360 or 360+

[adbosch]

I can get either the 360 or the 360 plus for 99 euro. Which one should I take. Or is there a better 5" ereader on the market or soon to come? Thanks for your kind advice.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by adbosch

I can get either the 360 or the 360 plus for 99 euro. Which one should I take. Or is there a better 5" ereader on the market or soon to come? Thanks for your kind advice.

That is the question!
I was pondering the same problem today.

What makes it even more difficult, there is yet another model on market PB360+ NEW ;-) It sells here in Europe for some 108Euro (including VAT)

PB360+ has faster processor, newer version of firmware, Wifi. It is supposed to have better (softer) buttons, you can buy grey one without embossed cover.

On the other hand, however,
PB360 has LOTS of third-party options, such as themes. I also have collected quite a few interesting dictionaries that might not work properly in the new models. I had chance to play with PB360+ and the engine for rendering fonts is a bit different. My favourite fonts looked different. The screen has the same quality. I am very fond of the Clearlook theme with *lots* of books / folders per page in library listing.


I am not aware of PocketBook preparing a new 5 inch model.
There is a new Kindle in the making with a glow screen. That might mean it might be possible to buy older models cheaper.


Have a look at Bookeen Odyssey. There are unbelievable videos at Youtube. Width is almost the same as PB360, it is 20mm longer. I somehow do not like Bookeen company, but have a look so you won't be sorry you haven't considered it.

Another device you might wish to have a look at is PageOne HD. That HD is important, because it has 6" 1024*768 display without glass backplate.

There is also Wexler Flex One - the first bendable reader, but with a hefty 230Euro pricetag.

[troll05]

Have a look at Bookeen Odyssey. There are unbelievable videos at Youtube. Width is almost the same as PB360, it is 20mm longer. I somehow do not like Bookeen company, but have a look so you won't be sorry you haven't considered it

Save your time, display of Bokeen ist crap. Tested it for a few hours, it's a lot darker than other Vizplex screens (because of touch layer), contrast is poor and in bright light you can see a fine hexagonal pattern (also from the touch-layer).
Software seems ok from what I've seen and the "incredible" fast page turn is not faster than the new Pocketbooks.
I don't know where you are, but if in Europe I'd give either the 360+NEW or the 622/Touch a try, even if they are well above 100€, the Touch is worth every cent of it

[kacir]

Originally Posted by troll05

Save your time, ...

Thank you for the microreview.

[adbosch]

Thanks. Do you know which EU-shop sells the 360+ NEW? I can't find it in the NL shop and in the German shop there is no mention of price (or buy button).

[jedd]

At the risk of echoing some of the earlier comments

I have had my vanilla PB 360 for just over two years. It cost about 100 GBP back then, and the price has been pretty stable since then (even with newer models). This is vaguely reassuring. Rarely see them come up on ebay second hand, too. Size is perfect, of course, but I'm assuming that's why you're looking at this range. A friend had the similar-sized bookeen, and liked it, but I didn't get to play with it much. It *felt* a smidge longer, but that may just me being sizeist. The size of the PB360(+) manages to fit every pocket (jacket, jeans/back) that I need.

I bought a 360+ six months ago for my other half - she loves it.

I can say that I think the matte colour (blue) of the 360+ is a bit nicer than the patterned black 360 - but it's not something that would sway my decision. What *would* is the fact the 360+ is significantly more responsive when moving around menus. Page turns are slightly faster, though I'm so used to scanning ahead the last few words on a page, and am used to the speed turn of the vanilla 360. It's faster than a paper book

No idea on the 360+ NEW .. I *think* a friend got one, but we had trouble working it out from the About/System information.

Button clicks on the 360+ didn't seem measurably quieter than the PB360 original. I tend to use the 4-way rocker navigation for moving between pages anyway, especially if I'm reading in bed. There's the accelerometer plugin that lets you move forward by flicking your wrist too if noise is a big concern. I found the noise of me swearing every time I scratched my nose and jumped forward a chapter out-weighed the noise of the buttons.

For vendors - check greenreader.co.uk (they're based in Ukraine I believe). They're very helpful and would be able to tell you when they can get them in if they don't have them on stock.

I've also bought gear from ereader-store.de - they have good prices (though they did mislead me about what they actually had in stock at the time I bought something from them).

[hidari]

Had the 360 and now have the 360+ blue.... The plus has much softer wing buttons....you can load many of the themes of the original 360 and it beats most of the other 5 inch readers out there. I have an Opus and a Sony 350 and I reckon that it is the best overall.... though still love the former ones as well...

[jedd]

Originally Posted by hidari

The plus has much softer wing buttons.

I finally got off my arse and wandered in search of my other half's 360+ .. and you're quite right. Those big buttons are much softer on the +. My apologies.

One other thing I was going to mention - the 360 themes seem to work fine with the 360+ (though we've only really used Cleanlook too) is that some fonts were a bit weird. I posted a message in this forum a while ago, but misspelled Gentium as Genium in the subject. But there's plenty of other TTF fonts you can pull in for a similar look. Weird that there was this kind of incompatibility between the two systems though.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by adbosch

Thanks. Do you know which EU-shop sells the 360+ NEW? I can't find it in the NL shop and in the German shop there is no mention of price (or buy button).

http://www.ebook-ctecky.cz/ctecky-el...ickych-knih-a6
Try sending them an email. It seems they only have Czech page.

Also try going to the generic PocketBook company page at
http://www.pocketbook-int.com/de
and select your country at the lower right corner. You should find a list of distributors or an eshop or whatever.

[hidari]

I ordered my 360 plus from Amazon.com in the USA...They deliverd to Japan...so they may deliver to your country as well...

[paola]

Originally Posted by hidari

you can load many of the themes of the original 360

I have modified some of the themes to add the functions that the 360+ has (e.g. wifi), and of course with Gerda's stuff it is easy to modify as you wish