Review of PocketBook Cloud - a free cloud service for synchronizing books between readers, smartphones and computers
Greetings to all! In a recent review of the flagship reader PocketBook 740, I promised to write a separate post about the PocketBook Cloud service. Actually, this is the most separate post you are now reading.
PocketBook 740 - the first reader with PocketBook Cloud support. Therefore, I conducted testing with his help. (Later, some other poker books will receive support from the service, I'll return to this question below.) For convenience, I will break the post into chapters in which I’ll tell you what a PocketBook Cloud is and why you need it. In short, this is a service for those who live in the literal sense of the word and read books on any handy device for any free minute. And this service allows you to synchronize books and reading positions between the reader, computer, smartphone and tablet. That is, to do what was waited by “Pocket” for a long time.
A more detailed version of the PocketBook Cloud story is below.
The PocketBook company spent a lot of effort, resources and time to prove the following thesis: ideally, it’s worth reading the books from the readers, since they have eye-safe E Ink screens. But smartphones and tablets have much less secure color displays that hit the eyes with light, tiring eyes. And yet, thousands of people still read from smartphones and tablets. To overcome this trend at 100% still will not work - a fact. And if it does not work out, there is only one option left - to head it. That is why PocketBook has been developing its application for reading books for iOS and Android for several years.
Practice shows that even those comrades who have readers-poketbooks often read from smartphones. Just because a modern user's smartphone is always with him (even, sorry, in the toilet), but in some cases you will not take the reader in any way.
What are these cases? Well, suppose you have a reader from which you read at home and in the subway. Once you went on business, for example, in the housing office on a nearby street, you suddenly had 10-15 minutes of free time that you didn’t even count on, and therefore didn’t take the poketbook with you. Someone in such a situation would immediately stick to the "contact" or "facebook", but many would gladly read the book. It is for such PocketBook Cloud users that it is designed - for lovers of permanent reading avidly. They know what a reader is, but for a number of completely objective reasons they cannot always carry this device with them. And so sometimes they have to read from smartphones.
There are also other situations when the pickup book is most often not at hand: in the queue to the doctor, while waiting for friends at the club and so on.
Yes, and in the workplace with the reader do not read - the boss will come and give the ears. But from a smartphone or PC browser, you can read books almost openly, this will not cause suspicion. Unlike the reader, a device about which the management may not know in principle and which will immediately cause a bad interest.
In general, once again: PocketBook Cloud - it is for those who live reading. And who reads from all devices in a row. Mainly - from the reader. But sometimes also from a smartphone and / or tablet, and in some cases also from a laptop and / or desktop computer.
The first step to access PocketBook Cloud is to register an account on BookLand.com. This is a branded store of books from PocketBook. Previously, it could have been called simply an e-book catalog (by the way, the largest in Russia is 2.5 million books, magazines, audio books and other content items in 18 languages). However, with the launch of PocketBook Cloud, the BookLand.com website is being transformed into a multifunctional cloud service platform for buying, storing and synchronizing literature between devices of different types - computers, smartphones, tablets and, of course, PocketBook readers.
After registration, BookLand.com account data must be entered on all devices from which the user reads books. The PocketBook 740 reader has a PocketBook Cloud client.
In the case of a computer, a browser with the open site BookLand.com (or cloud.pocketbook.digital) is used to access the PocketBook Cloud.
In the case of smartphones and tablets, there are PocketBook Reader applications for accessing PocketBook Cloud, which I have already mentioned above.
Books in PocketBook Cloud are added in the following ways:
- using a computer - they can be bought on BookLand.com (downloading files from a PC is not supported);
- from the PocketBook reader - they can be bought on BookLand.com or downloaded to the reader from a computer using any available method (cable, Dropbox, “books by e-mail”);
- from a smartphone / tablet - you can buy them on BookLand.com or download it to the reader using any available method (cable from a computer, from the Internet, and so on).
As a result, books and reading positions are synchronized between all user devices. It looks like this. The user loads the book in the poketbook in any available way (see above), opens it and reads it. In the process of reading the book is automatically downloaded to the PocketBook Cloud. Then, after some time, the user stops reading. For 30 seconds, nothing happens - the reader is waiting: what if a person returns to the book and continues to study it. If nothing happens, the reading and bookmark positions are synchronized with the cloud. If user actions take place, the synchronization is delayed. And it happens 30 seconds after the last user action of the reader.
