PocketBook 360° final design

[porkupan]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

The Sony is already around $250 for the 505 and supports at least some DRM, does it seem as if the Pocketbook folks will be able to get to that magic sub-$200 price point this go'round? Not sure if you know but thought I would ask anyway. The xlation of the pages by Google is, well, not great. So, I never found any details about price other than early on in the thread. (over on the other site not here in this one.)

The pre-announced price is $250 or more. PocketBook is currently conducting the auction for the first several units at the-ebook.org, and the base price is $250. OldMan (the PB marketing director?) has stated that the prices in retail quantity of one will be raised as the new device goes retail.

Yes, the price is very comparable to the PRS-505, but the Sony Reader in ex-USSR costs quite a bit more than $250. Besides, my impression is the PB marketing feels they can create enough noise in the ebook community, that the device will be a hot commodity, selling out fast.

Personally, I would exercise my caution before buying a 5" reader for $250 (I am sure, shipped to the U.S. it will be a lot more). Frankly, I don't see for myself enough advantages over Sony Reader to justify the expense. However, the main market for this device will not be the U.S., where we already have a lot of low price competition, but Russia and Ukraine, where all the other ebook readers are retailed at way above the $250 mark.

[brecklundin]

Kris:

I am somewhat lucky in that I have a number of customers, high end folks, who are in Ukraine as well as Russia. I did business with them when others in the US would not touch them with a 10ft poll. I might be able to work around the matter that way and have them do me the favor of buying the thing and sending it to me. I think I treat them well, so hopefully if that is my only option and this does turn out to be the device I want, they'll lend a hand.

[porkupan]

Originally Posted by Kris777

The bad thing that if something wrong with this unit it can be fixed or exchanged in Ukraine only... so it is pretty risky to buy it in case if you are outside of Ukraine or Russia because it will be no warranty

I believe PB is looking to set up support centers in different parts of the world. I know they've been to some places with large Russian speaking immigrant populations, such as Israel (maybe in the U.S. as well). But this certainly is a valid concern.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Kris:

I am somewhat lucky in that I have a number of customers, high end folks, who are in Ukraine as well as Russia. I did business with them when others in the US would not touch them with a 10ft poll. I might be able to work around the matter that way and have them do me the favor of buying the thing and sending it to me. I think I treat them well, so hopefully if that is my only option and this does turn out to be the device I want, they'll lend a hand.

Yes, I agree that it can be no problem to buy it but it can be the problem to return it or exchange if something is wrong...

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by porkupan

I believe PB is looking to set up support centers in different parts of the world. I know they've been to some places with large Russian speaking immigrant populations, such as Israel (maybe in the U.S. as well). But this certainly is a valid concern.

I like to see more 5" eBook readers available on the market because I think that 5" screen is an optimum size for eBook reading. It seems strange for me that Sony and Kindle still have no plans to produce 5" units.

[rogue_ronin]

Now I have to choose between JetBook and PocketBook. Anyone know if the screen will "flash" on screen change? That's probably the biggest downside for me. (I'm hoping that the JetBook will get customizable fonts -- I prefer serif fonts.)

Comments above on the ergonomics of the REB1100 are right on. Does anyone selling these devices ever actually use one? For more than a few minutes? Plus, they're pretty ugly. The REB1100 is still a handsome machine, feels good in the hand, rubberized grip, etc. (I have two, actually.) Software limits (like "in the future we'll play mp3s!" popup, 1-bit images on a 16-grey screen, etc.) were retarded, but the hardware was and is awesome. Ancient touchscreen LCD with backlight, I still get thirty hours use. (Fellow above was commenting on the huge old battery -- they put it in the hand grip, which was genius; that hand grip let you put it on the table in landscape mode, and it propped itself up at a good viewing angle. Weakness into strength. Plus 30 hours! My Nokia 770 runs for three.)

It looks like RocketBook, er, PocketBook is gonna get the design right. Whoo hoo! The ability to recognize good thinking and design is unaccountably rare in groupwork, glad they seem to have it in both hardware and software. That hardcover is right on -- just throw it in your bag!

The crossword app idea someone mentioned is good; should integrate with the dictionary, right? But I would trade it out if you could have a touchscreen: a syncable (ics?) calendar app would be awesome, maybe contacts (vcard) and todo/project and memo -- think old-school Palm for interface. Don't want to drift into handheld computer, but those apps, to me, seem appropriate on a book-device. It'd be nice to get an overview of your week/month/day on a decent sized screen.

As for the screen-size commentary above, 5" or 6" is not the issue -- it's the overall size of the reader. Bad ergonomic, HID and bezel design makes the 6-inchers a little awkwardly sized for portability. Put a six-inch screen in a five-inch form-factor, and that would be superior (if it had adequate resolution.) It's the bad input-devices that force them to be awkward, and poor decisions on what to do with the battery (or which battery to use.) All those readers with 20 %to 25% of their front surface blank but for a D-pad because they had to put the battery somewhere, and thinness beat out beauty...

One of the things that software killed in the REB1100 was the IR port. (It's built into the power button!) In an ideal world, you could share a book with someone over that port, or maybe browse their library listing and make a request (or send calendar/contact info.) I know there is no WIFI in the PocketBook (which would do the job, too) but enabled IR might be a simple cheap workaround. Especially since I don't want a browser on my ebook-reader.

Anyhow, dreaming,

m a r

[igorsk]

Another photo:
http://picasaweb.google.ru/kiyros/HO...32395219005346