PocketBook Era Color Ereader - 7 Inch E Ink Kaleido 3 Screen - Eye-Friendly Audio-Book & E-Book Reader - Text-to-Speech - Waterproof IPX8 - Bluetooth & Speakers - WiFi Cloud Sync - 32GB Storage

This review is from the perspective of these use-cases: - Reading both English (US) and Russian/Cyrillic - Heavy need for offline dictionary lookup, especially with Russian-Russian and Russian->English dictionaries - Using mainly Koreader side-loaded over USB connection from MacOS - A lot of this review is of the pairing of Koreader with the device, not just the device itself - Using Calibre to organize and send books - No comics or any real need for color e-ink screen - Using side-loaded and koreader dictionaries - Comfortable with tech and tweaking configs - No experience with the store, I sideload books (the only way IMO) - if you're a kindle store user - good luck This thing is exactly what I was looking for. Move from Kindle: I had a Kindle Oasis, the latest version before they discontinued it. I loved the physical buttons but the battery was trash from the start, and the dictionary support was really weak. I needed 1) better dictionaries (which the oasis didn't support most common dictionary formats) 2) you couldn't select and define a word that is within the definition of a different word. No good when you have a weak vocabulary. The old kindle 3 could, but Amazon stopped caring about the nice finishing touches on the Kindle long ago. 3) better battery life I chose the Pocketbook Era Color because it had: 1) the ability to sideload koreader easily and good koreader integration (you can override the default reader to koreader directly without too much tinkering - nice. No jailbreak needed. 2) I chose the color because it actually has better tech specs over the regular Era. I would gladly give up the color screen for sharper contrast and lower price - but I wanted that quad-core over the dual and 1GB of RAM instead of 512MB - anything to make these snappier - I chose to deal with potential contrast issues or darkness - worth it 3) All the format support I could need Experience: - People here complained about "uneven lighting" - I don't see that - either they're picky or they fixed it. Looks even steven to me. - Nice build - doesn't have the metallic casing of the oasis, and its a little thicker - but I kind of like it more for some reason - its not bulky, feels much better to hold, personal pref I suppose - Took half a day of tinkering to get it just how I like it, some of that was due to koreader being so feature rich, and not a knock on this reader at all. - Side loading koreader was a snap. no jailbreak needed, awesome. - I briefly took a look at the pocketbook default reader, and the dictionary requires either two presses to get to the word, or to go into dictionary mode, which I'd rather just hit the word and quickly get the pop up. It matters when your vocab is bad and you do this a lot. Maybe there is a fix, but I just chose to go the koreader route. Will be more consistent between this and future devices. Looks nice otherwise. - Koreader lets you associate the file types to itself, so you open the book in pocketbook, and it opens in koreader. Nice. - Battery life is great. Maybe not "new mac/iphone" great, but absolutely what i would expect and probably better. - I got the flip case (not shell) - you unclip a narrow side panel in the back, the cover attaches there flush with tabs on one side and magnets on the other. Works great - no it probably won't protect the edges - get a shell if you need that. The cover is a good material that looks like it won't fray like the oasis covers did. - Warmth/frontlight/night mode all work great under both pocketbook and koreader. - If you enable automatic frontlight settings, koreader won't be able to modify the frontlight, so you'll need to exit and disable auto front light - there's probably an easier way but i haven't cared enough to look - Dictionary support in koreader - solid, best experience I've had with it for both Russian and English. I pulled down a bunch of dictionaries, and the ReaderDict and Koreader Wiktionary dictionaries are by far the best. You can select the word, select another word within the first definition, and edit the word being searched for, and quickly switch dictionary as well as prefer a dictionary. - Initially koreader looks bad, you have to set the font and margins how you like them, and the possibilities are basically endless - Bookerly/Amazon Ember are available from amazon, PT Serif for proper Cyrillic display, whatever you want. Line spacing, everything. - FB2 support solid - I don't really notice a resolution difference with the color screen - I know its there, but I'm impressed it's not that noticeable. - I like the longer buttons way better than the little oasis buttons - Touchscreen is more....predictable...than the oasis. Oasis has a mind of its own. Negative experiences: - Yeah the screen is a little darker than what a paperwhite or oasis would look like. But its not noticeable really. I haven't had the need to have the frontlight on maximum yet - maybe 80%. So that solves that problem real quick. Worth the better specs over the regular era. Kindle users: If you're a kindle store user, you're going to want to be careful what you buy here - here you're out of the amazon ecosystem and need to get involved in managing your books. It's a price to be paid for flexibility and options. Russian/Cyrillic readers: - FB2 instead of epub, koreader, ReaderDict and Wiktionary dictionaries, PT Serif with proper margins and line spacing, shortcut corner tap table of contents for those into classic literature with "complete series" ebooks. Get cozy with the koreader user manual. Perfect reading experience. Super happy with this.

