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#1 |
Member
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Karma: 10
Join Date: Mar 2010
Device: None
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PocketBook 360 Questions
Hi,
I'm trying to decide among the PocketBook 360, B&N Nook and Sony PRS-600. It wasn't until just recently that I was even aware of the PocketBook 360 (I'm new to the forums). It's a very appealing e-reader despite having a 5-inch screen. However, I keep coming back to the fact that for the same price (or about the same), I can get a 6-inch e-reader with probably more functionality. I came up with some questions to help me make a decision about the 360. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! 1. How did you justify the purchase of the PocketBook 360 over other models with larger screens and more functions? 2. Does anyone find the 5-inch screen to be too small? When I've seen comparisons between the 360 and an e-reader with a 6-inch screen, there doesn't appear to be a major difference in the amount of text on the page. 3. What are your thoughts on the software? I like that the 360 supports RSS Feeds, but does this function work well on the reader? 4. Is there a development community for the 360 (additional Linux applications)? Thank you everyone for your time! |
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#2 |
Guru
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Karma: 1211741
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Oregon
Device: EB1150, iPhone, Cool-er Purple, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Fire
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fuctions
Well to be honest extra functions on a ebook reader are not necassarily terribly helpful.
I have a Cool-er that has a mp3 player in it, and I never use the mp3 player part. I just want a ereader that displays books. Extra stuff is not terribly important to me, I have a iphone and a regular desktop computer for games, web surfing etc. Screen size is smaller with the 360 but you can set the margins so that it uses the most of the screen, which is nice. Never tried to use the RSS feed function on it the reader, so no feedback on it. FBreader is open source and has a good amount of support from my understanding. Overall the 360 is very stable little device. I find that I like the buttons on my Pocketbook 360. I have a Cool-er that has a wheel for turning the pages and I prefer the larger buttons on the side of the device that the Pocketbook 360 has. Amy |
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#3 | |||||
Wizard
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Karma: 10484861
Join Date: May 2006
Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20
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Quote:
The only difference between PB360 vs. PB301 is
Tell me, what reader has more functionality than PB360? Apart from the ability to listen to mp3. Quote:
Quote:
I have had 6 inch reader - Sony PRS500 - before and I do not perceive PocketBook 360 as small. The fact that you can fine tune the appearance of the text on page and that you can use just any font at any size (with a very small step) contribute greatly to the readability. Quote:
The software on PocketBook is very, VERY stable, configurable to great extent and, most importantly, is built in such a way that it is easily extend-able, tinker-able and hack-friendly. To install a third party replacement for internal application, all you need is to drag and drop a file into a directory when you connect the reader to PC. Quote:
http://pbook.s3.amazonaws.com/fbreader_180e_src.zip http://code.google.com/p/fbreader-po...downloads/list http://bookfast.org/category/pocketbook/themes <- you can view that one with translate.google.com http://pocketbook-free.sourceforge.net/ PocketBook company supplies working Software Developement Kit, organizes programming competitions for development of third-party applications and even supplies prizes for winners. There is one more address http://www.the-ebook.org/?page_id=545 This is the Russian forum where the PocketBook company crowd sourced the specification of PocketBook 360° hardware and software. This is the reason it is so well designed. The company listens to the customers. Oh ... One more thing ... if you want all features mentioned above, plus touch screen, plus USB host (to connect a keyboard or USB key), plus WiFi have a look at PocketBook 302 ;-) |
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#4 |
Orisa
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Karma: 1035571
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Ireland
Device: Onyx Poke 5
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1) Money was the principal problem for me. I received the PB at an irresistible price, though it was actually still over my planned budget (since I'm a hunger student, the budget was Scrooge-like).
2) With the obvious (but not less sad for an otaku like me) exception for reading comics and manga, the 5'' lets you handle documents very well. The PDF viewer software has improved very noticeably in the last firmware issue, so PDF's are no more a roulette game where if you got the black you couldn't read. Now 99% of normal PDFs should be working properly. 3) The firmware is strong and it allows you to do lots of things (support for free configuration of keys), plus the device has never hung in the month I've been using it (quite intensively and with big files such as manga volumes). The RSS reading ability is decent (though the PC companion provided by Pocketbook is worthless, you'll be better off using Calibre's or Feedbooks' parsers). 4) The FBReader I use is user-made, and there is quite an array of software to be downloaded (aside of the SDK being available for everybody to use). Last edited by Logseman; 03-19-2010 at 04:41 AM. |
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#5 | |
Wizard
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Karma: 5239563
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Denmark
Device: Kindle 3|iPad air|iPhone 4S
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Quote:
![]() Unless you need extra-large font size, I wouldn't say it feels too small. It is smaller than the screen of my Kindle, but doesn't feel too small. Any smaller than this though, would be too small. |
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#6 |
Member
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Karma: 10
Join Date: Mar 2010
Device: None
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Hi Everyone,
Thank you very much for your feedback and resources!! In terms of functionality of other e-readers, I was referring to things like touchscreens, wifi, etc. However, these aren't "must haves." Also, I should have mentioned that I'd like to stay in the $250 price range. The PocketBook 301 looks very appealing, though. I have to also keep in mind that the Pocketbook 360 comes with a two-year warranty and a screen cover. For most other e-readers that would set me back another $50-$75. Thanks again, everyone! |
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#7 |
Guru
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Karma: 950683
Join Date: Oct 2009
Device: Kobo Libra2
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I have a Pocketbook 360 and a PRS-600. The Pocketbook screen is not too small for me. I actually think I enjoy it the most of all my ereaders, because it is the easiest to carry around and read one-handed. But it is also my newest reader, so is my current shiniest toy.
