PocketBook Touch HD

Can this secret gem among 6-inch devices, featuring microSD expansion and a headphone jack, stand up to the competition?

At a Glance

Recently, PocketBook re-released the Touch Lux 3 with some minor improvements and also introduced the InkPad 2, updating it with sensible new features. However, what was still missing was a high-resolution 6-inch e-reader with an E-Ink Carta display—something that’s been standard among the competition for about a year now.

Today, that gap in the lineup is filled with the PocketBook Touch HD. The new model features a 300 ppi—commonly referred to as Retina resolution—display, putting it in direct competition with e-readers from Amazon, Kobo, and Tolino.

No “Lux,” but with Illumination

The Touch HD offers a screen resolution of 1448×1072 pixels—identical to other 6-inch competitors. The E-Ink Carta technology delivers the outstanding contrast you’ve come to expect.

Even though “Lux” is no longer in the name, the device still comes with built-in lighting, and it’s actually even better than on the previous PocketBook models in this size category.

Navigation is now handled not via a capacitive touchscreen, but through an infrared touchscreen—a first for PocketBook e-readers. IR touchscreens have the advantage of not requiring an extra plastic layer that can slightly darken the display.

If the look of the new e-reader feels familiar, it’s because the classic PocketBook casing remains instantly recognizable. But the Touch HD doesn’t come without its share of changes. The dimensions have slightly shifted to 175 x 113.5 x 9 mm (compared to the Touch Lux 3’s 174.4 x 114.6 x 8.3 mm), and at 180 grams it actually weighs less than the original Lux 3. Only the latest edition of the Lux 3 matches it in lightness.

Design Facelift

Visually, the previously centered company logo beneath the display has now been moved to the left and is flush with the edge. The buttons are now separated with a dividing line, making them visually distinct. The page-turn buttons also seem to have a slight inward curve, so the dividing line also serves as a tactile edge.

Separated button bar and bottom of the Touch HD

The internal memory has doubled from 4 GB to 8 GB (6.80 GB usable) and can still be expanded with a MicroSD card. That makes the PocketBook Touch HD one of the few remaining 6-inch e-readers with expandable storage. In fact, no other mainstream manufacturer offers this option in their 300-ppi models.

Also unique—among the better-known brands, at least—is the Touch HD’s audio output. Using the 3.5 mm headphone jack, you can listen to MP3s via headphones or external speakers, as well as use the well-implemented text-to-speech function familiar from the InkPad 2.

Power comes from a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM, and the battery remains at 1,500 mAh.

Back side

So, despite only subtle differences at first glance, the PocketBook Touch HD stands out from its competitors in three key ways: physical page-turn buttons, expandable storage, and audio output.

Unsurprisingly, with these extra features, the price is also a bit higher: the recommended retail price is 149 euros. This puts the e-reader in direct competition with the Tolino Vision 3 HD (159 euros) and the ad-free Kindle Paperwhite (139 euros).

Summary

The PocketBook Touch HD impressed us in most areas during our review (see below) and earned an excellent score. The display is outstanding, the software as feature-rich as ever, and, as one of the few e-readers in this segment, the device still offers expandable storage and dedicated page-turn buttons. Right now, there’s simply no better-equipped 6-inch device available on the German market.

PocketBook Touch HD: Full Review

After things had been relatively quiet around PocketBook for the past 18 months, the company finally introduced three e-readers in summer 2016. While two of the devices are relatively moderate refreshes (InkPad 2 & Touch Lux 3 Ruby Red), the new PocketBook Touch HD (model number 631) is an entirely new model.

In addition to the E Ink Carta technology already known from the Touch Lux 3, the latest PocketBook e-reader finally brings a 300 ppi pixel density (“retina resolution”), so at least on paper the Touch HD doesn’t need to hide from the competition from Amazon, Tolino, and Kobo.

With extra features like page-turn buttons, memory card expansion, and audio functionality, the Touch HD aims to take the lead in the 6-inch segment. Whether it succeeds, you’ll find out in the review below.

Build quality and features

Right when you receive the PocketBook Touch HD, you’ll notice a small change to the packaging, which no longer opens at the bottom as with most of the manufacturer’s devices. Instead, you remove the top part of the box. That’s not only more practical, it also feels more premium thanks to the better rigidity.

