I'm thinking there's at least a couple TechJapan users in the market for a new Japanese/English electronic dictionary, so here's two new o­nes from Sony. The two versions vary in functionality: while the "S8MS" serves as an 8-language dictionary, the "S7MS" serves as a Japanese/English dictionary.

Either way, I'm reporting o­n both, so read o­n :)

Sony will release two business card case-sized electronic dictionaries o­n November 6th. They are Open Price.

The "EBR-S8MS" with 8 different languages and the "EBR-S7MS" with complete English capabilities will be made available. The esimated price of each unit is around 30,000 yen.

Since the main body size is about 100 x 72 x 11.2mm (W x D x H), these electronic dictionaries are quite small. They feature a Memory Stick slot, and include a "Memory Stick ROM" containing the contents for each respective dictionary. Also, Memory Stick ROMs that are sold separately can be used.

The "EBR-S8MS" features 8 languages - Korean, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Swiss, English, and Japanese. Three body colors will be available: Silver, Black, and Wine Red. Searching for Hangul (Korean) words is possible using the consonants and vowels o­n the keyboard. Chinese searching can be done by entering the roman characters as per their pronunciation, which will return Pinyin search results.

The "EBR-S7MS," o­n the other hand, features 16 English-related dictionaries such as "Juniors English-Japanese Dictionary," "Readers English-Japanese Dictionary," and the "Current Oxford English-English/Synonym Dictionary." It is also, for the first time in the industry, loaded with the "Oxford English and American Culture Encyclopedia." "Multi Search," which will search for the same word across multiple dictionaries, is also possible.

Other contents identical between the two products include the "Koujien Encylopedia," "Reverse Lookup Koujien," and the "Katakana Pronunciation English Dictionary." In total, the EBR-S8MS includes 29 contents, and the EBR-S7MS 28 contents.

The remaining specifications of the are common between the two products, including the LCD screen size of 78 x 39mm (W x H). Power is supplied from o­ne AAA battery, and using an Alkaline source, it can run for about 55 hours. The weight including Memory Stick ROM is about 103g.



Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2004/1013/sony.htm

Press Release:
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200410/10-1013/