Electronic reader Sony Reader PRS-T2 - review. Review of the Sony PRS-T2 reader: an old friend in a new design Reader from Sony prs t2

Design, construction

The book comes in a compact cardboard packaging; once removed, it's time to throw it in the trash. The gadget itself comes in three colors: black, white and crimson, I got the last one. The delivery kits also differ, the simplest, as in my case, and the extended one, with a cover and a flashlight for illumination. I would recommend taking the second one.

The front part is made of varnished plastic, the back part is velvety, it is most convenient to hold the book by the lower part. By the way, red plastic is distracting; I would advise taking a white or black device. The book's dimensions are small, 110 x 173 x 9.1 mm, weight 164 grams, slightly heavier than the iPhone 4S. The assembly is very good, the design too, there is nothing superfluous here. Maybe we shouldn’t have highlighted the controls so much; for Sony, such an abundant use of silver plastic is not entirely typical. Overall, the design is very good; among books from other manufacturers, PRS-T2 stands out in better side- Sony, Amazon and B&N make the most beautiful and thoughtful e-readers.

Display

The display diagonal (E Ink Pearl) is six inches, resolution 800x600 pixels, the display supports two-finger control. For example, this is how you can change the text size. The paper is very good, if you wish, in the settings you can change the font type and size, change the display of letters, I liked the setting called “Saturation” most of all. - apparently saturated. Pay attention to how each letter is drawn. It's a pleasure to read.

Control

Below the display are the main control buttons: arrows for scrolling, large Home button, return back or to the main menu, call an additional menu in a particular application. All the buttons are convex, pressing with a pleasant click, operating blindly is a pleasure. At the bottom are the power and reset buttons. Meanwhile, the most important control element is the touch display; you can operate it either with your fingers or with the included stylus. It's very large and curved at the end so you can attach it somewhere. In general, the controls are implemented extremely logically, I have nothing to complain about. The response speed of pressing is extremely high, this also leaves a pleasant impression.

Working hours

The stated operating time is approximately 2 months - this is what they write on the official website: “Approximately up to 2 months (with the wireless function), up to approximately 6 weeks (with wireless function enabled)." In reality, the book may not last that long, but after actively reading for a week, the battery indicator became less than one division. In general, everything is very good in terms of operating time - the only pity is that the battery indicator is not visible during reading.

Memory

1.30 GB of memory is installed, this is enough for a huge library, but if there is not enough space, then on the left side there is a slot for a microUSB memory card, it is closed with a plug.

Menus and formats

On the main desktop, Wi-Fi and battery indicators are displayed at the top, below is the book you read last, even lower are recently added books, and at the very bottom are bookshelves, notes and applications. Among them are a very smart browser, a very smart dictionary, or rather, four dictionaries, a program for creating drawings, text memos, a utility for viewing images, and settings. You can also set up a connection with your Evernote and Facebook accounts to send information from books to these services. The settings of the book are typical, there is nothing to add here. It’s better to draw with a stylus; the book doesn’t understand the finger well. While reading, you can change the orientation of the book, crop the page and perform other typical actions - there is a search for the book, and the ability to quickly go to desired page, a kind of rewind.

The book has Wi-Fi and a pretty good browser; you can download books in formats that PRS-T2 supports. And there are not very many formats here, these are TXT, PDF, fb2, ePub plus graphic JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG.

The book's software is updated over the air; in my opinion, this is correct - at the time of testing, the latest version was installed here software. As I said above, there are no problems with the speed of work, the book is truly fast, and this applies to literally all aspects.

Dictionary

I would also like to say about the dictionary, there are four types, you can quickly select the one you need. You click on a word while reading, you can create a note, send it to Facebook or Evernote (yes, this is a great opportunity), immediately read the translation, or search the web. I usually don’t use such features on other books, but here everything is done so conveniently, so simply that we can only praise those responsible for the PRS-T2 at Sony.

conclusions

The disadvantages include support for an insufficient number of formats - in my opinion, this is not a problem. There are hundreds of converters, but there are also hundreds of libraries where you can find thousands of books in FB2 or ePub. That is, the problem of formats, by and large, has been made up out of thin air - if you need to work normally with PDF, then it is better to rely on a tablet. There’s nothing to say about the music; there’s no problem with the fact that the player was removed here.

