Sony Reader PRS-T2 review

TYPE SETTING

The main menu is pleasingly laid out, with your most recently read and added books plus nice big shortcuts to your library of books (Bookshelves), the Reader Store and Applications. The Bookshelves give you thumbnails of your books (nine per page) and you can browse through them using the touchscreen.

Sony’s Reader Store has a reasonable range of content, but we found that key bestsellers on Amazon’s list were missing, while others were hard to find – we searched for the exact title of one book but it didn’t come up in the first page of results, searching for the author did work however. Thankfully you can always buy books from other ePub-based retailers if the Reader store frustrates you.

The browser isn’t at all bad for an eBook reader, we quickly navigated to Expert Reviews and double-tapping text re-flowed it to fit on the screen for easy reading. We’re not actually too bothered by the mono nature of e-ink displays when browsing, but the slow refresh rates are a pain, especially given you have to scroll down regularly due to the small screen resolution. Still it could prove handy, once you’ve set up a few bookmarks, for quickly checking the weather or news without having to switch devices. There’s even a link in the settings menu to take you straight back to reading.

Users of the Evernote service, which allows you to compile notes and clippings in cloud-based ‘notebooks’ may rejoice at seeing support for it here. You can upload and download notes, but it’s all hand-cranked rather than simply automatic – it would be great to have an option where all notes you take are automatically added to Evernote. There’s also a Facebook application, which keeps your friends up-to-date with your reading. You can post quotes from your book, though they are curtailed frustratingly to just a few lines.

EPILOGUE

The Sony Reader PRS-T2 is a good eBook reader, and a few weeks back it might even have been a great one. But things change quickly and this eReader has been superseded by devices that cost less than it does. If you’re happy to buy your books from Amazon the Paperwhite is the obvious choice, if you’re looking for an ePUB device then the Kobo Glo is a better bet.