PocketBook Ink Pad 840

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by p38lightning

Hi Gang...Need Some Input/Advice.

Pocketbook apparently has no USA repair facility and the cost of sending my broken unit back to Europe plus the repair charge would be prohibitive.

What PB has offered in lieu of the above is a 20% discount off of their 199.00 Euro price which would bring it down to 160.00 Euro or approx. 172.00 in dollars. I hope this would include shipping!

The follow-up question I asked them is whether the 840 screen is prone to substrate damage/cracking or if whatever happened to mine was just a fluke.

What I am now faced with is investing another $172.00 into the 840, getting an Onyx Boox i86 ML for $279.00 (overkill for my needs), or going back to my LG GPad 8.3 until someone else comes along at CES in January with another 8 to 9 inch ereader at a reasonable price. I could even resurrect my Kindle DXG!

Please keep in mind that my usage is limited to using the reader as a "reader" and I don't need or require a lot of bells and whistles other than larger screen acreage and software that provides a good visual and physical reading experience along with being able to use both ePub and Mobi sources. I sideload all of my books.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I've had the Inkpad the longest, and I've never had a problem.

[p38lightning]

Nate,

I received mine right around March 1 of this year and, I too, have had no problems with it until Monday when "something" happened during the course of the day and the substrate cracked. Whether I did something to it inadvertently or "the Dark Side" got to it will forever remain a mystery.

I would greatly appreciate any actual suggestions or advice you may have based on what I have written above which I tried to make quite specific.

[rkomar]

I'm not sure that anyone anywhere ever got a broken screen repaired by a ereader company. Some people have been able to find replacement screens online and installed them themselves on some ereaders. I'm not sure if this is possible with the Inkpad. Maybe you can ask PocketBook if they would be willing to sell you a replacement screen that you will install yourself, if you're willing to try it. I don't really know if the Inkpad is easily serviceable, though; it doesn't look easy to take apart.

[joepie]

Hi p38lightning,

My advise would be based on the cause of the damage. As you have been using the Inkpad for months, I guess there must have been some external cause, and not a spontaneous crackdown of the screen. If there had been some tension in the frame, shouldn't it have manifested before? I'm just guessing here of course.

Did you keep the Inkpad inside or did you take it on route/outside?

[p38lightning]

I was away for an overnight (by car) and the unit was in its cover and in the side pocket of my overnight bag. Do not recall hitting the bag or dropping it. Kept bag in trunk for lunch and the drive home and the temp got up to 80 that day.

How this happened is a real mystery since I do not abuse my digital equipment!

Leaning more toward "something happened" rather than "spontaneous".

I use my Nook HD+ cover which is not only rigid, but the unit fits snugly in the hard black plastic swivel section so the 840 has always been well protected. (See photos).

[joepie]

My guess would be that your ereader got squeezed inside the bag. The cover itself seems rigid enough to sustain lateral pressure, but it perhaps not when it comes to frontal pressure.

The front part of the cover is a bit like the original Inkpad cover that I use. For me it seems mainly a guard against scratches. But perhaps not if some object in the trunk or the bag was pushed onto the front or one of the corners during the ride. The Inkpad, due to its size is more apt to damage, torque or pressure than the 6 inch readers.

A friend of mine packed his 12" tablet in his bookcase to work. His screen got damaged too, showing a constant red line of pixels and not responding to touch in that area.

I try not to travel with the reader. Whenever it does go with me, it travels in its own bag, and I keep it away from other stuff. Only when I visit the spa, it goes into a bag, that is filled with soft stuff like towels and bathrobes. That bag will be in the back seat, not in the trunk.

If you consider the above an acceptable explanation, I would replace the Inkpad in your stead with a new one. I did some extensive research before buying it 3 months ago, and it came out as the sole winner. The size is great, and so is the backlight, which is relevant to me. I believe the Onyx has quite uneven backlight. and a lot of light leakage in the rims. That puts me off entirely.

I love Android on my phones and tablets, I have it on at least 7 devices in my household. I would hate to have it on my ereader though. I'm not entirely sure, but I highly suspect Android is doing all kinds of stuff in the background that has little to do with me reading ebooks. I don't care for any extra functionality that Android has, compared to the Pocketbook. It just eats battery power IMHO.

[joepie]

BTW if it did get damaged during travel, is there perhaps a chance that it is covered by insurance? In The Netherlands we tend to buy a but too much insurance. If this would happen to me, I might have a rightful claim.

[p38lightning]

joepie,

Thanks for the very helpful analysis.

This was the ONLY time I ever put it in a travel bag other than the "Sidecar" I bought last year that is designed to hand carry or over the shoulder strap use specifically for tablets, readers, etc. It has ample padding and protection.

It is possible that the side pocket of the bag received pressure at some point that did the damage though that will remain a mystery.

Other than the miniscule power button, I have been more than satisfied with the 840 for almost all of my reading needs. Especially with the beta of the new software, it does its job wonderfully well.

Your comments have made me feel more secure in getting a replacement rather than going the i86 route which does far more than I need or require and at a much higher price.

