Overview of the waterproof reader of the new generation of PocketBook 641 Aqua 2
Greetings to all! Today we have a review of the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 e-reader. Let me remind you that in 2014 the PocketBook was the first in the industry to release a reader with protection against water and dust - PocketBook 640 Aqua. It was a unique model - nobody had previously thought that people read not only in a warm, dry bed, but also in the bathroom (how many readers, smartphones and tablets in the world are heated every day because of this - do not count it) or on vacation on the beach. Model PocketBook 640 Aqua had to satisfy the needs of people eager to read near water. And it was completely satisfied: the level of security complied with the IP57 standard, so that with the PocketBook 640 Aqua you could even dive to a depth of one meter. And read there - if you are, of course, an ichthyander or a scuba diver - up to half an hour.
However, three years have passed since the release of the PocketBook 640 Aqua. And the characteristics of the model are not that obsolete, but ... In general, the time has come to update this very model, breathe new life into it, make it correspond to the realities of 2017. This is how the reader PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 appeared - the second generation of waterproof e-readers from the leader of the Russian market of electronic readers of the PocketBook company.
Let's see what the new model is better than its predecessor, what the developers have “finished” and what they have added.
To summarize the table and bring innovations also a list:
1. The Pearl screen was replaced with a Carta display, that is, the most modern E Ink screen possible. Plus, the resolution has grown, which made the letters and graphics more clear.
2. There was a backlight: you can read with PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, including in the dark.
3. The battery capacity has slightly increased - from 1 300 to 1 500 mAh. Considering the efficiency of E Ink displays, a gain of 200 mAh gave an “extra” week of battery life, if read without backlight. And if you read with the backlight, the battery life will not change and will be about a month - just because of the "extra" 200 mAh.
4. Memory size increased from 4 to 8 GB. In the case of PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, this is especially important, since neither it nor PocketBook 640 Aqua has a memory card slot. He had to be abandoned in order to ensure that level of security. It's simple: the smaller the holes on the case, the easier it is to protect it from water and dust. For the same reason, by the way, the developers abandoned the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
In my opinion, the upgrade is more than worthy. Improved all key parameters - screen, battery, memory. Only the list of supported book formats has remained the same. But there is nothing to improve, to be honest. PocketBook readers are omnivorous and support as many as 18 formats - more than any other reader available on the market.
I’ll make a reservation that I had a pre-series copy of the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 on the test. That is, without a box and a full version of the bundle. With the reader, I only got the USB cable:
The full version will also include instructions and warranty card. With a guarantee from PocketBook, everything is very tasty. It is two years, not a year, like all other manufacturers of readers. And if you buy a reader in the company's online store PocketBook , then you will receive another additional year of warranty - the warranty period will be a record three years. For comparison: usually on gadgets in general, and on readers in particular, they give only a year of guarantees, and some especially smart brands try to give six months at all.
By design PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is not much different from its predecessor. Is that slightly changed the shade of blue hull. Plus, the case is now entirely blue: in the PocketBook 640 Aqua, the back panel remained black. Another point: the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 and the rear, and the front parts are made of soft-touch, that is, velvety plastic. The predecessor had a hard front. In general, the new poketbook looks great, and the blue color probably should remind the user about the sea, which the hero of this review is not afraid of.
Let me remind you that PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is protected by the standard IP57. The figure 5 means that particles of dust in theory can penetrate into the inside of the device, but will not be able to affect its performance. And figure 7 implies the possibility of diving into the water to the depth of a meter that is safe for the reader. It is clear that no one will dive specifically with PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 under the arm. Here the essence is different: if you accidentally drop the reading room into the bathroom, then it (the reading room) is guaranteed to survive. Or if you pour her beer on the beach, then nothing will happen to her either.
Let's say, quite successful attempt to use PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 as a toy when bathing a child. The child was pleased, and nothing happened to the reader - it works as before.
Moreover, the reader can simply be rinsed under the tap, washing away the remnants of a frothy drink. Well, or there is juice - it depends on who prefers to drink on the beach.
It is likely, however, and a slightly different scenario in which protection against water would be most welcome. We will not hide: many of us read according to the scheme “in one hand a reader, in the other - a sandwich with sausage, cheese and butter”. So it reads more pleasantly - when with food "feed". However, this leads to the fact that sooner or later the reading room is banal dirty and looks not so presentable as immediately after the purchase. So in the case of PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, the pollution problem is solved simply: turn on the water above the washstand and thoroughly wash the device, rinse it with three, and rinse ... And vuyalya! Pocketbook again looks like new. The usual reader of such procedures, of course, will not survive. It has to be wiped with a cloth, which is far less effective than a full thorough bathing.
