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DEAL WATCH: Keurig K-Express | 22% off $69.99

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  • Introduction

  • Front

  • Back

  • Sides

  • Size Comparisons

  • In the Box

  • Handling

  • Screen

  • Indoor & Outdoor Use

  • Controls

  • Connectivity

  • Battery Life

  • Reading Books

  • Buying Books

  • eBook Formats

  • Newspapers & Magazines

  • eBook Battery Life

  • Music & Audio Controls

  • Music & Audio Management

  • Music & Audio Formats

  • Music & Audio Battery Life

  • Email

  • Web Browsing

  • Device & Specs

  • Screen

  • Battery

  • eReader

  • Internet

  • Device & Specs

  • Screen

  • Battery

  • eReader

  • Internet

  • Device & Specs

  • Screen

  • Battery

  • eReader

  • Internet

  • Conclusion

  • Introduction
  • Front
  • Back
  • Sides
  • Size Comparisons
  • In the Box
  • Handling
  • Screen
  • Indoor & Outdoor Use
  • Controls
  • Connectivity
  • Battery Life
  • Reading Books
  • Buying Books
  • eBook Formats
  • Newspapers & Magazines
  • eBook Battery Life
  • Music & Audio Controls
  • Music & Audio Management
  • Music & Audio Formats
  • Music & Audio Battery Life
  • Email
  • Web Browsing
  • Device & Specs
  • Screen
  • Battery
  • eReader
  • Internet
  • Device & Specs
  • Screen
  • Battery
  • eReader
  • Internet
  • Device & Specs
  • Screen
  • Battery
  • eReader
  • Internet
  • Conclusion

Introduction

Front

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Back

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Sides

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Size Comparisons

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In the Box

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Other than a handful of manuals and pamphlets, the Daily Reader PRS-950 only comes with two packed-in items: a USB cable for data transfer and charging and a power adapter to charge the device from a wall socket.

Handling

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The Sony Reader Daily PRS-950 has a height and width similar to an actual book, making it easy to hold in one hand or two. Compared to devices like the iPad, the Daily is much more easy to hold and use. The touch screen is very responsive, and even a brief flick of a gesture will be registered. The bezel provides just enough room to establish a grip, and we though the device was fairly easy to hold with one or two hands.

Screen

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The Sony Reader Daily PRS-950 has a 7-inch eInk touchscreen. The screen produces crisp text that looks very similar to print. As with all eInk screens, though, the screen has to cycle each time the display changes. This means the colors invert, causing a mainly empty screen to flash black briefly before the new screen displays.

Unlike the Kindle screen, however, we found the Daily's display wasn't entirely cleared by one screen cycle: some faint lines from the previous image were still visible, if only barely. This is a bit strange, since the Daily and the Kindle both use the same eInk display. Regardless, these artifacts are very, very faint and won't likely disturb your user experience.

One thing to keep in mind with eInk displays is that they reflect or absorb ambient light. This means they'll remain readable in just about any lighting condition other than total darkness. If you do want to read in total darkness, you'll need a backlit display, such as an LCD, but keep in mind LCDs are very easily washed out by ambient light.

Indoor & Outdoor Use

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The Sony Reader Daily PRS-950's eInk screen helps retain its contrast regardless of lighting conditions. You'll be able to read the display in a dim room just as well as you could outside on a bright day. Since the display doesn't have a backlight, however, reading in very dark environments is either difficult or impossible. If you really enjoy reading in pitch-dark environments, you should probably get an LCD eReader or invest in a mining helmet.

Controls

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Like the Kindle, the Daily has both a touch screen and physical buttons. Underneath the screen are buttons for the previous page, next page, home screen, zoom feature, and options menu. Keep in mind that the options menu isn't the same as the settings menu, which is only available from the home screen.

The controls on the top right side of the iPad body: volume, lock and power.