PocketBook hasn’t just switched the packaging supplier, but also the e-reader’s manufacturer. While past model generations were produced by Foxconn, the Touch HD is (once again) made by Netronix. PocketBook still developed the device itself, but manufacturing at Netronix enables new (presumably more cost-effective and reliable) solutions. After all, this is the same manufacturer that produces e-readers in large quantities for Kobo and Tolino.

The new housing absorbs light but is more prone to fingerprints

That the PocketBook Touch HD is taking new paths becomes obvious as soon as you pick it up for the first time. In terms of design, the reader is indeed similar to past Lux and Touch models, but the way it feels is quite different. The Touch HD has a matte black soft-touch finish that feels pleasant and effectively prevents reflections.

The material is used on both the front and back. Unlike its Lux siblings, the back of the Touch HD is flat (without a bulge).

Back

A small downside of the new surface is that it picks up fingerprints more easily. It’s a bit reminiscent of a mix between the Kobo Aura H2O and the Tolino Shine 2 HD.

Unusual for PocketBook is the display, which sits relatively deep in the housing. You’ll know this from the Tolino Shine 2 HD (and Kobo Glo HD). Just like those two competitors, the PocketBook Touch HD now also uses an infrared touchscreen. The advantage is an undisturbed image since there’s no additional plastic touch layer mounted directly on the screen as with capacitive touchscreens. Instead, the infrared sensors sit invisibly in the frame around the display. The (optical) pros and cons of this touchscreen technology are explained in detail in this article.

Because of the infrared touchscreen, the display sits deeper in the housing.

There are still four freely assignable buttons below the screen. Out of the box they are set to:

• Home
• Back
• Forward
• Menu

The position of the buttons is almost the same as on the Lux models, but they are now visually separated from the upper part by a gap in the housing. At the same time, the middle section of the page-turn buttons curves inward, creating a small lip (see image).

In my view that doesn’t really affect the feel (neither positively nor negatively). So it remains a mere design touch.

The freely assignable buttons are easy to use, but they have a different actuation feel than before.

The button actuation is noticeably shallower and a bit firmer than on the company’s previous 6-inchers. That’s not better or worse—PocketBook users will just find it a bit unfamiliar at first. In everyday reading you quickly get used to the change.

The weight reduction to 180 grams (from 208 grams) is striking. This makes the PocketBook Touch HD noticeably more comfortable to hold than the PocketBook Touch Lux 3—especially if you hold the device at the bottom to use the buttons.

On the bottom edge you’ll find the micro USB port, the memory card slot (microSD), and the headphone jack (3.5 mm). The white power button, which also serves as a status LED (already known from the InkPad 2), and the reset button sit right next to them.

Ports and power button on the bottom edge

There’s basically nothing to criticize about the build quality: the panel gaps are perfectly even, nothing creaks or cracks, and the e-reader feels rock solid. The only thing I’d prefer is the power button sticking out a bit more. But that’s a minor quibble that doesn’t spoil the otherwise excellent overall impression.

In terms of features, the PocketBook Touch HD comes with an increased internal storage of 8 GB (6.80 GB free), which (as mentioned) can be expanded via microSD card. This makes it the only mainstream 6-incher with 300 ppi that offers this option. The RAM has also doubled. The Touch HD uses 512 MB.

You can use the audio function via the headphone jack. Wi-Fi is of course also on board, allowing you to purchase e-books directly on the device and use a number of other handy features (see below).

Display and lighting

In the past, PocketBook alternated between excellent and disappointing display quality. The Ultra was certainly memorable, looking relatively low-contrast despite its then-new Carta display. On the other hand, with the Lux series and the Sense, PocketBook managed to impress with great contrast values despite Pearl displays. The still-available Touch Lux 3 (with Carta tech) is also one of the successful implementations.

The 300 ppi pixel density delivers razor-sharp text

So the question is how well the Touch HD’s 6-inch display performs in everyday use. It’s the company’s first e-reader with a so-called retina display with 300 ppi (1440×1072 pixels). E Ink Carta technology goes without saying.

Contrast and resolution

Fortunately I can reassure you right away: the screen easily keeps up with Amazon, Tolino, and Kobo. The background (with the light off) is pleasantly bright, and text is particularly easy to read.