Did water protection affect the design and ergonomics of the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2? Oh, stop it: protected electronics outwardly looks nothing at all out of the ordinary today. Remember Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 7, LG G6 - they look like ordinary smartphones, which, nevertheless, are not afraid of water. The same can be said about PocketBook 641 Aqua 2. Superficially, this is a regular reader in the corporate style of PocketBook - pretty, quite thin (9 mm) and quite light (180 g). Hand reading does not get tired: at least an hour read, at least three. For comfortable holding the reader in the hand is not the back of the finger guard is provided. This is a proprietary feature of pickups, with the same Amazon Kindle “backs” completely smooth. (Comparison of readers PocketBook and Amazon, which describes including ergonomics, can be found here .)
MicroUSB port on the bottom of the case is protected by a small stub on the silicone leg. Leg rather thick and reliable - better than that of the same Samsung Galaxy S5. From this smartphone stub after six months of operation came off. Perhaps for the reason that it had to be charged once a day, and sometimes more often. PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 will have to be charged once a month. Plus leg, I repeat, will be thicker. So there is every reason to believe that the stub will be in perfect order throughout the entire life cycle of the reader, and this is three to four to five years.
The panel with the standard four keys for poketbukov also hints at the security of the device. In conventional PocketBook models, the buttons are separate, that is, each one is made of its own piece of plastic, and in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, one solid panel is used in which the screen is also embedded. This is done to ensure that dust does not leak into the gap between the keys and water does not leak. Yes, to press the buttons in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 requires a little more effort than in the case of other, unprotected models of the company. But just that a little - you do not feel strong discomfort from it.
Let me draw attention to one improvement over its predecessor, PocketBook 640 Aqua. There, the power button was located on the bottom of the case, and in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 it was combined with the right control key. It is a logical decision: as I said above, the less extra gaps and holes in the case, the more reliable the protection of the device from the ingress of water.
PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 received a 6-inch E Ink screen of the latest generation - Carta - with a resolution of 1024 x 758 pixels. In PocketBook 640 Aqua, I recall, was Pearl with a resolution of 800 x 600. To clarify the difference between these screens, I will give the following picture. As you can see, Carta does not put Pearl in one fell swoop on both shoulder blades, but progress is still noticeable. The letters have become a little clearer and a little richer.
And if we also recall the increase in resolution in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 compared to PocketBook 640 Aqua, then it turns out that the image is visually better.
But that's not all: the backlight was added to the aqua-poketbook. To say something special about it is impossible, it is the same as in other PocketBook models. That is quite bright and uniform.
I will note only two points. First: you can get to adjust the backlight intensity in one click on the touch screen. The slider is in the top curtain of notifications.
The second caveat: in contrast to the screen backlighting of smartphones, tablets and laptops, the backlight of E Ink displays is absolutely harmless to the eyes. Because the light does not come from the screen into the user's eyes, but from the side of the display itself. As a result, and the eyes are not irritated, and in the dark you can read. (Night beach, midsummer ... And you are on a deck chair at the very edge of the sea. Splashes are flying, and you are on the drum, because you are reading with PocketBook 641 Aqua 2. In which there is both protection against water and lighting.)
I have already mentioned this above, but I’ll say again for the order: the screen of the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 touch screen is multitouch. That is, the size of the letters on the screen and the same photos can be changed by simple mixing / dilution of fingers. The sensitivity of the sensory layer is high, the overall security of the model does not affect the usability of the touchscreen.
The most important thing for the reader is the ability to work with different book formats. Like any other PocketBook, PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 reader supports as many as 18 book formats: PDF, PDF (DRM), EPUB, EPUB (DRM), DJVU, FB2, FB2.ZIP, DOC, DOCX, RTF, PRC, TCR, TXT , CHM, HTM, HTML, MOBI and ACSM. In general, no matter what you upload to the poketbook - the file will open quickly and without problems. Text settings are traditionally extensive. Available 13 fonts, hyphenation, the choice of line spacing, style, size of letters. You can customize the display of books for your requests. The library — well, that is, the section where all the books in the reader’s memory are displayed — can be presented in several variants: folders, lists, a bookshelf with book covers, and so on.
Among other amenities, I note the presence of dictionaries, they can be called from the menu as well as when reading a book, highlighting a specific word and immediately receiving the translation. On the PocketBook website, additional dictionaries are available, you can download and install with little effort.
