- Dropbox Pocketbook Sync
- Dropbox Pocketbook
- Pocketbook Dropbox Einrichten
- Dropbox Pocketbook Touch Lux 3
- Pocketbook Dropbox Problem
Pocketbook's newest ereader arrived on my doorstep yesterday. I've had a day to play with it, and while I am impressed with its speed and svelte design, I am not sold on its main feature.
The Pocketbook Color features the new Kaleido E-ink screen, and this screen tech is a vast improvement on E-ink's two previous generations of color screens. Where the previous color E-ink screens were cursed with a very slow refresh rate and a muddy gray undertone, the new Kaleido screens are capable of displaying up to 4096 colors. The new screens have a white undertone, not gray.
Furthermore, the Pocketbook Color can refresh the screen at a speed that matches that of the Kindle or any other leading ereader. It is so fast that I wish I could play a video on it just to see what happens; I think it might actually be able to play video at 30 fps (or at least close to that speed).
- Dropbox is a modern workspace designed to reduce busywork-so you can focus on the things that matter. Sign in and put your creative energy to work.
- Pocketbook users: are you experiencing sync problems with Dropbox? Technical Support It happened suddenly a couple of days ago, as I had turned on my PB, I got a message saying it couldn't sync with Dropbox.
To turn on the Device, press and hold On/Offbutton until startup logo appears. When the Device is ready to operate, an image is changed to Main menu or last opened book, depending on settings (Settings Personalize Open at startup). To turn off the Device, press.
I was in fact testing the Pocketbook Color with a gallery of astronomy photos that I have been saving for wallpapers on my smartphone, and I found that this ereader could refresh the screen – in color – at a rate faster than I had believed possible. I'm not going to claim that it's as fast as an LCD or LED screen, but it's in same the ballpark.
You will never complain about this ereader's speed.
Its color quality, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired.
Kaleido screens can display up to 4096 colors, but they are limited to displaying those colors at 100 ppi. On the one hand, that is significantly below the resolution of the Carta E-ink screens (300ppi), but at the same time the Kaleido screens have about the same resolution (when displaying color) as the screen on my 15″ Dell laptop.
The reason I made that comparison is that I am not one to worship stats for their own sake. I care about what screens look like when they are in front of me.
And the screen on the Pocketbook Color, well – I think the best way to describe it would be 'old newsprint'. It reminds me of the old, cheaply-printed periodicals I might find in an archive.
The 4096 color limitation means that the images are not as vibrant as you would see on an LCD screen. They seem rather washed out, or muted. (The colors are more vibrant than you would expect on a grayscale E-ink screen, however.)
O O O
Dropbox Pocketbook Sync
Dropbox sign out. I have to say I am torn. Yes, this is a major breakthrough, and yes, it is faster and better than any color E-ink screen we have seen before, but I am just not that thrilled with the main feature.
Given the Pocketbook Color's overall quality, however, there is a good chance that I might be in the minority.
This ereader will be shipping soon in Europe. Retail is 199 euros.
The Pocketbook Basic series of e-readers are entry level and tend to retail for around $80, making them very affordable. The brand new Basic 4 is no different and the main selling features is the HD screen, SD card and lots of physical buttons.
Hardware
The Pocketbook Basic 4 features a six inch E INK Carta HD display and a resolution of 1024×758 and 212 PPI. This device does not have a touchscreen and a front-lit display, so you won't be able to read at night. The screen is sunken with the bezel and a plastic layer on top of the E INK screen, so you will actually get a better reading experience.
The color scheme of the e-reader is black. The pocketbook logo is green and is right below the screen. The home button is at the very bottom of the device and the overall design is quite different than the Pocketbook Color or the Touch Lux 5. Instead of being a square, it rounded and it is contained by a little boarder around it. This is not just for design aesthetics, the border is basically four independent buttons, that act as a D-Pad to navigate around the device and the center button is an OK button. This is used to navigate between the sub-menus, which include Library, Dictionary, Applications and settings. Surrounding this main button are two manual page turn keys, that are very large.
Underneath the hood is a Freescale 1GZ processor, 256MB of RAM, 8GB of storage and has an SD card that is capable of up to 32GB of additional storage. Pocketbook has elected to use a Micro USB port for charging and transferring data, instead of USB-C. It is powered by a 800mAh battery, which should be good for a couple of weeks, before you have to recharge it. You can get firmware updates via WIFI. The dimensions are 161.3 × 108 × 8 mm and it weighs a paltry 145g.
I have noticed that the Pocketbook Basic 4 got lost in the shuffle between the highly successful Pocketbook Color, which is the 2nd attempt at a full color e-reader, using the latest E INK technology. The Pocketbook Touch Lux 5 also stole some of its limelight, since both of these e-readers came out before the Basic 4. I think the Basic 4 might experience a sales increase as we get closer to the holiday season, many people might buy it a a gift for someone new to e-readers, which is what this is really designed for.
Dropbox Pocketbook
Software
The Pocketbook software is based on Linux the company uses the same OS on every single one of their e-readers, they have not really done a serious software revision in close to a decade, although they do develop new apps and software functionality.
