The Pocketbook Inkpad Eo colour e-reader is chaotic

If you fancy scribbling in a digital book or taking handwritten notes, the Inkpad Eo’s handy to have around. Since the e-reader’s based on Android, you can use a variety of apps on the device. That being said, the operating system’s also its weak point.

Design and display: the back looks just like the front

Measuring 22.6 × 19.1 × 0.7 centimetres, the Inkpad Eo is slightly larger than an A5 sheet of paper. At 470 grammes, I feel it’s almost too heavy for lengthier reading sessions. Fitted with an aluminium frame, the device is well made. Since the rear side’s matt black, it actually looks like the front at first glance. Personally, the e-reader reminds me of the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C.

Like the Boox Note Air3 C, the Inkpad Eo has a 10.3-inch display. It also has exactly the same resolution and E Ink’s Kaleido 3 technology. When displaying black and white content, the device delivers a resolution of 1,860 × 2,480 pixels (300 ppi). In colour, you still get 930 × 1,240 pixels (150 ppi).

The Inkpad Eo’s display has a freely adjustable backlight. Plus, you can adjust the amount of blue light in exactly the same way. Apparently, this stops you from getting overstimulated when you’re using the device at night. The more orange the light, the better.

Hardware: up to par

The Inkpad Eo’s chipset is fine for typical e-reader functions such as reading and taking notes. What’s more, the device responds reliably when you’re sketching quickly. It lags most when you’re going through the menus, highlighting text and surfing the net. Here it is in action:

The Inkpad Eo has four gigabytes of RAM – enough for the most important stuff. With 64 gigabytes of internal memory, it boasts more than enough space. Since an entire text-based e-book only needs half a megabyte of space, you’re free to fill the device’s storage with apps and comics. The Inkpad Eo also has a slot for microSD cards. Wi-Fi 5 is available for downloading apps. If you fancy enjoying audio books or music, you can connect headphones via Bluetooth 5.0. The device does have two built-in speakers, but I wouldn’t recommend using them as they sound tinny.

The 8 MB camera on the back is intended for scanning documents, and isn’t sophisticated enough to do more than that.

The 4,000 mAh battery lasts for an extremely long time. If you use the e-reader for more than an hour a day, it’ll still last for weeks. The exact amount of juice you get out of the battery depends on how you use the device. Charge the battery for just over an hour via USB-C, and the e-reader will be ready to rock.

Stylus: lightweight and easy to lose

The stylus included with the Inkpad Eo is really lightweight, making it look a tad cheap. Thanks to its triangular shape, it sits comfortably in your hand and doesn’t roll off your desk. Unfortunately, you can’t attach it to the e-reader, so I often misplace mine.

Its built-in Wacom technology allows it to respond to different pressure levels. This allows me to adjust line thickness as I’m drawing. You can use the top of the stylus as an eraser.

Software: Android 11 is a weak point

Android 11 is one of the device’s weak points. Pocketbook’s trailing behind by going for this four-year-old software. Due to the lack of security patches, this is a major faux pas. Despite the outdated operating system, the Inkpad Eo gives you long-term access to all the basic functions of an e-reader: reading, taking notes and listening to audio books.

You can also create layout settings for the various text formats on the e-reader. These include things such as font size and paragraphing, and are applied to your highlights and margin notes too.

It strikes me that the e-reader’s user interface has a similar structure to the Onyx Boox. I described this in detail when I reviewed the Go 10.3, another device I criticised for the chaotic, illogical organisation of its menus and settings. The Inkpad Eo, however, throws another level of complexity into the mix when it comes to accessing your books. You can only find titles you’ve uploaded yourself by searching for them in your files or the Pocketbook app. Although the books are saved in the quickly accessible library, they’re not displayed there.

Reading and writing: smooth and reliable

I generally enjoy reading crime novels and black-and-white comics on the Inkpad Eo. The colour function makes the books clearer and is handy for highlighting text. However, it takes time to make and delete highlights.

The colour content is paler than I’m used to from my smartphone and TV, but it’s fine. Colourful comics are displayed okay too. That being said, if you compare it to the printed versions, elaborate illustrations aren’t shown in their best light.

A well-known phenomenon with e-readers is ghosting. Although it’s faintly visible on the Inkpad Eo, it doesn’t bother me much when looking at written text or comics. However, it does put a damper on things when I’m watching videos.

Pocketbook provides different modes for refreshing the page depending on the content being viewed. These modes are confusingly labelled. Instead, you can select which medium you’re viewing so that the e-reader chooses the right refresh mode for you. This has worked well for me so far.

• «HD 256» for simple continuous text and books
• «Regal» for comics and magazines
• «Fast» for web browsing (results in more detail loss)
• «Extreme» for videos (results in serious detail loss)

E-books from various apps

You can use the Google Play store to download any e-book app, be it Google Books, Tolino or Kindle. However, most of the time, you still have to adjust the display. Otherwise, the font’s too small when you use a particular app for the first time.

Notes app: good foundation, has potential

Pocketbook has given the Inkpad Eo a Notes app. This allows you to create your own notebooks and personalise the page layout in whatever way you like. You can go for lines, grids, tables or a calendar template.

The app could do with a wider selection of layouts, and it’d be better if they were less dark so as not to distract from the text. Mind you, at least you can use your own templates. Besides that, the app’s neatly organised and runs smoothly.

The app comes with all the essential note-taking tools: a paintbrush, pencil, ballpoint pen and eraser. Plus, you can add text, shapes and images. That part, however, isn’t user-friendly. Once you’ve inserted that kind of content, it stays firmly in place. You can’t simply click on it and move it. At best, you’ve got to delete it. Unlike on the Onyx Boox, you can’t cross out a written word to delete it. It’s a gesture I often missed when using this device.

If you have chicken-scratch handwriting, you can use the handwriting recognition feature to turn it into block letters. Although this works well with the downloaded language pack, it feels like it takes ages to convert. Not only that, but the converter makes a few mistakes – even in short pieces of text.