Accordingly, I had extremely pleasant impressions from the book; it is good in everything. The Sony PRS-T2 has well-thought-out controls and a pleasant appearance, it is fast, it has a normal browser and Wi-Fi, and there are ample options for customizing the display of the book. Long operating time - and a regular microUSB connector for charging, which is also nice. The average cost is about 5,500 rubles, which seems to me to be quite an adequate price. I hope that the PRS-T3 will add a backlit display and this will not greatly affect the operating time. In the meantime, PRS-T2 remains good choice for those who just read books - it will be especially useful for lovers of books in English, the built-in dictionaries here are good, it’s a pleasure to use.

Sergey Kuzmin ()

chitalking December 23rd, 2012

A firmware update has been released for "American" and "European" Sony PRS-T2 readers. Firmware version - 1.0.05.12140. The main feature of this version is that during installation the recovery partition is affected and jailbreak is completely “killed”. This means that if you update the firmware to version 1.0.05.12140, you will lose the ability to install any alternative packages. Moreover, you will not be able to rollback to previous firmware even if you have a full backup. All is not lost if your device was jailbroken before you updated the firmware. For this case, boroda has developed a special package that restores the ability to boot the device from Micro cards SD. Having flashed the mentioned package, you can use the pre-made backup copy memory of your device and return it to its previous state. I repeat: this package will only work if the jailbreak was installed before the firmware update. If jailbreak was not installed in advance, then after updating the firmware you lose the ability to install custom firmware. If you purchased a device from a store that already has firmware version 1.0.05.12140, you are also deprived of the ability to install anything on your reader (except for updating branded firmware, if there are any).

Developers of alternative software for e-books Sony categorically do not recommend updating the firmware to version 1.0.05.12140.

Due to the predicted sharp decline in interest in electronic Sony books we began to think about the fate of our site. Most likely, we will continue our work for some time, focusing on users who previously owned e-readers from Sony and managed to customize their functionality to their own taste. In our opinion, there is little point in further developing and maintaining this site. Let's think about which direction we should move next.

As you know, the Sony company, which previously specialized in expensive, albeit high-quality readers, has clearly realized in the last two years that it will not see this market at all if it does not try to keep up with locomotives called Amazon and Barnes&Noble, which have flooded the market with really cheap and at the same time quite interesting readers Amazon Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch and so on, and these manufacturers present new models with enviable regularity. Sony tried to enter this market with the Sony Reader PRS-T1 model, however, although the reader was very good and cost only $150 (in the States), there was serious competition from Amazon, which, in addition to the Kindle Touch for $139, also brought the ultra-cheap new Klindle to the market for $79, as well as Barnes&Noble, which began offering the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight for $139, but he couldn’t figure it out. But Sony, of course, did not back down and focused on the further development of competitive readers, as a result of which new model called Sony Reader PRS-T2, and Sony is now releasing only this, having discontinued all other models. This is probably really quite reasonable, because old expensive models are no longer quoted on the market at all and there is no point in releasing them. But what the new model from Sony is and how competitive it is - we’ll see now, fortunately it came to me for review, thanks to the online store Reader-sony.ru.