This review was written by me without the aid of AI. This ereader uses a display similar to the Amazon colorsoft and has similar display pros and cons. Read on to learn more. Overall pros and cons: Pros: * Display handles both color and black and white content. * This ereader supports a wide variety of audio and ebook formats, including one DRMed format - the Adobe Digital Editions DRM so you can read books borrowed from your local library via Libby. * No ads or upsells. Put whatever wallpapers you want on your ereader or display the cover or content of the book you are reading while the device is locked. * The Era includes a built-in speaker to play audio files. Listen to audiobooks or music with requiring Bluetooth headphones. However, you can pair headphones with the device if you prefer. * Like other e-ink ereaders, this device has battery power measures in weeks or even months, depending on how you use it. * This device has physical page turn buttons and an on/off button. You can still use gestures to turn pages if you want. The device also supports a left-handed orientation if you want it. * There are a number of pre-loaded apps on this device, including some games and a slideshow app so you can show off your personal photos if you want. * You can load your own ereading app on the device if you don’t like the built-in ereader. No jailbreaks required. * Once set up, you can email your ereader books that will sync over WiFi. * There is a built-in web browser to view some types of web content. * USB-C port makes it easier to charge and connect to a modern PC or Mac. * The Era includes a bunch of open-source ebooks in a variety of languages, so you will have something to read right out of the box. You can remove any of these books if you don’t want or need them. Cons: * Color content is low-res (for an ereader) and the colors are washed out. Don’t expect any vibrant colors. * The Era only has 1 GB of RAM (not to be confused with the storage). This makes some apps on the device less useful than you might hope. See below for specifics. * This ereader isn’t an ideal choice if you aren’t techy or if you don’t have someone who is to help you with initial setup. The getting started wizard only helps with very basic setup and not with getting your own books onto the device. * This doesn’t support DRMed Kindle content. * This ereader is designed in and for countries in the EU, not the USA (which is fine, but you need to be aware of the limitations). While Pocketbook has ebook stores in Germany and the UK, they require separate sign ups and neither support US currency. If you’re in the USA, you’ll probably want to create an account in the UK so you can purchase content in English. You’ll also need that account to activate features like the email books to your Era. Further, signing up in one storefront does not grant you access to storefront in another country. So you’ll need separate accounts for the German storefront and UK storefront and it’s a pain to manually switch between them. * The web browser struggles to display many web pages because there is only 1 GB of memory. * The audio player doesn’t let you play audio files in the background while using the device to do other things, so no enhanced reading options if you’re hoping to use this to read the ebook while listening to the audiobook at the same time. * The speaker is only moderately loud and distorts at the highest audio volume. It is also only mono with not great frequency response. * If you’ve never used an ereader before, you will be disappointed with the page turn speed and overall responsiveness. This isn’t an Era-specific issue. It’s a limitation of the e-ink technology. * No charger in the box. * There is no ambient light sensor, so the “automatic” adjusting of the backlight is pretty much useless. It just adjusts based on a manually adjustable time schedule. * The ereader has an orientation sensor, but it isn’t good, meaning that turning on the automatic portrait/landscape adjustment ends up being pretty annoying on the whole. I find it switches orientations when it shouldn’t and doesn’t switch when it should. You’d think this would be a solved problem in 2026. * No SD card support of any kind. You’re stuck using the built-in storage for all content. * The Era includes a warning in the box about how fragile the device is. It’s not that fragile (though it’s not as robust as a smartphone). They seem to do this to get you to spend even more money for one of their cases. Feel free to buy a case if you want one or if you’re hard on your devices, but the warning is needlessly alarmist. —- Some more in-depth thoughts: To get the most out of the Era, you’ll want to have access to a PC (Windows or Linux) or Mac (Intel or Apple Silicon). There is a free, open-source app called Calibre ( pronounced Caliber if you’re not familiar). It allows you to store, convert, and read all sorts of ebook content. It can transfer your ebooks to the Era either by physical connection to your computer or wirelessly using the email to your device feature once you’ve created a pocketbook account for your device. However, Calibre incorrectly identifies the Era when plugged into your computer. Transfer features still work, but it might confuse you if you’re not expecting it. Calibre is under constant development, so this might change in the future. You can transfer content to your Era without Calibre, but Calibre makes the process easier and also supports a ton of plugins to add support for new format conversion and other tools. This device is a good choice if you want one device to read anything except DRMed Kindle books (you can read non-DRMed Kindle books in the older formats, though). You don’t have to worry about forced device obsolescence or ads. I would recommend not getting this color device unless you have books with color content since the color display is not as sharp as a typical greyscale or black and white ereader, and the non-color models of pocketbooks are cheaper. I also wish it had more than 1 GB of memory. Still, if you read graphic novels or like the muted colors, the Era is a mostly future-proof ereader with great battery life. Once you get it set up, it is easy to use.