Now watch, I will order the replacement next week and then at CES Las Vegas in January we will probably see an all new update of the 840!

Thanks for your helpful comments.

[jackm8]

I'm deciding on 8inchers, and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how is 840 with font support and formatting options. I know it's possible to install own fonts, but what about embedded fonts in epub format and mobi? Also does it have option to left align text without converting epub?

[joepie]

Hi jackm8,

I think it is possible to install fonts on the 840, though I only tried that on my old Pocketbook a couple years ago. Nowadays I just use one font for all my books, one that is easy on my eyes.

If you install Coolreader3, you have all sorts of options to either use the embedded font or another font on the ereader. There is a number of options to align text.
I'm pretty sure that CR3 can show mobi format, but I never tried it as I convert my books to epub.

[p38lightning]

Hi to all,

Here is my update regarding the replacement of my “cracked screen” 840.
I had several back and forth emails with Oksana Kollmiiets who is the head of PB’s customer service.

All communications were on a very positive level and with rapid replies from PB. The offer was 160.00 Euros for the unit and approx. $30.00 for shipping which would have brought the total to just a little over $200.00 US (converted).

I assumed all was in ready for the transaction and I requested specifics regarding where and how to purchase the new 840 using my Pay Pal Credit account along with requesting the unit be updated with the latest beta software/firmware. I explained that I had been successfully using a beta version (supplied the version number) and would appreciate that being done if at all possible.

That last communication was about 10 plus days ago and then I heard nothing. I sent two more follow-ups and still no further response.

Since PB was clearly no longer responding for reasons unknown to me as all communications in both directions had been positive and quite clear, I was at a loss as to my next move.

I was going through my browser favorites and came across an XDA forum link for the Nook HD+ I still had which was fully converted to Android and used now only for graphic novels and comics. Lo and behold I found a thread that contained very easy instructions on how to update the HD+ to Android 5.1.1!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook...noble-t3211119

I had stopped rooting and hacking my tablets/smartphones last year when I updated to an LG G3 and LG gPad 8.3. I was quite satisfied with the Verizon Android software “as was” and simply did not feel compelled to hack either unit as I had done in the past so it had been some time since I had done this type of activity.

The instructions were very well laid out (and quite familiar) along with valid links for the four software downloads I would need and suffice it to say all went like clockwork with no hitches and I soon had the HD+ fully operational using 5.1.1!

I then decided to focus the HD+ as an e-reader only using the Prestigio e-reader app for e-books and the Challenger Viewer app for graphic novels and .cbr comics. I proceeded to remove or disable every other app on there that I absolutely did not need in order for the HD+ to function as a dedicated e-reader (all books being sideloaded) with no other bells and whistles. I kept fine tuning this process in order to maximize the battery life so that I could easily get two very full days of reading without recharging.

I highly recommend the Prestigio app for those looking for a good Android e-reader that performs its basic functions well and allows for easy creation of separate libraries and looks great visually.

The plusses here are: the HD+ still has an excellent screen in terms of both viewability and size as it truly approximates a full trade paperback size page, it is quick and very responsive and appears to be totally stable with 5.1.1. The downside is weight (especially in the 360 degree swivel cover I use most frequently), the usual led screen reflection issues even with a top notch anti-glare screen protector, and battery life when compared to the 840.

Overall I am quite pleased with my interim solution which cost me a grand total of $0.00!

I will now wait and see what CES may have in store for new 8 inch or (slightly) larger e-ink readers.

[joepie]

Hi p38lightning, perhaps there is a delay @PB, maybe there are some links between your spokesperson and the final go. Perhaps a logistic issue atm. Who knows. It will probably turn out well.

The webshop where I bought mine have just updated to 5 in stock, so appearently there is a new batch.

You're quite creative to update your HD+. At least you can read for the time being :-).

Good luck on the 840

[p38lightning]

Thanks and the HD+ "rebirth" is working out just fine with the reflection and battery issues being the only rub. I manage to deal with both fairly well.

Odd thing re: PB was the rapidity of the initial replies to my emails and then nothing including my inquiries as to whether or not there was a problem.

We will see how it all pans out and CES is just over the horizon!

Actually I would gladly settle for a matte finish screen protector that was truly anti-reflective even at the risk of dulling the screen.

[brucelee]

Being creative is not something strange. The reason for being creative is something strange.

As for the PB customer service not responding after an entirely open conversation... That's odd...

Hopefully a PB employee will read this:
I really appreciate PocketBook for many things, but, personally, I would really like for them to make their OS rootable. That would help improving a lot. By making it rootable we could implement some ideas that the PB team might not think about. (or might not actually have time to implement. which could make the PB fans kind of contributors to the OS if the changes are really good.)
Seriously, although we're quite a small team of fans compared to amazon's kindle and stuff like that, we as users could come up with really needed services/apps.

[rkomar]

PB devices used to be rootable many years ago, based on a bug in the SUID networking program. However, they plugged that hole and nothing else has been found since. They provide various commercial products on the device (dictionaries, TTS,...), and I expect that they can only license such things if they promise to try to keep the devices unrootable.