This is the first company device in such a form factor. And indeed, in the "X" implemented a number of options that had not previously been seen in pocketbooks. Below I will briefly talk about them and about the device as a whole. We have already managed to look at it with one eye, but so far there are few impressions for a full review.
1. The first and perhaps most important. PocketBook X is by far the most affordable reader with a diagonal of over 10 inches on the Russian market. The model costs 24,999 rubles, analogues - one and a half to two times more expensive. Immediately make a reservation that analogues, as a rule, support pen input and are equipped with a stylus - hence the much higher prices. Pen input is a useful thing, but PocketBook decided that low (for such a diagonal) price is more important. And this approach also has a right to exist.
The second point, which allowed to reduce the price, is direct sales through the online store pocketbook.ru. This model will not be available in offline retail. Such a scheme - direct sales without the participation of retail chains - also had the most favorable effect on the price of the device.
2. 10.3 inches is really a lot. The photo below shows the PocketBook X (10.3 inches) next to the PocketBook 740 Pro (7.8 inches) and PocketBook 627 (6 inches). Sorry for the quality of the photo, it was made literally on the run.
The big screen is useful, for example, for comics. For newspapers and magazines. For professional literature. For musical notes. In a word, for everything that contains large arrays of specific textual data, as well as large and detailed illustrations - be it a biography of the heroes of comics or a financial report of a large corporation. View such files on readers with a diagonal of 7.8 and even more so 6 inches is much less comfortable. Well, and one more thing: the larger the screen - the more text is placed on it. You’ll have to turn the pages less often, which positively affects the autonomy.
This is how the PocketBook X use cases are described in the official video:
3. The PocketBook X screen is made using E Ink Carta Mebius technology, that is, it has not a glass, but a plastic substrate. As a result, the display is more tenacious. Of course, you shouldn’t beat him with a hammer, but in general, he experiences blows better than the classic E Ink screens with a glass substrate. There is a backlight, moreover, with color temperature adjustment (from white light to orange).
4. PocketBook X is equipped with a USB Type-C port, and this is the first company reader with such a connector.
5. PocketBook X supports audio playback and text-to-voice translation in 16 languages, including Russian. There are no speakers in the model, so the headphones and speakers can be connected either via Bluetooth or through the adapter “USB Type-C -> 3.5 mm” (included in the package). You can evaluate the operation of audio functions in the PocketBook 740 Pro review , there is a video there. In PocketBook X, everything is implemented in exactly the same way.
6. The reader housing has plastic panels in front and behind, but the frame around the perimeter (with approach to the front panel) is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy. The model weighs 300 g, which is quite small by the standards of devices with a diagonal of about 10 inches. They sometimes weigh more than 400 g.
It is worth recalling that once upon a time in the PocketBook line there were already large-format readers - 9.7-inch. For the sake of interest, I compared such a model - PocketBook Pro 912 2011 - with PocketBook X. The difference, to put it mildly, is huge, and it concerns both dimensions and weight.
7. I also note 32 GB of memory. Earlier in PocketBook models there was a maximum of 16. There are no microSD slots, however, which personally doesn’t bother me much, but someone may not like it.
There are no special features in software - everything is just like with other PocketBook readers. With iron, everything is also standard: a dual-core Allwinner B288, 1 GB of RAM. A complete list of features is below:
- Screen: E Ink Carta Mebius, 10.3 inches, 1872 × 1404 pixels;
- Management: capacitive touch screen + keys;
- Backlight: with color temperature adjustment;
- Allwinner B288 processor (2 cores, 1 GHz);
- Built-in memory: 32 GB;
- RAM: 1 GB;
- Wireless Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth;
- Interface Connector: USB Type-C;
- Case material: magnesium-aluminum alloy;
- Book and document formats: PDF, PDF (DRM), EPUB, EPUB (DRM), DJVU, FB2, FB2.ZIP, DOC, DOCX, RTF, PRC, TCR, TXT, CHM, HTM, HTML, MOBI, ACSM, CBZ and CBR;
- Audio Formats: MP3, OGG, M4B;
- Text-to-speech: yes;
- Battery: 2,000 mAh (~ one and a half months of operation);
- Dimensions: 249 x 173 x 4.5-7 mm / 300 g
In general, the first impressions of the reader are very pleasant. A kind of thin high-tech plate with a convenient connector (finally!) And a really hefty screen. And at the same time unexpectedly light. Just look at the display area and expect the device to be much heavier. But in reality it turns out to be ... well, not weightless, but light. However, let's see what nuances will come out during the testing process. Based on the results of this testing, a review of PocketBook X will be written.
I would like to hear opinions about the product. Do you need such a large reader? Or is the 7.8-inch format enough, and all that’s bigger is from the evil one?