[HN Gopher] Kobo announces color e-readers
___________________________________________________________________
Kobo announces color e-readers
Author : lxm
Score : 272 points
Date : 2024-04-10 15:18 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
| tinix wrote:
| there have been color ereaders for over a year now...
| presbyterian wrote:
| Not from Kobo, though, which is what this article is about.
| mikestew wrote:
| And when Ford launches a new model, do you respond, "we've had
| cars for over a hundred years now..."? It's a product
| announcement, I see no claim that Kobo _invented_ color
| readers.
| otherme123 wrote:
| How is this different? Kobo is a mass seller of ereaders, they
| sell what are IMHO the only real contender to Kindles. They
| also sell ebooks, so they are very interested in making content
| for color ereaders. Before I clicked the link, my though was
| "OK, another color ereader for 700EUR, for the headlines". But
| they are color ereaders for 150EUR! For the first time ever,
| I'm very tempted to buy one, even knowing that I don't need it.
| AshamedCaptain wrote:
| For over 20 years, actually. I still have one from the 2010s
| and frankly I find that the new Kaleido screens practically
| improve _nothing_ over it.
| garyfirestorm wrote:
| looking forward to reviews
| teroshan wrote:
| Know that while useful in some scenarios, I'd avoid buying a
| color e-ink display if you're still going to primarily be using
| it for B&W colors.
|
| To quote the eBook Reader Blog [1]:
|
| > The main drawback with color E Ink screens is they look darker
| than regular B&W screens because of a color filter layer that is
| applied over the top of the screen, which makes the contrast
| appear lower. Kaleido color screens are really just regular black
| and white E Ink Carta screens with a fancy passive filter over
| the top (that's why color resolution is lower than black and
| white resolution).
|
| [1]: https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2024/04/05/color-e-
| ink-5-t...
| thisislife2 wrote:
| > _Kaleido color screens are really just regular black and
| white E Ink Carta screens with a fancy passive filter over the
| top..._
|
| Yeah, and I remember an interview where they also said that is
| why colour e-ink's screen are not at all costly to manufacture.
| But adoption is slow because they sell it at a "premium" price.
| Even B&W e-ink can be a lot cheaper.
| WolfeReader wrote:
| I've used a Pocketbook Color for over a year now. And yes, it
| is a somewhat darker screen, but that mainly just means I turn
| on the frontlight in some cases where I wouldn't have needed to
| with other e-readers. I've otherwise been having a good time
| with it - comics and PDFs benefit greatly from the color
| screen, and regular text is fine too.
| sireat wrote:
| Agreed, I picked up Pocketbook Color for 150 Euros on a sale
| and it has become my main bedtime reader.
|
| Disclaimer: I've been using e-ink based readers for over 10
| years. My current lineup is Kobo H20, Remarkable2 (which I
| sort of love/hate), and Sony DPT-S1 (which is fantastic for
| bigger PDFs).
|
| B&W is fine on color e-readers. I actually enjoy the washed
| out color look as well.
| gnicholas wrote:
| It's true that the contrast is not as good, and IIRC the color
| resolution is also a bit lower (but is not bad overall). But
| people who plan to read B/W documents could still benefit from
| a device like this because it makes highlighting much better,
| and it enables color-based reading enhancements like BeeLine
| Reader (which improves focus while reading).
|
| I'm certainly biased (I created BeeLine), but IMO the color
| screens that Kobo is using are good enough to make the
| tradeoffs worthwhile. It's also interesting to see innovation
| among one of the major players in this space. The companies
| that have made color ereaders before now have been a bit dodgy
| in some cases, so Kobo will bring a level of legitimacy to the
| space that's very welcome.
|
| EDIT: the price is also very favorable compared to other color
| ereaders. Ones I've considered in the past were around $420,
| which is roughly 2x-3x the price of Kobo's new units.
| jsheard wrote:
| > It's true that the contrast is not as good, and IIRC the
| color resolution is also a bit lower
|
| It's generally halved, i.e. the display is 300dpi in mono
| mode, but 150dpi in color mode.
| rahimnathwani wrote:
| Halving the DPI in each direction (vertical and horizontal)
| means you end up with only a quarter of the pixels: 0.4
| megapixels instead of 1.6 megapixels.
| gnicholas wrote:
| IIRC these panels are 150 DPI color, which means it's
| less than halved in each direction in order.
| JZL003 wrote:
| beeline readers works on kobo? Via colorizing a pdf -> kobo,
| or is this is just something planned?
| gnicholas wrote:
| Coloring a PDF for now...and I'll certainly be working on
| more streamlined options now that this is available!
| mguerville wrote:
| I have a Boox Ultra Tab C (color) and while true I don't find
| it problematic in the slightest. I went down the rabbit hole of
| watcing video comparison etc. but in practical terms once I
| started using it I never once felt that I wanted a
| brighter/lighter screen. YMMV.
| greggsy wrote:
| It looks blinding in the promo shot
| zamadatix wrote:
| And with a dead flat black bezel too. Likely the promo pic is
| not how it would look to your eyes in real life.
