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"One thing has always been clear about Sony's line of e-readers: they're arguably the sleekest and most elegant dedicated-electronic-reading devices out there today (in a pre-Apple Tablet world, at least). The same holds true for the Reader Daily Edition PRS-900."

"The Daily Edition is a slender device with a black metal body that contrasts sharply with the wider, white plastic body of the Kindle."

"We like this design because the Daily Edition is still very portable and it's much easier to read shorter lines without losing your place. In contrast, the Kindle DX with its 9.7" display is not terribly portable and the longer lines do make for harder reading, especially in landscape mode."

"The [included] Case Logic case is quite nice and is sturdy enough to keep the reader safe in a backpack and perhaps even a suitcase, but we wouldn't be surprised if Sony sells a version without the bundled case at some point to bring down the price."

"Measuring 8.0125 inches high by 5 inches wide by 0.7 inch deep (with cover) and weighing 12.75 ounces (with cover), the Daily Edition is a little heavier than the Nook and Kindle, but it's not so hefty that it becomes cumbersome to hold. To protect your investment, the device ships with a nice leather cover (or at least one that feels like leather)."

"This longer, narrower shape gives the new Sony a nice feel in the hand."

"The back cover has to be plastic to avoid interference with the wireless radio. The front bezel is metal and the included leather flip cover is removable but the connecting tabs are delicate so follow the instructions to avoid tearing them."

"You need to apply a little pressure to the screen to get the desired response and it just doesn't have the zippy feeling that the iPhone or iPod Touch has, partially because the paper-mimicking E Ink technology built into virtually all current e-readers is inherently sluggish."

"It takes awhile to get the hang of the touch gestures, partly because they require much more pressure than on, say, an iPhone. Second, using touch to bring up features and menus can be a mystery until you consult the manual."

"The Daily Edition incorporates some gesture-based commands. You can swipe your finger across the display to page forward or back (you can choose between a left or right swipe to advance pages in the settings menu). Swiping and holding your finger down at the end of the swipe allows you to advance or rewind through pages at a fast clip. "

"You can use the on screen keyboard to take notes, and you can draw, scribble and annotate pages in books with written notes and highlighting using the stylus that lives in a silo in the Sony Reader. These notes sync to the Sony desktop software."

"Also, as noted, one of the benefits of having the touch screen is the capability to annotate and mark up text--or just takes notes by hand (you can write directly on the screen with the included stylus). "

"You can enter text for notes or searches on the Daily Edition using a stylus for handwriting or a virtual onscreen keyboard."

"In general, I enjoyed using it, once I mastered its user interface, which took several days."

"This model doesn't have a built-in accelerometer that automatically flips the screen when you turn it, but you can manually set the screen to display vertically or horizontally."

"The Daily Edition incorporates some gesture-based commands. You can swipe your finger across the display to page forward or back (you can choose between a left or right swipe to advance pages in the settings menu). Swiping and holding your finger down at the end of the swipe allows you to advance or rewind through pages at a fast clip. "

"It takes awhile to get the hang of the touch gestures, partly because they require much more pressure than on, say, an iPhone. Second, using touch to bring up features and menus can be a mystery until you consult the manual."

"Comparing [contrast] the Daily Edition with the Nook side by side, the first thing you notice is that the letters and icons on the Daily Edition appear lighter and the background is slightly darker.... When you are holding the two units together and tilt them, the Sony's screen is much more reflective."

"To our eyes, the glare isn't bad at all -- it's nothing like a notebook screen or the PRS-700, and it's worth it for the immense usability improvements the touch screen adds. Clarity is good with none of the murkiness of the PRS-700 but contrast isn't quite as high as the wonderful non-touch e-ink Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300."

"The technology that makes the screen touch sensitive also dims it a bit, so the Daily Edition's screen is darker than the Kindle's. (Both are unlit monochrome screens with gray-scale graphics.) I found the Sony screen adequate, but it's tougher to read in lower light."

