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$574 Pocketbook CAD Reader Delayed Until Next Year, Will Have a 13.3″ Mobius E-ink Screen

pocketbook cad readerPocketbook’s 13.3″ ereader has been delayed again, and that’s a good thing. New reports are coming in today from Russia that Pocketbook has changed the design of CAD Reader.

The tech blog Mobile-Review.com (found via MobileRead user fgdas) got their hands on the CAD Reader, and they revealed that this ereader is now going to use a flexible 13.3″ Mobius display like the one on the Sony Digital Paper DPT-S1.

When it was initially announced last December, the CAD Reader was to be built around a 13.3″ Fina E-ink display. The Fina display is the same size and resolution as the Mobius display (1600 x 1200), only instead of the flexible and rugged plastic backplane found in the Mobius display, the Fina display uses a glass backplane similar to that found in many ereaders, including the Kindle Paperwhite.

As everyone knows, E-ink screens like the one on the Kindle Paperwhite are prone to breakage simply through ordinary usage. The Fina display, with its enormous size, will likely be extremely fragile. This led Pocketbook to revise the design of the CAD Reader and replace the screen.

As someone who has broken his share of ereaders, that’s great news. Unfortunately it also comes at a price; the CAD Reader is going to be delayed again. The release date has been bumped from late 2014 to early 2015.

On the plus side, Pocketbook is saying that the price in Russia will be around  20,000 rubles. According to Google, that comes to roughly $574, which is simply wonderful news.

pocketbook cad reader ces 2014 1

Yes, the Pocketbook CAD Reader is going to be the second most expensive ereader on the market if and when it ships, but it is still going to cost $500 less than the Sony Digital Paper (which has a US list price of $1,100).

While it won’t be sold at retail and is primarily intended for displaying blueprints in the construction market, the CAD Reader is still a far more capable device than the Sony Digital Paper. The latter device only reads PDFs, while the CAD Reader is expected to run a modified version of Android 4.0.4 on a dual-core 1 GHz CPU with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB Flash storage.

We don’t know yet just how many Android apps will be compatible with the CAD Reader, but this blogger is nevertheless hopeful that the Kindle and other reading apps will work.

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Comments


Ken July 17, 2014 um 7:14 pm

A4 size e-reader with reasonable price would be a great hit.

David August 17, 2014 um 1:25 am

I agree with you. I’m eagerly waiting for the release of this gadget.


Jonathan September 8, 2014 um 7:41 pm

Why Sony and Pocketbook aren’t targetting these products at Academia, I’ll never know.


Carlos October 22, 2014 um 9:53 am

Mobius displays measure in at 13.3 inches, and have a resolution of 1200×1600. The size is meant to correspond with a typical A4 size sheet of paper.
I will immediately buy a reader with that size, decent processor and for the life of me, no less that 16GB internal storage. Wifi nice to have, but don’t mind cable. Pogo type for charger. PDF, CBR, and standard book.
I could compromise for a 10″ which for some reason is not really popular either, all you get are 6″ everywhere.


Sergio Nova November 18, 2014 um 8:53 am

This would be perfect for cbr/cbz files. A dream come true, and at such a price… wow! I just hope it will be more than ordinary promise.


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joestar January 11, 2015 um 10:04 am

Someone on the mobileread forums mentioned that the price has gone up from 574USD to ~1200USD. Are you able to confirm this? Here is the post:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3022432&postcount=30

Nate Hoffelder January 11, 2015 um 10:13 am

I hadn’t seen that, thanks!

I’ve been told by Netronix that the 13.3″ panel is simply too expensive to see for that little. Netronix expects their wholesale price to be higher than that.

And now that Pocketbook has increased the estimated price of the CAD Reader, I think it now looks like that $574 price was less a realistic price and more delusional optimism on the part of Pocketbook (or perhaps the Russian blog I cited made a mistake).


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