The homescreen for the Basic 4 is quite different, it merely shows you the last 4-5 books that you are in the process of reading, or have been recently sideloaded. Underneath that is a link to the library and lists the total amount of books that are in it.
The settings menu is where you can select what language you want the UI in, there are around 30 different languages that are supported. You can establish your WIFI connection, time zone, search for a firmware update.
The library menu looks really good, there is a list or grid view to showcase your collection. Grid will show your cover art and will only show a few books per page, list will condense it and show more content. You can use the D-Pad to select a book and open it.
When you open an ebook for the first time, this is where the Basic 4 really shines. You can use the oversized page turn buttons to quickly turn to the next page. If you tap the center button while in the book, it will open up a menu. You can search, make a bookmark, goto a specific page, access the TOC, close the book, rotate from portrait mode to landscape, via a software based gyroscope, make a note, access the dictionary or the settings. Settings are important here, this is where you can select the size of the font, changes are made via a slider bar. You can also augment the margins and line spacing and turn off the status bar and page numbering system if you want. Page turns are lightning quick.
Pocketbook Dropbox Einrichten
The dictionary by default is the Webster 1913 Dictionary and searching is not enjoyable, this is the same system if you want to make a note in an ebook. The keyboard is not T9, QWERTY or even ABC, it is really different and it is agonizing to use. You have to use the D-Pad to scroll to every character, click OK, and keep on doing it. There is no predictive text, which would have been really useful here.
The settings menu basically has around 6 different games and there are shortcuts to your library and the settings menu. There are no Pocketbook services on this e-reader, such as Send to Pocketbook, where you can send blog and news articles to your e-reader, no Dropbox accessibility or a digital bookstore. You basically have to sideload in any manga, ebooks, PDF files or any other content via the Micro USB cable and drag and drop stuff via Windows Explorer or Calibre.
Wrap up
This is a simple, barebones e-reader with none of the frills and options as all of the other e-readers in Pocketbooks modern portfolio. There are a small minority of people who don't like touch screens for whatever reason, or use their e-reader while wearing gloves or mittens, due to the cold weather. Clicking on big oversized page turn buttons can be used in this manner.
The Basic 4 has a really good design, but doing any kind of typing is utterly terrible, I would recommend this as just a dedicated e-reader to people who don't want any frills and want to sideload in everything.
Pocketbook Basic 4
85.00
Pros
Dropbox Pocketbook
Software
The Pocketbook software is based on Linux the company uses the same OS on every single one of their e-readers, they have not really done a serious software revision in close to a decade, although they do develop new apps and software functionality.
The homescreen for the Basic 4 is quite different, it merely shows you the last 4-5 books that you are in the process of reading, or have been recently sideloaded. Underneath that is a link to the library and lists the total amount of books that are in it.
The settings menu is where you can select what language you want the UI in, there are around 30 different languages that are supported. You can establish your WIFI connection, time zone, search for a firmware update.
The library menu looks really good, there is a list or grid view to showcase your collection. Grid will show your cover art and will only show a few books per page, list will condense it and show more content. You can use the D-Pad to select a book and open it.
When you open an ebook for the first time, this is where the Basic 4 really shines. You can use the oversized page turn buttons to quickly turn to the next page. If you tap the center button while in the book, it will open up a menu. You can search, make a bookmark, goto a specific page, access the TOC, close the book, rotate from portrait mode to landscape, via a software based gyroscope, make a note, access the dictionary or the settings. Settings are important here, this is where you can select the size of the font, changes are made via a slider bar. You can also augment the margins and line spacing and turn off the status bar and page numbering system if you want. Page turns are lightning quick.
Pocketbook Dropbox Einrichten
The dictionary by default is the Webster 1913 Dictionary and searching is not enjoyable, this is the same system if you want to make a note in an ebook. The keyboard is not T9, QWERTY or even ABC, it is really different and it is agonizing to use. You have to use the D-Pad to scroll to every character, click OK, and keep on doing it. There is no predictive text, which would have been really useful here.
The settings menu basically has around 6 different games and there are shortcuts to your library and the settings menu. There are no Pocketbook services on this e-reader, such as Send to Pocketbook, where you can send blog and news articles to your e-reader, no Dropbox accessibility or a digital bookstore. You basically have to sideload in any manga, ebooks, PDF files or any other content via the Micro USB cable and drag and drop stuff via Windows Explorer or Calibre.
Wrap up
This is a simple, barebones e-reader with none of the frills and options as all of the other e-readers in Pocketbooks modern portfolio. There are a small minority of people who don't like touch screens for whatever reason, or use their e-reader while wearing gloves or mittens, due to the cold weather. Clicking on big oversized page turn buttons can be used in this manner.
The Basic 4 has a really good design, but doing any kind of typing is utterly terrible, I would recommend this as just a dedicated e-reader to people who don't want any frills and want to sideload in everything.
Pocketbook Basic 4
85.00
Pros
- Great Design
- Buttons Galore
- HD Screen
- SD Card
- Only $85
Cons
Dropbox Pocketbook Touch Lux 3
- No Lighting System
- No Touchscreen
- Typing is terrible
- D-Pad button
Pocketbook Dropbox Problem
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times.
