PocketBook Color PB633 Released

[scionmessenger]

Originally Posted by Antartica

Certainly the screen is a bit grayish, even a little darker than my old Sony PRS-950 ("Pearl" e-ink). That means that for indoor reading, even if you have indirect lighting, you will need to have the backlight on.

The backlight is too bright for my taste. Comparing with the kindle voyage, the pocketbook at it lowest setting is comparable to the voyage at 50% (note that I only want the backlight to brighten a bit the background; in the voyage I have it at 4%).

On the other hand, reading with sunlight is a pleasure, even in color.

I've done some photos in sunlight displaying a cbz comic (it's an european-format comic, so the letters are a little small in the pocketbook, but readable):

https://whereismybit.com/files/df78c...-066f0f8302ba/

I scanned those pages at 300dpi resulting on a image size 2491x3489, and the reader struggles a little when changing pages. I've yet to try reducing the resolution, perhaps that would be enough to make it more snappy. Also I've not checked yet if there are alternative cbz readers for the pocketbook.

Yeah, same here. I leave the light on zero and its great for indoors. If I have fluorescent lights, I leave it off, also outside I leave it off

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Antartica

...Certainly the screen is a bit grayish, even a little darker than my old Sony PRS-950 ("Pearl" e-ink). That means that for indoor reading, even if you have indirect lighting, you will need to have the backlight on.

The backlight is too bright for my taste. Comparing with the kindle voyage, the pocketbook at it lowest setting is comparable to the voyage at 50% (note that I only want the backlight to brighten a bit the background; in the voyage I have it at 4%)...

Your entire review is helpful but this is especially good info for me since my last two ereaders were the Voyage (which is my current model) and a Sony PRS 950, so you're giving me really good info to compare with. I can't say until I try it but I don't think I'd mind the greyness or darkness as long as I have a backlight to use.

I don't use the auto light brightness feature on my Voyage and only manually adjust it. I usually keep it on around 7-9 out of 24 so I suppose that translates to around 25-38% total brightness. I don't usually use it any brighter than that so I do worry a little about the Pocketbook's lowest brightness setting equalling about 50% on the Voyage. I just tried my Voyage at 12 out of 24 which should be 50% and I could be okay with it but it'd be nice if the brightness could be lower.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by scionmessenger

Ok, Ive added those to my page along with my reviews. All the pictures are now clickable and when you do give it a few seconds and it will be magnified and you can scroll around in super detail. If you want to save the high res version, or look at it all at once in hi res, while it is magnified, right click and either save, or open in new tab. Once opened in a new tab you can click on it once and it will be full resolution! Make sure you don't forget to click on it on the main page and put into magnification mode, because if it is not in magnification mode and you right click and open or save its just the low res version!

https://scionmessenger.wixsite.com/e...book-color-633

Originally Posted by Antartica

I've done some photos in sunlight displaying a cbz comic (it's an european-format comic, so the letters are a little small in the pocketbook, but readable):

https://whereismybit.com/files/df78c...-066f0f8302ba/

Thanks for the pics guys!

This isn't a deal-breaker for me since I'd be happy to have any sort of colour e-ink but I've noticed most colour e-ink pictures I've seen seem to show blues, reds, yellows/tans/browns and greens well enough, although they each look distinct. Like, where with normal pictures the colours would blend more and have a larger range of shades, on colour e-ink it's more definite blue areas of a similar shade, definite red areas of a similar shade, etc. I've also rarely seen any oranges or purples.

[pdurrant]

The screen seems to work really well for comics, with colour images, and black and white text in speech bubbles. Thanks.

[ilweran]

Having read in the dark last night the front light on the Color is, as others have said, considerably brighter than the Voyage - I also have the light set very low on mine so it's very noticeable especially in the dark.

The greyer screen on the Color does need the light set brighter than I would on the Voyage.

(Also spent too much time last night playing sudoku and klondike!)

[Crowriver]

Originally Posted by Antartica

Received today my Pocketbook Color from sotel. Less than a week from ordering to having it in my hands!

[snip]

The backlight is too bright for my taste.

[snip]

On the other hand, reading with sunlight is a pleasure, even in color.

I've done some photos in sunlight displaying a cbz comic (it's an european-format comic, so the letters are a little small in the pocketbook, but readable):

https://whereismybit.com/files/df78c...-066f0f8302ba/

[snip]

Great to see the Smurfs on the Pocketbook Color!

I agree with the comments regarding grey screen and backlight brightness. In full daylight the standard screen is fine, but artificial lighting seems insufficient. I use the backlight at lowest setting, or just a little above: anything higher is too bright for my tender eyes!

Good to hear that Sotel pulled through: seems a good service for Europe-wide deliveries, at good prices too (though I note they have added 10 euros since I ordered my PB Color...).

[mdp]

Originally Posted by tomsem

My guess is that few people are reading technical books with charts and graphs and tables on a 6” screen, color or no color: it is too small. So the ‘color is for data’ argument seems weak to me

The statement «colour is for data» contains no reference to size. (And in fact, I think is true to triviality: colour adds a further dimension to discriminate items.*) In fact, I meant it with reference to Kaleido, not to the PocketBook device.