| malfist wrote:
| How can an article about the contrast issues and resolution of
| different e-readers not include any photos other than a single
| promo photo from a manufacturer of one device showing only one
| device?
|
| "has lower contrast" means absolutely nothing without being
| able to quantify it.
| noemit wrote:
| i have too many devices to get an ereader.
| rokkamokka wrote:
| Two hundred books or one e-reader though? Easy choice in my
| book (ha)
| WolfeReader wrote:
| I have too many devices, but my e-reader is one I enjoy using
| much more than the others.
|
| In contrast, I stopped caring about tablets years ago when my
| Google Nexus 7 finally ceased working; it was fun, but
| everything I did on it was also easily doable via phone,
| computer, or e-reader.
| noemit wrote:
| you probably dont draw
| WolfeReader wrote:
| That's correct, and I definitely get that tablets would be
| good for artists.
|
| Although I also know several artists, including a full-time
| professional, who don't use tablets to make their art.
| Unless you count drawing pads which attach to PC as
| "tablets", I guess.
| ethanbond wrote:
| The Supernote A5X is the only device that has managed to wiggle
| its way into my daily life alongside my MBP and iPhone. A big
| e-reader like the Supernote is amazing not just for reading
| books but as a searchable journal/planner that you always have
| with you.
| dustincoates wrote:
| I thought the same thing, and then bought a Kindle on a whim,
| as I was flying internationally with just a small backpack. The
| ereader completely changed how and how much I read. Before, I
| would find time to read a book maybe every couple of months.
| Now, I read almost every night before bed until I start to
| drift off. I read much more, and, I think, have better sleep as
| well as I'm not staring at such a bright screen at night.
| timvdalen wrote:
| Nice, those look very interesting! I've been very happy with all
| of the Kobo's I've had, so I can definitely see myself upgrade to
| the color Clara when my current one fails.
| perihelions wrote:
| Bleh, and I was _just_ up until 1am last night reading about
| black-and-white PDF compression schemes for my Kobo :) Technical
| knowledge obsoletes _so_ fast.
|
| (Well, maybe not _that_ fast: ImageMagick 's best-performing
| monochrome scheme is, apparently, one that was standardized for
| _literal fax machines_ in the 1980 's [0]. A very basic one
| called "Group 4").
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax#Compression
| dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
| My experience with ebook readers is as follows: I read mostly
| scientific PDFs, with formula's, graphs, etc. First I tried the
| Kindle - it was completely useless because of screen size. I went
| for PocketBook Inkpad Lite - the page size is more or less fine,
| but the page turn delay is noticeable. It's so subpar to the real
| book when you can just browse through pages quickly. Finally I
| picked up the biggest Chinese tablet I could find (Doogee T20
| Ultra 12") and it is the best experience so far except one thing
| the screen is glossy, not mat, and it affects my reading
| experience. E-ink ebook readers are perfectly fine for prose etc.
| lostlogin wrote:
| > the screen is glossy, not mat
|
| Would a screen protector fix that? Not ideal but it might be an
| option.
| hgyjnbdet wrote:
| I still have the kobo mini, the pinnacle of ereaders IMO, perfect
| size for reading fiction. I haven't seen anything more compelling
| since kobo discontinued it.
|
| That being said I wonder if the color eink display would be
| useful for displays instead of LCD.
| ravetcofx wrote:
| I'm with you on that, I got mine back in 2013(?) on sale for
| $30 CAD. still works, but battery is a bit weak. They were also
| neat cause you could telnet into the modified debian os to add
| you own homebrew apps
| hgyjnbdet wrote:
| I didn't know you could do that! I've only been using it as
| intended.
| ornornor wrote:
| On most (all?) kobos, you can also upgrade the storage to
| whatever you want because it's a microsd card slotted into
| the board. Just copy the system partition over to the new
| sd, expand, done. Mind you, I never needed to do it because
| 4 or 8GB is a _ton_ of ebooks. I'll probably never need
| that much space anyway. But if you're reading larger files,
| might be handy.
| nottorp wrote:
| > because 4 or 8GB is a ton of ebooks
|
| But if they go colour, how many comics is it?
|
| Although 6" is too little for comics unless someone makes
| the effort to make every panel a separate screen on the
| ebook...
| ornornor wrote:
| Yes that's a different story. I was talking about my own
| use case which is EPUBs that are typically a couple MB
| per book.
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| > On most (all?) kobos, you can also upgrade the storage
| to whatever you want because it's a microsd card slotted
| into the board.
|
| Nah, that's no longer universally true. Pretty sure the
| Sage and Elipsa use soldered eMMC storage instead of
| micro SD.
| ornornor wrote:
| That's a bummer, it was a neat feature.