"In case you're wondering, there's no way to adjust the contrast. Nor can you change the font style, as you can on the Nook. But you can choose among six typeface sizes using the dedicated Size button--extra-small, small, medium, large, extra-large, and extra-extra large."

"While the Sony does have a small page-turning button, you can more easily turn pages by just swiping your finger across the screen. It's also better at navigating digital newspapers, something I've never found very satisfying on the Kindle."

"This device is designed to go several days or even weeks without having to be recharged (Sony says you should get up to 7 days of battery life with the wireless turned on and more than twice that with it turned off)."

"In our tests [the battery has] been good for 5 days on a charge with the wireless radio on. In my tests I read for at least 1.5 hours per day, had the Wall Street Journal auto-downloaded daily, perused the store for 15 minutes per day and downloaded 10 books over wireless. With the wireless radio turned off in settings, the reader should reach 1.5 to 2 weeks on a charge..."

"Oh happy day, the Sony PRS-900 has a removable battery under the back cover and it comes with a charger. Both are good ideas for a device with wireless since that means more frequent charging."

"That makes it almost exactly the same length as the Amazon Kindle in terms of pure physical dimensions, but because the Kindle uses up some real estate for its physical keyboard, the Sony delivers several more lines of text on its longer screen."

"The Daily Edition is narrower than the Kindle, because the borders around the screen are thinner, since they don't have to accommodate the Kindle's various large buttons or physical keyboard."

"Measuring 8.0125 inches high by 5 inches wide by 0.7 inch deep (with cover) and weighing 12.75 ounces (with cover), the Daily Edition is a little heavier than the Nook and Kindle, but it's not so hefty that it becomes cumbersome to hold. To protect your investment, the device ships with a nice leather cover (or at least one that feels like leather)."

"It has a music player and 3.5mm stereo jack and it can play MP3 and AAC files without DRM in the background while you read."

"You can also listen to MP3 audio files while you're reading and view JPEG image files."

"The new Sony also allows you to drag songs, pictures and some personal documents onto the device from your computer. I did this with no problems."

"This model comes with 2GB of internal memory (instead of 512MB on the earlier Readers), though only 1.6GB of that is available to the user. On top of internal storage, you get a set of dual expansion slots on the side of the unit for both SD and Memory Stick Duo memory cards."

"The Sony has both an SD and Memory Stick Pro Duo slot so you can load books that way (the Kindle 2 and DX have no card slots to load books and expand storage)."

"It has only about half of the commercial, copyrighted digital books that Amazon does—around 200,000 versus the Kindle's roughly 400,000. Sony also throws in a million out-of-copyright, old books, for a total of 1.2 million. But many of these added million titles are obscure and of little interest to mainstream consumers. The Reader also has just eight newspapers, versus 92 for the Kindle, though Sony says 10 more are coming soon."

"Thanks to pressure from Amazon, many best sellers are $9.99, but those not on the bestseller list are sometimes $1 to $3 more expensive than Amazon. For most popular books, Amazon and Sony have a similar selection, though Amazon still offers more books overall.... I suggest you visit Sony's online bookstore with your web browser, so you can see if the titles and prices suit you."

"Sony has made a great effort to catch up with Amazon in terms of the number of books it has available, as well as pricing (like Amazon, Sony charges $9.99 for bestsellers). With the edition of thousands of free public domain titles from Google (which includes many pre-WWI classics), Sony boasts more than 1 million titles in its e-book store and that number continues to grow."

"The Reader Store itself also has a clean layout and we found it a cinch to navigate, though accessing the store sometimes required some patience, depending on how solid our connection was…"

"The Reader Daily Edition's strengths is its capability to read other formats besides encrypted Sony e-books from the store. The Reader is capable of displaying text, RTF, Word, BBeB Book files, and EPUB files, as well as PDFs."

"The Daily Edition supports ePUB and PDF files with and without Adobe standard DRM (Adobe Digital Editions).... ePUB format are quickly becoming a open standard (not manufacturer-dependant or proprietary) that's used by public libraries, Google for their public domain books and several online bookstores. In addition it supports Sony's original BBeB format but only for non-DRM books."

