Two New Sony Readers: Kindle Killers?

Sony has introduced two new e-readers to compete with Amazon’s Kindle. The “Pocket Edition” has a 5 inch screen, 440MB of internal memory and will cost $199. The “Touch Edition” as the name suggests, is a touch screen model. The touch screen is 6 inches, and it will also have 440MB of internal memory and cost $299.

I’m not impressed by either. The Kindle is already a “pocket” edition if you compare it to the Kindle DX, and 440MB of memory? Really? The Kindle has 2GB! There’s no external memory slot either and of course no wireless downloading. The touch screen version does support Memory Stick Pro Duo and SD cards, but it also has no wireless.

Neither of them is anything exciting nor do they offer much of anything the Kindle doesn’t, so this Kindle owner is not impressed. My personal opinion aside, will these be Kindle killers?

I don’t think so. Granted, the low price on the “Pocket Edition” will no doubt appeal to those who like the idea of an e-reader but think the Kindle is too expensive, but avid readers (and that’s who e-readers really appeal to) will find the 440MB of memory far too small to be useful.

As far as the “Touch Edition” goes, yes there are some who think the only thing the Kindle lacks is a touch screen, but really, how necessary is it? Touch screens are more fragile than their non touch counterparts and let’s face it, they make a device look filthy in no time. The Touch Edition’s handwriting recognition feature does sound interesting but as anyone who’s signed a touch pad at a store register can tell you, they often leave a lot to be desired. Let’s see how accurate it truly is. Being able to take notes in your own handwriting won’t be very useful if you can’t read them!

I think these two new Sony E-readers will appeal to some specific audiences but the Kindle will still be king, at least for now.