Combined with the rich black text, the high pixel density produces a razor-sharp rendering that makes e-book content look like it’s printed. Under the microscope you can clearly see how much the higher resolution improves text sharpness compared to the PocketBook Touch Lux 3 (212 ppi).

PocketBook Touch HD with 300 ppi under the microscope

PocketBook Touch Lux 3 with 212 ppi under the microscope

To the naked eye, there are only marginal differences between Kobo Glo HD, Tolino Shine 2 HD, and PocketBook Touch HD, which are more likely due to normal manufacturing variances than to different panels. As mentioned at the outset, the Touch HD is made by the same manufacturer as the competitors, so they likely use exactly the same displays.

PocketBook Touch HD and Kobo Glo HD compared

That’s an enormous plus, because the display quality is truly excellent.

In absolute numbers, with the light off the PocketBook Touch HD achieves a contrast ratio of 7.90:1.

PocketBook Touch HD and Tolino Shine HD compared

Note: The contrast measurement is carried out under realistic, standardized conditions, so the results are not directly comparable with the maximum values determined in earlier tests.

Contrast ratio X:1, with the light off (higher is better)

• Kobo Aura H2O 8.98
• Kindle Voyage 8.48
• Kindle Paperwhite 2 8.0
• Kobo Glo HD 7.99
• Kindle Oasis 7.97
• Kobo Aura One 7.91
• PocketBook Touch HD 7.90
• Tolino Vision 3 HD 7.88
• Tolino Shine 2 HD 7.75
• Kindle Paperwhite 3 7.61
• Tolino Vision 2 7.48
• PocketBook Touch Lux 3 7.45
• Tolino Vision 1 6.96

PocketBook Touch HD and Kindle Paperwhite compared

Even though the Lux suffix has disappeared from the product name, the new PocketBook premium model of course also includes an integrated frontlight.

With the light on, the e-reader performs just as well as with it off. Here the latest PocketBook e-reader, at 9.07:1, is on par with the Tolino Shine 2 HD. The minimal differences between the devices shown below usually result from different maximum display brightness levels.

Light on: Kobo Glo HD and PocketBook Touch HD compared

Contrast ratio X:1, at full brightness (higher is better)

• Kindle Voyage 10.5
• Kobo Aura One 10.22
• Kobo Aura H2O 10.0
• Kindle Oasis 9.82
• PocketBook Touch Lux 3 9.54
• Tolino Vision 3 HD 9.36
• Kindle Paperwhite 3 9.33
• Kobo Glo HD 9.21
• Tolino Shine 2 HD 9.1
• PocketBook Touch HD 9.07
• Kindle Paperwhite 2 9.0
• Tolino Vision 2 7.4
• Tolino Vision 1 6.5

At similar brightness settings, the contrast ratio between Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Oasis, Kobo Glo HD, Tolino Shine 2 HD, and PocketBook Touch HD differs hardly at all to the naked eye. The Touch HD easily catches up with the competition.

Light on: Tolino Shine 2 HD and PocketBook Touch HD compared

Frontlight quality

At least as important as contrast is the quality of the built-in lighting. As with readability, there are no noteworthy differences here compared to the two main competitors from Tolino and Kobo.

The display is illuminated evenly by five LEDs sitting in the lower frame which, thanks to an excellent light guide film, provide a homogenous illumination of the screen.

Light on: Kindle Paperwhite and PocketBook Touch HD compared

The light is distributed very evenly across the display. Thanks to the neutral color temperature, the background appears pleasantly white while the text retains its excellent black tone.

Only at the bottom edge can you faintly see the light cones of the five LEDs, which, due to their slight intensity, don’t interfere with reading.

Light on: PocketBook Touch Lux 3 and PocketBook Touch HD compared

Brightness

In terms of brightness settings, the PocketBook Touch HD is lower both at the top and bottom end than the already frequently mentioned competitors. At a maximum of 79 cd/m², the e-reader is bright enough to improve readability during the day as well. That is, even when the surroundings are brightly lit, the light further brightens the gray background, improving legibility.

The minimum setting, at 0.8 cd/m², is very low, so even light-sensitive people won’t be bothered in total darkness. Of course, you can also turn the light off completely.

