Face off: Sony Reader Wi-Fi vs. Barnes & Noble Nook Color

The challenge

Sony showcased an upgraded version of its eBook reader Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1 at IFA 2011. The 6-inch eReader with Wi-Fi is to take on Barnes & Noble Nook Color and Amazon Kindle in the market. Weighing at just 168 grams, Sony Reader Wi-Fi is to become the world’s lightest eReader ever. Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color is a 2010 release. Unveiled in October last year, Nook Color, a 7-inch multitouch full color eReader is not actually comparable with the Sony’s advanced Reader Wi-Fi. Anyway, we compare these two products to give an insight of them under a few common parameters.

Sony Reader Wi-Fi vs. Barnes & Noble Nook color

Comparison attributes

Dimension and weight

Nook Color is up with a dimension of 8.1 x 5.0 x 0.48 inches and weight of 15.8 ounces. Sony Reader Wi-Fi, in the meantime, is to come with a dimension of 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.35 inches and weight of 5.93 ounces. The difference in size and weight is largely visible. It makes Sony Reader Wi-Fi the world’s lightest eReader ever.

Winner: Sony Reader Wi-Fi

Operating System

Both Sony Reader Wi-Fi and Nook Color run on Google Android. It is not yet clear on which version of Android Sony Reader will be up. Nook Color is now running on Android 2.2 Froyo. Whatever, it is certain that the Sony eBook Reader will be with the latest version of Android.

Winner: Sony Reader Wi-Fi

Display

Barnes & Noble’s eReader has a stunning 7-inch VividView full color touchscreen that features more than 16 million colors. The IPS display offers a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels at 169 pixels per inch (ppi). On the other hand, Sony Reader Wi-Fi will feature a 6-inch e-Ink Pearl touchscreen. Though an inch lower than Nook Color, Sony eReader’s display is more advanced, and above all, it is an e-Ink display that consumes less energy and provides great clarity.

Winner: Sony Reader Wi-Fi

Memory

You have 2GB of internal storage in Sony Reader Wi-Fi plus a microSD slot for 32GB memory expansion. If you have more content for your eReader, you can keep them on a microSD card. Nook Color offers 8GB built-in memory and microSD slot for 32GB memory expansion. You can store up to 5000 eBooks in the internal memory of the device.

Winner: Barnes & Noble Nook Color

Files supported

Most of popular text, image and audio formats run on Sony Reader Wi-Fi. You can read text formats like PDF, EPUB/ACS4, Word, DOC and image formats such as JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG and GIF. Audio and video formats like MP3, MP4, and AAC also run on the device. What is more interesting is that you can directly load PDF files on Sony eReader from a memory card.

On Nook Color also, you can enjoy all important file formats. The list of supportable text files goes TXT, DOCM, XLS, DOC, PPT, PPS, XLSM, PPTM, PPSX, PPSM, DOCX, XLX, and image files are BMP, GIF, PNG and JPG, and audio files like MP3, MP4, AAC, and MP4 video.

Winner: No winner. Both eReaders support all commonly used file formats.

Battery Life

You can only read up to 8 hours on Nook Color on a single recharge. On Sony Reader Wi-Fi, battery life will extend almost three weeks, because its display is made of the highly power-efficient e-Ink technology.

Winner: Sony Reader Wi-Fi

The Verdict

Just after the tablet frenzy, the technology world is now running behind the energy efficient and powerful eReaders. Sony Reader Wi-Fi and Amazon Kindle Touch 3G are part of such a movement. Both the devices are expected to arrive in stores in November this year. But Nook Color is Barnes & Noble’s one year old eBook reader. The company unveiled the gadget in October 2010. So as to compete with the forthcoming products, Barnes & Noble has to upgrade its Nook Color with more multimedia features and battery life. Rumors indicate that the company is on way to bring out an upgrade for the device. However, no confirmation is made on the part of the company.