Here’s a quick comparison review between the new Pocketbook Era Lite and the current 12th gen Kindle Paperwhite.
Both have the same 7″ 300ppi E Ink screen, but the Paperwhite has a flush front screen that’s a fingerprint magnet, whereas the Era Lite has an indented screen (that’s one of the main differences between it and the original Pocketbook Era from 2022).
Regardless, the screens look very similar on both the Kindle and Era Lite, despite the Paperwhite having an extra layer (Amazon seems to have found a way to make them clearer over the years). It’s impossible to say one looks “better” because that seems to change based on the ambient lighting, the level of the frontlight, and the angle of the sun (E Ink screens are weird).
The Frontlight
One area I feel like the Era Lite has the advantage is the frontlight. The light is nice and even, without any distracting bright spots or color gradients, and it has more range on the cool end, which can give the background a whiter tone, whereas the Paperwhite tends to have a yellower tone this generation. Some Paperwhites, like the one in the video below, also have a sight gradient where the light gets yellower at the bottom of the screen.
My other 12th gen Paperwhite doesn’t have that. Frontlights are pretty inconsistent so it’s kind of the luck of the draw, regardless of brand. But I got lucky with the Era Lite’s frontlight being nice and even with pleasant neutral and warm colors. The warm light isn’t as dark as the Paperwhite’s, though, and some people might not like that.
I also really like how you can quickly and easily adjust the frontlight and color temperature by swiping up and down the sides of the screen on the Era Lite while reading, instead of having to open and close a menu like on the Kindle. As I said earlier, I can’t believe Kindles still don’t have this feature.
Pocketbook Oasis?
They both share the same size screen but they use very different designs. The Pocketbook Era Lite is more like the Kindle Oasis with the page buttons on one side of the screen, although the build quality isn’t as nice as the metal casing on the Oasis. There are two other buttons in addition to the page buttons, and all four can be programmed for short press and long press functions. It also has a rotation sensor for switching hands and reading in landscape mode.
Speed Difference
Amazon takes a lot of heat about the software on Kindles, but the fact is the Kindle Paperwhite is very fast and responsive for an E Ink device. Menus and ebooks load quickly, text changes happen almost immediately, selecting words and highlighting is very smooth and easy to do. The Era Lite is basically at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to that stuff.
Pocketbook’s software is more open (it doesn’t require complicated jailbreaking procedures to install KOReader, for one), and it has some notable advantages, like having Libby built-in for borrowing ebooks and audiobooks from libraries, and supporting Dropbox, audio files, and supporting more formats, including both Adobe and LCP DRMs for access to a wider range of ebooks. But the software can be very sluggish at times, and it lacks some common features like a boldness slider, and there aren’t very many settings to adjust the layout of ebooks, and I think the included font types aren’t very good.
It’s weird because sometimes the Era Lite is faster and more responsive than it is at other times. It just seems to be poorly optimized, like it isn’t utilizing RAM efficiently or something. But you do get used to it after awhile, and it’s still perfectly usable. It’s just hard not to notice how much slower it is when directly comparing it to the Kindle Paperwhite.
Price
One thing I’ve grown tired of hearing is how Amazon is selling Kindles at a loss. That might’ve been true in the past, but I’m not buying it with their modern devices, and the price of the Pocketbook Era Lite proves it. At $199, it’s only $20 more expensive than the equivalent ad-free Kindle Paperwhite, despite adding buttons, a rotation sensor, and still offering comparable features to the Paperwhite, like being water resistant and having a frontlight with adjustable color temperature and Bluetooth for streaming audio, while offering, some would argue, a nicer design.
Like most things, each has their own unique set of advantages and disadvantages. And both get the job done.
Kindle Paperwhite vs PocketBook Era Lite Video