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| It was, especially since I consider that a hindrance to
| using the newer devices for 10-years, which the older
| ones can happily do with a properly-imaged new SD card.
| Even though I love my Sage, it makes me consider whether
| I should grab a Libra 2 if I ever see it on the cheap,
| just to have a comparable device that still has the
| memory on a SD card.
|
| The Kobo's that just launched claim they will have better
| repair-ability through a partnership with iFixIt, so
| maybe we'll see how that impacts the ability to change
| the storage.
| crtasm wrote:
| My old Kobo was sold with a 1GB partition on a 2GB card,
| fastest upgrade ever!
| tiltowait wrote:
| I've wanted a color Kobo for years, but I'm a bit disappointed.
|
| The main benefit of a color eReader is for (some) PDFs, comics,
| etc., all of which benefit hugely from a larger screen than the
| Libra's 7" display. I hoped Kobo's first color reader would be at
| least 8", and preferably 10.3". Carrying all my RPG PDFs on a
| color eInk display would be super cool, as I find reading on such
| a device much easier on my eyes than an iPad.
|
| I think the argument for color is much weaker on a book-sized
| reader. You get the library and sleep screens (which are
| admittedly cool to have in color!), but the rest of your usage
| will mostly not benefit. Kobo's PDF software isn't great, though
| there are third-party readers you can install that improve the
| experience. No matter how good those are, though, they still
| benefit greatly from a larger display.
|
| Presumably, this is just the first step. IIUC, the Libra 2 is
| their most popular reader, so I suppose it makes sense. Just a
| bit disappointing.
| carlosjobim wrote:
| There are other makers that have larger color e-ink displays,
| such as Boox.
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| Color PDFs and comics almost always assume good, full gamut
| color reproduction. e-ink can't do that. It can only do a few
| pastel colors well.
|
| The typical books usage is much more in-line with the
| capabilities of the display. Highlighting is substantially
| improved with even a little color, as are interstitial art and
| cover icons.
| carlosjobim wrote:
| The E-Ink Spectra 6 displays [1] released last year has full
| color gamut, thus beating any other display technology in an
| outdoors scenario. The problem is that they take something
| like 12 seconds to refresh and I haven't seen any consumer
| devices using them.
|
| In the near future I think spectra displays will be excellent
| for readers when they manage to get the refresh a bit more
| speedy, while ironically the B&W displays with color filters
| will be the E-Ink technology suited for tablets and phones in
| general.
|
| [1] https://youtu.be/U7V2EFAcbtU
| mitthrowaway2 wrote:
| Will it be good enough for, say, graphs? A lot of scientific
| papers and news articles have illegible figures when
| reproduced in black and white, because you can't tell the
| lines apart.
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| Depends on the graph and newspaper. The best case scenario
| is a desaturated version of old print newspapers. Their DPI
| was near this screen's DPI (200 vs 150) and it'll suffer
| from the same problem of losing low contrast details. You
| won't be reading rendering papers, but it'll probably help
| a basic line graph.
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| Any color at all would be invaluable for diagrams,
| schematics, graphs/plots and other reference material where
| different subsystems, pipes/cables, datasets, etc are
| distinguished by color.
| pxc wrote:
| > The main benefit of a color eReader is for (some) PDFs,
| comics, etc., all of which benefit hugely from a larger screen
| than the Libra's 7" display. I hoped Kobo's first color reader
| would be at least 8", and preferably 10.3"
|
| Same. I'm visually impaired, which means I use large print for
| my reflowable content. I'd love to read comics or PDFs of print
| magazines, but for that I'll need a display that's _larger_
| than what those are normally printed on!
|
| Afaict there are no decent vendors offering genuinely large
| color e-readers-- just some GPL violators' whose devices run
| Android.
|
| If I can't get a super-magazine-sized e-ink display for fixed-
| layout content, the next best thing would be a very large one
| that I can put in landscape mode and fit to width, scrolling
| only vertically. That wouldn't be too bad, especially if
| refresh speed is okay-ish. For that, though, I'd still prefer
| something larger than my Clara 2E (which I love).
| TillE wrote:
| I suspect the iPad will remain the best option for stuff like
| RPG books. It's relatively cheap, the screen is large, it's
| fast and responsive, etc. It's not pleasant for reading in a
| dark room, but otherwise it's close to the ideal.
| mariusor wrote:
| Their 10' model is already over 350EUR in price, adding a
| colour screen to it, it would make it too expensive to have
| mass appeal. I suspect the next models, which will probably be
| a Sage 2 and an Elipsa 3 will be what you want, after they whet
| the appetite of regular readers. Hopefully they'll have a next
| iteration of the colour screens also. :D
| ashton314 wrote:
| I've had a kindle for years now. A while back I jailbroke it and
| stuck KOReader which has been so awesome. (Custom fonts? Yes
| please! Gestures for going to the TOC or bookmarks or back in
| history? Absolutely!)
|
| Problem: it was a lot of work getting my kindle to this state.
| I'm terrified to turn on WiFi for fear Amazon will send an OTA
| update and nuke KOReader from orbit.
|
| So, when this kindle dies, I am thinking I'd like to get
| something that KOReader runs on without any of the shenanigans I
| had to go through. Would folks here recommend Kobo? Seems like a
| nice equivalent.
| rrix2 wrote:
| The KO in Koreader was originally for Kobo though ofc now it
| can run elsewhere. :)
|
| I started Using it on a Kobo Aura but now I use a Boox Onyx
| which just runs the Android version of Koreader installed via
| f-droid or side loaded APK.
