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The large screen offers an impressive 1,024 x 1,280 pixels, giving a resolution of 160dpi. Its sheer size allows for a near one-to-one reproduction of A4 documents, which could prove a boon to business users swamped in reports.

As with the company's Iliad eBook reader, the device will feature an E Ink display which renders text in 16 shades of grey, offering an impressive recreation of words on paper.

However, unlike the original Iliad, which <

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we reviewed last year, the 1000 series reader will arrive in three versions with the base model, the Digital Reader 1000, costing £340 exc VAT.

Those with an eye on annotating and marking up text through a touchscreen will be offered the 1000S, which will sell for around £380 exc VAT, while the top-end 1000W will offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G data connectivity for $849, allowing users to surf the web. The UK pricing and launch date of the 1000W have yet to be confirmed.

All the readers will support PDF, TXT and HTML formats, and weigh in at around 570 grams.

The eBook market has been hotting up in recent months, with a Citigroup analyst claiming Amazon's Kindle has the potential to become the "iPod of the bookworld". However, the Kindle has yet to reach UK shores, leaving Sony free to release its rival PRS-505, which we reviewed here.