It's not every day that a new e-reader brand emerges, and even less so for a French brand. Yet, Paperslate is indeed French and comes with two models of large-format e-readers.
First of all, itβs worth noting that while Paperslate is a new name in e-readers, its creators are already well-known within the digital reading community, of which I am a part.
Behind this company is Michael Dahan, a former creator and director at Bookeen (now under the Vivlio banner).
But let's talk about these two devices, the Paperslate and Paperslate Pro.
These are digital reading devices designed for professionals looking to work on digital documents with the comfort of a 10-inch E Ink screen.
Thus, they have a spirit reminiscent of the Bookeen NotΓ©a, as well as the Kindle Scribe or the recent reMarkable, which also targets this market (proving there is room for multiple players).
Instead of going through everything that Paperslate offers, let's start with the essentials: the base model is priced at β¬349.99 (arround $349). This price is truly interesting, competing not only with the giants of the genre but also with other smaller-sized e-readers:
- It's not far from the price of the Pocketbook InkPad Color 3.
- It's not far from the price of the Kindle Colorsoft.
- It's below from the price of the reMarkable.
- It's below from the price of the Kindle Scribe.
Certainly, the Paperslate e-readers maintain a black-and-white E Ink screen, and the features are focused on professional use:
- Stylus with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity
- 10-inch black-and-white screen for note-taking with layering system
- Ability to annotate PDF documents
- Document sharing features with your collaborators
The system used is Android 11, and it is currently unclear whether new applications can be installed or if Google Play is integrated within Paperslate.
While there are two models (Paperslate and Paperslate Pro), only the storage capacity seems to differentiate them:
- Paperslate with 32 GB of storage at β¬349.99 (~$349)
- Paperslate Pro with 64 GB of storage at β¬429.99 (~$429)
Additionally, there's also a speaker and Bluetooth connection for listening to audio content, supporting MP3 (and WAV) file formats.
As for the supported document formats, you can count on PDF, EPUB, as well as DjVu or MOBI. Unfortunately for manga or comic enthusiasts, CBZ or CBR don't seem to be considered (which makes sense in a professional environment).
These e-readers will be available starting mid-November, but you can already pre-order them at paperslate.io.
Technical Specifications:
- 10-inch E Ink screen with a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels (200 DPI)
- Operating System: Android 11
- Processor: RK3566 4 cores / 1.8 GHz with 4 GB of RAM
- Storage: 32 GB or 64 GB (for the Pro version)
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Stylus with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity (electromagnetic)
- USB-C with OTG support and handling of Bluetooth keyboards, USB keyboards, and USB mice
- Supported file formats: PDF, ePub, DjVu, MOBI, HTML, TXT, DOC, FB2, RTF, JPG, PNG, BMP, WAV, and MP3
- Weight: approximately 400g
- Rechargeable battery (Li-ion) 3.8V/3200mAh
- Speaker
This launch is great news as it brings more competition to the large-format reading and work device market.
For now, it seems to be intended for the French-speaking world, and there's little doubt that Paperslate will expand globally if success follows.
What do you think of these new machines?