If you're in the market for a color e-reader, this is a great choice. Colors are muted (as with all color e-ink), and the screen is darker than the monochrome version, which necessitates more backlight use, and thus battery power. This is inherent to all color e-ink displays, so understand that before buying. If color is not critical, buy the monochrome version. The build quality is top notch. I was a little concerned that with the buttons on the side would be prone to accidental clicking. They are not, and in fact the shape of the buttons actually improve single handed grip considerably. Holding the Era in one hand, and using the right arrow button to advance pages is comfortable. The device is fairly light (about the same as a the Kindle Paper White). It will just fit in a wide pant pocket. The back side's grooved surface looks OK, but did not improve grip the way I expected. PocketBook's software is a breath of fresh air. There are a plethora of customization options. Every physical button can be customized to do whatever the user wants. Screen tap, and gesture actions can also be fully customized. The store can be hidden; Something I appreciate as US customer. The library can be sorted many ways, including by genre and series, and it can also be searched. Books can be marked as favorites, and users can make their own collections. There is a task manager (which can be mapped to a physical key like most every other feature), which makes switching between apps effortless. There is a nice browser, allowing about as good a browsing experience as possible on e-ink. Voice integration is better than I expected. Multiple voices are available for download to suit most tastes. Playback is relatively smooth, and playback speed is adjustable. There is voice playback in the dictionary tab, which is very helpful with foreign word pronunciation. It's a modifiable device too. If you want to use KOReader, installing it is a snap, and file associations can be set so clicking on a book opens KOReader automatically. If you want to dig deeper, all kinds of other changes can be made. Like changing the application menu, changing app icons to whatever you want, Changing the app menu categories, sorting, and hiding apps altogether, and the developers even included helpful comments in the devices config files to make customization easier. What's not to like? It would be nice if bookmarks had a dropdown context menu like Kindle. The dictionary/translation feature opens as a tab; A window like on Kindle or KOReader would be better. If PocketBook entered the US market, quite a few things could be improved, but it's understandable why they have not.