Also in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 there are several simple games, a calendar, a calculator and a photo album. The latter allows you to view photos, however, only in black and white.
There are several ways to upload books to the poketbook, and many of them are connected and implemented due to the support of the Wi-Fi reader. First, the cable from the computer - PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is defined as an external removable disk. Secondly, with the help of Dropbox, integration with which has long been a proprietary feature of PocketBook readers. Transfer the book to the Dropbox folder on your computer - and after a few seconds it appears in the reader. The third method is called "Books by e-mail" - the essence is the same, only on the basis of e-mail. The fourth method is PocketBook Sync: you can choose / buy books from a computer in the BookLand.net store (you can also directly from the reader, but the PC is more convenient), after which they are downloaded via Wi-Fi to the reader’s memory. Well, or readers, if several devices are connected to your account. All these methods (with the exception of the standard cable) clearly distinguish PocketBook readers against analogs, where there is nothing like this most often. Only the cable - and the point!
There is a PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 and a number of options related to the Network, namely, an RSS feed reader, a browser and the ability to update the firmware over the air. With the latter, everything is clear: updates usually come out on average once every couple of months, various trifles are improved, and bugs are fixed. The browser, let's say, is an amateur: in theory, you can read websites and even find books and download them from various sites directly to the reader; in practice, the browser is very simple and slow: it is quite difficult to use it regularly.
PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 made a very pleasant impression - both the screen is good, the case is decent, and all the traditional Pocketbook values are in place (warranty for 2 or even 3 years, support for various formats, lots of settings, and so on). Complements the picture protection from water.
How many will need such a chip? There is a suspicion that in anticipation of the holiday season, yes, to many. In any case, comments in previous posts on the official PocketBook blog were often asked (for example, here ) about the heir to PocketBook 640 Aqua, also with protection from liquids, but with more relevant specs. Well, now this same heir has appeared. It costs 11,900 rubles. Yes, a bit more expensive than a regular package with the same characteristics and without protection: PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is actually an analog of PocketBook 626 Plus for 10,900 rubles. In this model there is no protection, but there is a slot for memory cards. The rest of the full parity on the characteristics. By light arithmetic calculations, it becomes clear that in the absence of "water rabies" you will have to pay 1,000 rubles. Firstly, it’s not much at all, secondly, you shouldn’t forget that the development of any “security”, be it smartphones, laptops, tablets or readers, is still significantly more complicated than creating a conventional device. Therefore, the price of PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is as follows. All fair. And if we also remember that there are no analogues - well, that is, protected readers with E Ink screens - on the Russian market there is no “absolutely” word, then PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 turns out to be a unique device. No options.
However, three years have passed since the release of the PocketBook 640 Aqua. And the characteristics of the model are not that obsolete, but ... In general, the time has come to update this very model, breathe new life into it, make it correspond to the realities of 2017. This is how the reader PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 appeared - the second generation of waterproof e-readers from the leader of the Russian market of electronic readers of the PocketBook company.
Let's see what the new model is better than its predecessor, what the developers have “finished” and what they have added.
To summarize the table and bring innovations also a list:
1. The Pearl screen was replaced with a Carta display, that is, the most modern E Ink screen possible. Plus, the resolution has grown, which made the letters and graphics more clear.
2. There was a backlight: you can read with PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, including in the dark.
3. The battery capacity has slightly increased - from 1 300 to 1 500 mAh. Considering the efficiency of E Ink displays, a gain of 200 mAh gave an “extra” week of battery life, if read without backlight. And if you read with the backlight, the battery life will not change and will be about a month - just because of the "extra" 200 mAh.
4. Memory size increased from 4 to 8 GB. In the case of PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, this is especially important, since neither it nor PocketBook 640 Aqua has a memory card slot. He had to be abandoned in order to ensure that level of security. It's simple: the smaller the holes on the case, the easier it is to protect it from water and dust. For the same reason, by the way, the developers abandoned the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
In my opinion, the upgrade is more than worthy. Improved all key parameters - screen, battery, memory. Only the list of supported book formats has remained the same. But there is nothing to improve, to be honest. PocketBook readers are omnivorous and support as many as 18 formats - more than any other reader available on the market.
Equipment
I’ll make a reservation that I had a pre-series copy of the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 on the test. That is, without a box and a full version of the bundle. With the reader, I only got the USB cable:
The full version will also include instructions and warranty card. With a guarantee from PocketBook, everything is very tasty. It is two years, not a year, like all other manufacturers of readers. And if you buy a reader in the company's online store PocketBook , then you will receive another additional year of warranty - the warranty period will be a record three years. For comparison: usually on gadgets in general, and on readers in particular, they give only a year of guarantees, and some especially smart brands try to give six months at all.
