As actual e-readers go many score the PocketBook, headquarters in Lugano in Switzerland, higher than the Amazon Kindles mainly because PocketBook supports more formats (17 total) than any other e-reader especially the very popular ePub and Adobe DRM ePub and PDF formats (which every online bookshop supports apart from Amazon). It also plays MP3 and M4B audiobook and music files. So with a Kindle you get great one-click support for the massive stock of Amazon e-books, but zero support for ePub.
With PocketBook their own book store has a dismal English availability of titles (German selection is much better) and you cannot just import Amazon e-books (but you could strip off the DRM with Calibre and then sideload the books). That said it is fairly easy to buy from Google Play Books and the PocketBook reader app links directly to Google Play Books, Amazon and Google Drive. One or two of my Google books opened fine but another did not, so I’m not sure what the issue was there. Google’s book selection is pretty broad though and I checked the three sources below for typical books and their prices. PocketBook is not plagued with in-app purchases and adverts.
With the Linux based PocketBook you can read RSS News Feeds and enter your own favourite ones, sync your e-book collection from a Dropbox account, play basic little games like chess and access the internet via the web browser. There is a small note taking app that allows you to freehand draw and write notes with the built-in keyboard. The preinstalled Abbyy Lingvo dictionaries offer 24 language combinations for reading books in foreign languages. The internet browser has an option to remove all images from a website, so everything loads a bit quicker. Kindle’s Internet browser is probably its worst feature.
Both readers allow you to upload your own e-books to their cloud reader and to sync progress across devices. In place of Amazon’s Goodreads, PocketBook has ReadRate. Pocketbook also offers the InkPad X which is a 10.3″ reader (Amazon has nothing to match this right now) which has a USB to 3.5mm headphone adapter for wired headphones if you don’t want to use Bluetooth audio.
Clearly PocketBook out innovates Amazon Kindles as far as the device goes, so its up to you which book ecosystem you want to invest in… Amazon only, or the bigger wide world?
Amazon:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People = $6.19
Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets = $8.99
James Patterson The Midwife Murders = $11.99
Hammond Innes The Wreck of the Mary Deare – $7.99
Stephen King The Institute – $14.99
Stieg Larsson The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo – $9.99
PocketBook:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People = $7.75
Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets = N/A
James Patterson The Midwife Murders = $11.99
Hammond Innes The Wreck of the Mary Deare – N/A
Stieg Larsson The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo – N/A
Google Books:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People = $9.99
Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets = $8.99
James Patterson The Midwife Murders = $11.99
Hammond Innes The Wreck of the Mary Deare – $9.99
Stephen King The Institute – $14.99
Stieg Larsson The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo – $9.99
# Disclaimer: I own Kindles and a Kobo e-reader, and no PocketBook so comments above are based on many reviews I read and testing the Android app
#technology #hardware #ereader