Brightness adjustment is done in software via a slider that can be called up with a few taps throughout the system (inside and outside a book). By default, you can also turn the light fully on and off with a long press of the menu button.

Maximum screen brightness in cd/m² (higher is better)

• Kindle Oasis 159
• Kindle Voyage 122
• Tolino Vision 3 HD 120
• Kindle Paperwhite 3 115
• Kobo Glo HD 114
• PocketBook Touch Lux 3 111
• Kobo Aura One 105
• Kobo Aura H2O 99
• Tolino Shine 2 HD 89
• PocketBook Touch HD 79
• Tolino Vision 2 53

Minimum screen brightness in cd/m² (lower is better)

• Tolino Vision 2 2.2
• Kobo Aura One 2.1
• Tolino Shine 2 HD 2.0
• Tolino Vision 3 HD 1.7
• PocketBook Touch Lux 3 1.6
• Kobo Glo HD 1.4
• Kobo Aura H2O 1.2
• PocketBook Touch HD 0.8
• Kindle Oasis 0.4
• Kindle Voyage 0.2
• Kindle Paperwhite 3 0.2

Touchscreen, ghosting, and interim verdict

The infrared touchscreen is very accurate and reliable. Compared to the Touch Lux 3, the overall faster response time stands out. Touch inputs are registered just a tick faster on the PocketBook Touch HD, which may also be due to the increased RAM (see above). That makes operating the e-reader more pleasant overall.

The only downer is the ghosting effect which, while not bothersome, is a bit stronger than on Tolino and Kobo. Fortunately you can easily eliminate it completely with a full screen refresh.

The heart of the Touch HD convinces across all key disciplines: contrast levels are high with and without the light, illumination is very even, and brightness can be sensibly adjusted.

There’s really no particular reason for criticism here. The PocketBook Touch HD easily keeps up with the competition.

Reading and usability

The familiar user interface, which was completely revamped two years ago and is known from a number of other models, is used. It looks modern and is, for the most part, intuitive.

The initial setup is very straightforward. Press the power button and you land in the language selection. Once that’s set, you accept the license agreement, set the time and date, and are then taken to the home screen. Although the PocketBook Touch HD prompts for various logins for different services in the notification bar, there’s no forced registration required to start using it. That means the device can be used without signing in.

You can also disable the anonymized transmission of error and usage data to PocketBook in the settings (Settings > Maintenance > Privacy > Diagnostics and usage).

Home screen

On the home screen, the most recently read e-books are prominently displayed in a centered cover view. Directly below are the most recently added books. Both views can be browsed with a horizontal swipe, giving you quick access to the latest titles right from the home screen.

Applications

At the bottom of the screen there are three menu items to access the library, the e-book store, and the browser, plus the expandable application list with the following programs:

• Audio player
• Library
• Browser
• Dropbox PocketBook
• Settings
• Gallery
• Klondike
• PocketBook Sync
• RSS News
• Chess
• Scribble
• Send-to-PocketBook
• Sudoku
• Calculator
• Dictionary
• eBook store

Library

The PocketBook Touch HD’s library is one of the best on the market and arguably the best in the 6-inch segment. The virtual book overview offers numerous viewing, sorting, and customization options that you often look for in vain—and in any case in far lesser scope—among the competition.

In the general overview, e-books can be sorted by date opened, date added, title, and author. You can also filter by authors, genres, collections, favorites, folders, formats, series, and PocketBook Cloud (ascending and descending). You can switch between cover and list view.

Particularly pleasing is the dual sorting option: on the one hand via a tag system using Calibre (genres), and on the other via the file system’s folder structure. That means you can file e-books in multiple categories (e.g., crime, Sweden, Scandinavia) and also keep the folder structure you use on your PC.

The library offers lots of options

No other manufacturer offers such varied and flexible display options, and they’re a welcome change from the usual sameness of the competition.

The library scrolls vertically and continuously. Instead of switching library pages sideways, you can move them up and down with your finger—much like you often know from various smartphone or tablet apps. Thanks to the well-functioning touchscreen and the display’s snappy responsiveness, this works surprisingly well—despite E Ink.

If you don’t want to scroll, you can still use the page-turn buttons to move the viewport.