I so wanted to like this e-reader but I'm afraid it's a glitchy, unreliable too-slow device and I'm returning it while the window is still open. It's a very nice device, well-thought-out with so many useful features. Unfortunately reading on it is an ongoing nightmare I quickly grew tired of. Page turns are sometimes slow, sometimes instantaneous, sometimes it skips ahead by 15 or so pages and I have to backtrack looking for the page I was on. It's prone to random freezing and can be unresponsive while you're desperately trying to figure out how to escape the loop of doom you're in. There are many more ways the Pocketbook has tortured me, too many to relate here. So many great features if only it could actually perform them. Really, I may possibly have gotten a dud because they can't all be this bad. My Pocketbook is an exercise in frustration and futility every single time I use it and I've finally given up on it. Reading is not supposed to be painful - I read for relaxation, not aggravation.

Finally, Pocketbook supports multiple Libby cards, not just one. I added three library cards. I read in English, Ukrainian, and Russian. I need different formats. Bluetooth and remote connection. It's a bit slower than I expected, but once a book is downloaded, it works great. I wish the team would test Libby more thoroughly. I would like to see all holds in one place without switching cards.

TL:DR -- I found little or no use case for this specific model; either go bigger for graphics, or smaller for B&W. For my purposes, the 32GB of RAM is probably overkill; I had to buy this in order to force a rethink of my PC-based library, and the library shrinkage meant that I'd have been just as happy with 16GB, and probably tolerant of 8GB. Likewise, having color..., the color is nice, and it's not that subtle, just weak pastel. But graphic novels are just too dense; the print bubbles on the individual frames are just too small, and require endless scrolling, zooming, & de-zooming. So for my purposes, a B&W would have been the better choice. So if you're into graphics, the display is too small. If it's text (preferrably flowable EPUB) then unless you have thousands of books, it's too big, wasted money, and you'd almost certainly be better off skipping color.

I love the build and screen quality. With KOReader easily installed, it’s perfect!

It IS a great device to read comics and books equally! BUT it is important to note that the screen requires front light to be used on the inside, as the color layer makes the screen darker.. Outside, though, is another story, you can just use it normally! Another thing I noticed is that is not particularly snappy on menus and such, but reading is good.. The quality of the materials is really good for being plastic, but the experience is better if you buy the case.. Overall I would say that, for my first reading device, is good, tho I would consider that, if you only are going to read books, you get the b&w version..

Lightweight, compact, the settings can be in any language (not always a case with other e-books), possibility to highlight and note, and the most important is ability to download books from anywhere you want

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Cercavo da tempo un ereader che non fosse collegato a uno store. Avevo provato tolino con sistema operativo Android ed era stato un disastro. Questo lo sto usando da diversi giorni, gli ebook si caricano tramite Adobe Digital Edition (quelli con adobe drm) senza problemi, quelli che non hanno adobe drm vanno copiati come su una chiavetta usb. i colori sono buoni e la batteria ha un'ottima durata, considerato che io lo tengo acceso diverse ore al giorno. l'avvio è molto rapido. Molto soddisfatta anche per la gestione dei libri presi in prestito in biblioteca, che ultimamente col Kobo non riuscivo più a gestire.

It is a great piece of technology and does what it is suppose to do, but there is a steep learning curve to really make it work for you. The user manual is 123 pps long and that says it all. It is versatile and functions well once you master the device.

I am really impressed with the PocketBook Era Color. The screen looks great and is very easy on the eyes, but what I love most is the access to libraries. I can easily borrow books from the Goethe-Institut Onleihe library and from my local library through OverDrive, which works perfectly. The audiobook feature is another big plus. I can just connect my Bluetooth headphones and listen on the go. The device feels good in hand, the interface is smooth, and the adjustable front light makes it comfortable to read anytime. A wonderful eReader for anyone who loves reading and borrowing books from libraries!