However, there is also a manual mode: after the user has stopped reading, he presses the synchronization button - and the PocketBook Cloud transmits data on the page on which reading has stopped. Then the user picks up a smartphone / tablet, enters the PocketBook application and presses the sync button. After a couple of seconds there will be a book that he just finished reading on the reader. (Well, or the reading position will be updated if the book was recorded in the memory of the smartphone before.) If you click on the book, it will open on the same page on which the user finished reading on the reader.
The reverse is also true: you can download a book on a smartphone or tablet, and then continue reading from the reader from the same place from which the user stopped reading on a smartphone or tablet. Pocketbook itself will offer to do this:
Buy books on BookLand.com, and then you can read them from the browser. On the same BookLand.com, as well as on a separate site cloud.pocketbook.digital. Files and reading positions are also synchronized with readers, smartphones and tablets of the user.
Not at all: the service is absolutely free. But! By default, the user is provided with 2 GB of space on the PocketBook Cloud for storing books. Later it is planned to provide the opportunity to purchase additional packages with 5, 10 and 15 GB of space.
I think the vast majority of users will be enough and 2 GB. For example, take the complete works of Sherlock Holmes for the authorship of Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a huge edition of five thousand pages - and it is much larger than the average book.
The file with this very edition in the FB2.ZIP format weighs, it's terrible to say, as much as 1.6 MB. And 2 GB is 2048 MB. We divide 2048 by 1.6 MB and get 1,280. That is, the user can store 1,280 such volume books on PocketBook Cloud. If we are talking about ordinary small books, they weigh an average of 300 kb. We divide 2048 MB by 0.3 MB and get 6,826 books. There is a suspicion that for many this is not enough for a month or a year, but for a lifetime.
And yet the upcoming tariffs with 5, 10 and 15 GB of space have the right to exist. Together with the introduction of these packages in the future, the development of the service in the following direction is also planned:
o uploading book files from your own library via the web interface in a group way;
o the ability to save any HTML-page from a PC browser on PocketBook Cloud;
o storage of audiobooks. And in this case, additional gigabytes will not be superfluous at all - an audiobook with a high bitrate can weigh and, for example, 50 MB, and even more.
Just in case, let me remind you that PocketBook has a range of models with audio support - in particular, PocketBook 631 Plus and PocketBook 631 Touch HD. The rest of the manufacturers do not realize audio capabilities at a normal level (well, except perhaps with Bluetooth, which implies the need to purchase the appropriate headphones), but audiobooks are able to play audiobooks. For owners of such models, tariffs with 5, 10 and 15 GB make sense.
New flagship reader PocketBook 740 - again. In addition, firmware with PocketBook Cloud customers in the coming months will appear for two other top devices - PocketBook 631 Touch HD (2016) and PocketBook 631 Plus (2017). And, of course, PocketBook Cloud will be supported by all upcoming 2018 PocketBooks with Wi-Fi.
A modern gadget (of any type) has three components - hardware, software and service. PocketBook readers have always been OK with each of them: iron is the best (both in terms of ergonomics and, for example, in terms of the quality of screens, as well as guarantees - up to 3 years when purchased in the PocketBook online store; such a long guarantee says at least about confidence in quality), software — all the more (both in terms of convenience, stability, and support for book formats: as many as 18 vs. 5-10 for competitors). Service component was also on the level. But there was a lack of such a proprietary solution - its own ecosystem, which would link the reader, online bookstore, user’s library on a computer, and applications on mobile devices into a single coherent system.
Part of the role of such a solution was played by the Dropbox service, but precisely that partly. Yes, with its help it was possible to “distill” books between the smartphone, reader and computer, but without saving the same bookmarks and reading positions. PocketBook Cloud at times more functional, fact. And it is much more convenient to use it. (At the same time, Dropbox from PocketBook readers does not disappear anywhere.)
If you have any questions regarding the work of PocketBook Cloud, welcome to the comments - I will answer. And representatives of PocketBook, in turn, are ready to study ideas on the development of PocketBook Cloud, which you can also leave under this post.
