A couple months ago PocketBook announced the release of a new eNote with a 10.3″ color E Ink screen called the PocketBook InkPad Eo, and now it’s finally available to purchase on Amazon for those that are willing to pay a premium price for it.
PocketBook is selling the InkPad Eo for $549. That’s a pretty high price for an eNote with an older version of Android from a company that just started using Android, but at least it runs Android 11 and not Android 8 like the InkPad X Pro that they released last fall.
However, the InkPad X Pro is currently only $299 after starting out at $420, and it has a more durable Mobius screen. Is color and a newer version of Android really worth an extra $250?
Plus there’s the fact that you can get a Note Air 3C for $499 from a company that has more experience with Android on E Ink devices, and has been developing their software for many years and offers a multitude of features.
Aside from the high price, the PocketBook InkPad Eo has some good things going for it. It appears to have a premium build quality, and it has a Wacom touchscreen and it comes with a stylus for notetaking. It also has a microSD card slot, a rotation sensor, a USB-C port with OTG support, stereo speakers, a microphone, and it has a frontlight with adjustable color tone.
The InkPad Eo has a rear camera as well, which nobody ever seems to want on eNotes, but it’s there regardless.
It has 64GB of internal storage space and 4GB of RAM, with a 2.3GHz octa-core CPU, but PocketBook doesn’t bother to mention any of that on the product page so you have to go to their website to find it.
Since it runs Android 11 it’s open to installing apps, and PocketBook’s website says it supports Google Services so the Play Store should be supported, but I don’t know if they offer any kind of optimizing features for third-party apps like Onyx does on their devices.
The InkPad Eo is a nice-looking device but I’m not sure if it’s going to be able to live up to the high price.
Nice to see a larger device out with a Mobius screen! I’ve long thought that for these extra expensive and larger devices, Mobius should be a no-brainer for manufacturers.
Not that I’ll be buying. I don’t need such a large device, my Sage is optimal for reading and perfect for my occasional note-taking needs. If I *were* in the market, I probably would NOT want a color device.
That said, I like the Pocketbook Era (BW version) that I recently acquired quite a bit! It has its pros and cons, but the pros are outweighing the few cons so far after a month of ownership. I’m using it as much as my Kobos, alternating between Sage, Forma, and the Pocketbook, and haven’t read on my Kindle Oasis in an age. Margin control on a 7″ screen makes ALL the difference to my reading comfort!
My Pocketbook has got me trying audiobooks again, via Librivox (something I didn’t know existed until I initiated a search for free audiobooks on the Pocketbook web browser) I’m being read to sleep nights with this little gem of a reader!
For that matter, I used your site to test the Pocketbook delivery of RSS feeds, and it works fine, but I would only use it in a pinch, because e-ink browsing is not really my thing.
This one hasn’t a Mobius screen, but Inkpad X Pro
Oops, you’re right! Wonder why they didn’t do that for this one? I still think it’s a no-brainer for these larger devices.
The upcoming Pocketbook x Readmoo Color Note is 10.3″ and uses a flexible screen, but the ppi is reported to be quite low at 227PPI for b&w and 113PPI for color.
I’ve read an unconfirmed rumour that Pocketbook became the co-owner of BigMe, and it’s using the latter’s expertise to build and ship Android based devices. The source is the “bad e-reader”. I’ve tried to find a verification, but alas, so I wonder if it’s true.
If this is the case, then this device might be more mature than it seems.
PocketBook e-readers running Android are Bigme devices, with some slight cosmetic tweaks. In any comparison video you can see that they have the same software. The note-taking reading program is the same as Bigme’s (xReader). PocketBook Reader is just their Android app (which can also be installed on any Android device). It has nothing to do with their Linux devices. The InkPad X (Linux) and InkPad Eo (Android) are nothing alike. The only thing they have in common is the PocketBook brand. The question is whether it is worth buying the original Bigme or the PocketBook copy.
Wow, that makes this PocketBook seem even more overpriced. The Bigme inkNote Color + Lite looks like the specs are mostly the same and it’s currently almost $100 cheaper than this PocketBook.
That would make sense since it takes a lot of time to develop Android for E Ink.
I hope they focus on development of their Linux devices if leave the Android’s to Bigme, because I fear they drop Linux developments if they change to Android
It’s always worth mentioning that Boox is likely to leave you in the lurch as well as deceive buyer’s with issues like in this reddit thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/19czc16/a_general_warning_about_boox_boox_tablets_boox/?sort=top
Then there’s the GPL violation that they choose to ignore and claim companies like Amazon don’t follow it when they do as required for their Fire Tablets.
That being said, this is definitely a pricey device and I’d only consider it after a price drop and even then 7-8″ is still my preferred size.
I get what you’re saying, and I’ve questioned some of Onyx’s business practices here before too (like the shady return policy when ordering directly from their website, or how they pretty much let resellers do whatever they want), but can we be sure Bigme and Pocketbook are totally on the level? I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re doing some unethical things too.