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| I migrated from Kindle to kobo many years back to keep physical
| buttons. It's been a strict upgrade for me, though your fear of
| an update nuking koreader from orbit remains an issue. I just
| keep mine in airplane mode to avoid updates and a reinstall is
| only a few minutes if I forget.
| WolfeReader wrote:
| Kobo is good. I'm also fond of Pocketbook readers, and KOReader
| runs there too.
|
| The main difference is that Kobo has its store available, so
| you can buy and read on the device. I'm more into managing my
| own ebook library from multiple sources, using Calibre, so I
| don't need the built-in store; you might want it though!
| teroshan wrote:
| Have been using various Kobo's for years with KOReader now,
| it's basically as simple as copying files on the device to
| install it. There is no need to jailbreak it; it's an open
| device. Also, I haven't heard any mention of covert update to
| worry about. So yes, I would absolutely recommend a Kobo for
| your use case.
|
| A few months ago, I attempted to do install KOReader on a
| kindle, and the experience is definitely not for the faint of
| heart. Plus, I can't use the wireless capabilities for the
| reason you mentioned. It was (one) of the reason I wanted to
| install KOReader in the first place, but live and learn.
| grep_name wrote:
| > it's an open device
|
| I actually also own a kobo and have been running KOReader on
| it for a couple years now, but my memory is that when I first
| got it I booted it up and it requested to be connected to the
| internet, then wouldn't allow me to progress without logging
| in through a 3rd party (there were many offered, walmart.com
| was the first option listed). I remember having to do
| something weird to bypass that (removing a .db file I believe
| after connecting via commandline?), and then ending up in a
| state where I don't need to connect to some company's cloud
| login but I also can never connect this device to wifi, ever,
| or it will do that again.
|
| Are they more open these days?
| slim wrote:
| you had to connect it as a usb drive to insert a row for a
| fake user in it's sqlite database
| grep_name wrote:
| I remember that now. It really is frustrating that this
| is what passes for a really open device in the e-reader
| space. I would pay a 3x markup easily for the same device
| running KOReader natively (not sideloaded through
| nicklmenu after starting up the proprietary operating
| system) if it would just let me use the device like I own
| it without authenticating with a 3rd party just to its
| most basic functionality.
| crtasm wrote:
| You don't need to authenticate with anything and it's
| even easier to do since a firmware update - just add a
| line to the config file:
|
| https://old.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/mt2f30/how_to_bypa
| ss_...
|
| Connecting it to wifi afterwards isn't a problem, to tbe
| best of my knowledge.
|
| Firmware downloads:
| https://pgaskin.net/KoboStuff/kobofirmware.html
| m463 wrote:
| > it's an open device.
|
| non-obvious but you just use it like a usb device ereader
| when you receive it: - connect to computer
| with usb-c - mount as usb drive - edit
| .kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf adding SideloadedMode=true
| - remove .kobo/KoboReader.sqlite - reboot, then just
| use kobo as usb drive from then on, no account necessary
|
| got one and use it more than my remarkable because it has a
| backlight for indoors (in addition to e-ink for outdoors)
| jwells89 wrote:
| I've been happy enough with my Kobo Aura One in its stock state
| that I've never toyed with KOReader or similar. Plug it in, it
| mounts as USB mass storage, I drop in ePubs, PDFs, etc and it
| reads them perfectly. No third party software required, "just
| works".
| flkiwi wrote:
| I have a Boox note. I can't help the feeling that it's not
| entirely legit, but it's Android, connects to any service I
| want (including a Calibre library), has a great display, is
| great for notes, and is all around fantastic. It's not a tablet
| replacement but it IS a replacement for the stuff I do most
| often with a tablet (read and write). I thought the 10.3 inch
| display would make for a hefty reader, but it's perfectly fine.
| flkiwi wrote:
| Btw, I started out using it with KOreader but have ended up
| just using the built-in reader because it does everything I
| need. The smaller Boox devices are great too, but their USB
| plug placement decisions are sometimes VERY WEIRD (my Note
| Air has a hole in the case spine to allow me to plug in with
| the cover closed, for example--not a dealbreaker, just odd).
| seanmceligot wrote:
| I love the black and white boox as a low tech device. I do a
| lot more reading and a log less mindless scrolling on my boox
| tablet. There's also grayscale chrome and firefox plugins if
| you want to see what it's like.
| flkiwi wrote:
| Same. I almost never use the browser in the first place. I
| think I'd say the same thing you did but changing the focus
| to: I love that the b&w boox has made me understand that a
| low tech device serves my most important needs.
| paradox460 wrote:
| I have a Note as well, and I use it for sheet music. With
| MobileSheets and a foot pedal, its a phenomenal device for
| both practice and performance
| criddell wrote:
| The not entirely legit part might be their GPL violations.
