Written on October 30, 2009 – 2:48 am | by CoolGadgetConcept |
Apple is yet to announce and release it secret, yet expected iTablet, which will certainly bring many excellent features and will reinvent the device market once again. Until that day comes, you can still find some interesting gadgets, not advertised within their potential. One of these gadgets is none other than the digital reader book.

Sure, you've heard about the Apple audio books and all its features, but what about the reader digital book? Not many people can say they've heard or read about theses gadgets, although their on the market for a while now. Unfortunately, since everyone is in a hurry these days, nobody spares time to read about devices with less than extraordinary or ground shacking design and features.


Also, the marketing and advertising of these products make them even less knowable and more anonymous. Sony sports into its portfolio four reader digital books. However, one of them is not yet released, but only announced. The Sony Reader Touch Edition, with the code PRS 600 SC, is an attractive model, for anyone who needs or want a digital reader book. Sony advertises this product as being the solid solution for the "on the go" reading experience. The first interesting feature that came to my attention is the customizable feature, very Apple iPod like, with the option of engraving your personal Reader Touch. In terms of design, this product is pretty attractive. However, I must admit I like more the black and silver finish then the red and silver look, or the all silver case.


The Reader Touch is made out of a plastic body with a nice frame silver finish. There is nothing more to say about the design, since it looks plain and doesn't really offer something special. However, even if the design is not something spectacular or exquisite, the build quality is solid, and it provides a nice user experience. You get no flex whatsoever, and neither weird noise when pressed to hard (even if the body is made out of plastic). With a height of 6.9 mm, wide of 4.8 inches, deep of 0.4 inches, the PRS 600 SC weights about 10.1 oz including the battery. Regarding the battery department, the Touch Reader sports a built in Lithium Ion battery of 3.7 Volts DC.


The approximate battery life is 7.500 BBeB Book on continuous page turns, or 6.800 ePub continuous page turns. On the front side you get the touch screen which will provide simple access to the various functions of the Touch Reader. Above the touch screen you get the "Sony" logo, while below it you get the turn page buttons (forward, or rewind), and the home button. Also below the display, you get the size button that will help you either zoom in or zoom out, in order to adjust the text size, and the options button, for customizing your Reader menu as you might need it to be.


To the right of the options button you get the volume up and down button (with no other presentation needed). The back side of this device lacks any buttons or ports. However, the bottom side sports enough ports and slots for a good connectivity package. Therefore, you get the headphone jack (mandatory in order to keep your thoughts to yourself), the USB port for an easy and fast connection with your computer, the DC in jack, the reset button (if this device needs a reset button, you shouldn't expect of a high quality software), hole and hand strap.


The top part of this gadget sports the following ports, slots or buttons, such as holes for cover attachments, the charge indicator, the power switch, the memory stick Duo memory card port, the SD memory card slot, and the stylus, necessary in order to precise operations or drawing. In terms of memory department, you get an onboard memory of 512 MB, with only 380 MB available for usage. However both Memory Stick Pro Duo memory card and SD memory card can bring up to 16 GB memory.


The onboard memory will be sufficient for about 350 books. In case you were wondering Sony has included a 6 inches Vizplex screen with a maximum resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, sporting an 8 levels gray scale. This display offers a high contrast ratio, making the whole read experience really nice even in direct sunlight. The user interface is rather intuitive and it doesn't need too many manuals for you to read. Even better, with the touch screen navigation everything feels in the right place. The home menu contains a default look. However, just use the advanced settings to customize the menu look. You get several pre installed functions, such as continue reading, books, all notes, collections (your collection created by the eBook Library), more, handwriting, text memo, audio, pictures, and settings.


Although, this device sports a reset button you shouldn't have any problems with the user interface, since everything runs smoothly and without any glitches. Sony successfully created an easy to use Touch Reader thanks to the hardware specifications. Easily transfer Adobe DRM protected files, PDFs, PRS DRM protected, files, images (with the following formats supported, JPEG, MBP, PNG and GIF), MP3 audio files, or AAC audio files, and Microsoft Word documents, by just using the fast USB connection. However, in order to successfully create a connection between the Touch Reader and your computer, several conditions must be sustained.


Therefore, your computer must run Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, or Basic, or Business, or Ultimate either 32 bit or 64 bit with the Service Pack 1 upgrade, or late. Also your computer could sport the Windows XP Home Edition, or Professional Edition, or Media Center Edition (2004 and 2005), the 32 bit version, with the Service Pack 2 or later upgrades; if you are a Mac user then your computer, or laptop, must run with either Mac OS X 10.4.11 (or later) or Mac OS X 10.5.6 (or later). The minimum processor your computer must have is an 800 MHz Celeron, or the G3, G4, or G5 processor for Mac. Also, you computer must have 128 MB of RAM memory (and for the Vista operating system at least 512 MB).

Sony included in the shipping box beside the actual Touch Reader, the USB cable, sleeve and quick start. Overall, this device sports a decent design with an excellent build quality. Also, it is easy to use thanks to the touch screen navigation, and the 6 inches display provides sufficient brightness for you to read your favorite books within any light environment conditions. However, everything holds a drawback.

The PRS 600 SC sports a significant drawback, its price tag of $299.99. However, if you are interested in purchasing a digital reader book, you might want to hold your buy a few more weeks, because the price drop will start happening when Christmas will only be a couple of weeks away.