Sony Reader PRS-T2 Specifications operating system- Android
Display- 6" E link Pearl (800x600), 16 shades of gray, infrared sensor, dual technology touch
CPU- FreeScale i.MX508, 800 MHz
Dimensions- 173.0 x 110.0 x 9.1 mm
Weight- 164 g
Memory- 2 GB (approximately 1.3 GB free)
Port- microUSB
Net- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) push button configuration
Audio- No
Memory card- microSD up to 32 GB
Battery- lithium-ion, 1000 m*Ah
Formats- ePub eBook, PDF, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP In general, the reader’s characteristics differ very little from the previous model, except that they removed the audio (for some, its presence is relevant) plus the body became literally 4 grams lighter. This reader is available in three colors: black, white and red. But there, as far as I understand, some interesting things should have been added inside. Now let's see what's going on there. Delivery and configuration Delivered in a traditional box.
The kit includes a reader, a USB-microUSB cable, some brochures and a simple stylus (it was also in the previous model).
The stylus is a regular plastic one, with a small attachment on the side of the writing head and a grip on the reverse side so that it can be attached to the chest pocket.
The grip, by the way, is not superfluous - the reader itself does not provide a socket for a stylus, which is more than strange: without a socket it will be lost in one or two or three times.
And most likely, once or twice. However, with the previous model, practice shows that the stylus is simply thrown somewhere and not used. The cover is not included and must be purchased separately: two options are available - a regular cover and a cover with a built-in flashlight. The reader itself is very similar to the previous model both in form and design: the same simple black plastic with a soft-touch coating. It doesn’t get particularly scratched and doesn’t get your fingers dirty, but, to be honest, it looks unremarkable. Sony readers didn't look like this before, not like this! On there is practically nothing except a microSD slot, closed with a rubber plug.
At the bottom there is Reset, microUSB output, power button. I have said and will continue to say that the power button on the bottom is the most idiotic (or rather, inconvenient for the user) solution that you can come up with. However, this has now become fashionable for almost all modern readers. And even Sony, which always had such a convenient power rocker on top (the rocker so that it wouldn’t be accidentally pressed), followed this idiotic fashion. Shame on them all! A shame! The buttons on the lower front panel have changed and, in my opinion, have become noticeably better - they are much more convenient to press compared to the old version, where the buttons were in the form of stripes.
Here, compare with the buttons of the PRS-T1 model.
The buttons for the action performed remained unchanged: scrolling forward and backward, the home key, return and menu (aka settings). With the edges around the display, unfortunately, everything is just as bad here as in the previous model. The sides are too high for a touch screen: pressing icons in the corners is particularly inconvenient!
When you connect the reader to a computer, a question appears on its screen whether we want the computer to see the reader’s drives. If the question is answered positively, the device will have a reader drive of approximately 1.3 GB in size and a small 10 MB drive, which contains distributions of the Reader program for installation on a PC or Mac.

In principle, you can not use this program, but simply upload media data to the media folder of the reader’s memory.

However, the program is actually quite convenient. You can import suitable media data (files and folders) into it, create collections, and then synchronize it all with the reader.

Imported books

Imported Images

Synchronization options

In addition, if you make all sorts of drawings, notes, bookmarks, etc. in the reader, but don’t want to accidentally lose them, when you synchronize with your computer through this program, everything will be saved. Russification In general, there is no particular need for Russification of the reader - the reader, right out of the box, normally understands the Cyrillic alphabet in book titles and in the text itself. Russification will be needed for search: so that you can specify Russian words, because now there is only a Latin keyboard. Device operation The home page has undergone some changes. The last book being read is still at the top with various information, then there is a list from the four most recently added books (in old version there were three of them), and at the end there were three icons: bookshelf, store, applications (previously the icons were all at once, but there were four of them on the first page, the rest on the second).

Go to the Bookshelves section. Books can be displayed as cover previews, or as a list.

Cover Preview

List

Titles are sorted by date, title, author, file name and last read.

You can also search by name, but the factory firmware only supports the Latin alphabet. Open a book in EPUB format.

Press the "Menu" button (aka settings).

View mode - here you can set the placement of pages on a sheet (1, 2, 3 columns - 1, 4, 6 pages - or alignment in landscape mode), cropping pages and adjusting brightness.

Column mode - you can display 4-6 pages per sheet.

Screen brightness adjustment mode - by default the brightness is set to full, but I don’t understand why it should be reduced using these settings on electronic ink.

There are six fonts plus the original document itself.

Change the size to a larger one.

And this is the smallest plus - we change the headset to Verdana.

Changing font details throughout the book occurs very quickly. Now let's go to notes mode.

You can draw them with your finger or stylus directly on the text, and an eraser is also available to erase what you have drawn.

Menu section "More".

Search in the factory firmware is done only in Latin.

In settings, you can select the mode to disable notes over text.

Section "Info" - information about the publication.

Bookmarks are made very simply - just click with your finger or stylus on the page at the top right, a special icon will appear and the bookmark will be added to the list.

Here is a bookmark and a handwritten note on one page.

You can determine who to give access to such posts in the reader settings. That seems to be all the mechanisms for working with a document. I also checked how the PDF is read there.

It seems to read normally, but on such a screen you can only normally see documents that are laid out in A5 format.

