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The PocketBook InkPad Color 2 is an eReader with a 7.8 inch E Ink Kaleido Plus color display and IPX8 rating for water resistance, a built-in speaker for audiobooks, podcasts, or text-to-speech, and 32GB of built-in storage.
It’s a fairly modest upgrade over the original InkPad Color, which launched in 2021. The display technology is pretty much the same, but the new model does bring a few upgrades and new features.
For example, the older model had a 1 GHz dual-core processor, while the new version has a 1.8 GHz quad-core chip. Since the company is tight-lipped about exactly which processors are powering these devices, it’s hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison, but it sure sounds like the new model should be a bit more responsive.
Both models have just 1GB of RAM, but the original InkPad Color had just 16GB of built-in storage, while the new model has twice as much. That said, it seems like the company might have omitted one feature when building the new model: there’s no longer a microSD card reader.
PocketBook says that while both have Kaleido Plus displays, the new model has been improved with a better color filter array that the company says brings “better hue and saturation performance.”
That might be a sacrifice made in the name of another new feature though: the ability to survive a dip in up to 2 meters of water for as long as 30 minutes.
One other improvement? Both the InkPad Color and InkPad Color 2 have front-lights to help you read in dim or dark environments. But only the new model has adjustable color temperature, allowing you to reduce the amount of blue light.
Here’s an overview of the specs for each model:
| InkPad Color 2 | InkPad Color | |
| Display | 7.8 inch E Ink Kaleido 1404 x 1872 (greyscale) 468 x 624 (color) 4096 colors (100 ppi) 16 shades of grey (300 ppi) Capacitive touch Front-light with adjustable color temperature | 7.8 inch E Ink Kaleido 1404 x 1872 468 x 624 (color) 4096 colors (100 ppi) 16 shades of grey (300 ppi) Capacitive touch Front-light |
| CPU | 1.8 GHz quad-core | 1 GHz dual-core |
| RAM | 1GB | |
| Storage | 32GB | 16GB microSD card reader (up to 32GB) |
| Ports | USB Type-C | |
| Audio output | Mono Speaker, USB, or Bluetooth | via USB or Bluetooth |
| Wireless | WiFi (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) Bluetooth 5.0 | WiFi 4 Bluetooth |
| Battery | 2900 mAh | |
| Software | Linux 4.9.56-based OS with support for ACSM, AZW, AZW3, CBR, CBZ, CHM, DJVU, DOC, DOCX, EPUB(DRM), EPUB, FB2, FB2.ZIP, HTM, HTML, MOBI, PDF (DRM), PDF, PRC, RTF, TXT, JPG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, MP3, M4A, and OGG file formats | Linux 3.10.65-based OS with support for EPUB, PDF, ACSM, MOBI, RTF, TXT, HTML, FB2, CBR, CBZ, JPG, BMP, PNG, TIF, MP3, M4A, and OGG file formats |
| Water resistance | IPX8 | N/A |
| Dimensions | 189.5 x 134 x 8mm | 195 x 136.5 x 8mm |
| Weight | 267 grams | 225 grams |
PocketBook says the InkPad Color 2 will sell for $329 when it goes on sale in the US in early May, 2023.
That’s the same price the previous-gen model is currently selling for.
