Sony PRS-T1: light e-reader, handles heavyweight reads
Sony's new 6-inch e-reader weighs just 168g, so won't weigh down your luggage. And it's slimmer than a book of people who like Jeffrey Archer.
Amazon may well be prepping a Kindle tablet along with a new Kindle, but that doesn't seem to be stopping Sony ploughing on with its e-readers. The latest Wi-Fi version is the lightest 6-incher ever, and at just 8.9mm thick, it's sure to fit snug in your luggage, even if you have filled it with far too many pairs of emergency pants.
A limited edition version comes with a voucher that'll let you download the ebook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the first in JK Rowling's gajillion selling series) from the Pottermore website. Good news for fans of the boy wizard.
Using Wi-Fi you can not only buy books from the Reader Store (coming to the UK in October, bookworms), you'll also be able to borrow ebooks from your local library. Well, it sure beats digging out the dog-eared card you haven't used for years.
Like previous models you can pinch to zoom, swipe to turn the page, and there's a bundled stylus for making notes on the page. Or childish doodling, whichever you prefer. You can look up things using Wikipedia or Google, and there's even a basic browser, though don't expect to use Google Earth on it.
The PRS-T1 will display lots of file formats, including EPUB, PDF and TXT. It has an MP3 player, and you can use it as a photo viewer, if you fancy giving your eyes a rest. Its battery will last three weeks without a charge, you can choose from a range of font sizes and styles, and it comes in three fetching colours: red, silver or black.
All very exciting. We're still waiting on a price, as we reckon it'll have to go as low as the £111 Kindle to have a real chance. And as for Amazon's Android tablet? Let's just say things are going to get mighty interesting around ebook reader/tablet town in the next few months.