PocketBook 740 - the first reader with PocketBook Cloud support. Therefore, I conducted testing with his help. (Later, some other poker books will receive support from the service, I'll return to this question below.) For convenience, I will break the post into chapters in which I’ll tell you what a PocketBook Cloud is and why you need it. In short, this is a service for those who live in the literal sense of the word and read books on any handy device for any free minute. And this service allows you to synchronize books and reading positions between the reader, computer, smartphone and tablet. That is, to do what was waited by “Pocket” for a long time.
A more detailed version of the PocketBook Cloud story is below.
Why create a PocketBook Cloud?
The PocketBook company spent a lot of effort, resources and time to prove the following thesis: ideally, it’s worth reading the books from the readers, since they have eye-safe E Ink screens. But smartphones and tablets have much less secure color displays that hit the eyes with light, tiring eyes. And yet, thousands of people still read from smartphones and tablets. To overcome this trend at 100% still will not work - a fact. And if it does not work out, there is only one option left - to head it. That is why PocketBook has been developing its application for reading books for iOS and Android for several years.
Practice shows that even those comrades who have readers-poketbooks often read from smartphones. Just because a modern user's smartphone is always with him (even, sorry, in the toilet), but in some cases you will not take the reader in any way.
What are these cases? Well, suppose you have a reader from which you read at home and in the subway. Once you went on business, for example, in the housing office on a nearby street, you suddenly had 10-15 minutes of free time that you didn’t even count on, and therefore didn’t take the poketbook with you. Someone in such a situation would immediately stick to the "contact" or "facebook", but many would gladly read the book. It is for such PocketBook Cloud users that it is designed - for lovers of permanent reading avidly. They know what a reader is, but for a number of completely objective reasons they cannot always carry this device with them. And so sometimes they have to read from smartphones.
There are also other situations when the pickup book is most often not at hand: in the queue to the doctor, while waiting for friends at the club and so on.
Yes, and in the workplace with the reader do not read - the boss will come and give the ears. But from a smartphone or PC browser, you can read books almost openly, this will not cause suspicion. Unlike the reader, a device about which the management may not know in principle and which will immediately cause a bad interest.
In general, once again: PocketBook Cloud - it is for those who live reading. And who reads from all devices in a row. Mainly - from the reader. But sometimes also from a smartphone and / or tablet, and in some cases also from a laptop and / or desktop computer.
How does PocketBook Cloud work?
The first step to access PocketBook Cloud is to register an account on BookLand.com. This is a branded store of books from PocketBook. Previously, it could have been called simply an e-book catalog (by the way, the largest in Russia is 2.5 million books, magazines, audio books and other content items in 18 languages). However, with the launch of PocketBook Cloud, the BookLand.com website is being transformed into a multifunctional cloud service platform for buying, storing and synchronizing literature between devices of different types - computers, smartphones, tablets and, of course, PocketBook readers.
After registration, BookLand.com account data must be entered on all devices from which the user reads books. The PocketBook 740 reader has a PocketBook Cloud client.
In the case of a computer, a browser with the open site BookLand.com (or cloud.pocketbook.digital) is used to access the PocketBook Cloud.
In the case of smartphones and tablets, there are PocketBook Reader applications for accessing PocketBook Cloud, which I have already mentioned above.
Books in PocketBook Cloud are added in the following ways:
- using a computer - they can be bought on BookLand.com (downloading files from a PC is not supported);
- from the PocketBook reader - they can be bought on BookLand.com or downloaded to the reader from a computer using any available method (cable, Dropbox, “books by e-mail”);
- from a smartphone / tablet - you can buy them on BookLand.com or download it to the reader using any available method (cable from a computer, from the Internet, and so on).
As a result, books and reading positions are synchronized between all user devices. It looks like this. The user loads the book in the poketbook in any available way (see above), opens it and reads it. In the process of reading the book is automatically downloaded to the PocketBook Cloud. Then, after some time, the user stops reading. For 30 seconds, nothing happens - the reader is waiting: what if a person returns to the book and continues to study it. If nothing happens, the reading and bookmark positions are synchronized with the cloud. If user actions take place, the synchronization is delayed. And it happens 30 seconds after the last user action of the reader.