Connectivity

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The Sony Reader Daily PRS-950 has built-in WiFi and 3G. Unlike your typical cell phone, the Daily's 3G connection is paid for as part of the purchase price, so there's no subscription service of fee for your mobile downloads. If you want a faster connection, you can always hook up to a WiFi connection as well.

Here we see a Lightning dock in its natural habitat.

Battery Life

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The Sony Reader Daily PRS-950, like most eInk screens we've seen so far, has great battery life. Assuming average reading speed, a full 24 hour book session will only drain about a quarter of the device's battery life. We'd estimate the battery could hold out for a little over four days straight of constant reading. On our audio playback test, we found the device could output sound constantly for about 19 and a half hours before it drained the battery.

While you probably couldn't get away with only charging your device once a week, you could probably get away with a few days use before you had to plug it in.

Reading Books

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The Sony Reader Daily PRS-950 provided a pretty good reading experience. The eInk screen provides sharp text in various lighting conditions. The matte screen cuts down on reflections doesn't have the backlight that induces eye-strain in some users. Technically the Daily should have the same screen as the Kindle—they're both E Ink® Pearl displays—but we didn't think the image quality was quite as good. Realistically, the average user wouldn't notice the difference, but when you put the two side by side you can really see a higher level of clarity and smoothness on the Kindle. Additionally, the Daily doesn't cycle the screen particularly fast: it takes over a second and a half before a new image can appear.

The iBooks program offers a range of controls for font and text size

There are a few ways to get to your book on the Sony Reader Daily PRS-950. The top item on the home screen is the last book you read, along with a large image of its cover art, which makes it easy to pick up where you left off. Underneath that section is a box labeled Books that provides links to the latest three books put on the device: each one contains a thumbnail of the cover art, the title, and the author. The final row contains links to all the periodicals you're subscribed to, collections (separates books unto unread, purchased, or by genre—with the ability to create your own collection), and all the notes you've made so far.

While the Daily offers a lot of venues to find what you're looking for, there isn't an actual search feature. This is particularly unfortunate since the device does employ an onscreen keyboard for naming custom categories or typing notes.

Buying Books

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The Daily makes buying books fairly easy. Just hit the home button and you should see a link to the store at the bottom of the screen. Once you click it, you just need to sign in to your account and you're on your way. Of course, much like using the Daily's browser, buying a book on the device feels clunky and slow.

Books can be purchased on the iPad through the iTunes store

eBook retailer guide.

eBook Formats

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Calibre software can.

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Newspapers & Magazines

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eBook retailer guide.

The New York Times is available on the iPad through their own app

eBook Battery Life

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Music & Audio Controls

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You can access the software through the Applications link at the bottom of the home screen. Once inside, the Options button will allow you to sort your albums by artist or title, or switch view between a grid of album thumbnails or a list. There isn't any further search or organizational option.

The iPod app shows the cover art while playing music

Once you have an album playing, the majority of the screen will display the album art and its information. There's a timer that keeps track of your current position in a given track as well as the track's length. There are also basic playback controls along the bottom of the screen and a progress bar you can scrub to a given position. This is a much more robust audio player compared to what we saw on the Kindle, but it's still not great compared to what you'd get on an iPad.

Music & Audio Management

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There aren't any audio management tools on the Daily. You copy files to the device and that's about it. The device doesn't support playlists, nested folders, or any other organizational tricks you may have dreamed up.

Audio files can be sorted by title, artist, album, genre or composer

Music & Audio Formats

Music & Audio Battery Life

Email

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Unless you're visiting GMail.com or some other in-browser email provider, the Sony Reader Daily PRS-950 won't be able to help you check your email.

The iPad email app is basic, but adequate for most users

Web Browsing

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Browsing the web on the Daily is a lot like browsing the web on a cell phone ten years ago. It's slow, clunky, and the software doesn't have many features. The device seems to load web sites slower than other devices on the same 3G connection, and navigating around a large page feels sluggish as the screen has to cycle between each motion. While this is certainly a decent browser, especially for a device with an eInk display, it really can't compare the experience you'd get from a modern cell phone.