"Another big plus is that the Daily Edition and other Sony Readers are compatible with digital books from local libraries, which have just begun lending out e-books using an EPUB file format with a 21-day expiration. The selection is currently very limited, but anything that's available is free to download."

"The PRS-900 doesn't support DRM lrx files though it still supports the non-DRM .lrf version. They've recently switched over to the more open ePUB standard and you can re-download any books you'd purchased in lrf format in ePUB (free of charge)."

"Its faster processor is helpful when accessing PDF files, particularly larger ones, and using the zoom feature on those documents. (Note: Larger screen e-readers are more suitable for viewing PDF files, but while this one doesn't do a great job with them, it does better than the Nook and the Kindle do)."

"The Kindle and the Nook use a more "cloud-based" system to access available titles--buy an e-book on those readers' respective Web sites, and it's instantly available to read on those readers. By contrast, if you buy a book on the Sony Reader itself, you'll need to specifically download that same title so it's accessible on your desktop."

"The on-device store is intuitive and easy to use…. You can download the books using the Sony desktop software for Windows and Mac or download them directly to the Reader using its wireless connection. There is no charge for using the wireless connection."

"But it has no app for a smart phone, and doesn't synchronize your last-read place in your book among the reader and the computer."

"Sony's also upgraded its eBook Library PC software (it's up to version 3.0), and--hallelujah--it's now available for both Windows and Mac machines. While the process of transferring content to the device isn't as convenient as downloading books wirelessly to the unit."

Sony rated in the top 25% of a Zogby/MSN 2008 survey of customer satisfaction. 70% of survey respondents rated Sony's customer service excellent or good, while 30% rated it fair or poor.

"Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of A+ on a scale from A+ to F."

Sony received an 8 out of 10 in a 2009 survey of PC Magazine readers, which measured companies across 23 criteria to determine customer satisfaction with their portable media players. Sony ranked 3rd out of the 6 companies in the survey.

On its website, Sony's return policy states: "Sony's return policy allows for Products purchased directly from Sony and shipped to locations in the United States to be returned by you after obtaining a Sony return authorization number (RMA) during the 30 day period following date of shipment by Sony for a refund of purchase price actually paid.... The RMA number may be obtained by going online at www.sonystyle.com/returns or by calling Sony's Customer Support at 1-888-900-9872.... Products must be returned in the original packaging. Shipping and handling charges are not refundable. Damage and missing part restocking fees may apply. RMAs are valid for only 14 days from issuance.... If you return Product to Sony (i) without a RMA from Sony or (ii) beyond the 14 day issuance period, or (iii) without proper packaging, Sony retains the right to either refuse delivery of such return or charge you a restocking fee."

On their website, Sony's warranty policy states: "In the event of a defect, these are your exclusive remedies. LABOR: For a period of 90 days from the original date of purchase of the product (“Limited Warranty”), Sony will, at its option, repair or replace with new or refurbished product, determined to be defective. If Sony elects to replace the product after this Labor Warranty has expired but while the Parts Warranty below is still in effect, it will do so for the applicable labor charge. PARTS: For a period of 1 year from the original date of purchase of the product (“Parts Warranty”), Sony will supply new or refurbished replacement parts in exchange for parts determined to be defective."

Sony scored a 5.1 out of 10 on Greenpeace's January 2010 Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks the top electronics manufacturers on their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change. Sony was tied with four other companies for 5th out of the 18 electronics companies in the guide.

Sony received a B- on the Electronics Takeback Coalition's 2009 review of TV manufacturer recycling programs. Sony was tied for 1st out of the 18 TV manufacturers scored for the review. The ETC says that “Sony was the first TV company to launch a national takeback program."

Sony scored a 62 out of 100 on the November 2009 Climate Counts survey, which measures companies across 22 criteria to determine their commitment to global warming. Higher scores are better, and Sony was 8th of the 12 electronics companies measured in the survey.