Sony Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1) Unveiled, Harry Potter Involved
The folks at Sony have revealed a reader we've been getting hints on for about a month now, today letting us know that the lightest 6-inch eReader device ever has arrived. This newest look at an eReader from Sony builds on their previous successes and offers lovers of electronic reading materials a lovely sub-6-ounce piece of hardware with a 6-inch E-Ink Pearl V220 touch screen that'll be available in black, red, or white. Look like the device you'll finally take the eReader plunge with?
Sony Electronics will be using this device to continue their support of the Public Library System by having this device be the first eReader to provide wireless connectivity to the public library system in Canada and the USA with a dedicated icon on the device that will offer convenient and simple e-book borrowing (with a valid library card, of course!) There's also Sony's already established Reader Store with over 2.5 million titles, and you can read any book in EPUB, PDF or TXT format should you wish to do so.
The first magical promotion of this device will be coming in the form of a collaboration with J.K. Rowling's soon to be released Pottermore website. Harry Potter fans will rejoice at the idea of getting a voucher with the Sony Reader Wi-Fi that will enable them to download the first HP book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone straight from Pottermore when it first becomes available. The Pottermore website, when it launches, will be the exclusive retailer of Harry Potter digital eBooks – just incase you were looking for them and couldn't believe they were nowhere to be found.
A few more details on the hardware on the tablet include a glare-free Clear Dual Touch screen, again working with high contrast E-Ink Pearl electronic paper. Readers will be able to tap the screen to select a book, swipe through the pages, zoom with the pinching of their fingers, find dictionary meanings of words by tapping and holding them, and translate words into one of 5 supported languages.
There's a stylus on-board for this wild journey, this lovely electronic pen able to "write" on pages, highlight text, or whatever you fancy – perhaps a mural on page 102? Go for it! Battery life supposedly sits comfortably at over a month or at 3 weeks with wireless on, and you've got 2 GB of storage on the device for a total of 1,200 eBooks. You can view photos, listen to stored music on the device via headphone jack, and change images of screensavers galore. Font choices are available, brightness adjustment, and screen contrast are all adjustments you may make.
Per Sony, Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1) and Reader Wi-Fi with Pottermore promotion(PRS-T1HBC) are expected to be available October 2011 for about $149 at Sony Stores, online at http://store.sony.com, and other authorized retailers nationwide.