Where can I buy an InkPad 3?

[janviet]

My Tea Inkpad 3 is on its way from France and is expected to arrive on the exact day that was indicated by Decitre when I ordered. Not bad.

@pondscum, when you say "Pocketbook doesn't support putting the Pocketbook firmware on Tea-branded hardware", do you mean that the device doesn't let you, or just that Pocketbook doesn't want you to?

@Richard1, I ordered from goodereader.com, but when my order status had been stuck in "processing" for 4 days and I didn't get any response to an email asking when it would ship, I canceled my order. This resulted in a few extremely unprofessional emails from them, affirming my decision to cancel; I will never do business with them again.

[pondscum]

Originally Posted by janviet

@pondscum, when you say "Pocketbook doesn't support putting the Pocketbook firmware on Tea-branded hardware", do you mean that the device doesn't let you, or just that Pocketbook doesn't want you to?

They told me it is "vorbidden" [sic], and "We don't recommend to do it." I suspect it is a legal/license issue rather than a technical one, given that other thread where people reported successfully installing PB updates on other Tea-branded devices. I also found this blog post, which IIUC describes the author putting a PB firmware update on his InkPad 3 to fix some problem with the frontlight:

http://cod-box.net/attention-lisez-a...book-inkpad-3/

My guess is that decitre.fr is probably selling the readers at a discount because they are configured to direct users to their online bookstore, which is why PB discourages installing a firmware update that would point it somewhere else. In my case I don't shop for books directly on my e-reader, and even if I did I would use a US-based bookshop instead, so I don't see that as particularly relevant for me. I'm just a little wary about hacking my brand-new e-reader into a state where Pocketbook would no longer support it if something *else* goes wrong with it.

One of the comments in the blog post linked above says Tea is planning to release a firmware update in early 2019. I don't know how reliable that information is.

[janviet]

Thanks! I think you're right about the TEA version of the Inkpad 3, and I understand you're reasoning for not updating, but I'm afraid I can't help myself and will try the update as soon as I have my device...

By the way, the latest comment at https://aldus2006.typepad.fr/mon_web...mware-tea.html is from someone who succesfully updated to the latest Pocketbook Inkpad 3 firmware.

[pondscum]

Originally Posted by janviet

Thanks! I think you're right about the TEA version of the Inkpad 3, and I understand you're reasoning for not updating, but I'm afraid I can't help myself and will try the update as soon as I have my device...

Heh, I can understand that. Let us know how it goes!

[janviet]

Today, I received my 'tea' InkPad 3 from Decitre. It was properly packaged and appeared to be a brand new device (model number PB740 with production date October 15, 2018). Coming from a Nook Simple Touch, the display and frontlight on the InkPad 3 look amazing.

I didn't even try setting it up with the original 'tea' firmware. Instead, I immediately updated to the latest Pocketbook firmware (5.19.660). I didn't have much time today, but so far everything works fine. I'll do some more testing later this week.

Now I need to find myself a nice cover. Does anyone know if the kwmobile Case for Pocketbook InkPad 3 supports the sleep function? Is there a reed switch in the front somewhere that is switched by a magnet in the cover?

[totasenior]

The magnetic sensor is located under the Home button.
Yes, the "kwmobile" case can handle the "auto sleep / wake up" function.

[janviet]

Thanks! Order placed.

[pondscum]

Originally Posted by janviet

Today, I received my 'tea' InkPad 3 from Decitre. It was properly packaged and appeared to be a brand new device (model number PB740 with production date October 15, 2018). Coming from a Nook Simple Touch, the display and frontlight on the InkPad 3 look amazing.

I didn't even try setting it up with the original 'tea' firmware. Instead, I immediately updated to the latest Pocketbook firmware (5.19.660). I didn't have much time today, but so far everything works fine. I'll do some more testing later this week.

Glad to hear the Pocketbook firmware update worked! It's nice to know it's an option if Tea doesn't get their own update out soon.

I agree about the quality of the screen -- it's really a huge step up for me too (was previously using a 4th generation Kindle from 2012). I'm glad I went for the bigger screen instead of the HD 3 I was initially considering. The Inkpad is 210g compared to 160g for the old Kindle, but still feels really light in the hands.

BTW, one of the reasons why I went for the bigger screen is that I thought it would allow reading scanned PDF books, and I tried it out on one from the Internet Archive over the weekend. The PDF viewer lets you crop out the page margins and I think it ended up scaling the text to 93% or something like that, so it's not awful to read.

[janviet]

Being able to read PDFs was also one of the reasons I went for a larger screen. Actually, resolution was more important than size; I needed enough pixels to render an A4 PDF at a decent quality. Being near-sighted, I can take off my glasses and comfortably read from a very small screen.