The iPad boasts a fully featured Safari web browser

Device & Specs

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Both devices are easy to hold with either both hands or just one. The Kindle keeps its page turning buttons on its right side, within easy reach. The Daily tucks its page navigation buttons under the screen, which makes them hard to reach with a natural-feeling hand position. Both devices support touch controls as well.

Screen

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Both devices have the same eInk screen, the E Ink® Pearl. In general, they performed almost identically on our tests. The one difference we saw was the Daily's screen didn't totally erase the previous screen when it cycled to a new one. The residual image was very, very faint, however, so we wouldn't consider that a huge strike against the Daily.

Battery

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Neither product had an issue with battery life, but the Kindle performed slightly better than the Daily. The Daily couldn't last a full day on our music playback test, but the Kindle lasted three.

eReader

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Both of the devices are eInk readers with touchscreens and, as a result, approximately the same reading experience. We liked the Kindle's button placement a bit more than the Daily's, as it was easier to access the page navigation when it was already under our thumb, rather than attempt to stretch to buttons that were out of our reach. The touchscreen controls basically nullifies the need to use the Daily's buttons, however.

Internet

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Both devices can browse the web, but the experience isn't stellar on either one. The eInk displays we've seen so far have all been slow and clunky on the internet, and pale in comparison to the experience you'd get from the average smartphone.

Device & Specs

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The only area where the Daily might pick up some points is in handling. The iPad is a large, heavy device that's awkward unless you're gripping it with both hands. The Daily is much smaller and lighter and can easily be held in just one hand.

Screen

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The iPad's and Daily's screens are very different: the former is an LCD and the latter is an eInk screen. if you're in the market for one or the other, this is an easy choice. If you're don't mind the LCD, it's hard to make a case for eInk. The iPad's screen is large, crisp, color, and supports video.

Battery

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The Daily really beats the iPad in terms of battery life—at least in terms of reading. The iPad could only last for about 5 1/2 hours of reading, while we estimate the Daily will last for 96. In terms of battery life, however, the iPad really, really outlasts the Daily: the iPad can last for over 16 days of audio playback, while the Daily can't even last one.

eReader

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While the iPad is a competent eReader, many people prefer an eInk screen to an LCD. While the Daily definitely looks better under bright light, you'll need the backlit iPad to read in a very dark environment.

Internet

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This isn't really a contest. The iPad's app store and browsing experience totally blow the Daily out of the water. Apple's app store contains millions and millions of apps, while the Daily only has access to a handful. Additionally, the iPad's browser is significantly more natural. If online features matter to you, the iPad is the clear chocie.

Device & Specs

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The devices themselves aren't remarkably different. The NOOKcolor basically handles like an iPad or Android tablet, only without the third party support. Both devices will require a flick of the thumb to turn pages (even though the Daily has physical buttons, they're not within easy reach).

Screen

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Of course, the two devices have very different screens. The NOOKcolor has an LCD that supports video playback, color, and has a backlight, which allows you to read it in the dark. If you'd prefer the more natural reading experience of an eInk screen, the Daily is probably more for you. Chances are you already know which screen you prefer, and if you don't, we'd recommend checking out eInk: many people find they like it much better than an LCD.

Battery

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eReader

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Both devices function very similarly as an eReader. The Daily lets you take notes, highlight text, and comes with a Stylus so you can deface famous works of literature; the NOOKcolor only offers boring notes and highlighting. The NOOKcolor can, however, search a book, article, or the entire device for a given word or phrase. We think that functionality somewhat outweighs the ability to doodle.

Internet

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The NOOKcolor's online experience isn't quite as fluid as the iPad's, but it's significantly better than the Daily. The Daily will let you access the store and browse the web, but it's a slow, awkward experience.

Conclusion

Meet the tester

Mark Brezinski

Mark Brezinski

Senior Writer

@markbrezinski

Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.

See all of Mark Brezinski's reviews

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