eReader for Christmas - Sony V Kindle

I've used both of the eReaders featured here and although I would say the Kindle is the best on ease of use and features, I would actually rate the Sony above it because it is far more versatile in that it doesn't tie you to the Amazon store. If the Kindle allowed use of the hugely popular ePub format then it would definitely be a market leader.

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The offering from Sony is the best  in my opinion.The Sony Readers are arguably the best  in terms of hardware, but historically they have been lacking in quality when it came to the display and the touch screen. However, the new updated model brings with it a new ‘glare free – paper like’ display and a new, clearer touch screen with better responsiveness.
The battery life on this thing is impressive, lasting on average for about 2 weeks, so could last you an entire summer holiday on a single charge. It  is neat and intuitive and there is compatibility with the usual ePub and PDF file formats and various other less popular ones too.
Also worth looking at is the Sony pocket reader which is actually my machine of choice - it's five inch screen is more than adequate and it's such a lovely looking device. And I've seen it priced at £100 in some stores making it a great festive present for any book lover.

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the Kindle is superb -Firstly the Kindle features global wireless over 3G, and it’s completely free except for the initial £40 extra for the 3G equipped edition of the Kindle. The basic Wi-Fi only version is priced extremely well for the customer at £109, the cheapest of the serious competitors in the market.
There are several other features unique to the Kindle, which when combined make it by far and away the outstanding player in the field. For starters, there is Facebook and Twitter integration so you can share meaningful phrases from your favourite books with your friends and followers, but these features are extras and for book lovers are unnecessary.

Hardware wise, there is no touchscreen in the Kindle, but instead you get a full QWERTY and physical navigation controls and that’s to the benefit of the battery life and for typing tasks. The thing keeping the Kindle down in my opionion is that it will not run ePub files which are fast becoming the industry standard.

Well it's a case of you pay your money and you take your choice and if you intend to only buy eBooks from Amazon then the Kindle could be the one for you, but if the Kindle does get to dominate the market then this can't be healthy for the book industry as a whole. Personally I'd go for one of the Sony models - they really do rock.

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