I received the kwmobile case (I have the anthracite/black one) for my Inkpad 3 and have been using it over the weekend. The case feels nice (and provides me more to hold on to when I'm reading than the 'naked' Inkpad). The Inkpad snaps snuggly in the plastic frame. The sleep/wake function works as expected. The one negative I have discovered so far, is that the 'spine' should have been 1 - 1.5 mm narrower; as it is, the front curves down from the wide 'spine' to touch the front of the Inkpad. Overall, definitely worth the $14.90 I paid for it on Amazon.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by janviet

Being able to read PDFs was also one of the reasons I went for a larger screen. Actually, resolution was more important than size; I needed enough pixels to render an A4 PDF at a decent quality. Being near-sighted, I can take off my glasses and comfortably read from a very small screen.

I am looking hard at the Pocketbook Inkpad 3. are you 100% loving it? If not, what are the things that bother you?

I would also put the pure Pocketbook firmware since I plan to get it from Decitre.

anyone with input on this please do respond. thank you!

[janviet]

I have not had as much time to read as I would have liked, but my experience with my Inkpad 3 has been positive so far. Nice display and great battery life (I do have Wi-Fi turned off; I use Calibre to manage my books and use USB for all transfers).

If I have to name something that I don't like about it, it's the color of the buttons as it can be hard for me to tell which is which. However, this is a very minor gripe.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

I am looking hard at the Pocketbook Inkpad 3. are you 100% loving it? If not, what are the things that bother you?

I would also put the pure Pocketbook firmware since I plan to get it from Decitre.

anyone with input on this please do respond. thank you!

I got one a couple of days before and I love mine! I bought the PRO version which is waterproof and has bluetooth. Due to its being waterproof there is no SD-card slot but a 16 GB memory which is more than sufficient for me. I always have between 500 and 1000 books on my reader anyway so I've never maxed out on onboard storage with any reader I've ever owned.

Coming from Kobo the Pocketbooks software is very similiar to what I am used to. The Pocketbook is highly customizable. You can easily add your own fonts (just make sure you use .ttf), get rid of margins, have only a header or a footer or none of them, etc.

Of course the software is different to maneuver than the Kobos but it was very fast set up to my preferences and I really love the way it looks and acts now.

The reader itself is very lightweight. Even 50gr lighter than the KA1 and only 13gr (normal Inkpad3) or 28gr (Inkpad PRO) heftyer than the Forma, which is kind of a little marvel given the Forma has a Mobius screen and the Inkpads don't.

The screen is totally even and the lighting, too. You can swipe the screen to set brightness and light color. One is on the left and the other on the right side of the screen.

It recognizes a couple of gestures like tapping, swiping and so forth. The screen is divided. You can scroll forward and backwards no matter if you are reading right or left handed. The forward is to the left and the right of the screen (upper 2/3), backwards is at the bottom left and right, menue is in the middle, close book in the left upper corner and set bookmark in the right upper corner.

You can mark, annotate, scribble, bookmark. Have text-to-speech or listen to music while you read, listen to an audiobook, read in landscape (there is automatic rotation, which you can switch on or off as you like). Chess, Sudoku and other stuff I haven't explored yet. [Anyone else missing the games on the Kobo? I just recently discovered the patches, they can be patched back.]

It has buttons. I think you can customize those too. Being no buttonpusher myself I am not too sure how much but I know there are options.

There is Dropbox and you can mail stuff to the device. Buy or borrow books with the browser.

It is a joy to read with and a joy to set up. I am sure I left out a ton of other things you can do with it, as it is very new to me and I haven't explored the thing thoroughly enough to be an expert

I really, really love mine and this is something I couldn't say of the Forma even though I really wanted to love it.

[tourneur]

Thanks Poppaea for the great write-up. Especially as I'm also a Kobo user and the Inkpad 3 looks like it checks all the boxes I want. A large screen, symmetrical device with buttons in the bottom. Only thing I'm not familiar with is the Pocketbook software but your impressions sound very good.

[Poppaea]

Adding info

Originally Posted by tourneur

Thanks Poppaea for the great write-up. Especially as I'm also a Kobo user and the Inkpad 3 looks like it checks all the boxes I want. A large screen, symmetrical device with buttons in the bottom. Only thing I'm not familiar with is the Pocketbook software but your impressions sound very good.

Yes, the software needs some getting used to, but after the initial setup there isn't much need to maneuver around. The justvdo things differently at Pocketbook, but it is not hard tobfigure out.

The sleep cover works well (you have to set the device to never shut off, otherwise it goes into hibernation and the sleep cover won't wake it up, only shut it down). There is a physical home button which is very nice to have in the beginning.

Oh, it does have collections like the Kobo and if you have tgged your books in Calibre it wiil translate the tags as "genre" and file your books accordingly. The library management is even more exhaustive as the Kobos. I hated the onboard fonts, they were too light for my taste but easy to change.

I think it is a very neat device and I guess you'll like it.

ETA The contrast is very low, even when I crank up the lights full throttle. This is why I installed new, darker fonts.

[pghaworth]

thank you everyone for all the great info! much more than I had hoped for.

compared to a Kobo then, you prefer the Inkpad?

and if you have Kindle experience, do you prefer it to the Kindles? I am beyond over the Kindle experience.

I am hoping that the Inkpad will be what I am looking for, if a little challenging to get my hands on.