While Amazon’s Kindle has been getting the lion’s share of attention in the eReader market, Sony has just updated its eReader range with features that should make you think twice when shopping for your next eReader.

The Sony PRS-350 is the latest release of the Sony Pocket Reader which is the most compact of the Sony range.  Measuring 5.7x 4.1 and weighing less than half a pound, the new pocket Reader is noticeable smaller and lighter than its previous version, the PRS-300. Sony’s new ebook reader, priced at $179, is more expensive then than the Kindle and the Nook which both come in under $150. The new eReader offers the same high contrast Pearl eInk display as the Amazon’s Kindle, but with the added feature of having touch sensitivity.

According to Sony, this is not just any touch screen, but a screen that was developed by the Sony R&D teams that doesn’t blur the eInk panel.  The 5” touch screen offers a lot of possibilities to effectively interact with the device. Single and double tapping actions allow you to select words to bookmark, search, and look up in a dictionary. Pages swipes on the Pocket Reader display allow pages turns. A handy page slider on the screen also allows you to change the book location rapidly to page that you want.  The Sony Pocket reader is very responsive to finger and stylus touches. You can also write on the display area with a stylus pen that allows you to take notes about that page that you have just read. Handwriting on the display is a little clumsy, so you won’t be winning any calligraphy competitions; however, this is a handy function you want to remember something on the page.  A small but helpful function is that notes and annotations are saves and exported to a Word format when the eReader is connected to a PC.The only drawback with the touch sensitive display is when writing annotations with the stylus you will have to push hard to take your notes on the display area, and it can be difficult to get all your words into the small 5” display.

Another advantage that the Sony PRS-350 has over the Kindle is that it supports the ePub book open format. This allows you to access to the million public domain books available from google books and to check out eBooks from many public libraries. The Pocket Reader also supports pdf, txt, rtf, and graphics formats, jpeg, bmp, png, and gif.Sony knows that the eReader market is not only fought with the devices, but also with content and reading platforms. 

Sony has made several improvements to the Sony Reader Store to ensure a greater choice of content. The store has over 1.2 books listed and Sony says that you can expect more titles and magazines soon.  Sony is also taking a “thoughtful approach” to country expansion, including Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan and China, where they are working with local bookstores to ensure a wider range of content appropriate to the language of the different countries. The Sony Pocket Reader also has built in dictionaries and 10 different language translators.

Taking a similar strategy to Amazon, Sony knows it’s important to not restrict readers to their own propriety devices. Currently reader software exists for Windows and Macs, and Sony has announced additional applications for the iPhone and Android.

The most conspicuous functional absence is the Pocket Reader’s connectivity. Unlike the sub-$150 models, there is no wireless connectivity. If you don’t mind connecting your reader to a computer, then this may not be a drawback. For some, this may make the different between purchasing the PRS-350 and one of its wireless competitors.