| AFAIK, they still are out of compliance.
| jerojero wrote:
| I was in the exact same position as you.
|
| I had a kindle voyage which I jailbroken to put Koreader on.
| Because of the micro USB and lack of water proofing I decided
| to upgrade (the device was around 8 years old).
|
| I got a Kobo Clara 2E, installing Koreader was very easy and
| works very well. Absolutely recommend.
| kelipso wrote:
| I have had koreader on my Kobo Aura One for years without any
| problems. I haven't needed to mess with it or update koreader
| or anything which is nice, don't even remember how I installed
| it.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I love my Kobos (see
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39993062). When they die,
| I'll replace them with another Kobo. It's so easy to get things
| onto them. For my Libra, plug it into a computer (or iPad) with
| a USB cable and it shows up as a drive I can drag files onto.
| The Elipsa supports Dropbox and Google Drive so I can add files
| those ways, too. It also has built-in Libby integration that
| lets me reserve and download library books from the device
| itself.
|
| Of course they make it very easy for you to buy books from
| their own store, but I've never felt like they made it
| artificially hard to ad content through other methods to
| benefit their own book sales. That's different from what my
| friends tell me about their Kindles.
| selykg wrote:
| I have an Oasis 2 (2017 or so timeframe). What would be a
| good option that's similar to it? I love the screen size, the
| flush screen (I understand the Oasis is glass rather than
| plastic), and the page turn buttons are all pretty important
| to me.
|
| KOReader sounds interesting and the built in Libby support is
| kind of rad sounding.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I _think_ that 'd be the Libra 2. The screen's the same
| size, although not flush, and it has the nice page turn
| buttons. I can't vouch for their other models.
|
| KOReader sounds cool but I've been happy with the built-in
| software. I know me, and I specifically don't want other
| knobs I could be playing with instead of just reading the
| thing.
| selykg wrote:
| Got it, thanks!
|
| It seems it's between two devices, the Libra 2 and the
| Sage, but I keep hearing the Sage has worse battery life
| (sort of the downfall of the Oasis for me as well). I
| just like using Calibre since I get a lot of epubs from
| places like HumbleBundle and other book bundles. These
| always have issues with the Kindle, like covers going
| missing.
|
| I'd love to get something a little less fickle for my use
| case and it does sound like the Kobo devices might get me
| there. I just really like the Oasis from a materials,
| size and general usage.
| kstrauser wrote:
| The Sage looked nice but the price premium for a stylus
| wasn't worth it to me for a device I wanted to use purely
| for reading. Obviously there's a market for such a thing
| so I'm not saying it's bad, just that it didn't might my
| own needs.
|
| Calibre works well for the Libra 2. I have a plugin that
| automatically reformats epubs as kepubs (see
| https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kepub). That's not a
| hard requirement but it improves the reading experience a
| little bit. The biggest difference I notice is that it
| makes page numbers handle font size changes more
| accurately. If I halve the number of words that'll fit on
| the screen, the reader shows that the number of pages in
| the book has doubled. Also, the current page number
| increments every time I turn a page, not just when I
| cross an invisible page boundary.
|
| It's not a dealbreaker not to have those things, but
| they're nice and worth the 30 seconds to enable in
| Calibre.
| selykg wrote:
| Nice. I think I might keep an eye on potential rumors of
| a Libra 3 or something like that given that the Libra 2
| came out in 2021, that's nearly 3 years old.
|
| But that gives me time to save a few buckets as well. For
| now the Oasis is working well enough, just it'd be nice
| to get away from some of the paper cuts.
| kstrauser wrote:
| Same here with me and the color versions here. If and
| when I need to replace what I have now, or maybe a
| software update makes me want to throw them out a window
| or something, then I'll take a look at the new options.
| It's highly unlikely I'd get rid of my currently working
| and mint condition and known-good readers before that.
| sgtnoodle wrote:
| I liked my Kobo, but it bricked itself after only about a
| year. I took it apart, and a voltage rail was shorted out. I
| didn't even finish the first book I put on it!
| MOARDONGZPLZ wrote:
| I read at a similar pace.
| kstrauser wrote:
| Ouch. I'm a couple years into my Libra. I'd be seriously
| bummed and annoyed if it died that quickly.
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| I've been very happy with koreader on my Aura H2O since...
| 2014? Wow. So that's a yes.
| DavideNL wrote:
| I'm in the same boat too...
|
| One thing i'd absolutely need on a new (non-color) device is
| the _light sensor_ like my current Kindle Oasis(3?) has.
|
| The Pocketbook devices all lack one (they only adjust lighting
| based on time and such...)
| dustincoates wrote:
| I have very little to add about the color aspect, but I can say
| that I love my Kobo. I've had three Kindles before buying the
| Kobo, which I got because it has a "better" integration with my
| local library (better in quotes, because I still have to do with
| the Adobe DRM, which is so bad on Linux that I borrow my wife's
| computer just to transfer).