In Pdf, increasing the font scale works, but at the same time the page is enlarged, so you have to scroll the page using the paging keys - and this, of course, is not reading, but some kind of tears. In bookshelf mode, you can choose three options: just a shelf with a full set of books, collections, and Evernote notebooks. (Support for Evernote and Facebook are new features in this model.) As you know, Sony readers cannot consider folders as collections, so collections must be compiled manually (or using special programs

). It is more or less convenient to compile collections in the Reader program for PC - there you simply mark which publications to take and add them to the appropriate collection. Well, you can also add certain publications to collections directly in the reader.

Evernote's note manager is also accessible from Settings. However, there you can select only one notebook to load into the reader, and only one special notebook is selected for loading notes from the reader into Evernote. That is, the functionality is extremely limited, so it is not clear why it was introduced at all. Here is a list of notes from the Wine notebook.

- a branded online store from Sony, where you can purchase and immediately download various publications and periodicals to the reader.

- a regular browser for surfing pages. It is, of course, very inconvenient to use compared to tablets.

A full-screen image and its options. By the way, pay attention to the tracks from the previous pages - I will write about this later.

Basic settings section.

System settings.

So far I can’t find anything in favor of the Sony PRS-T2 model in the comparative characteristics (for Russia, I emphasize). It's another matter if they give it as a gift. Then - yes, the reader is like a reader. Read, enjoy. In the e-book segment, a seasonal update cycle has long been established. The three undisputed leaders, who set the tone in the global market, present their new products in strict order: at the end of spring, Barnes & Noble presents their developments, the end of summer is reserved for Sony, and finally, at the beginning of autumn, Amazon holds its event. Naturally, for each update companies try to prepare something “sort of” that will force owners previous versions

readers reach for their wallets. The current year 2012 was no exception; in the spring, Barnes & Noble showed that fans of the company are looking forward to updated products from Amazon’s autumn announcement. But the Japanese seem to have decided to take a time out, presenting an almost complete copy of last year's Sony Reader PRS-T1. Thus, fans of the brand will have to wait at least another year for the next generation E Ink Pearl HD screens and built-in backlighting, or turn their attention to more progressive competitors.

Sony Reader PRS-T2 Equipment

comes in a thin cardboard box, the design of which makes it easy to guess the specific design option. We received the brightest red reader; for lovers of classic colors, white and black versions are also offered. Please pay special attention that the red and white versions of the reader are finished with glossy plastic, and the black version is finished with matte plastic, so for lovers of practical solutions, the choice is obvious. Sony Reader PRS-T2 Reader with the complete set are placed in an unpretentious pallet made of ordinary cardboard. Here you will find manual, USB/micro-USB cable and a plastic stylus with a curved top. This part allows you to attach the stylus to clothing, because there is no corresponding hole in the reader body. A full charger and cover, if you need them, will have to be purchased separately.

Design

Judging by the materials, dimensions and weight, we have practically the same last year's Sony Reader PRS-T1, which stubbornly defends the title of one of the lightest 6-inch readers in the world. Actually popular Amazon Kindle 4 weighs only 6 grams heavier, and the flexible WEXLER.Flex ONE is a whopping 54 grams lighter than the 164 grams Sony Reader PRS-T2.

The only, and at the same time not very successful, change in the design was a different design of the control panel. The stylish metal panel with a spindle-shaped strip of thin button-marks of the Sony Reader PRS-T1 was replaced by a set of free-standing plastic pictogram buttons with a silver coating.

Not only do these buttons look unpretentious (and, according to some aesthetes, even clumsy), but also the absence of a cover panel visually makes the lower part of the case heavier.

Front panel and upper part of the sides of the red and white version Sony Reader PRS-T2 made of easily soiled, glare-resistant plastic. But the black version was deprived of this dubious decoration, using perhaps not so attractive, but much more practical matte plastic. The base of the body of all three color versions, including the lower part of the sides, is made of grippy soft-touch plastic. Closer to the side edges there are roundings, and the top edge is characteristically pointed.

The top and right sides of the case are free, at the very bottom of the left side there is a card slot MicroSD memory, covered with a non-removable plastic plug in the color of the body. A special panel on the bottom edge contains: a hole for a forced reboot, a micro-USB connector for charging the battery and transferring data, and a button to turn on the reader with a charge level indicator. But the standard audio output, and therefore the built-in music player, present in the previous model have disappeared.