Reading

Once you’ve found the book you want, open it with a simple tap. You can turn pages with the page-turn buttons (below the display), the familiar swipe gesture, or a simple tap on the screen.

The button assignments can be customized

The page-turn buttons, like the other two, can be freely assigned so you can map various functions and personalize operation.

Reading menu open

A firmware quirk causes a popup to appear while reading or when exiting the menu, prompting the software to sync reading progress with the cloud—even if Wi-Fi is disabled and you haven’t logged into the cloud.

The options menu for adjusting the font has been slightly modified compared to older models. In the first tab you can set line and margin spacing and enable hyphenation. You can adjust font size with a slider and virtual buttons (between 6 and 30 pt in 1-pt steps). Alternatively, you can use the pinch-to-zoom gesture to adjust text size.

Tab 1: Font size, margins and line spacing, plus hyphenation

The second tab is for selecting the typeface. You can choose from the numerous preinstalled fonts and also add your own. Style can now be set separately for regular, italic, and bold, and it no longer clutters the font list—making font changes much clearer.

Tab 2: Font and styles

A firmware bug currently means that while custom fonts appear and can be selected (and the style display even updates accordingly), after a brief flicker the type doesn’t actually change. The bug should be fixed with the next firmware version.

Note: In the meantime, the “font customization” sub-score was evaluated as if no expansion option were available (plus a deduction for the erroneous display). This has no impact on the overall grade.

In the third tab you can show or hide the status bar at the top and the page indicator at the bottom.

Tab 3: Full-screen options

As with the PDF view (see below), the generally snappier response of the PocketBook Touch HD compared to the Lux 3 stands out. For example, changing the font size happens with no noticeable delay, whereas on the Lux 3 you may have to wait 4–5 seconds for anything to happen. The same goes for general operation.

If the e-reader is left untouched for a longer period, it powers off completely. Restarting takes between 15 and 30 seconds. While the Touch Lux 3 is noticeably slower in general use, it boots significantly faster: it does the same in half the time. There were even instances where restarting the Touch HD took almost a minute. Hopefully a future software update will shorten this.

Highlights and notes

The notes function has been revised a little for the first time in a long while, which at this point isn’t only for the better. In our previous PocketBook reviews, we criticized that the notes mode could be opened in two ways, but each mode offered different options.

With the new implementation, you can now only create a note by briefly tapping a word and selecting the corresponding menu item from the options menu at the top (or bottom) of the screen. Input is via the well-functioning virtual QWERTZ keyboard. So far, so familiar.

Taking notes

The extended notes mode, which you activate separately via the reading menu, has been pared down. Simple note-taking can no longer be selected here. Instead, the following items are available:

• Simple text highlight
• Screenshot mode
• Notes overview

The drawing mode has also been removed. In principle, simplifying the system is welcome, but the implementation still leaves something to be desired. Now, with the “Notes” menu item, you can’t actually write notes at all anymore. Instead, only text highlights and screenshots are available.

On the other hand, you still can’t open or edit notes outside of the extended notes mode.

With note mode you can no longer take notes, only create highlights and screenshots. Yet you still have to switch to note mode to open or edit notes you made earlier.

Sound complicated? It is. In my view, the implementation has become more confusing and less logical. We can only hope PocketBook isn’t done simplifying.

All notes, highlights, and bookmarks can be viewed in an overview list, but position information and filter/sorting options are still missing.

Notes currently can’t be exported. Earlier devices allow you to copy them to a PC or export them in HTML format. The annotations are stored in the HTML files in table form including position information in the source text, so you can process them further if needed. Hopefully this option will find its way back to the Touch HD.

Dictionaries

The dictionary function is the second long-standing issue with PocketBook software. Here too we’ve criticized for years that it’s unnecessarily cumbersome to open the dictionary with at least two taps. With most other manufacturers, you typically press and hold on a word briefly and the definition automatically pops up in a small window.

Dictionary open

With the PocketBook Touch HD, after tapping you still have to select the “Dictionary” item from the options menu. And even if you map the dictionary function directly to one of the hardware buttons, it still takes two taps to look up a word. If you use the dictionary regularly, that can quickly become annoying.

At the moment you can only get around this by keeping dictionary mode permanently open and using swipe gestures or the page-turn buttons to turn pages. That way you can indeed open the dictionary with a quick tap on a word, but you lose the option of creating notes or highlights or turning the page with a simple tap. All in all, that’s not an optimal solution either.