|
| The Pocket integration is fantastic, as are the physical page
| turn buttons. I always thought they were unnecessary, but I
| really do prefer them now. The warm night light is also great.
| It's a bonus as well not to be in the Amazon ecosystem more than
| I have to.
|
| The biggest downsides are maybe a bit niche: the dictionary is
| terrible (although you can upload your own, but not make it the
| default) and there's no built-in translate function. I read
| mostly in my non-native language, so these two features make life
| a bit more difficult, but they're outweighed by the rest.
| mcpherrinm wrote:
| Just to join in the kobo love thread:
|
| One reason that I love my Kobo is perhaps very tech-specific in
| a way this audience may appreciate.
|
| It's great for plain text files. In particular, it's pretty
| good at reading plain RFCs. I have to choose a font size so the
| hard-wrapped RFCs fit right, and it doesn't ship with a
| monospaced font (but you can install and use your own fonts, so
| that's a minor speed bump).
|
| Reading very dry and technical documents like RFCs can be
| challenging, so having a distraction-free ereader that handles
| them can be very helpful.
| fuzztester wrote:
| The Kobo software cannot reflow the hard-wrapped lines?
| mcpherrinm wrote:
| It wraps them, but doesn't fully reflow.
|
| That especially doesn't work for tables, diagrams, etc
| which many RFCs are full of. I think it's best to just
| match the width.
| fuzztester wrote:
| Okay, got it, thanks.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I have a Libra 2 for personal reading and an Elipsa 2E for
| journals. A couple of minor nits like you mentioned aside, I
| love them. They can read almost any format I throw at them, I
| can fetch books directly from my library, and if I add an
| article to Pocket on my laptop then it shows up on my Kobo next
| time I pick it up.
|
| I also read way more now that I've gotten the Libra, largely
| because it's so light and ergonomic for laying in bed at night
| and flipping pages. I added a popsocket to the back for easier
| 1-hand holding.
|
| The Elipsa is better for reading large content like
| Communications of the ACM or similar, where the Libra was
| simply too small to be readable. I hardly use the pen for
| either highlighting or notes, but it's there if I want it.
|
| If/when either of those die, I'll look at the color versions as
| potential replacements. It highly depends on how much of an
| effect the lower resolution has on readability. If it's less
| pleasant to read at night, or if PDF journal articles are a
| little fuzzier, I'd rather stick with B/W. If the only downside
| is that the screen is a bit darker so I have to turn the
| backlight up, then only get 2 weeks between charging instead of
| 4, I might consider it.
| ornornor wrote:
| FWIW, we bought an arm to hold the kobo up while we're
| reading (one of those smartphone holder things, they're a
| dime a dozen) and a little device that clips onto the kobo.
| It comes with a remote, and you can turn the pages with it by
| making the kobo think you've touched the display with your
| finger. Best 50$ I ever spent (arm + clicker). Now I can turn
| pages while in bed without holding the kobo and with both
| hands under the cover. It's the little things :)
| kstrauser wrote:
| That. Is. Amazing. I know what I'm ordering today!
| mrks_hy wrote:
| Please link or provide a product name, I've been looking
| for something like that!
| ornornor wrote:
| I can't remember :( the arm is a generic phone holder arm
| with a spring loaded clamp that pushes down the top and
| bottom of the device.
|
| The page turner was one of these keyboard smash brands.
| Searching for "ebook wireless page turner" yields quite a
| few results.
| fuzztester wrote:
| Wow, interesting.
|
| Which Kobo model would you recommend for both reading and
| creating notes that can be saved as text?
|
| I am considering getting one for my software development
| work, so that I can read on the go, while sitting, or in bed,
| and also jot down short and medium length notes about my
| project ideas, during my daily walk (in the rest break).
|
| Walking helps me to think better.
|
| A laptop is too heavy to carry around everywhere, and
| particularly when walking.
| kstrauser wrote:
| Disclaimer: Not a Kobo employee; don't have deep knowledge
| of their product line; just own and happily use a couple.
|
| The Elipsa 2E is very nice for large format reading and
| note taking. I bought it recently and compared it to other
| options from Boox and reMarkable. I ended up with it
| because I already had and enjoyed my Libra 2, and "like the
| Libra 2 but bigger and with a stylus" was appealing.
|
| That said, if I wanted something for your use case, I'd
| probably start with the Sage. The short version is it's a
| Libra 2 with a stylus, and that seems like it'd be a good
| combo.
|
| Somewhat related, I tried some non-electronic options for
| such things before, like a Rocketbook. Clever idea but I
| didn't like the implementation at all. Its OCR couldn't
| deal with my handwriting at all. I now have 2 distinctly
| separate note taking systems:
|
| - My Elipsa 2E for writing down meeting notes (while
| avoiding the distractions of an iPad or laptop, which is
| important for me personally but other people might not care
| about at all).
|
| - A paper journal (Traveler's Notebook) I take everywhere
| and use for my personal thoughts.
