Pocketbook Viva - full of colors, full of superpowers!

[kyôdai]

Hey there,

A couple of days ago Pocketbook announced a new colour ebook-reader, the Pocketbook Viva.

It will be the first colour e-reader to use E-Inks new Gallery 3 display technology and is set to launch sometime in the first quarter of 2023 for the price of €599.

Otherwise the design (and specs) are similar to the Pocketbook Era, albeit with a slightly bigger 8" display.

You can read the whole announcement here:
-> https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/news/poc...k-viva-news-ch

• Storage: 64 GB of built-in memory
• Display: 8" (Gallery 3), 300ppi, 1440 × 1920 pixel,
• adaptive SMARTlight + ComfortGaze frontlight
• G-sensor for automatic screen rotation
• Audio: Built-In speakers, text-to-speech function
• Supported file formats - 23 formats (19 book and 4 graphic formats), including formats of comics;
• Supported audiobook formats - M4A, M4B, OGG, OGG.ZIP, MP3, MP3.ZIP
• IPX8 water protection
• Powerful quad-core processor;
• Connectivity: Dual band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, PocketBook Cloud services
• The vast number of dictionaries – in addition to 11 pre-installed language combinations, users have 42 combinations available for free download.

[kandwo]

I hope they develop this technology further. At current I just cannot see the point of Gallery 3 on such a small device.

Colour e-ink makes sense for PDFs with graphics in colour or for comics, or magazines. And all of those would be best served by a 13" e-reader. Or at least 10".

Add to that the slow refresh rate, which would make it painful to navigate a document (which one would have to do on such a small screen).

So what is the use case for this device? The few non-fiction epubs that depend on colour to show nice graphs? Looking at family photos? The rare manga in colour?

And the price... ouch!

[ottischwenk]

The only advantage is that it looks nice in the sun - but it has many other disadvantages
You have to go into the shade with a tablet, but whether that's worth €600 is something everyone has to decide for themselves.
I prefer my 10 inch €50 China tablet.

[tomsem]

It needs to be about half that price, and even then...

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It needs to be about half that price, and even then...

I pretty much agree, but then people pay around $1,600 for phones, so there's probably a market (though niche) for $600 color E-Ink readers as well.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It needs to be about half that price, and even then...

it's the new tech bonus.
what do you think I paid for my 1st monochrome reader (bebook mini)
200€
hey, at least tech development goes on and isn't stalling. Size will follow.
if it's bad i cannot judge. im still using a pb lux

[ps67]

"Only" € 599

Well, I bought both color device of Pocketbook so far, and now I seldom use the 6" screen Pocketbook Color, its only advantage is that it is the lighter ereader I own but its screen is terrible. And the 7.8" screen of Inkpad Color is somewhat better but it is useful only for non fiction books with color images (diagram, sometime maps etc.). Not so bad also for color comics but it depends on the size of them, often its 7.8" screen it is not large enough.

This color model seems better but, as far I can read, it is slow. Well I don't know if I will buy it, may be not. But when somebody will use it we will have some real news about it.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I pretty much agree, but then people pay around $1,600 for phones, so there's probably a market (though niche) for $600 color E-Ink readers as well.

The first Kindle was $399 in 2007 and sold out. The inflation calculator tells me that that would be $574.91 today.

[Quoth]

What price was a Sony e-reader that year?
But would a 1953 USA Color TV vs same year mono or a 1969 UK Colour TV vs 1969 UK 625 Mono be better comparisons?

Or 2003 Colour Nokia Communicator vs 2000 Mono Nokia Communicator (1st smart phone was 1998).

It's also not at all the first colour ereader, (though earlier ones are real eink with a filter or even LCD).

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Quoth

What price was a Sony e-reader that year?
But would a 1953 USA Color TV vs same year mono or a 1969 UK Colour TV vs 1969 UK 625 Mono be better comparisons?

The point is, it is a high priced device for early adopters. I'm not going to pay $600 for one, but people will.

[Quoth]

People that believe the hype and don't research the screen used!

The headline I see on Forums Home
Pocketbook Viva - full of...


It's also possible that this complex screen is really expensive. Even the mono eink 6″ are very expensive panels compared to a similar size LCD.

[rkomar]

I bought the PocketBook Colour (6") device when it came out. The display is inferior to the later Kaleido ones. However, I use it as my main fiction reading device and am happy with the colours when reading graphic novels on it. Maybe it's because I'm a glass half full guy, and/or maybe because I find the static e-ink displays to be more restful on my brain than lcd screens, but I'm just grateful to have such a device. People like me may not be in the majority, but there are probably enough of us to make such devices profitable, despite their drawbacks.

I'm fine with Quoth rubbishing the colour e-ink displays every chance he gets; he is probably saving many people grief who might have ordered a device with one and then been really unhappy with it. It's definitely not technology that is ready for everyone, but it is ready for a few of us.

[BionicGecko]

What’s with the first picture - there’s something resembling a pen on the right hand side of the device, implying writing support. Misleading advertising much?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I bought the PocketBook Colour (6") device when it came out. The display is inferior to the later Kaleido ones. However, I use it as my main fiction reading device and am happy with the colours when reading graphic novels on it. Maybe it's because I'm a glass half full guy, and/or maybe because I find the static e-ink displays to be more restful on my brain than lcd screens, but I'm just grateful to have such a device. People like me may not be in the majority, but there are probably enough of us to make such devices profitable, despite their drawbacks.

I'm fine with Quoth rubbishing the colour e-ink displays every chance he gets; he is probably saving many people grief who might have ordered a device with one and then been really unhappy with it. It's definitely not technology that is ready for everyone, but it is ready for a few of us.

Fair comment. I do try to simply balance the hype with basic physics. They aren't rubbish but are certainly a niche in a niche. There are real use cases.

The Kaleido is real eInk with various filters depending on model. The Gallery AECP is made by E Ink the company, but doesn't appear to be traditional eink panels. The Gallery types thus on the plus can do closer to PC HighColor (about 50,000) vs about 4000 for Kaleido (which is either saturated and dark, or brighter but only pastel de-saturated shades). The Gallery panels, according to E Ink Corp themselves, are very very slow, up to 1.5 seconds to "turn" a colour page. Video suggests Gallery panels flash/dither/flicker for much of that 1.5 seconds.

[Uncle Robin]

"the price of €599" <The End>