PocketBook Era Color

[jackm8]

Built-in speaker, bluetooth, but no headphones jack? Why is everyone against headphone jacks? Are they somehow more expensive than speakers?

[dmalinovsky]

Originally Posted by jackm8

Built-in speaker, bluetooth, but no headphones jack? Why is everyone against headphone jacks? Are they somehow more expensive than speakers?

I suspect it has to do with water-proofing. Why everyone wants water proof readers — is another strange question...

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

The version of the Pocketbook ERA with a recessed screen without additional layers would IMHO be a very good choice and would make a very good book reader even despite the bad optimization of the OS, even in the case of the Kaleido version.

A PocketBook employee has confirmed elsewhere that the Era Color has a flush screen, just like the Era.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

Is the device with the color screen in the attached photo Inkpad Color 3?
Could you add a comparison photo with PB Color 3 vs TCL NxtPaper ?
Gracias primo.

It's the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C. I can't show you at the moment a comparison with my TCL devices because I have them in another house. However I seem to remember there are videos on YouTube comparing them to e-readers.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by Xaenor

Thanks for sharing the comparison photos - these actually look pretty great in the real-world environment. I was always wary of the colour e-ink's 150 PPI resolution and the darkened background by default, but these issues aren't nearly as prominent as people make them out to be. That third photo is just chef's kiss - it's like I'm looking at an old comic issue fresh from the store.

When you do use a frontlight, how bright do you normally set it for comfortable reading? That is, in situations when there's not enough natural light.

Here is a comparison of use with other monochrome e-readers to give you an idea of the difference.

My usual usage is:

- Tab Mini C: 50% brightness; 8% warm light.
- PocketBook Era: 40% brightness; 7% warm light.
- Kindle Paperwhite 5: 11 (out of 23) brightness; I don't use warm light.

My second choice is:

- Tab Mini C: 70% brightness; 12% warm light.
- PocketBook Era: 60% brightness; 10% warm light
- Kindle Paperwhite 5: 15 (out of 23) brightness; 1 (out of 23) warm light.

I have a third, even brighter option, but I hardly use it. In general I tend to use my e-readers with high levels of illumination. Other people may use lower levels.

[Thena]

I was considering buying an Era but I am not interested in colour. It seems like the standard Era will be discontinued now? Unless this new model has great battery life and no issues with a yellowish screen, I'll have to stick to Kindle and Kobo.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

A PocketBook employee has confirmed elsewhere that the Era Color has a flush screen, just like the Era.

The problem with the Era screen is that it's quite unsharp and has reduced contrast. If you apply this to a color screen, your experience might be unsatisfying.

I can only recommend to wait for the first reviews of the device before you order. And also wait for reviews of people that don't get review units.

[Michal Jancik]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

The problem with the Era screen is that it's quite unsharp and has reduced contrast. If you apply this to a color screen, your experience might be unsatisfying.

I can only recommend to wait for the first reviews of the device before you order. And also wait for reviews of people that don't get review units.

In theory, it could be the same result as in the case of BIGME B751 ? "https://bigmestore.com/products/bigme-b751c" Although probably the 7 model outside of 10 inches does not have Kaleido 3
PS: Yes, you are right, the contrast is significantly different for the PB device with a protective layer.

Personally, I'm considering buying a color reader, but I'm still deciding between TCL and Kaleido 3.
Regarding books that I read for several hours at a time, E-INK is the clear choice for me, but in the case of COMIX, which I do not read for more than 30 minutes, I am really at a loss as to whether it is worth paying extra for color ink.

I am not under any illusions, it is clear to me that NXTPAPER also has its shortcomings, but the price is really significantly lower, the device is faster with the Android OS.

I've been testing the PB Color 2 for a few weeks, and I'm not considering buying this type of device. Everything is terribly slow, when I tried to mark certain passages in the book, everything took an incredibly long time, not counting the overall inaccuracy.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

In theory, it could be the same result as in the case of BIGME B751 ? "https://bigmestore.com/products/bigme-b751c"
PS: Yes, you are right, the contrast is significantly different for the PB device with a protective layer.

In theory yes. I would also take some exception to the claim that the Era screen is "quite unsharp"; everything is relative and the Era also had well known quality problems with their early screens.

Hopefully Pocketbook won't shoot themselves in the foot this time, by having screen QA issues in the Era Color models that reviewers receive...

[Xaenor]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

The problem with the Era screen is that it's quite unsharp and has reduced contrast. If you apply this to a color screen, your experience might be unsatisfying.

I can only recommend to wait for the first reviews of the device before you order. And also wait for reviews of people that don't get review units.

I have been using sunk-screen ereaders since 2008 before I bought my Era, and for the life of me I cannot tell any difference in sharpness between Era's screen and any sunk-screen ereader out there.

There are reddit reviews that conclude the same.

Wasn't the whole "unsharp" debacle just a consequence of poor QA of the review models? I remember that chrisridd here even gathered as much from the Pocketbook's German forums.

The more I think about it, the more I find myself fascinated with the Era Color. Photos by cellaris on the previous page look better than anything I expected, and you just can't argue with the 2,500 mAh battery. The dimensions are the same, so I won't even have to buy another overpriced Pocketbook case for it.

[Michal Jancik]

Interesting, because I can see the difference right away, with the Pocketbook ERA and the black ink seems to be a slightly faded color without the black depth as we can see, for example, with Tolino or Kobo.

I am quite surprised that Pocketbook allegedly wanted to optimize the screens of the ERA model, and yet another Inkpad 4 model suffers from the same problem.

PB ERA model after 2022:

Spoiler:

You can see it here ( Onyx Boox Leaf 2 ). It is the same E-INK screen, but the contrast is different due to the additional layer in the black model.

Look for time "3.10" :
https://youtu.be/sB12gbEI6J4?feature=shared&t=174

[chrisridd]

So perhaps being older and having bad eyesight has an upside? ;-)

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

So perhaps being older and having bad eyesight has an upside? ;-)

Possibly

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

But overall, I have quite a problem with colored eReaders. I have always used book readers for reading books B&W, for book readers with a 6-inch display, I really don't understand the point of fitting a color display, why?

It seems more correct on displays with a size of 7.8,.[/I]

I agree with you that colour has more options for use on a large screen, but it can also be used on small screens. I use it for regular reading of novels, as I hardly read comics (CBR/CBZ) or PDFs. In addition to the user interface, programme menus and book covers, I find it nice to see chapter titles, quotes, notes and links in colour, and to have different underlining options in colour. I also find it useful in the many Wikipedia, translator and Google searches I do. The body text is still black, but those touches of colour add a lot of joy.

And for comics, you can always use a bullet-point scrolling mode or a division of the screen into rows and columns. Obviously it's much better if you see it all on one screen, but the small size can also be used to your advantage.

(On an e-reader the colours are duller than on screenshots, but the visual "feel" is the same).

[Quoth]

Screen shots are useless, only HiRes decent photos count. My mono eink Kobo and Android Mars give lovely colour screen shots.