However, there is also a manual mode: after the user has stopped reading, he presses the synchronization button - and the PocketBook Cloud transmits data on the page on which reading has stopped. Then the user picks up a smartphone / tablet, enters the PocketBook application and presses the sync button. After a couple of seconds there will be a book that he just finished reading on the reader. (Well, or the reading position will be updated if the book was recorded in the memory of the smartphone before.) If you click on the book, it will open on the same page on which the user finished reading on the reader.
The reverse is also true: you can download a book on a smartphone or tablet, and then continue reading from the reader from the same place from which the user stopped reading on a smartphone or tablet. Pocketbook itself will offer to do this:
Buy books on BookLand.com, and then you can read them from the browser. On the same BookLand.com, as well as on a separate site cloud.pocketbook.digital. Files and reading positions are also synchronized with readers, smartphones and tablets of the user.
How much does the PocketBook Cloud cost?
Not at all: the service is absolutely free. But! By default, the user is provided with 2 GB of space on the PocketBook Cloud for storing books. Later it is planned to provide the opportunity to purchase additional packages with 5, 10 and 15 GB of space.
I think the vast majority of users will be enough and 2 GB. For example, take the complete works of Sherlock Holmes for the authorship of Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a huge edition of five thousand pages - and it is much larger than the average book.
The file with this very edition in the FB2.ZIP format weighs, it's terrible to say, as much as 1.6 MB. And 2 GB is 2048 MB. We divide 2048 by 1.6 MB and get 1,280. That is, the user can store 1,280 such volume books on PocketBook Cloud. If we are talking about ordinary small books, they weigh an average of 300 kb. We divide 2048 MB by 0.3 MB and get 6,826 books. There is a suspicion that for many this is not enough for a month or a year, but for a lifetime.
What are the development plans for PocketBook Cloud?
And yet the upcoming tariffs with 5, 10 and 15 GB of space have the right to exist. Together with the introduction of these packages in the future, the development of the service in the following direction is also planned:
o uploading book files from your own library via the web interface in a group way;
o the ability to save any HTML-page from a PC browser on PocketBook Cloud;
o storage of audiobooks. And in this case, additional gigabytes will not be superfluous at all - an audiobook with a high bitrate can weigh and, for example, 50 MB, and even more.
Just in case, let me remind you that PocketBook has a range of models with audio support - in particular, PocketBook 631 Plus and PocketBook 631 Touch HD. The rest of the manufacturers do not realize audio capabilities at a normal level (well, except perhaps with Bluetooth, which implies the need to purchase the appropriate headphones), but audiobooks are able to play audiobooks. For owners of such models, tariffs with 5, 10 and 15 GB make sense.
Which PocketBook devices support PocketBook Cloud?
New flagship reader PocketBook 740 - again. In addition, firmware with PocketBook Cloud customers in the coming months will appear for two other top devices - PocketBook 631 Touch HD (2016) and PocketBook 631 Plus (2017). And, of course, PocketBook Cloud will be supported by all upcoming 2018 PocketBooks with Wi-Fi.
As output
A modern gadget (of any type) has three components - hardware, software and service. PocketBook readers have always been OK with each of them: iron is the best (both in terms of ergonomics and, for example, in terms of the quality of screens, as well as guarantees - up to 3 years when purchased in the PocketBook online store; such a long guarantee says at least about confidence in quality), software — all the more (both in terms of convenience, stability, and support for book formats: as many as 18 vs. 5-10 for competitors). Service component was also on the level. But there was a lack of such a proprietary solution - its own ecosystem, which would link the reader, online bookstore, user’s library on a computer, and applications on mobile devices into a single coherent system.
Part of the role of such a solution was played by the Dropbox service, but precisely that partly. Yes, with its help it was possible to “distill” books between the smartphone, reader and computer, but without saving the same bookmarks and reading positions. PocketBook Cloud at times more functional, fact. And it is much more convenient to use it. (At the same time, Dropbox from PocketBook readers does not disappear anywhere.)
If you have any questions regarding the work of PocketBook Cloud, welcome to the comments - I will answer. And representatives of PocketBook, in turn, are ready to study ideas on the development of PocketBook Cloud, which you can also leave under this post.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/410525/