But this (Tomsem's) remark makes me note: the PocketBook device does not (I understand) allow running generic software applications on it. So, the benefits of colour on it will be very much limited - to those listed by Tomsem plus, if the PB633 has a very good internet browser, rich hypertext pages. Colour displays will be more useful on full (e.g.) Android devices.

*The one apparent exception to the stated purpose of colour I can find, by checking opinions around, is "Colour makes you trippy and is a good alternative to heroin" - but that position is not relevant to the (mild, washed-out) effect of reflective displays; the one I proposed is valid for all colour displays and this other position I met is only valid for a subset of displays and people.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by scionmessenger

Heres a link to some magnified pictures. Got my pocketbook color in today!! Pretty responsive, colors look good not to washed out. Ill post color text pics later of up close

Thank you!

One thing I cannot understand: from your magnifications, I do not seem to see the greys (14 shades of) between the black and white in the EPD layer; were you using some A2 mode or is that how the device always renders, or have I looked at your pictures badly? When text is rendered, the dots around it, neighbouring the background, should be grey because of the antialiasing.

EDIT: I am not sure, but now I think I see them greys - I think it does antialiasing also on text in colour...
(Those below are the edges of red text)

EDIT2: With black-on-white text, I think now the antialiasing is evident (2nd pic).

[mdp]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

MicroUSB is an advantage. USB-C is a disaster.

I always supposed so on the basis of "little gain to have a revolution", but I have managed not to have a single device with the "C". So, happily, no experience. Would you care to substantiate with a little info about what makes it a "disaster"? To be sure there are no further sinister details I may have missed.

[Crowriver]

Originally Posted by mdp

*The one apparent exception to the stated purpose of colour I can find, by checking opinions around, is "Colour makes you trippy and is a good alternative to heroin" - but that position is not relevant to the (mild, washed-out) effect of reflective displays; the one I proposed is valid for all colour displays and this other position I met is only valid for a subset of displays and people.

Alternative to LSD or MDMA surely?

Mild, washed out colour is "trippy" for mild, washed out folks?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by mdp

I always supposed so on the basis of "little gain to have a revolution", but I have managed not to have a single device with the "C". So, happily, no experience. Would you care to substantiate with a little info about what makes it a "disaster"? To be sure there are no further sinister details I may have missed.

You might want to check this article from a few years back. It's from the Verge, Feb.3 ,2012: A Google engineer sacrificed his Chromebook Pixel to test USB-C cables. After that, Benson Leung compiled lists of cables that were good and cables that were not which was kept for a few years.

Basically, there were cables out there that were not even close to the USB-C specification, cables that reversed the V+/V- connections, you think of all the ways someone could screw up a cable and someone had done it and probably a few you would never think of. The screwups were more popular with USB-C to USB-microA or similar adapter cables but there were enough USB-C- to USB-C cables that were hooped.

The situation is better today but the usual warnings to buy from reputable manufacturers, check the reviews, etc. all apply.

I have several devices with USB-C connections and so far I've managed to add 6 USB-C cables without any issues. I have had issues with my laptop's Thunderbolt 3 port where cables that were sold as Thunderbolt 3 were just not able to handle 40GBps though part of that is my fault for trying to purchase a lower cost passive 2M Thunderbolt cable. I finally spent the money for a quality cable and it works well enough.

[scionmessenger]

Originally Posted by mdp

Thank you!

One thing I cannot understand: from your magnifications, I do not seem to see the greys (14 shades of) between the black and white in the EPD layer; were you using some A2 mode or is that how the device always renders, or have I looked at your pictures badly? When text is rendered, the dots around it, neighbouring the background, should be grey because of the antialiasing.

EDIT: I am not sure, but now I think I see them greys - I think it does antialiasing also on text in colour...
(Those below are the edges of red text)

EDIT2: With black-on-white text, I think now the antialiasing is evident (2nd pic).

Not sure. The pocketbook only has one mode i believe. No option for a2 mode or anything. Watched youtube on the browser, it was like maybe 3 to 5 frames a second. If you click the zoom on this link, it looks like the grey around the text is just all the color filters activated, red gren and blue.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2...e81f6~mv2.webp

[Antartica]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

...
I've also rarely seen any oranges or purples.

I've added some photos comparing purples and oranges in the pocketbook to plain old paper:

https://whereismybit.com/files/df78c...-066f0f8302ba/

About the color accuracy: the purples are good enough (fuchsias not so much), but oranges are a train wreck as they are almost converted into reds.

[kyôdai]

I found the attached pictures in another forum.

They show a comparison between the new Pocketbook Color and last years Pocketbook Touch HD 3 in various lighting conditions.

The display of the PB Color looks noticable darker. In the last, close-up picture you can see, that the background does not turn completely "white". (Small, grey dots remain.) Maybe this just a software issue?

1. picture: Outside, no backlight.
2. picture: Outside, 100% backlight.
3. picture: Inside, 100% backlight.
4. picture: Close-up image of both screens. (Color left, HD3 right)

[Crowriver]

The text in those photos is really small for display on a six-inch device (IMHO). I haven't used such a small font so personally haven't noticed the screen texture shown in the images.

I agree that the screen is fairly dark without frontlight, but I don't have another PB reader to compare it to, just various devices with additional Wacom screens (and in one case glass too) and compared to them it's only a little bit darker.