The Sony DPT-S1 PDF Reader first arrived in the United States this past May. Sony calls the device a Digital Paper System. It is being marketed to business professionals, mostly people in banking and legal industries, as a paper replacement system.
The Sony DPT-S1 is strictly a PDF Reader. It’s currently the only device available that uses a 13.3-inch E Ink Mobius display.
Unlike typical E Ink ereaders that have glass screens, Mobius displays use a plastic substrate. This helps make them a lot more durable and lightweight. In fact the Sony Digital Paper Reader only weighs a total of 12.6 ounces even with the large screen—that’s about the same weight as an iPad Mini.
The unique screen is probably what makes the price of the Sony DPT-S1 so high at $1100. And the high price has led to very few reviews, and even fewer in-depth reviews.
I’ve been keeping an eye on YouTube since there’s zero chance I’ll ever spend $1100 to get one to review, and a pretty good in-depth video review was uploaded recently by David Spitzer. Take a look…
P.S. If you’ve got $1100 burning a hole in your pocket, Sony now sells the DPT-S1 directly to consumers from their website.
Michael says
Looks quite nice. PDF-only wouldn’t be an issue for me since that’s what I’d want it for if I could afford it.
By any chance does it offer a two pages side-by-side option when in landscape?
Nathan says
No, there’s no multi-page view with the built-in PDF apps.
JoshuaGordon says
Yes, there is multi-page view. By using iphone-type gesture, you can see a 1-page view, a 4-page view, or a 9-page view.
T. Johnson says
Obviously an Android device… A matter of root and apk for epub, etc.
Again, I don’t know why companies have to follow each other doing the same thing and then when sales are down because of over saturation they are surprised.
However, when a nice product hits the market and the same companies act deaf and do nothing to bring to wider mass market for price point, they don’t and act surprised the nitch is growing.
Duh… Sony…
T. Johnson says
Apologies for a blog post laden with poor grammar. Tired and was just wanting to burst forward a comment.
joy says
Rare, good and useful review for this device – thanks.
Sam says
Acutally a pretty good device for E-Ink lovers(like me :)) but the price is way too high…
Although Sony reduced $101 but still $999 is not justified. If the price comes down to $500 then definitely i would be the first one to buy it, otherwise to pay $999 i would like to see the following features in it-
> Color display (I think there is some thing called triton color e-ink display form e-ink company)
> Faster and more robust web browser.
Nathan says
Interesting… I didn’t know they dropped it to $999. At least that’s some progress in the right direction. 🙂
Etienne Turgeon says
do you know if we can change the orientation of the browser to landscape? very important for me please.
smileTC says
Now the price comes down to 799. The device actually running Android, which means can be root and install app. Some people have already did that, I think.
Yoni says
Hey Nathan,
Do you have any idea how much RAM the DPT-S1 has? I found no mention at the official website, some other places claimed it to be 2gb but I can’t seem to find anythig solid, do you have any info on this?
Nathan says
Sorry but I don’t know either. I doubt it’s as high as 2GB, though.