Straightforward dictionary selection

The word definition is displayed in a small window at the edge of the screen. If the word you’re looking for isn’t found, the closest match is now used. If that’s not the right one, you can enter a search term yourself.

Kudos here for the large number of bundled dictionaries, even if these are primarily only usable to and from English. The Langenscheidt dictionaries are unfortunately no longer included. In our experience, the ABBYY dictionaries are okay in terms of scope but have trouble finding inflected forms beyond the lemma. At least the unnamed English–German dictionary works reliably beyond the lemma.

PDF display and audio output

One of the PocketBook software’s greatest strengths—and thus also the Touch HD’s—is undoubtedly its extensive PDF viewing options. Unlike the competition, the device offers clear and useful ways to display large-format DIN A4 documents on the small 6-inch screen.

Thanks to 300 ppi, a DIN A4 PDF can be read even in full-screen mode.

The following modes are available:

• Fit to width
• Fit to page
• Columns (2 & 3)
• Reflow
• Zoom (between 30 and 300 percent)
• Margin crop (off, automatic, manual)

It’s a bit of a shame that there’s still no option to boost contrast. Due to antialiasing, small text often appears noticeably lighter.

Column mode

It’s pleasing, on the other hand, that the doubled RAM (and presumably a new version of the Adobe Viewer) significantly improves handling of large, image-heavy PDFs. Usually, even complex files rarely take more than 10 seconds to open on the Touch HD. The Touch Lux 3 sometimes needs four times as long.

But not only opening is much faster: general PDF navigation on the PocketBook Touch HD is many times snappier. The same goes for the pinch-to-zoom mode, which is now easily usable even with previously problematic files thanks to the quicker response. Of course, you can rotate the view in 90-degree increments up to 270 degrees.

All told, without exaggeration, the PocketBook Touch HD has by far the best PDF mode in this size segment (and partly beyond). None of the competitors can match it.

Audio and text-to-speech function

The PocketBook Touch HD is the company’s first 6-incher since the Ultra to bring back audio. Using the 3.5 mm jack, you can listen via headphones or external speakers.

You can either use the audio player to play MP3 files or use the text-to-speech function.

Audio player

The MP3 player is sufficiently full-featured: you can add entire folders or individual files and create playlists in M3U format. You can edit the selection by deleting individual tracks from the list and changing the order. Externally created M3U files can also be imported, saving you the tedious work on the e-reader and letting you do it on a PC instead. The only important thing is to retain the relative paths on the reader (i.e., “/mnt/ext1/” etc.) so the audio player knows where to look for the files.

Importing a playlist in M3U format

A small bug also means that the first track in an M3U playlist sometimes isn’t imported. Duplicating the first MP3 entry fixes it.

Playback can be randomized and repeated. Sound quality is good, although skipping to the next track produces a faint click. I noticed the volume of this noise seems to depend on the headphones used. In general, the effect is a bit reduced compared to older models.

The audio player continues running in the background, so you can listen to music while reading. The app is also of course suitable for listening to audiobooks. To stop it, either switch to the app via the application list or use the task manager. In any case, don’t forget to stop playback, because the audio player continues running in standby and consumes power.

Task manager

You can enable text-to-speech in a book via the “Voice” menu item. The controls appear at the bottom of the screen.

You can change the voice: a German male voice is preinstalled and a female voice can be downloaded from the PocketBook homepage. A number of other languages are also available as free downloads.

Reading is done sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph, with the active paragraph underlined in bold. This makes it easy to see where you are. If a paragraph spans multiple pages, it unfortunately doesn’t turn the page automatically; it only turns when a new paragraph begins. That means you can’t always read along. For now, only choosing a smaller font is a workaround.

Good text-to-speech engine with German voice output.

The quality of the speech is surprisingly good, which isn’t surprising since it uses the IVONA TTS engine. Amazon acquired this some time ago and uses it for the VoiceView function on Kindle models.

Computer-generated voices of course can’t compete with a real audiobook narrator, but they’re good enough to use as a reading aid or to bridge car rides etc. when you absolutely want to know how the story continues.