I initially missed the touch screen, but I really don't anymore. Since you can rotate the Pocketbook 360, you can have the controls where ever you want them. I use it "upside-down" because I like using my left hand to turn the pages. The only thing I really miss from the Sony is a decent dictionary. I installed one of the dictionaries I found on their website (Webster 1913) but it is really crappy. The Sony dictionary is far superior. The Pocketbook is way more customizable than the Sony or the Kindles I had prior. I was able to set FBreader as my default for epubs instead of the crappy ADE. This gives you much more control over how your books appear. I still love my Sony as well, and I don't think you'd be unhappy with either one. The one thing better on the Sony is the displayed list of books, because you can go to all books beginning with "P" or all authors beginning with "T". This might not seem like a big deal, but I have over 1200 books on my reader, so scrolling through them all with the Pocketbook is a bit of a chore. Sony's Collections feature is superior too. Pocketbook lets you organize everything in folders, but each copy of a book can only be in 1 folder. If you want it in multiple folders, you have to have multiple copies on the reader. Sony's organizations is based on tags -- you specify tags for a book, as many as you want per book, and each tag puts that one copy of the book into a different collection. So the same copy of a book can be in a collection of Joe Author's books, science fiction books, books of the Cool Series series, etc. -Marcy |
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#8 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 11844413
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Tampa, FL USA
Device: Kindle Touch
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Quote:
BOb |
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#9 | |
Guru
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Device: Kobo Libra2
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Quote:
-Marcy |
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#10 | |
Wizard
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Karma: 10484861
Join Date: May 2006
Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20
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Quote:
I would love to try. Do you have any details? You can run Linux terminal emulator application directly on the device as a PocketBook application. The problem is, if you want to see the partition from windows when you connect the USB cable, it should be some kind of fat or perhaps ntfs system. The partition where books are is most probably mounted as fat32 (I guess vfat partition in Linux), but it is not mounted via /etc/fstab so I could not make 100% sure. There is a script somewhere, I just do not have patience to look for it right now. So. Even in Linux you can not make symlinks (much less hardlinks) on fat32 filesystem. |
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#11 | |
Old Dog Learns New Tricks
![]() ![]() Posts: 123
Karma: 142
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Maryland USA
Device: Sony PRS-500,PocketBook 301, Sony 650
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Sony 500 owner looks at Pocketbook 360 vs. 301
Quote:
I have a Sony 500. I like it. I am returning my 2 week old Delstar Openbook to Walgreens because it's not ready for primetime. I don't know why I bought it! I have decided upon the Pocketbook reader because of readers' positive comments on its features, how well it renders ebooks, the good support the company provides here in Mobileread. I think the updates and SDK for 3rd party developers to add functionality indicate it won't be obsolete quickly. The only thing I need help on is deciding on the 360 vs 301. I am not super sensitive to price but the 302 is a bit more than I would like to spend. I don't think I need super big fonts. I do anticipate reading some PDFs [does the 6" screen do a better job on those?] I wear progressive lens glasses [6" vs 5" any impact for glasses users?] I have read here that the 301 uses older less speedy hardware [Is it meaningful to a typical ebook user?] Will there LIKELY be a long term advantage to the newer 360? Is there any way I can see the 360 and the 301 "in person" ? [ I live in Washington DC USA.] Are there other questions I should have asked?https://www.mobileread.com/forums/ima.../2thumbsup.gif Forum members- Please guess if a Sony 500 user will be happier with a 301 than with a 360. |
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#12 | ||
Wizard
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Karma: 5239563
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Denmark
Device: Kindle 3|iPad air|iPhone 4S
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Quote:
As for speed, I guess I might find the 301 a little slow, but I've owned seven different e-ink devices and my grounds for comparison is a bit different than yours. If you're upgrading from the old Sony 500 (you don't mean the 505 BTW?) you will probably find it faster anyway ![]() Being mostly used to 6'' screens, I find the screen of the 360 a little on the small side, though not so much I'm unhappy with it. I really like the lightness of it and it's a great size for pockets/handbags - much better than my Kindle. I think the larger e-readers I've had had a bit more 'book-like' feel, probably because of their size. This one still feels a little more like a machine. Quote:
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#13 | |
Guru
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Karma: 950683
Join Date: Oct 2009
Device: Kobo Libra2
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Quote:
If you can't see a PB360 in person, try going to Walmart or Best Buy and looking at at Sony PRS-300. It will give you an idea if you are okay with a 5 inch screen. -Marcy |
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#14 | ||||
(-:
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Karma: 1310
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Frankonia
Device: PocketBook 360°,302
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Quote:
Back to topic: The 6" screen is bigger thats a fact but the 5" screen does the job well, too. As long you dont care about big fonts (as you have written) the 5" screen should do it for you. Quote:
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Anyway little diffrence to the hardware wouldnt be that meaningful to a typical ebook reader (user). Quote:
Perhaps this link to the (so called) Reader Matrix can help you too ![]() |
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#15 | |
Old Dog Learns New Tricks
![]() ![]() Posts: 123
Karma: 142
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Maryland USA
Device: Sony PRS-500,PocketBook 301, Sony 650
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Thanks for Helping Me With Pocketbook 360 vs 301 decision
Quote:
I think I will have to have to put a mask on my avatar so that my embarrassment won't show. Last edited by Vienna01; 03-23-2010 at 06:34 PM. |
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