Miss my PB360

[askyn]

Sigh,

Really miss my PocketBook 360.

It died a couple of years ago, and ive beem making due with a Nook Simple Touch Glowlight.

Just NOT the same !

Does anyone know of a ereader out there that is simular to the 360?

I know that they stopped making the 360 years ago also. ( personally think that was a terrible decision)

I have had issues with the NST (had to get it swapped out couple of times) and I think I would really really like to try and find something like the 360 again.

Thank you

Larry

[kacir]

Originally Posted by askyn

Really miss my PocketBook 360.
...
Nook Simple Touch Glowlight.
Just NOT the same !
...
Does anyone know of a ereader out there that is simular to the 360?

I miss my PB 360° too.

I had many readers since my little PocketBook developed problem with a screen driver.
I had the first Paperwhite, but I was very unhappy with it, because I as so used to being able to configure everything to my taste.

I even had Nook Simple Touch. I have rooted it so I could install FBReader and Coolreader hoping it would be more like my favorite device. I sat on the shelf until I sold it ...

At the moment I have PocketBook Touch Lux 623 [not manufactured anymore] and even that was a disappointment, because generation 4 firmware is not as good as ones on PB360. Newer versions - generation 5 are even much worse. Fortunately there is Coolreader that makes our life bearable.

I am constantly on the lookout for the device with the same form-factor and a lid and there isn't anything like it on the market.

[HD Master]

^

take a look at tolino vision 3d HD

[h2g2]

I just received a PocketBook Touch Lux to replace my battled 360 and I already miss the 360. It seems much work has been done on some features that are peripheral for me (bookstores, notes, ...) but some useful features have been dumped.
What I miss most:
- display the current book page during boot, to start reading without waiting,
- sort books by file name
For 626 as well as other brands (Kobo), I do not find touch navigation so intuitive.

[franklekens]

Let me revive this thread. And sorry for the people who said they missed it (five years ago, so let's hope the pain has subsided), but I'd like to change the question to: who's still using their PB 360?
And if not, or even if you do, has anything come around that you like as much?
Actually, I mostly read on a Kobo Forma now. But I do still very much like the entire design of my PB 360 (and mine is still working -- again, sorry), and I don't have anything that beats it for size -- that is to say for smallness. This is just the easiest to slide into a pocket and take on a walk.
Of course, battery life isn't what it used to be, and it can't hold a candle to the quality of the new screens or the speed of most newer ereaders. But still. I enjoy using it every now and then.

If there were something with more or less this design, a new screen and current speed (but the same configurability of the old firmware, the possibility to use fbreader as reader software &c) -- I might try it out.

[rcentros]

To change the subject just slightly... It looks like the PB360 used the same screen assembly as the Sony PRS-300. If the problem was in the screen assembly, replacing these are relatively cheap (about $20 to $30). You could probably go even cheaper and buy a PRS-300 and use it's screen (these show up all the time on Shop Goodwill, sometimes in lots of two or three).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29361774324...evt=1&mkcid=28

https://www.ebay.com/itm/35263715145...sAAOSw0~Rcqhd9

I don't know if the screen is where these usually broke down, however.

EDIT: Just realized that these screens are from China. But (like I mentioned) you can buy a Sony PRS-300 and take their screens. Here's a listing for five of them (with a PRS-505) on auction at Shop Goodwill.

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/125092965

Shop Goodwill has them all the time. There must have been a "billion" of these built.

[franklekens]

Intriguing idea! But that's something I don't have the skills for.
(In addition, I realize there's one big thing the PB360 generation lacks that forgot to mention, but that I'm now too used to not to miss it a lot of the time: backlighting.)

[kacir]

Originally Posted by franklekens

who's still using their PB 360?

Mine is still working, kinda, sorta ... . It looks like display driver electronics is dying and sometimes it glitches and shows uniform thin horizontal lines across the display.
And, as you said, it can't hold a candle to a new front-lit displays.