Appearance and design
By design PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is not much different from its predecessor. Is that slightly changed the shade of blue hull. Plus, the case is now entirely blue: in the PocketBook 640 Aqua, the back panel remained black. Another point: the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 and the rear, and the front parts are made of soft-touch, that is, velvety plastic. The predecessor had a hard front. In general, the new poketbook looks great, and the blue color probably should remind the user about the sea, which the hero of this review is not afraid of.
Let me remind you that PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is protected by the standard IP57. The figure 5 means that particles of dust in theory can penetrate into the inside of the device, but will not be able to affect its performance. And figure 7 implies the possibility of diving into the water to the depth of a meter that is safe for the reader. It is clear that no one will dive specifically with PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 under the arm. Here the essence is different: if you accidentally drop the reading room into the bathroom, then it (the reading room) is guaranteed to survive. Or if you pour her beer on the beach, then nothing will happen to her either.
Let's say, quite successful attempt to use PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 as a toy when bathing a child. The child was pleased, and nothing happened to the reader - it works as before.
Moreover, the reader can simply be rinsed under the tap, washing away the remnants of a frothy drink. Well, or there is juice - it depends on who prefers to drink on the beach.
It is likely, however, and a slightly different scenario in which protection against water would be most welcome. We will not hide: many of us read according to the scheme “in one hand a reader, in the other - a sandwich with sausage, cheese and butter”. So it reads more pleasantly - when with food "feed". However, this leads to the fact that sooner or later the reading room is banal dirty and looks not so presentable as immediately after the purchase. So in the case of PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, the pollution problem is solved simply: turn on the water above the washstand and thoroughly wash the device, rinse it with three, and rinse ... And vuyalya! Pocketbook again looks like new. The usual reader of such procedures, of course, will not survive. It has to be wiped with a cloth, which is far less effective than a full thorough bathing.
Did water protection affect the design and ergonomics of the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2? Oh, stop it: protected electronics outwardly looks nothing at all out of the ordinary today. Remember Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 7, LG G6 - they look like ordinary smartphones, which, nevertheless, are not afraid of water. The same can be said about PocketBook 641 Aqua 2. Superficially, this is a regular reader in the corporate style of PocketBook - pretty, quite thin (9 mm) and quite light (180 g). Hand reading does not get tired: at least an hour read, at least three. For comfortable holding the reader in the hand is not the back of the finger guard is provided. This is a proprietary feature of pickups, with the same Amazon Kindle “backs” completely smooth. (Comparison of readers PocketBook and Amazon, which describes including ergonomics, can be found here .)
MicroUSB port on the bottom of the case is protected by a small stub on the silicone leg. Leg rather thick and reliable - better than that of the same Samsung Galaxy S5. From this smartphone stub after six months of operation came off. Perhaps for the reason that it had to be charged once a day, and sometimes more often. PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 will have to be charged once a month. Plus leg, I repeat, will be thicker. So there is every reason to believe that the stub will be in perfect order throughout the entire life cycle of the reader, and this is three to four to five years.
The panel with the standard four keys for poketbukov also hints at the security of the device. In conventional PocketBook models, the buttons are separate, that is, each one is made of its own piece of plastic, and in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2, one solid panel is used in which the screen is also embedded. This is done to ensure that dust does not leak into the gap between the keys and water does not leak. Yes, to press the buttons in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 requires a little more effort than in the case of other, unprotected models of the company. But just that a little - you do not feel strong discomfort from it.
Let me draw attention to one improvement over its predecessor, PocketBook 640 Aqua. There, the power button was located on the bottom of the case, and in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 it was combined with the right control key. It is a logical decision: as I said above, the less extra gaps and holes in the case, the more reliable the protection of the device from the ingress of water.
Screen
PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 received a 6-inch E Ink screen of the latest generation - Carta - with a resolution of 1024 x 758 pixels. In PocketBook 640 Aqua, I recall, was Pearl with a resolution of 800 x 600. To clarify the difference between these screens, I will give the following picture. As you can see, Carta does not put Pearl in one fell swoop on both shoulder blades, but progress is still noticeable. The letters have become a little clearer and a little richer.
And if we also recall the increase in resolution in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 compared to PocketBook 640 Aqua, then it turns out that the image is visually better.
But that's not all: the backlight was added to the aqua-poketbook. To say something special about it is impossible, it is the same as in other PocketBook models. That is quite bright and uniform.
