Review of PocketBook 360

This is Review of PocketBook 360. In an eReader market crowded with products that promise to do more, multitask, and download books over the air, is there still room for devices that focus just on eReading? The PocketBook 360 reader doesn’t have Wi-Fi or 3G, run Android apps, or come with two screens. But this 5-inch device still manages to include compelling features like an accelerometer, a built-in cover, and an ergonomically sound design. However, at $239 it’s more expensive than its closest competitor (size-wise) and only $20 less than two of the most high-profile readers on the market. So is the 360 worth a look?
Design

Unfortunately, the reader presented each article without indicating which blog it came from, and there were no line breaks. We appreciate that PocketBook provided users with a way to read feeds on the go, but without 3G or Wi-Fi, this feature is much less useful than feeds that automatically update as on the Kindle or almost any smart phone.

The 5.5 x 4.6 x 0.5-inch PocketBook 360 is smaller than the $199 Sony Pocket Edition reader, though they have the same size screen. To the left of the 5-inch E-Ink electronic paper display (EPD) sits two large buttons for page turns and a centrally located navigation pad with up/down/right/left and Enter buttons. Along the top edge there’s just enough space for a microSD Card slot and the power button. The 360’s mini-USB port sits on the bottom edge.

The 360 has a simple yet ergonomically comfortable design. We like that it’s so light—just 6.6 ounces—and fit comfortably in our hands no matter which direction we held it. The included cover, etched with an elegant diamond pattern, snaps on the front to protect the screen when the device is not in use and snaps on the back when you’re ready to read. The cover adds negligible thickness, and doesn’t get in the way. We had trouble getting the hang of snapping it on and off at first, but it became second nature after a few days.
Interface

The PocketBook 360’s interface is by necessity simple due to the limited number of buttons on the device. The home screen layout, with its grid of nine chunky icons, reminds us of the Sony Touch Edition. The last two books opened appear at the top of the screen, followed by icons for Books (Library), downloaded News feeds, Favorites, Photos, Dictionary, Applications, Notes, Calendar, and Settings. Navigating is easy due to the responsive buttons on the d-pad, and moving through long lists is made less tedious by the ability to move forward one page at a time, as well as up and down.

While reading a book, users can press and hold the Enter button to launch menu options: bookmarking, going to a specific page, and manually rotating the screen’s orientation are easy to execute, but more complex tasks like Dictionary lookup, Search, and making notes strained the usefulness of the limited buttons and options available. The on-screen keyboard is tedious to navigate, the dictionary included with our review unit wasn’t in English (though units shipped in the U.S. will be), and the Notes function only allows users to highlight passages of an eBook, not actually make notes about the text.
Content

PocketBook’s store, BookLand.net, has more than 70,000 free books in over 30 world languages, mostly in English. The company said it plans to open a paid book store with more than 250,000 English titles, but the release date hasn’t been confirmed. Since the PocketBook supports a wide range of formats and Adobe Digital editions DRM for ePUB, users should be able to transfer eBooks from other online stores as well. However, none of the eBookstores that sell EPUB titles match Amazon’s 400,000+ books available for the Kindle. Plus, BookLand doesn’t include periodicals as Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon’s stores do.

As the PocketBook lacks wireless connectivity, we loaded a DRM-free EPUB copy of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, a PDF of Chicks Dig Time Lords, an RTF file, and several other titles from Google Books onto the PocketBook via USB from a PC (the reader is also compatible with Mac and Linux systems). When attached to a USB port, the 360 asked if we wanted to make a link or simply charge the unit. Once connected, our computer recognized the PocketBook as an external flash drive. Adding books was as simple as drag and drop.

Like Sony’s Readers, users can load RSS feeds onto the PocketBook 360, but only through a desktop app called PocketNews. This program, which readers can also use to access a BookLand account, is less robust than Sony’s PC app and doesn’t offer much beyond basic functionality. After adding our feeds to the program, PocketNews saved them to an FB2 file then uploaded to the device when we connected it via USB.