Originally Posted by franklekens

And if not, or even if you do, has anything come around that you like as much?

Nothing came out that could be compared to good old PocketBook software, its configurability, openness.
Nothing came out that would have similar built-in lid design.
When the first front-lit Kindle came out I bought it, but I couldn't stand the software. I was too spoiled by PocketBook. So when PocketBook came out with the first front-lit device I sold my Paperwhite and bought PocketBook.
I was still looking for something that would fit the pocket the way the PB360 used to. So I purchased a second-hand ONYX BOOX E43 4.3inch E-ink phone. The ONLY feature on BOOX E43 that wasn't a failure (when comparing to almost any other reader out there, not to mention PB360) was the size and pocketability.
Later on I got Yotaphone 2 and I am using it as a pocket reader until now. When you want to fully utilize the e-ink back screen you have to stick to YotaReader which can't hold a candle to FBReader180 my PB360 had.
As a the full-size and full-feature reader I am using an older model 6 inch rooted Android-driven front-lit e-ink reader. Android 4.xy allowed me to install various reading programs that approach the feature set that PB360 had out-of-box.

Originally Posted by franklekens

If there were something with more or less this design, a new screen and current speed (but the same configurability of the old firmware, the possibility to use fbreader as reader software &c) -- I might try it out.

For the newer generations(*) of PocketBook I was using CoolReader, as it was more configurable. My daughter is still using it. But ... it was a long time since I had an opportunity to play with a new PocketBook.

(*) newer than PB360.
Each new generation of PocketBook seems to be more distant from the great software design pioneered by legendary PB360 and PB310 before it.

[franklekens]

Thanks for sharing some info on the later PB's. I've often wondered whether I should try one again. But I've become rather lazy, or simply learnt to go with the flow, and have gotten used to the various Kobo devices. The Forma is a fine e-reader (if you accept its incidental bugginess).

And what do you know: I thought my PB360 was still working, I dusted it off and read about half a book on it this weekend. And today it suddenly seems to have conked out. Trying to charge it now (although the battery symbol was at least still half full when I looked at it), but it doesn't look to promising. Oh well.

[franklekens]

Strange: after a whole day on the charger without responding, this morning it came alive again. (Although warning the battery was low!) As though it needed time for the "juice" to settle. And I guess the battery indicator is far from trustworthy. Can't really use it without having a second device as a backup within reach (or risk going without reading material). Oh well. Still nice that it does work, sort of.

[Dr. Drib]

I still have one and it works, but didn't they come out with a newer 'enhanced' one about 1 year later?

I took it out and played with it today, and it now seems so clunky. I remember liking it at the time, but I eventually bought something else from another company, one that I can't remember the name of (unless I hear it). It had a battery and a kind of spin-wheel on the side.

I enjoyed that one, until Sony came out with their PRS500. I bought two of those - all those years ago.

I now read on my Kindle Oasis (2019) and the Kobo Aura One. I will occasionally use my Kindle Voyage.

[Cartavalier]

Hello comrades,

Any luck that I can find someone to answer a quick question on Pocket Book 360?

I got one when they first came out, and have had it since then. I am wondering if there is a way to sync it with the pocketbook cloud? So that the books I read on pocket book app on my phone would get uploaded to the ereader via wifi.

[rkomar]

If this is one of the original devices that came out about 15 years ago, then I would guess the answer is no, there is no way to sync with pocketbook cloud. The firmware has not been updated in over 10 years, long before pocketbook cloud was a thing. The binary format for programs is also different from that used in the last 12 years or so, so you cannot even run apps from newer devices on it.

[Cartavalier]

Yes, I did buy it around that time. Well, that is a bummer, because it is becoming a game of chances every time I try to side load books via USB. Most of the times my computer does not recognize the device whatsoever. Ah, I guess I will have to indulge myself to a new e-reader, if I must so

[rkomar]

I'll see if I can build vsftpd for the firmware version 1 devices, to allow files to be uploaded via wifi. I should know by the end of the day if I can do that.