Limited to 500 e-paper books, WeChat reader for hands-on experience
Limited to 500 e-paper books, WeChat reader for hands-on experience

The "WeChat Reading Reader" opened an appointment on January 27. The first batch of lottery is limited to 500 sets, with a paid unlimited annual card for WeChat reading, which costs 1499 yuan. The "WeChat Reader" uses aragonite BOOX Poke3 as its hardware foundation, and has replaced WeChat Reader's own WeRead system, which is simpler in appearance and system, but no longer supports third-party APP installation.

What is the experience of using the WeChat reader with simple functions and "Zhang Xiaolong's inner flavor"?

to configure

The WeChat reader is actually a customized version of the tablet Poke 3. The logo on the front chin is removed and the words on the back are replaced by "WeChat reading":

  • 153 * 109 * 6.8mm, 150g

  • 6-inch 1072 * 1448 resolution, 300ppi E Ink screen, dual color temperature backlight, frosted glass cover plate

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, 2GB LPDDR4x memory+32GB eMMC storage

  • Android 10 bottom layer, dual band WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0

  • 1500mAh battery, USB-C interface

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 on the WeChat reader was first launched by the Red Rice Note5 in March 2018, with a 14nm LPP process and a 4 * 1.8GHz A73+4 * 1.6GHz A53. At any rate, the big core is also the A73 architecture, which has more than enough stamps or even a little more than enough stamps to deal with the streamlined system on e-readers.

Appearance&Accessories

The package is formally marked with the hardware specifications and the manufacturer's aragonite information. In the environmentally friendly skin like paper box, the USB-C data line, which is heavily used, is not environmentally friendly.

 

The "chin" of WeChat reader is color contrast design, but the front is actually a whole piece of frosted glass, and the screen edge is a gasket with a bright surface. The back cover is thin, and the whole body is made of skin like material. The power key made of metal has no empty position. Except that the gap at the USB-C port is large, the workmanship of other parts is OK.



Apart from the huge logo of "WeChat Reading" on the back, the whole machine has no words or logo, which is very simple. The appearance of the WeChat reading reader is quite pleasing. It weighs 150g, which is much smaller and thinner than the Kindle. The skin like coating is very pleasant to touch, but it is extremely difficult to handle every fingerprint.

 

Left Xiaomi 11, right iPhone 12 Pro Max

The WeChat reader is shorter and thinner than most mobile phones, but it is wide enough to fit into the front pocket of men's jeans. The 6-inch 4:3 screen has an actual area similar to that of a 6.7 inch mobile phone, but it is wider horizontally and more suitable for reading.

Screen quality

Many people may be interested. What is the fineness of the 300ppi ink screen? Maybe because of the difference in display principle and font rendering, the font fineness of WeChat reader is not as much as that of AMOLED (420ppi after Pentile arrangement is discounted) of 515ppi, Surprise。


The backlight is turned off under the warm light. Ink InkPad X, WeChat reader Kindle Oasis


Under the warm light, the backlight is fully on (InkPad X is a separate cold light that is fully on). Ink InkPad X, WeChat reader Kindle Oasis


Under the cold light, the backlight is fully on (InkPad X means the cold light is fully on). Ink InkPad X, WeChat reader Kindle Oasis


Dark environment, full backlight. Ink InkPad X, WeChat reader Kindle Oasis

The 300ppi E Ink screen of WeChat reader performs well. The "whiteness" of the screen's primary color and the original Kindle Oasis are set to "55", so the backlight uniformity is better. However, the current version of firmware cannot adjust the backlight color temperature (the hardware itself has dual color temperature 32 level adjustment), and the color temperature of the reading lamp is cold.

True and Minimal System

System Desktop


32GB storage, after importing 700MB WeChat reading data, it occupies about 7.8GB in total

Aragonite Poke 3 is an Android 10 that can install its own APP. WeChat reader, however, is a WeRead system that cannot be installed with APP (it is hard to say whether there will be a scheme of system mutual brushing in the future). Of course, it should be noted that the current WeChat reader is still an early "internal beta", which cannot represent the performance of the public offering.

WeRead system is actually a simplified "WeChat reading ink screen version". In addition to not supporting third-party applications, even the listening function is not added:

  • 1.1.0 version of the system does not support desktop sliding, and the buttons are used to turn pages;

  • All resources can only be synchronized with WeChat reading account or downloaded from online bookstore;

  • Even the necessary refresh mode option for ink screen products has not been added.



Adjustable items in reading

There are only three categories of adjustment in reading:

  • There are 11 levels of backlight and contrast (in hardware, it is actually a dual 32 level cold and warm dual color backlight);

  • The font size is adjusted in 12 gears (7 to 40), and the thickness is 7 gears;

  • "Lanting black/round, Siyuan Song typeface, Canger cloud black/today's regular script, Shengshi regular script, Juzhen new imitation, Oudie regular script" 8 fonts.

By comparing the reading settings of Wenshi Poke3 ↑, we can see how "minimal" Tencent's WeRead system is. It is estimated that there will be more frequent OTAs later.

experience

An e-book reader is nothing more than appearance, screen, system and book resources:

  • The industrial design of WeChat reader is unforgettable, light, thin and comfortable, which is what a portable reading device should look like. But this is due to Wenshi, not WeChat reading. In addition, although the WeChat reader has excessive performance, the system response speed is still slow, and the fluency in e-paper books is only at the middle level;

  • In terms of software, the WeChat reader system is still in a very early stage, with minimal functions. The original 32 level reading lights, cold and warm reading lights, four refresh modes, Bluetooth headset connectivity, and the ability to install third-party apps on the Wenshi Poke 3 hardware have not been added to the WeChat reader. The first two functions are expected to be added later; But the latter two are unlikely to be added;

  • In terms of resources, the advantage of WeChat reading is that there are many free resources. When it comes to total resources, Amazon is the devil. In addition, the WeChat reader does not have the popular "take a look" function.

As customized hardware, we can understand that WeChat reading reader only has WeChat reading resources. But I don't understand why the price is 1499 yuan. The price of Wenshi Poke 3 is about 1150 yuan. The annual card of WeChat reading is 228 yuan (monthly card 30 yuan). The remaining price difference is the cost of printing fewer logos?

If the domestic reader has such hardware foundation and can install the Kindle APP by itself, it is not recommended to buy the 32G version of Kindle PaperWhite (Shenghui 1258 yuan). Even if you insist that you often use the Kindle at the waterside, you can use the 998 yuan 8G version. E-books really don't have such a large capacity, nor will they affect the traditional functions of instant noodles.

Maybe many people think that the 6-inch e-book is too small, so they might as well use their mobile phones to read it. However, E-paper books are not flat plates. What they are designed to do is not hurt the eyes by the ink screen. They protect the eyes more than the never slave LCD. The 6-inch e-paper book is better than the portable one. It is more comfortable to read than the mobile phone and can be carried with you at any time.

And if you ask why you should spend more than 1000 to buy a small device that can only read books? Don't worry about it. The annual shipment of e-readers in China is about 2 million. Just like SLR, E-book is an unexpected tool for a few heavy users. If you don't think it is necessary, it means that you are not a heavy reading user and can save money on buying instant noodles.


Follow our Weibo @ Love Computer

Follow our WeChat official account: playphone

Of course, we also pay attention to our Bilibili account: love computer

Share:
Charles Fang
Ordinary geek
Benefits!

Scan QR code and follow the author

Share Weibo Share WeChat
 Aigoji WeChat

Aigoji WeChat

 WeChat

WeChat

Recommended products

Sorry, the product you are looking for is not available in the product library

on trial