Another 7" Asymmetrical Reader

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It costs more for less storage than a Libra 2.

I liked the looks of the Era. But I couldn't see choosing it over the Libra 2 if I were looking at both.

For me 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB don't mean much. I don't think I've ever put more than 2 GBs of books on any reader — so that's not really a consideration. I like the built-in speaker. When my eyes were tired I used to like following along to to the TTS voice on my Kindle 3. I also like the ability to download a book from about any ePub seller (or Overdrive) on the Era, and that it can handle DRM on its own. I used to be big on the flat surface screen, but that's no longer a huge game changer for me either way. I also like the slightly smaller size of the Era. Not sure about the key placement. And the Era has a bigger battery (probably partly why it's heavier) and a dual core CPU. (I still don't understand why the Libra 2 didn't get that — its cousin, the Tolino Vision 6, got a quad core CPU.)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

RMSDK 11 has more features and does support ePub 3 better.Supposedly RMSDK 11 uses Readium. So I would hope that RMSDK 11 would be pretty good for ePub 3.

Now I've got to look up "Readium."

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It costs more for less storage than a Libra 2.

You can put an additional standard sd card in the era.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

You can put an additional standard sd card in the era.

According to the German site, there is no microSD slot in the Era. That seems to be the pattern with PocketBook, the higher end readers don't have microSD slots, while the lower cost ones do. My Touch HD 3 doesn't have a microSD slot either (though the Basic Lux 3 does).

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It costs more for less storage than a Libra 2.

I liked the looks of the Era. But I couldn't see choosing it over the Libra 2 if I were looking at both.

I'd be tempted just to try out a PocketBook reader. Have never owned one, but flush front, TTS, and built-in speaker, could be fun. I don't NEED a new device, but the curious side of me is intrigued, as I don't have anything with the new Carta 1200 screen yet. However, if I did want the newer screen, the Kobo Sage would make more sense.

[Renate]

FWIW, Barnes & Noble products are stuck in the land of RMSDK 9.
The last that I checked the latest "Glow 4" (2021) is RMSDK 9.3.1.449

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Renate

FWIW, Barnes & Noble products are stuck in the land of RMSDK 9. The last that I checked the latest "Glow 4" (2021) is RMSDK 9.3.1.449

Just out of curiosity, how do you check this? Are Kobos stuck at 10?

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by rcentros

According to the German site, there is no microSD slot in the Era. That seems to be the pattern with PocketBook, the higher end readers don't have microSD slots, while the lower cost ones do. My Touch HD 3 doesn't have a microSD slot either (though the Basic Lux 3 does).

Damn, that's a big letdown if true.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Just out of curiosity, how do you check this? Are Kobos stuck at 10?

B&N uses /system.lib/libpdfhost.so which is a Java wrapper around the RMSDK and exposes com.bravo.util.AdobeNativeInterface Java class.
You can just call AdobeNativeInterface.getRmsdkVersion()
You can also just look through that file for version strings.

I just have a Kobo Aura 2 which uses /usr/local/Kobo/librmsdk.so.1.0.0 and exports the C++ class pxf::PXFRenderer
I don't see explictly a version string, but there are file paths in there like "/export/jenkins/workspace/Devices-Adobe10-SDK-gcc49/Adobe-Reader-Mobile-SDK/t3/source/thirdparty/jp2k/source/common/src/jp2klib.cpp".
I believe that it is version 10.0.4 although that string is floating and not part of a banner.
I was trying to dummy up a call to the library.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Just out of curiosity, how do you check this? Are Kobos stuck at 10?

Kobo use the RMSDK v10. My understanding is that moving beyond 10 has issues due to the need to sign the RMSDK.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

For me 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB don't mean much. I don't think I've ever put more than 2 GBs of books on any reader — so that's not really a consideration. I like the built-in speaker. When my eyes were tired I used to like following along to to the TTS voice on my Kindle 3. I also like the ability to download a book from about any ePub seller (or Overdrive) on the Era, and that it can handle DRM on its own. I used to be big on the flat surface screen, but that's no longer a huge game changer for me either way. I also like the slightly smaller size of the Era. Not sure about the key placement. And the Era has a bigger battery (probably partly why it's heavier) and a dual core CPU. (I still don't understand why the Libra 2 didn't get that — its cousin, the Tolino Vision 6, got a quad core CPU.)

Yeah, I wrote that post quickly, as I'm on vacation.

I'd prefer the Kobo software to what I have seen of Pocketbook, I never buy books directly from my reader (I don't even turn on the WiFi) and it costs more for less storage. So as a whole the Pocketbook Era just doesn't have an upside to me.

I do like the look of it, though I couldn't figure out where the page turn buttons are.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'd prefer the Kobo software to what I have seen of Pocketbook, I never buy books directly from my reader (I don't even turn on the WiFi) and it costs more for less storage. So as a whole the Pocketbook Era just doesn't have an upside to me.

Ditto.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Kobo use the RMSDK v10. My understanding is that moving beyond 10 has issues due to the need to sign the RMSDK.

What needs to be done to use RMSDK 11.x? Whatever it is, Pocketbook are doing it.

[PeterT]

It probably relates to changes made by Kobo in their original implementation of RMSDK and the complexities of migrating them to a new code base.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'd prefer the Kobo software to what I have seen of Pocketbook, I never buy books directly from my reader (I don't even turn on the WiFi) and it costs more for less storage. So as a whole the Pocketbook Era just doesn't have an upside to me.

I do like the look of it, though I couldn't figure out where the page turn buttons are.

I understand. The Kobo software is more sophisticated. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, just saying why (personally) I like the PocketBook software better, mostly because of the way it handles ePub DRM on its own. I do download ePubs to my PocketBook (via its browser), but I do it mostly because I can and I like to try it out. But even when I don't download directly to the device, Send-to-PocketBook or just dropping the .ascm file into the PocketBook via the USB cable seems simpler to me. The PocketBooks are also less finicky about side-loaded fonts. And battery life is considerably better than on my Kobos. Probably because the default behavior for the PocketBook is to turn itself off completely instead of going into sleep mode.

The buttons on the Eras are right on the edge. I'm not sure how that's going to work out. It looks like it has four buttons (like their other touch screen readers). In the picture I've attached you can barely make out the buttons as the darker strip along the right edge. (Very thin buttons.)