Thus, compared to its predecessor, the design Sony Reader PRS-T2 has remained almost unchanged, but not everyone will like the only noticeable innovation. But the appearance of a black matte version can only be welcomed; not everyone likes gloss.

Ergonomics

The device is light and thin, the body is well assembled and balanced, so it’s very pleasant to hold it in your hands (special thanks for the soft-touch coating on the back panel). When using the cover, the feeling of Sony Reader PRS-T2 somewhat different, primarily due to significantly increasing thickness and weight.

It is unlikely that anyone will argue with the fact that the most frequently used operation in any reader is turning pages. In case of Sony Reader PRS-T2 this can be done as a characteristic movement along touch screen, and using hardware keys, both methods are good in their own way.

Despite the complaints about the design, from an ergonomic point of view, the new control unit solution turned out to be quite successful (in the photo above you can see how this unit looked in the Sony Reader PRS-T1). Thus, moving the buttons closer to the screen makes it more convenient to press them and securely hold the reader with one hand. Well, the unique and at the same time easily recognizable by touch shape of each button allows you to use them blindly without any problems. The moment of deflection of the membrane and its return to place is felt very clearly, tactile clarity feedback Many keyboards are the envy of them. As a result, the buttons Sony Reader PRS-T2 tight enough to avoid accidentally pressing them, but light enough to not cause finger fatigue during long periods of reading.

The infrared sensor module supports recognition of two touches, which made it possible to implement a convenient “Pinch-to-Zoom” scaling mode. The page is not fully updated until you have finally decided on the required degree of image magnification. In text formats this happens quite quickly, but in heavy PDFs the result will have to wait.

Functionality

The most interesting and useful feature for enthusiasts Sony Reader PRS-T2 is that it works under Android control OS, for which it is quite easy to create custom firmware with significantly improved functionality. To understand how seriously you can expand the reader’s capabilities in this way, we recommend reading the material “”.

The most annoying change in basic functionality is the abandonment of the built-in audio player. Possibly on target for Sony markets do not take advantage of this opportunity, but in Ukraine and neighboring countries, listening to music and audiobooks using a reader is quite common. Otherwise, the characteristics remain the same, the Wi-Fi module is used to its fullest, while most services and the Sony Reader Store online store are useless for domestic users.

New Sony Reader PRS-T2 based on a regular monochrome 6-inch E Ink Pearl screen with a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels and displaying up to 16 shades of gray. Those who were hoping to see backlighting a la Barnes & Noble GlowLight or a higher-quality E Ink Pearl HD matrix with a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels in the new model from Sony will have to wait at least until next year. Installed around the perimeter of the reader screen infrared system Clear Touch supports two simultaneous touches, providing touch control without compromising image quality.

The data storage volume is declared to be 2 GB, but in fact only 1.35 GB is available to the user. For many, this volume will be enough, but if necessary, it can be easily expanded using MicroSD memory cards. Support for formats is standard for Sony readers, this is the standard TXT, as well as the common EPUB and PDF. Devices officially supplied to the Russian market will have special localized firmware installed that supports the most popular FB2 format.

Time full charge Sony Reader PRS-T2 from a computer's USB port takes only 2.5 hours, using a network charger will allow you to win another half hour. Just like its predecessor, the new reader is equipped with a built-in 1000 mAh battery, which, according to the creators, can last up to two months, provided it reads for half an hour a day and the Wi-Fi module is turned off. By using the wireless module, you will reduce the predicted time battery life up to 6 weeks. When turning one page per second, the battery will run out of charge after reaching 30,000 pages (PRS-T1 gives up at 14,000 pages).

It is not entirely clear how the developers managed to achieve a twofold increase in the autonomy of the Sony Reader PRS-T2 compared to its predecessor, equipped with exactly the same 1000 mAh battery. It was not possible to objectively assess the autonomy of the new product in a fairly short testing time; moreover, the results will largely depend on the usage model, so you can only take the company’s word for it.

Interface

We got the American version for testing Sony Reader PRS-T2, it is on it that we will consider the features of the interface. In sleep mode, the screen displays the user's choice: the cover of the last opened book, a skinsaver based on one or a group of images, or just a blank sheet.