I will note only two points. First: you can get to adjust the backlight intensity in one click on the touch screen. The slider is in the top curtain of notifications.
The second caveat: in contrast to the screen backlighting of smartphones, tablets and laptops, the backlight of E Ink displays is absolutely harmless to the eyes. Because the light does not come from the screen into the user's eyes, but from the side of the display itself. As a result, and the eyes are not irritated, and in the dark you can read. (Night beach, midsummer ... And you are on a deck chair at the very edge of the sea. Splashes are flying, and you are on the drum, because you are reading with PocketBook 641 Aqua 2. In which there is both protection against water and lighting.)
I have already mentioned this above, but I’ll say again for the order: the screen of the PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 touch screen is multitouch. That is, the size of the letters on the screen and the same photos can be changed by simple mixing / dilution of fingers. The sensitivity of the sensory layer is high, the overall security of the model does not affect the usability of the touchscreen.
Software and additional features
The most important thing for the reader is the ability to work with different book formats. Like any other PocketBook, PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 reader supports as many as 18 book formats: PDF, PDF (DRM), EPUB, EPUB (DRM), DJVU, FB2, FB2.ZIP, DOC, DOCX, RTF, PRC, TCR, TXT , CHM, HTM, HTML, MOBI and ACSM. In general, no matter what you upload to the poketbook - the file will open quickly and without problems. Text settings are traditionally extensive. Available 13 fonts, hyphenation, the choice of line spacing, style, size of letters. You can customize the display of books for your requests. The library — well, that is, the section where all the books in the reader’s memory are displayed — can be presented in several variants: folders, lists, a bookshelf with book covers, and so on.
Among other amenities, I note the presence of dictionaries, they can be called from the menu as well as when reading a book, highlighting a specific word and immediately receiving the translation. On the PocketBook website, additional dictionaries are available, you can download and install with little effort.
Also in PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 there are several simple games, a calendar, a calculator and a photo album. The latter allows you to view photos, however, only in black and white.
There are several ways to upload books to the poketbook, and many of them are connected and implemented due to the support of the Wi-Fi reader. First, the cable from the computer - PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is defined as an external removable disk. Secondly, with the help of Dropbox, integration with which has long been a proprietary feature of PocketBook readers. Transfer the book to the Dropbox folder on your computer - and after a few seconds it appears in the reader. The third method is called "Books by e-mail" - the essence is the same, only on the basis of e-mail. The fourth method is PocketBook Sync: you can choose / buy books from a computer in the BookLand.net store (you can also directly from the reader, but the PC is more convenient), after which they are downloaded via Wi-Fi to the reader’s memory. Well, or readers, if several devices are connected to your account. All these methods (with the exception of the standard cable) clearly distinguish PocketBook readers against analogs, where there is nothing like this most often. Only the cable - and the point!
There is a PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 and a number of options related to the Network, namely, an RSS feed reader, a browser and the ability to update the firmware over the air. With the latter, everything is clear: updates usually come out on average once every couple of months, various trifles are improved, and bugs are fixed. The browser, let's say, is an amateur: in theory, you can read websites and even find books and download them from various sites directly to the reader; in practice, the browser is very simple and slow: it is quite difficult to use it regularly.
Conclusion
PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 made a very pleasant impression - both the screen is good, the case is decent, and all the traditional Pocketbook values are in place (warranty for 2 or even 3 years, support for various formats, lots of settings, and so on). Complements the picture protection from water.
How many will need such a chip? There is a suspicion that in anticipation of the holiday season, yes, to many. In any case, comments in previous posts on the official PocketBook blog were often asked (for example, here ) about the heir to PocketBook 640 Aqua, also with protection from liquids, but with more relevant specs. Well, now this same heir has appeared. It costs 11,900 rubles. Yes, a bit more expensive than a regular package with the same characteristics and without protection: PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is actually an analog of PocketBook 626 Plus for 10,900 rubles. In this model there is no protection, but there is a slot for memory cards. The rest of the full parity on the characteristics. By light arithmetic calculations, it becomes clear that in the absence of "water rabies" you will have to pay 1,000 rubles. Firstly, it’s not much at all, secondly, you shouldn’t forget that the development of any “security”, be it smartphones, laptops, tablets or readers, is still significantly more complicated than creating a conventional device. Therefore, the price of PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 is as follows. All fair. And if we also remember that there are no analogues - well, that is, protected readers with E Ink screens - on the Russian market there is no “absolutely” word, then PocketBook 641 Aqua 2 turns out to be a unique device. No options.
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