What's your opinion on Pocketboooks

[codrut_popescu]

I am considering getting an Inkpad X Pro, but I never seen a Pocketbook in my life. Are they reliable? I already have an Android tablet, I am looking for a eink reader with a large screen for my eyes (I wear glasses). I started looking into Pocketbook after I had a pleasant experience wit their Android app.
But before placing an order may I ask if this is a good brand?

[slm]

After years of switching among the standard brands--Amazon and Kobo, with an occasional Nook thrown in, I'm pretty well devoted to my Pocketbook. It works well and the infra structure almost matches Amazon--emailing books and keeping track of your place on multiple devices. The "almost" is that Pocketbook takes a while after you turn it on to download emailed books and to sync the book position.

[cellaris]

The InkPad X Pro is actually an atypical e-reader in the PocketBook product line, precisely because it uses Android, so our experience with that brand won't be of much use to you. Generally speaking, I like their e-readers, and PocketBook is certainly a reliable brand.

We'll have to wait for it to come to market, if it does, because it was announced a long time ago and still hasn't appeared (we know they're working on another 10" colour e-reader, a complementary or replacement?) Personally I think it has too many question marks and all the appearance of being a mistimed and failed product. But this is just a very personal impression. Judging something without knowing it first hand is often misleading. @Cyfranek was testing it and left his first impressions... http://cyfranek.booklikes.com/post/5...rgach-ifa-2023

[Michal Jancik]

As a long-time Pocketbook user, what bothers me most about PB devices is the slow OS, navigation and everything about it is terribly slow compared to the competition.

The battery life and PDF functions are competitive, but the book format is empty in the settings, for example you will not find the option to set the font weight and the like.

Then, my personal complaint is that I don't like the way books are moved in the library, I almost always don't see at least half of the book image.
The entire navigation in the menu is so clumsy, but listing books by: size, name, addition, etc. is good.

I have no experience with Android readers from PB. I would probably be very interested in the battery life.

[rantanplan]

I think from a reading software perspective, Kobo just gives you the most robust font configuration options. None of the competitors give you that many options. I really love Kobo for that.

What I really don't like about their software is the library organization. You cannot simply filter for books that are unread or started at the same time. You can filter for unread, you can filter for books where you started reading (which is set as soon as you simply open the book and scroll to the TOC) but not at the same time. None of the competition does it this way. Horrible.

When it comes to PDF, just use KOreader. Doesn't matter which device you choose, just use KOreader.

[cellaris]

In the end it depends on how you use your e-reader and your own preferences. I don't like the original PocketBook reading software and I don't like the Kobo reading software either. For regular reading I use KOReader on both, and I personally prefer to use it on PocketBook devices because of some of the "details" I get from their system (although I recognise that it is a minority choice among KOReader users, who prefer its better adaptation to Kobo devices).

For the little I use the original reading software, I find it more convenient to use PB Reader than fiddling with patches and NickelMenu. Because of the way I use e-readers, Kobo devices occupy a distant place in my preferences, not because they are bad or worse than other brands' devices, but because I find them terribly uncomfortable. In my particular case, Kobo devices have fallen into a no-man's land. If I want to use simple but flawlessly executed software, I prefer Kindle. If I want software with lots of customisation options I prefer Onyx, and if I want to use KOReader I prefer PocketBook. So, by exclusion, Kobo has been left in a middle ground that doesn't bother me but doesn't particularly appeal to me.

[rcentros]

PocketBooks are my favorite eReaders. Mostly because I like the way they render fonts and format pages. And (because they turn completely off) battery life is very good. You can't make fonts bolder but I get around that by using a font (Constantia) that is about the perfect "boldness" for me. Also PocketBooks are very open with multiple formats and it has ADE built in, which allows you skip ADE on your computer. (I can order books directly on my PocketBook from places like eBooks.com).

I can't speak directly about the large screen PocketBooks however. And, as cellaris mentions, the InkPad X Pro is an Android based PocketBook (not the standard Linux firmware) so it probably works more like the Android app then most of the PocketBook models.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by rcentros

the InkPad X Pro is an Android based PocketBook (not the standard Linux firmware) so it probably works more like the Android app then most of the PocketBook models.

That would definitely be a plus. I use it on the Tab Mini C for DRM epubs and it works very well. It improves on some things in PB Reader (e.g. font scaling and underlining) and its integration with Android would allow for a better web browsing experience for Wikipedia, translations and dictionaries. It's the only aspect that really interests me about this model, but it's still not clear to me that it will use its own App adapted to its system.

[John F]

Originally Posted by rcentros

PocketBooks are my favorite eReaders. Mostly because I like the way they render fonts and format pages. And (because they turn completely off) battery life is very good. ...

Are you thinking of Kindles not turning off completely? Don't most E-readers have the option to turn off completely? I believe the Kobos do.

I am more interested in good battery life coupled with fast times to get back to reading. I don't want to wait for a long bootup and having to navigate to where I left off reading.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by John F

Are you thinking of Kindles not turning off completely? Don't most E-readers have the option to turn off completely? I believe the Kobos do.

The difference is that the PocketBooks automatically turn off completely after (I think) 15 minutes. Once I found out how much longer charges lasted on the PocketBooks because of this I started completely turning off my Kobos and Tolinos as well. But it is a little less inconvenient to wait for the PocketBooks (and Kobos and Tolinos now) to boot back into my book, but I like preserving the battery life.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

The difference is that the PocketBooks automatically turn off completely after (I think) 15 minutes.

Can you customize or disable that? This would make a Pocketbook unusable for me.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Can you customize or disable that? This would make a Pocketbook unusable for me.

+1.

I'd much rather lose ~1% battery life per day (on a Kobo) then having to wait for a loooooong* reboot multiple times a day.

*loooooong being relative.

[cellaris]

In this respect PocketBook is an example to emulate.

Of course you can customise the auto-off (between 10 minutes and 48 hours) and disable it if you want. Switching on from the completely off position is very fast (about 5 seconds, if I remember correctly) and you can choose the option to load the last page you were reading while it is switched on (and if you use KOReader you can also open the last book you were reading directly without having to go through the main menu of the device).

[John F]

Originally Posted by cellaris

... Switching on from the completely off position is very fast (about 5 seconds, if I remember correctly) ...

That is impressive/fast. Sorry for questioning this, but could someone else verify that on a Pocketbook going from completely off to on/reading only takes ~5 seconds.

[neil_swann80]

Like cellaris said, my Pocketbook HD3 takes around 5-6 seconds to boot to the last page I was reading from being completely powered off.

You can also set the boot screen logo/wallpaper to be the last page you were reading, so you're essentially reading immediately after powering the device on... although you'd be unable to turn the page for 5-6 seconds after powering on!