|
| - I lied. Number 3: "hey Siri, remind me ..." for capturing
| ideas while I'm out and about, and then I follow up with
| them when I get home. That works _so_ well with AirPods,
| too. If I have an idea while I 'm out jogging, I can ask
| Siri to remind me about it without breaking stride. First
| time I did that it felt like Star Trek.
| fuzztester wrote:
| Thanks for the detailed answer.
|
| I'll check out the Sage.
|
| That last paragraph about Siri was cool :)
| kstrauser wrote:
| You bet!
|
| I use the Siri approach all the time. I'm not going to
| stop running long enough to catch my breath and dictate a
| novel into the thing, but "Hey Siri, remind me that cats
| can eat pancakes" is enough to let me resume the thought
| when I'm back home and resting.
| wood_spirit wrote:
| More kobo love :)
|
| After aching eyes from being a heavy reader of ebooks on my
| iPhone, I got the cheapest most basic kobo - basic even by the
| standards of the day when I brought it - and instantly fell in
| love.
|
| Haven't needed to change default software, haven't needed to
| enable WiFi etc. just need a usb cable and calibre app and it
| all just works great.
|
| My fiction addiction is through the roof. Never realised how
| big a deal getting a kobo is.
| chme wrote:
| I owned a Kobo Glo and Pocketbook Touch, and I preferred the
| Pocketbook, because it allows to install koreader as a
| application into the stock firmware, while on Kobo you need to
| quasi dual-boot your system into koreader or stock firmware via
| a menu.
|
| In my experience koreader integrates much better with calibre
| and allows managing my library with a filestructure. So that is
| a requirement for me.
|
| Also the stock firmware on the Pocketbook was able to deal with
| my huge epub archive, because it didn't require indexing the
| library on the device, which Kobo struggled with.
|
| From that experience I would pick a Pocketbook over a Kobo.
|
| But maybe I should give Kobo another look.
| aeturnum wrote:
| IMO Kobo is absolutely built to be a "better managed library
| experience" than kindle - but as you say other platforms are
| better if you have a large non-drm'ed library. Unless you
| plan to buy books from publishers / use the overdrive (now
| Libby) system, I do think a more user-focused offering like
| Pocketbook will be better.
| criddell wrote:
| I think this is a place where some regulation could do a
| world of good. I wish I could buy any ereader I want and
| shop at any bookstore I want. I wish publishers were forced
| to respect first sale doctrine on digital goods.
| aeturnum wrote:
| I fully agree! I'm also disappointed (but not surprised)
| that kobo (or some other 3rd party epub seller) hasn't
| created an API where you register a key pair (or
| whatever) and can decrypt books on your devices. I
| suspect it's based on publisher demands. Ironically, this
| is one place where a blockchain might be useful - sales
| are recorded on it, contracts are written with respect to
| it, and if the publisher goes belly up users can run
| nodes to maintain it.
| crtasm wrote:
| > on Kobo you need to quasi dual-boot your system into
| koreader or stock firmware via a menu.
|
| Is this info up to date? It was not the case with our 2E - an
| option to start koreader just got added to the menu.
| amaccuish wrote:
| Same journey here; except using the Calibre Web integration, an
| absolutely gamechanger. No need to plug-in to sync my own
| books, they're pulled straight from my Pi. And I love how all
| that was required was editing a line in the config file on the
| storage; they seem like fairly open devices.
|
| Also glad to get away from the Amazon proprietary formats.
| parlortricks wrote:
| Is there an artile explaining how this is done? Im more
| interested in the whole setup.
| msmithstubbs wrote:
| This would be a good place to start:
|
| https://brandonjkessler.com/technology/2021/04/26/setup-
| kobo...
|
| There is also a number of home brew readers and utilities
| available for the Kobo readers. Plato is a reader written
| in rust, and covered in this post:
|
| https://blog.videah.net/my-e-reader-setup/
| bondarchuk wrote:
| Adobe DRM on linux recently got a lot better:
| https://superuser.com/a/1775619
|
| Copied for posterity:
|
| ---
|
| It's now possible to do this 100% within Linux, without running
| any emulators or Windows software, even though Adobe don't care
| about Linux support.
|
| Knock is no longer maintained, however apparently it was just a
| wrapper around libgourou which is still maintained.
|
| Installing libgourou (on Arch Linux it can be found in the AUR)
| allows you to download the ACSM file to a PDF or ePub:
|
| # Use your username and password from https://account.adobe.com
| # This registers your device so only needs to be done once.
| adept_activate -u user -p pass
|
| # Download the ACSM file acsmdownloader -f myfile.acsm
|
| The downloaded file requires a password to open it, but if you
| need to open it in a normal viewing application, you can also
| remove the password:
|
| adept_remove file.pdf
|
| This process allows Linux users to access the same materials as
| their Windows and Mac friends, even without support from Adobe.
|
| ---
| globular-toast wrote:
| I figured out how to remove Adobe DRM on Linux just to be
| sure I can. But, to be honest, I just circumvent the problem
| entirely these days.
