrying tons of books inside their bag may have found the answer when stumbling upon the Sony Reader PRS-T1. You can easily fit several thousands of books on this device once you upgraded the memory with a micro SD card. Too tired to read? Why not listen to an audio book for a change! You could even read your email and browse your favorite websites at your local Café if they have free internet available. It’s just basically a complete package for only €159,00 which is in my opinion a great deal if you’re interested in e-Readers!!