Introduction

While modern people can use smart phones for almost anything, I came to conclusion that while it is jack of all trades it rarely gets things right. I do not know if it is because I am old fashioned or just too slow to adapt. I am unable to accept using touchscreen devices for longer than few minutes (moments).

The main advantage in using specialized device is for me to have specialized functions such as special screen, better battery life, keyboard with special keys/buttons, and overall environment which allows me to focus on the given task (or just relaxing) without being disturbed by some annoying notifications (like most smart phones do when you use them a bit more). In other words I am able to separate tasks and focus only on them.

As a disadvantage I can only think of having to carry multiple devices when travelling. But with smart phones it is not that different either. In order to get these phones as thin as possible the batteries are relatively small and when you use the device it will quickly use all (or most) of its energy and I am forced to carry some bulky battery (power bank they call it, multiple of them at that). So even with smartphone I still need to take care of multiple devices, they just have a different purpose, which is to keep the main device running.

Reading “books”

I like reading, be it books, blog posts, web novels, documentation and more. To do this I have two e-book readers. One is a small PocketBook Basic 3 Lux (6-inch screen) and the second one is PockedBook InkPad X (10-inch screen).

My first ebook reader was PocketBook Basic. It was “cheap” compared to others, so it won me at the time. It still works, but it is slow compared to newer models. The reason why I changed it to newer model is because the button to switch to the next page is integrated in the plastic body (there is no separate button, the plastic is bended/moves to press the button) and the plastic cracked and cracked more until I decided it is time to get a new one.

PocketBook Basic

Both PocketBook Basic models use button only navigation/control. This is exactly what I desire, because with this setup I can touch the screen to track my thoughts as much as I want. If I make a mess, I can always clean the screen later. I consider touchscreen as a disability (or a disadvantage) for a device.

Due to the display size, the Basic version is only suitable for a text which can be rearranged to the screen size with current font settings. It is not suitable as a PDF reader. It provides me a great undisturbed experience while reading whatever crazy “book” I want.

The official cases are fine, probably not available for older model anymore and the one for the newer model seems to have fragile corners (if they did not fix it). I had issues with official case for Basic 3 Lux but the last one seems to be stronger than the other ones. Could be piece by piece?

PocketBook InkPad X

I bought this device because I desired something to read PDFs (be it specifications or stuff available only in PDF form). Most of the PDF documents are made to be printed on a standard A4 size paper (European guy here).

It has a touchscreen, which I only use for navigating the menu. Yes, the touchscreen is wasted on me. Luckily, there is still someone sensible in PocketBook and there are 4 buttons which can be used to kind of control the device (show menu, next page, previous page, other menu), so I mostly open the book and only press the navigation buttons and I have to be careful to not touch the screen or it will do some wild stuff.

It is a very useful device for reading documentation, just read and forget the world around. It is great to read the whole (or most of) specification when trying to implement something based on it.

The provided case for it is only for a protection while carying the device, which is sad. I resorted to buying a foldable case from AliExpress and it is great, a bit bulky but still awesome.

Overall

Overall, I like PocketBook devices. They provide a great platform to read whatever I throw at them, they work perfectly fine in offline mode, the battery life is great (depends on how much I read, can range from weeks to months).

Future

To make these e-readers even more usable I should at least try to KOReader, which is an alternative reading program for ebook readers. Based on reviews and what other people say about it, I would most probably love to use it.

Listening to music

I like music and I like to listen to music when travelling, specially when travelling by public transport (it is a necessity there), so I got myself a portable music player. After trying multiple low-end ones I went with something a bit better.

My requirements were (still are) as follows:

• 3.5mm Jack headphone connector
• Physical control buttons
• Good sound quality
• RockBox support

I went with HifiWalker H2, which is an awesome music player and I dual-boot the official firmware with RockBox. The main advantage in RockBox for me is a much better volume control (smaller steps) at a low volume. This is especially useful when using earphones where a change in volume could be like “hard to hear” vs “way too much”, with RockBox there are many more steps (Original 0-100 vs RockBox 0-255).

Mobile phone

I use a flip-flop style Nokia phone. It is the newer Nokia, so the design and many other things are subpar, but it is a great phone to sit in a dark cabinet and wait till it is needed (which is rare).

I rarely use mobile phone, so the best ability a mobile phone can have is to stay charged for a long time, so I do not need to care for it.

Ending thoughts

For anything complex I use personal computer, be it desktop of laptop. I love the versatility of it and how I can do all crazy stuff which I would never be able to do with any smartphone today.

This is asking for a part 2, which may come in few years since I had this article on hold for 4 years who knows when that will be.