Why aren't PocketBook devices more popular?

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by dmalinovsky

Pocketbook doesn't have enough presence in the USA, for example, if a device breaks, its warranty support EU countries only, and you're out of luck. Also, you can't easily upgrade a Pocketbook device in the USA (like you can with Kindle) — in EU they at least give you a discount for a new device in exchange for the old one.

I did not know that about the warranty inside the USA! I assumed if one bought a new device and it had issues, one might have to ship it to Europe for any kind of warranty exchange/repair.

Well, glad I found mine used and half-price, though it has not had any issues, nor do I expect it to.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by John F

When switching to a new brand, I like to phsically see/touch/play with it before buying. I haven't seen any PocketBooks in U.S. B&Ms.

Unlikely to see Pocketbook at a store in the USA, that's for sure. Same for Kobo. All my Kobo devices were ordered online.

My first Sony was from a B&M store, but that was really back in the day. And somewhat of a rarity in my area anyway. You could find Kindle at Best Buy and Nook at the BN store, but both are 90 miles away.

Hubby had gone to the Best Buy for fun before picking me up at the airport, and he spotted the Sony, knowing I was interested. Naturally, we went straight to the Best Buy after he collected me, and grabbed that 950 before the trek home! Sheer luck. The only one they had too.

Other than that Best Buy, I can't say I've ever seen a Kindle in a store. We are just too much in the boonies. I did see a demo Kobo briefly, but Walmart took their Kobo display down pretty promptly. I doubt they had any sales from it. They never even got the display connected to power. And all that was displayed was the cheapest Kobo at the time.

So I'm used to getting my readers online now. Only the first Sony and the WiFi Nook were bought in a store.

[DJUNGELSKOG]

Originally Posted by slm

One downside to the Pocketbook universe if that the bookstore (or at least the English language bookstore) sucks.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Pocketbook devices. They are my principal reading devices.

But I buy my books from Amazon or Kobo and use Calibre and DeDRM to move them to the Pocketbook.

The English language store does suck if you buy a vanilla Pocketbook. If you buy a Vivlio (which is a branded Pocketbook) then it will be connected to the bookstore in which it's sold. In my country that's Standaard Boekhandel and it's currently offering 1.4 million ebook titles, 570k of them are available in English.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Mr Avid

In the Boox NeoReader? A lot.

Font can be set from anything to 10 to 96.

Line spacing from 0 to 150.

Each margin can be set from 0 to 70.

Additionally, there are settings for character spacing, paragraph spacing, 30 levels of bold and 17 levels of font enhancement.

When you say 30 levels of bold, do you mean that side loaded fonts can have the weight of the fonts adjusted?

[John F]

Originally Posted by Mr Avid

In the Boox NeoReader? A lot.

Font can be set from anything to 10 to 96.

Line spacing from 0 to 150.

Each margin can be set from 0 to 70.

Additionally, there are settings for character spacing, paragraph spacing, 30 levels of bold and 17 levels of font enhancement.

That does sound nice. Do they support bluetooth page turners?

[Ruff_d]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

- Well, in my case, the BOOX Page starts within 2 seconds.
But I have no reason to turn it off, I just put it to sleep. I have it set to turn off after 24 hours.
Pocketbook starts from Off mode in tens of seconds too.
- BOOX It can also be used without logging in
- BOOX is more flexible

For my using, the main negatives are PB: Errors in the overall reactivity of the device, dictionaries are very average, only completely basic settings for Font and page settings.
HW equipped with CPU and podone are very backward used today already in PB books released 8 years ago.Limited kernel and SDK.

PS: Dark mode, options for setting buttons and a good coating of the mentioned items are supported by almost every electronic book today.
In addition, the CPU installed is still prehistorically B288, which is already 10 years old and which PB installs even in all the cheapest modelsSo I can't see anything great on the Lite version, which has a screen with a low resolution (at least for me).

Apropos the mentioned BOOX Page has better contrast and sharpness compared to ERA. Personally, I would never go back to ERA from BOOX Page (I had both models for a while ).

But of course stick to your preferences.

The main issue for me with Boox are 3 things:
1. You can't open DRM protected ebooks without using third party apps.
2. YOu don't have a "one place for all books" library. If you use third party apps, the books are listed in the respective app
3. You need to configure the behaviour of the screen and the button in nearly every app. And it's a pain to do that. It shows clearly that Android is not build fr ebooks and Boox is not so "friendly" to pre-configure it.

In with all 3 point, Pocketbook is way better. For me you get a better convenience reading books. Even if you use KOReader, POcketbook behaves as it is the build in app.

[Ruff_d]

Originally Posted by slm

One downside to the Pocketbook universe if that the bookstore (or at least the English language bookstore) sucks.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Pocketbook devices. They are my principal reading devices.

But I buy my books from Amazon or Kobo and use Calibre and DeDRM to move them to the Pocketbook.

What works really well: you can use their Browser to directly search, buy and download books from another store (you can even bookmark the page and the credentials will be saved). I use it here in Germany all the time as the embedded store is really bad. It doesn't matter if the book store has drm free books or drm protected. You can easily download them (except Amazon of course).