The main screen consists of three main zones. The top line displays service information about the status of the Wi-Fi module and the battery charge level; in the center, all parameters of the active book are indicated, including cover, title, author, number of pages read and time of the last reading session. Just below are the covers and titles of the four latest books, and finally, at the very bottom of the main screen there are large icons of the library, the online Reader Store and the Applications section.

In library Sony Reader PRS-T2 You can choose to display content in rows or tiles, sorting by date, title, author, file name, or time of last activity. If there are too many books, it will be easier to find the required volume using the search. Folders are not supported, but you can try organizing your own electronic library using collections or using the power of Evernote. A long tap on the cover causes context menu, allowing you to get acquainted with complete information about the book, as well as delete it or, conversely, protect it from accidental deletion.

Reading mode interface Sony Reader PRS-T2 literally spartan - in addition to text, you only have access to the page counter, but not the clock or battery charge level. You can turn pages using keys or a swipe gesture; simply touching the edge of the page does not work. The text is aligned to the width of the page, so even though there are no hyphens, it looks pretty good. By default, a full update occurs every 15th page, but in the settings you can choose to force each page to be updated. By holding down the arrow, you can scroll through the pages as quickly as possible; the final drawing will occur only after you release the key.

The settings menu is called up using the corresponding button. The most popular Fonts item allows you to select the font size from 8 options and its type from 7 options. There is no line spacing adjustment. Unfortunately, on the tested firmware it was not possible to change the font type in the EPUB file with Cyrillic, although a book in the same format in English allowed us to perform this operation without any problems. The More item, among other things, hides the option to switch the interface to landscape orientation.

Navigate Page section of the reader Sony Reader PRS-T2 allows you to go to the previous page in time, enter a specific page number, or use the slider to go to the desired place “by eye”. The contents of the book with a list of chapters are also available here. In the Customize View item, you can configure the page display mode by selecting a layout from the options: original, two or three columns, and landscape. “Column” modes are useful when reading PDF, but for regular text EPUBs the original layout is quite enough. The Crop Page item allows you to adjust the width of the fields to your requirements, and Ajust View allows you to adjust the contrast of the image using presets or manual mode.

The Notes and Handwriting items allow you to enter, view and edit handwritten and keyboard notes. This is especially convenient to do with a stylus. So, by highlighting a word or an entire paragraph with a long tap, you can simply underline it, leave your note, send a quote to your Facebook or Evernote, or find it on Wikipedia, Google or on the pages of the same book.

In the Applications section of the interface Sony Reader PRS-T2 The items Public Library, Browser, Periodicals, All Notes, Dictionaries, Handwritten Notes, Reminders, Images, General Settings and Settings for Evernote and Facebook services are located. The purpose of each of the items is obvious; we only note that in the Dictionaries menu you can not only find the meaning the right word, but also change the dictionary from the preinstalled ones. The settings menu is very rich, you will have to spend a lot of time to fully study it, but it is worth it, as it allows you to configure almost any parameter.

Video review of the Sony Reader PRS-T2

Results

Sony Reader PRS-T2 is the latest reader from the Japanese company, announced in August 2012. Unfortunately, there was no qualitative leap compared to its predecessor in any of the categories: design, ergonomics, functionality. We liked the minimal weight, stylish design and the presence of a MicroSD card reader, but were disappointed by the lack of an audio player; we can rate the updated button block as “not for everybody.”

About the price Sony Reader PRS-T2 there is little point in saying this, since it is not a competitive advantage. In the USA, the cost of the reader is $129 at the time of the announcement; based on the experience of its predecessor, we will probably expect a New Year’s promotional reduction to $99, but in Ukraine the new product can already be purchased for $200. Let us remind you that the subsidized Amazon Kindle 4 with non-cancellable advertising costs $79 in the US, but you can easily find it here for $100, and even the comparable Amazon Kindle 4 Touch costs only $125.

Liked
+ presence of a practical black version of the design made of non-glare matte plastic
+ thin and light body
+ ergonomics of the new key block
+ thoughtful interface

Did not like
- lack of radical improvements (backlight, screen with increased resolution)
- there is no music player present in the previous model Sony Reader PRS-T1
— not everyone will like the redesign of the button block
— glossy plastic of the white and red versions noticeably glares