Pocketbook Reader Book 1, 2 Are (Basic) Kindle Competitors in Russia
Pocketbook has launched a pair of new low-end ereaders in Russia under a new brand. The Reader Book 1 and Reader Book 2 won’t win design awards, but they could attract budget conscious consumers.
The Reader Book 1 has a 6″ Pearl E-ink screen (1024 x 758) that lack a frontlight or touchscreen. Navigation is managed through the d-pad below the screen. The Reader Book 2, on the other hand, has a lower resolution Pearl E-ink screen with a touchscreen but no frontlight.
Both models run Pocketbook’s reading software on a 1Ghz CPU with 4GB internal storage, a microSD card slot, and a 1Ah battery. According to the spec sheet, neither device has a frontlight, audio, or Wifi. They offer similar support for ebook formats (Epub, PDF, FB2, Mobi, Djvu) and document formats (Doc, chm, txt, rtf, html).
The Reader Book 1 is selling for 5,999 rubles (about $91 USD), while the Reader Book 2 lists for 6,999 rubles (about $106 USD).
In short, what we have here are a couple ereaders intended to compete with the basic Kindle. Both gave up a frontlight, audio, and Wifi to cut cost, and they also trade screen resolution for touchscreen.
That’s a fair trade, although Pocketbook should have gone all the way and also added page turn buttons. That would make up a lot for the lack of a touchscreen on the Reader Book 1.
Comments
Mark Williams – The International Indie Author November 13, 2015 um 3:11 am
Competing with the Kindle?
Given there is no Kindle RU store and Amazon imposes a $2-$4 surcharge on every ebook bought from AmCom why would Russians want to buy a Kindle at all unless they already have a Kindle account in a Kindle country?
Nate Hoffelder November 13, 2015 um 5:45 am
I don’t know; you would have to ask the Kindle owners who are importing their devices into Russia.
Peter C. November 14, 2015 um 11:36 am
An eReader with no touch screen, front light, and low resolution, it sounds like a basic Kindle few years ago. The goods are that it has a microSD slot and supports ePub, but the price seems not cheap….
Think they won’t support any network like 3G too. Without WiFi, guess it will need to copy books from laptop?