Sony released a new Android app last week, but good luck getting it.
I heard earlier today that the new Sony Reader for Android tablets was now available in the Android Market. I immediately wnet over and tried to get the app for my Asus Transformer. I couldn’t even see it in the Marketplace when I visited from the Transformer. Then I double checked on the website, and it was indeed there (released on 9 September). It’s my guess that Sony won’t let you download it if you don’t have a Sony Tablet. And no, it’s not a mistake; the name of the app is Reader™ for Sony Tablet™.
Update: My competition found this page on the Sony eBookstore. The Reader Tablet app will be available for other tablets in December.
You probably know that a few days ago Sony released one of the 2 tablets that they had been teasing us in those Rube Goldberg commercials in the past few months. It’s the wedge shaped tablet, not the dual screen tablet, according to early reviews it’s not bad.
The Sony S Sony Tablet is a 9.4″ iPad competitor running Android v3.1 Homeycomb on a Nvidia dual core Tegra 2 CPU. it has Wifi/Bluetooth, a pair of cameras (5MP and VGA), SDHC card slot. I’m told it has generally decent performance for a $500 tablet.
Well, that is what you need to have before you can get the app. If you were wondering how much effort Sony planned to put into these tablets then I think you got your answer. They diverted an app that we all might want just to keep it for their own use.
Now, while this might appear to be a good move, I’m not sure what Sony hope to achieve. The Sony Reader Ebookstore is pretty much junk. Keeping this app out of the hands of tablet owners really won’t affect them any and thus it won’t inspire anyone to go get the S Tablet.
Heck, this app is so unimportant that hardly anyone even noticed it was released.
Never the less, I would like to try it. It has a 2 page mode and an ebookstore design that I would like to see first hand. If anyone has the Sony S Tablet, please do me a favor and let me have a copy. Get the app, pull it from your tablet and send it to me. This app looks a lot better than Sony’s other app and it is clearly designed for tablets.
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New Sony Reader App for Android Tablets, Sony Tablet S Owners Get Free eBook | The eBook Reader Blog - eReader and Tablet Reviews and News // Sep 15, 2011 at 10:52 pm
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There are a few more details over on this page: http://ebookstore.sony.com/androidtablet/
Looks like it will be coming to all Android tablets in December.
Has anyone been able to get it for you yet? I wonder now if it’ll even run on other tablets. Might have some special sauce in it to prevent that.
“It has a 2 page mode”
Nate, are you aware of any other reader apps that offer a 2 page mode? I really like the idea. I noticed they were going to include it on the Tablet P (or whatever the clamshell will eventually be called) and am glad to see that it won’t be limited to that particular piece of hardware.
I know that the Aldiko app has a 2 column view on my Transformer, but I’m not sure that any other of the leading apps can boast this feature.
Coolreader3 on Android (and Pocketbooks
) has dual column landscape.
I think the PC versions also.
On the PC, there is also Mobipocket.
I thought we were talking about Android. If we want t get into PCs then there are a lot of apps, including Kobo, Sony Reader, and others.
The B&N nook application for Android boasts the 2-page feature (although the nook devices themselves do not).
Really? I haven’t seen it.
Nook Version 2.5 does have 2-page landscape.
I’d forgotten about it because I don’t use it much because of how soft the text looks on 7″ screens.
Nate, I couldn’t find any mention of dual columns in Aldiko’s support section, so maybe it’s no longer available. However my search did turn up that, if I’m understanding it correctly, Aldiko will let me change the metadata and book cover on the fly. Now THAT will certainly be useful and means that I need to spend some more time playing with Aldiko.
fjtorres, I think I’ll be spending time playing with Cool Reader 3 also. I really like that I can have the same navigation whether I’m reading on my phone, tablet, or laptop, plus the dual column option would rock on the larger screens.
Thanks to both of you for the heads-up.
You’re welcome.
That’s one of the things I like about it.
And why I mentioned the PC version.
Google Books also has a two page mode.
Sony Reader for (Some) Android Tablets Now Available - The Digital Reader // Jan 28, 2012 at 2:43 pm
[...] 2012 by Nate the Great · No Comments · UncategorizedA few months back Sony released a new version of their reading app for Android tablets, only they did a rather odd thing: it was only available for Sony’s new [...]