Equipment. Appearance
The budget reader comes with only a microUSB cable. The cover for the e-book will have to be purchased separately.
The appearance of PocketBook Mini 515 in many ways resembles the design of the earlier PocketBook Basic 613 model. The main difference between them lies in the size and control buttons. The reader is available in three colors: black, white-black and green. Plastic is used as the body material. This plastic is easily soiled and collects fingerprints pretty quickly.
Compact dimensions (142x100x7 millimeters) and low weight (131 grams) make it easy to operate the device with one hand.
The build quality is at a high level. There is absolutely nothing to find fault with. As for the functional elements, there are not so many of them here. The power button was unexpectedly at the bottom. There is also a microUSB connector. On the front panel there are 3 buttons: a 5-way navigation key and 2 buttons "Back" and "Forward".
Display
The 5-inch display, made using E-Ink technology, has a resolution of 600x800 pixels at a density of 200 DPI. 16 shades of gray are supported. Thanks to the used E-Ink technology, the screen performs well in bright sunlight. No glare and close.
Like other e-books, the display of which is made using E-Ink technology, PocketBook Mini 515 requires constant updating with re-filling the screen. The user can set the refresh interval at 3, 5, 10 pages, enable continuous refresh or disable it altogether. As practice shows, the best text quality is achieved in the continuous update mode.
Hardware Menu
The internal equipment of the reader includes a processor with a clock frequency of 1 gigahertz, 256 megabytes of RAM and 4 gigabytes of permanent flash memory. Approximately 1 gigabyte of flash memory is occupied by the system. The rest of the space is available to the user for storing data. There is no microSD card slot in this model. In principle, it is not needed, because the reader does not support playback of audio-video files.
The device is based on Linux OS. This e-book model works correctly with 16 text file formats. We did not notice any delays in the operation of the device during testing. Books in all stated formats open quickly.
PocketBook Mini 515 is equipped with a 1000 mAh lithium polymer battery. One full charge of the battery, according to the manufacturer, is enough to read up to 8000 pages of text. Under test conditions, the battery was only 20% discharged in a week of moderate use.
The reader's menu is very simple. Even an inexperienced user can deal with it. The main menu consists of the sections "Recent Events", "Library", "Settings", "Applications" and "Notes". At the bottom there is a service line, which displays the time, date, battery indicator.
The "Library" submenu includes all literature uploaded to the reader. Initially, many books in different languages are installed in PocketBook Mini 515. Also installed dictionaries - English-Russian and English-German. The reader also has several simple games, a calculator, a calendar.
In the settings, the user can set the date and time, read the complete information about the device, adjust the LED indication. Useful functions include a timer for automatically turning off the device and protecting data with a password. In the process of reading, you can search and create notes. The user can customize the display of text, both horizontally and vertically.
Impression
Compact and lightweight PocketBook Mini 515 with a screen diagonal of 5 inches is an ideal solution for everyone who likes to read on the go. Another device will attract the attention of lovers of minimalism.
The budget model lacks a Wi-Fi module, touch controls and even a 3.5 mm headphone jack. As you can see, PocketBook Mini 515 is designed exclusively for reading. The lightweight and compact device offers the user a long battery life, a simple and intuitive interface, many originally downloaded books in different languages.