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Mr Avid

The thing I have noticed, is the Boox still consumes a decent amount of power when asleep so if I don't turn it off, the battery drains a lot faster.

Many, many years ago programmers for PB360 came with an ingenious hack. Before switching off, the reader did a printscreen and when booting it displayed that printscreen bitmap of the last opened page. So you could start reading the last displayed page like 1 second after cold start.

[dmalinovsky]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I did not know that about the warranty inside the USA! I assumed if one bought a new device and it had issues, one might have to ship it to Europe for any kind of warranty exchange/repair.

Well, glad I found mine used and half-price, though it has not had any issues, nor do I expect it to.

Yep. You can get an extra warranty if you buy it from Amazon, which I didn't. The official warranty is 2 years, though, and I have faith in the Pocketbooks quality.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Mr Avid

Quite true. Also, the included neoreader is impressively good. Better than any of the other built-in readers I have tried.

Does Neoreader support Adobe DRM yet?

[Carolus]

Originally Posted by slm

One downside to the Pocketbook universe if that the bookstore (or at least the English language bookstore) sucks....

But I buy my books from Amazon or Kobo and use Calibre and DeDRM to move them to the Pocketbook.

Hi, I'm considering buying an Era.

I used to own a Kobo Libra and my main misgiving about replacing it with a Pocket Book (BW Libras seem impossible to find anymore) is having to go through the hassle of buying my books elsewhere and then deDRMing and moving them to the Pocketbook, so I wonder just how much of a hassle that really is. Since that's of course relative, I'll say I'm rather lazy and my computer literacy about average.

- Does it involve using two different applications?
- Once you're familiar with the process, how long does it normally take?
- Can it realistically be done with a rather full, mid-rangeish smartphone?
- Can a whole Kobo library (not a large one) be processed at a time or do I have to go book by book?
- Is the process the same with Google Books?

Also, one feature I loved about Kobo was its ability to almost instantaneously receive an article I was reading online via the Pocket app. Is there a quick way to do the same with Pocketbook?

That's all for now. Thanks

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Carolus

Hi, I'm considering buying an Era.

I used to own a Kobo Libra and my main misgiving about replacing it with a Pocket Book (BW Libras seem impossible to find anymore) is having to go through the hassle of buying my books elsewhere and then deDRMing and moving them to the Pocketbook, so I wonder just how much of a hassle that really is. Since that's of course relative, I'll say I'm rather lazy and my computer literacy about average.

- Does it involve using two different applications?
- Once you're familiar with the process, how long does it normally take?
- Can it realistically be done with a rather full, mid-rangeish smartphone?
- Can a whole Kobo library (not a large one) be processed at a time or do I have to go book by book?
- Is the process the same with Google Books?

- It involves using Calibre + deDRM plugin and either Adobe Digital Editions, the deACSM plugin for Calibre or the Kobo desktop app, depending on the method you choose. So yes, two different applications (unless you use the deACSM plugin, in which case only Calibre)
- once everything's been set up, all it takes is to download the book and import it to Calibre. Removing the DRM is automatic and takes no time.
- no, Calibre is a desktop program and has no Android/iOS version
- it can be done in chunks, but better not with hundreds of books at once
- yes, using Adobe Digital Editions or the deACSM plugin

AFAIK Pocketbooks can read epubs with Adobe DRM. So you won't really have to remove the DRM, unless you want to make your own backups. You can download your epubs from your Kobo account and read them on a Pocketbook without removing the DRM.

[slm]

Just to fill out the picture: I download any book I buy to the folder on my drive that Calibre looks at to automatically add from. DeDRM is set up and installed in my copy of Calibre as is DeACSM. Calibre automatically converts the file.

I then right click the file in Calibre to send it to my Pocketbook email address.

[Ruff_d]

Originally Posted by slm

Just to fill out the picture: I download any book I buy to the folder on my drive that Calibre looks at to automatically add from. DeDRM is set up and installed in my copy of Calibre as is DeACSM. Calibre automatically converts the file.

I then right click the file in Calibre to send it to my Pocketbook email address.

You can do that, but you don't need to. Pocketbook has a Adobe DRM Management included. It means: You can download the books directly to your Pocketbook from the website of your book dealer.

Good other practices: You buy the book with your computer, use Adobe App to download the book and Calibre to convert it. Afterwards you have multiple options:

1. You can you dropbox. Pocketbook creates a folder in your dropbox account. Everything you put there will by downloaded automatically into your Pocketbook

2. You can use google drive (that's how I prefer it). Just log in with the pocketbook browser and download your books from your respective drive folder

3. You can send it via pocketbook mail service

4. You can send it to the pocketbook app. It will then sync automatically with your device

5. You can also use Calibre Sync Server via KOReader

6. You can connect via usb and just drag and drop them

You see, there are alot of ways to bring the books to your Pocketbook.

[JSWolf]

Do Pocketbooks finally allow you to change the weight of side loaded fonts?