From: Gizmodo ~ How Sony Lost Its Way
Gizmodo recently posted this article on the state of Sony. I have to agree.
Gone are the days of the Walkman and the quintessential XBR TV and the Sony VAIO laptop, the Sony PS2 in every home and a Sony CD player in every pot. I had all these things and still listen to my MDR-V700 headphones every night and play my PS3 every week and I still love these products. BUT! Let’s look at a glaring reality right in the face…
Sony PRS-700 Touchscreen Ebook Reader:
Sony decided that the paper-like e-ink wasn’t enough of a draw for an ebook reader, so they decided to “fix” it with a touchscreen and LED side lighting. Which gave the PRS-700′s lovely paper-like e-ink screen a nasty case of glare, topped off with feeble, uneven lighting, kind of a problem if being read is your sole purpose in this world. Worst of all, when the tactic was bashed for its obvious flaws, they kept on doing it.
The Sony PRS-700 made Gizmodo’s Top 50 Worst Gadgets Of The Decade and for good reasons. Sony took the only good functions of the PRS-505 and dumped them for fuzzy touch screen layers that obscure the words you are trying to read and then they added glare with the lights.
After that fine fiasco they turned around and stopped making the only really readable screen in the lineup (The PRS-505) but instead made the smaller PRS-300 and to add insult to injury they made the fuzzy touch screen more expensive with the Daily Edition.
I am beginning to think after we finally see the new pads coming out with far more functionality than a Swiss army knife and have a chance to start using them at home as eBook Readers and Personal Organizers and eMail and eBanking and Internet Browsing and well everything else they do. A lot of this eInk eBook Reader bull is going to become the consumer equivalent of a really bad hangover kinda like the one Sony is a prime example of right now. I just have this feeling we as eBook consumers are going to step back and wonder what the hell the whole deal was with all that cheap clunky retro tech people were drooling over and paying way way too much for and that my friends is the sad summation of all things eInk.
Tags: eBook Commentary, Sony
Rebecca A wrote,
I was lucky and bought the 505 when it was still being sold. Of course now that it’s no longer in production, I hope nothing goes wrong with mine.
Link | March 4th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Sony Continues To Self Destruct | The Naughty Bits wrote,
[...] I mentioned in The Sorry State Of Sony they remain firmly entrenched continuing on their downward path of customer loss and ultimate [...]
Link | March 29th, 2010 at 6:09 am