All in all, the Touch HD’s audio functionality is as solid as ever. In this size class, the e-reader stands completely alone.

Miscellaneous

You can buy e-books directly on the device, usually via the well-known Bookland store. My test device was linked to Buchmedia, PocketBook’s Austrian partner that includes 35 companies and around 100 bookstores.

Built-in eBook store

New to the lineup is PocketBook Cloud. All e-books purchased in the partner shop automatically land in online storage and can be synced. Before that works, you need to sign in to the shop and to the cloud.

The separately accessible web browser works as usual and is fast enough to do quick research on the internet or visit an alternative e-book store (or public library lending/Onleihe). Pinch-to-zoom, shifting the viewport with the page-turn buttons, a landscape mode, and favorites are available. To speed up browsing, you can also disable images and JavaScript. In terms of responsiveness and speed, however, the browser can’t quite keep up with the Android or Kobo competition.

Web browser

Of course, the handy Dropbox sync is also back. Once you’ve entered your login details on the device, you can sync a cloud folder. For advanced Calibre users, Dropbox compatibility opens up great possibilities: for example, you can fetch news feeds in RSS format, automatically convert them to EPUB, and then save them in the Dropbox directory. The directory will be synced with the PocketBook Touch HD so you can then read the news directly on the device.

If the setup is tied to a timer, you can even automate the whole process. It can also be much simpler: save an e-book to the Dropbox folder on your PC and then sync it to the e-reader via Wi-Fi. That can be very handy if you want to share e-books within the family, etc.

The Send-to-PocketBook function is also still available, assigning the device its own email address. This lets you send content to the PocketBook Touch HD by email.

Conclusion

With the Touch HD, PocketBook ends a relatively long quiet period. The long wait for a new model is partly due to the time-consuming completion of the PocketBook Cloud solution and presumably also to the switch in hardware producer (from Foxconn to Netronix).

But the wait was definitely worth it for PocketBook fans (and anyone who wants to become one).

In the most important discipline—excellent, easy screen readability—the Touch HD easily keeps up with Amazon, Tolino, and Kobo. The display quality is every bit as good as the competition.

And the e-reader also impresses beyond the screen: the internal storage is huge and can still be expanded via microSD card. With its audio function, the PocketBook Touch HD also stands alone in a wide field.

Not just for tinkerers, the PocketBook Touch HD offers a great all-round package and turns out to be the best all-rounder in the 6-inch format.

The software is also convincing. The truly excellent library in particular is miles ahead of all competitors.

However, the PocketBook Touch HD has to accept criticism when it comes to extended functionality. The dictionary and notes features are unintuitive to access and need improvement. Frankly, it baffles me that this long-standing point of criticism still hasn’t been addressed.

The small software quirks are also irritating. Custom fonts aren’t recognized at the moment, and the Touch HD takes too long to power on for my taste (and compared to the Lux 3). The faulty reading progress popup can be annoying as well.

Ultimately, there were no fatal hiccups during the test period, which means that despite the minor quirks—and thanks to the great display quality, the extensive feature set (especially the library and PDF display), and the solid hardware (memory card expansion, audio, freely assignable buttons)—the new PocketBook flagship earns an excellent 1.2 rating and takes the lead in the 6-inch segment.

If you want an absolutely flawless user experience out of the box, despite the great rating you should wait for the first firmware update. Even now, however, the Touch HD is without a doubt the best e-reader PocketBook has ever built.

Photos

Alternatives

There are many 6-inch alternatives to the Touch HD, but no other mainstream device offers both memory card expansion and audio. This leaves the PocketBook model standing alone in a wide field. If you can do without those, the Tolino Shine 2 HD offers equivalent display performance for less money.

Alternatively, it’s worth looking at the Tolino Vision 4 HD with built-in blue light reduction and waterproofing.

Predecessors

The Lux series can be seen as the Touch HD’s predecessor. Even though the Lux suffix is missing from the Touch HD, in spirit it remains a device in the lineage and offers high-end hardware and good readability at a slightly higher but still fair price.

For completeness, you can also list the PocketBook Ultra among the predecessors. Although it never received a direct successor, it did offer at least some similar functions to the Touch HD with memory card expansion and audio. However, the Ultra’s contrast ratio was significantly worse.

PocketBook Touch HD: Technical Specifications

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