With Sony reducing its PS3 price to $299 and Microsoft reducing XBOX 360 price to $299 (+$50 mail-in-rebate). now its Big N’s turn to reduce the price of its console Wii. This price drop come into effect from September 27th.

Smartphone maker HTC is on a roll with the Android operating system. The company introduced its third Android-based device, called the HTC Hero, on Wednesday. It’s a touchscreen phone that will come with a newly designed user interface.

The phone has a 3.2-inch display, GPS, digital compass, a 5-megapixel auto focus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. The HTC Hero also features an anti-fingerprint coating on the screen for smudge resistance and a Teflon coating on the exterior.

HTC’s latest release adds momentum to Google’s Android operating system, which was introduced last year. The first Android phone to hit the market was the HTC-produced T-Mobile G1 phone in North America in October. Since then, HTC has also launched Magic, a touchscreen phone that eliminates the physical keyboard of the G1.

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Sony has announced three new entry-level DSLRs. The A230, A330 and A380 replace the Alpha 200, 300 and 350. The restyled cameras offer new ergonomics and easy-to-use interfaces, but retain the underlying specification of the predecessor models. As before, the basic model is a 10MP DSLR, the intermediate model adds Sony’s fast live view system and the range-topping model gets a 14.2MP sensor. The new Alpha DSLRs are better differentiated from one another, with individual color schemes and grip finishes helping to distingush between the models.

As expected, Amazon.com Wednesday released a new version of its Kindle with a bigger screen, which is intended to present newspaper and magazine content better than the current, smaller Kindle 2.

The New York Times Company and Washington Post Company are launching pilots with Kindle DX this summer, according to an Amazon.com press statement. The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post will offer the Kindle DX at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available and who sign up for a long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers, the company said.

Amazon.com has posted a product page on its Web site.

The new Kindle DX has a 9.7-inch screen and is a larger format than the current Kindle 2, which has a 6-inch screen, the same as the original Kindle device launched in November 2007. Amazon.com launched Kindle 2 in February.

The Kindle DX costs US$489 versus $359 for the other Kindle devices, according to the site.

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Audio vendor Altec Lansing on Thursday announced the company’s new “value” line of computer speakers, ranging in price from $20 to $50. The least-expensive model, the $20 BXR1220, is a pair of small, satellite-style speakers that connects to your computer via USB for both audio and power. The speakers are magnetically shielded, finished with titanium-metallic accents, and feature a volume ring for easy volume adjustments. The $30 BXR1221 mates the BXR1220’s satellites with a small (4-inch-driver) subwoofer, but requires wall-outlet power.

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When it comes to hardware, Amazon and Sony are battling it out for leadership in the e-book reader market. For now these two models hold the most appeal–for very different reasons. We note the similarities and differences between the Amazon Kindle 2 and the Sony Digital Reader PRS-700, and point out how each does a better job at presenting books digitally. (For more on how the Kindle 2 operates, and how it compares to the first-generation Kindle, see our Kindle visual tour.)

The Amazon Kindle 2 (right) is taller than the Sony Reader. Both have a 6-inch, 800-by-600-pixel E-Ink display, but text on the Kindle 2 appears sharper than on the PRS-700. The Kindle 2 provides a usable QWERTY keyboard, whereas the Sony feels downright incomplete without a physical keyboard of some sort (its on-screen keyboard gets tiresome very quickly). But the Sony has its own advantages: I found that its black metallic chassis, with a gray matte bezel, is easier on the eyes over the long term than the Kindle’s stark off-white case.

The Sony’s Main Menu Is Designed for Touch

The 10-ounce Sony PRS-700 may lack a keyboard, but it boasts a touchscreen–which explains the setup of the main Home navigation menu. Big, roomy buttons dominate the screen, one each for Continue Reading, Books, Collections, and All Notes; three more buttons, Audio, Pictures, and Settings, line the bottom of the screen. I appreciated the PRS-700’s display, but I disliked having to press hard to make the touchscreen work. I could use my finger to select words and annotations (not easy with the on-screen touch keyboard). The screen supports gesture motions, too: Conveniently, I could swipe my finger left or right to change pages (even at an angle–neat), and swipe and hold my finger to jump through multiple pages at a time. But even with page swipes, I thought the pressure required to accomplish tasks was unnecessarily hard, and nothing like what I’m used to on, say, a Palm Treo 680 or an Apple iPhone.

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