| gorky1 wrote:
| There's an open source Adobe ADEPT DRM implementation that
| works well on Linux:
|
| https://forge.soutade.fr/soutade/libgourou
| globular-toast wrote:
| I have koreader on my Clara HD. Unfortunately it doesn't work
| well on Clara 2e and perhaps later devices too. Means I have to
| stick with Clara HD for now (which is fine). Hopefully there
| will be something available if/when I need to replace it.
| crtasm wrote:
| I don't have a HD to compare but it seems to work fine on the
| 2E.
| latentcall wrote:
| I purchased a Kobo Libra 2 and it is indeed fantastic. Battery
| life is incredible, and syncing with the Libby app for books
| from my library is fantastic. I do wish it could integrate with
| Raindrop as opposed to Pocket, but the Pocket works okay
| enough. Can transfer .pdf or .epub from Linux/Mac/Windows easy,
| and it looks great on the device.
| 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
| The only reason I've held off on switching to Kobo is that I
| always switch back and forth between the audiobook and the text
| for what I'm reading. Kindle books make it seamless, but as far
| as I can tell, there's no audio-text sync in the Kobo
| ecosystem. Is that still accurate? Even if you use books bought
| from amazon/audible?
| yoavm wrote:
| Just a reminder that that many Kobo devices can run PostmarketOS
| pretty well. I wrote this interface especially for my Kobo Clara
| HD: https://github.com/bjesus/air
| summm wrote:
| Yes, but also a reminder that those older, well supported ones
| are Freescale i.mx. After that, Kobo used Allwinner from sunxi
| (who have a general history of GPL violations) and now
| something from Mediatek (who had a history of not providing
| good driver update support). Those are likely completely
| different, might need a lot of new work to properly get a
| kernel running on, let alone mainline. Who knows if the
| bootloader can even be unlocked this time?
| sriacha wrote:
| Are you doing anything cool to take advantage of running
| PostmarketOS? I've thought for a while it would be nice to have
| a simple writing environment on my clara HD with an external
| keyboard.
|
| There's also this interesting project:
| https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill
| yoavm wrote:
| I used it a few time to VNC into a virtual screen to have my
| laptop terminal on an e-ink screen. It can even run Firefox,
| though very slowly. Gopher websites work way better.
|
| It's a complete Linux system and most things work just fine!
| jerojero wrote:
| I do like 6 inch e-readers, I think I would have to see IRL how
| the screen looks.
|
| For my usage color is not necessary, I don't even read manga on
| my device because I haven't found a good reader. I had bought an
| android based one for this purpose but I didn't like how the
| screen looked. I guess I'm fairly picky.
|
| I think the only reason I'd get a colour one is simply to see
| book covers in color. It's minor but it might be worth 30 extra
| euros. Then again, I'd have to see how different the screen
| looks.
| criddell wrote:
| I like 6" for fiction and general reading, but I really want a
| 13" (A4 or letter) for textbooks and PDFs. I think Sony used to
| have one, but discontinued it.
|
| Right now I'm using a 13" iPad Pro and it's fine, but I'd
| rather have a simple ereader with an eInk display and no apps.
| bityard wrote:
| I wouldn't mind an even smaller screen. I read fiction on my
| phone in bed to fall asleep at night. In order to do that, I
| have to lay on my stomach and hold the phone with one hand.
|
| I've tried it with my 6" Kobo Clara 2E and it's just a little
| too awkward to be usable. Maybe if it had some physical buttons
| on it somewhere, but it doesn't.
| paradox460 wrote:
| Onyx Boox makes a reader that's roughly the size and
| dimensions of a modern cell phone
|
| https://onyxboox.com/boox_palma
| nottorp wrote:
| > In order to do that, I have to lay on my stomach and hold
| the phone with one hand.
|
| Why? I mostly lie on a side when reading and prop the reader
| (or the paper book) with the bed sheets.
|
| This has the potential to turn into a reading positions
| subthread :)
| radarsat1 wrote:
| I want something like this but just to hang on the wall to
| display graphs. Why are e-ink displays only ever focused on
| ebooks, I think there are lots of cool non-ebook applications for
| this technology but to use it you either have to build something
| with a soldering iron and a raspberry pi or hack an ebook's OS. I
| don't understand why there aren't more special purpose e-ink
| devices for other uses like monitoring, price displays &
| restaurant menus, etc.
| gnicholas wrote:
| You can get displays like you're describing, but pricing isn't
| great. I was surprised by the price levels that Kobo is
| offering, which is probably a mix of huge volume discounts and
| aggressive pricing to make a splash in the market.
| joker99 wrote:
| Inkplate used to have exactly what you're looking for.
| Basically took the eink screens from old kindles, combined with
| an esp32. I have 3 of them hanging around my house showing
| various graphs, dashboards, pictures or other items of interest
| :)
|
| Edit: actually still available!
| https://soldered.com/product/soldered-inkplate-6-6-e-paper-b...
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Kobo enthusiast, and I'm excited to see that they are the first
| to market among the Amazon/B&N/Kobo crowd to get a color e-reader
| to market.
|
| I don't see myself getting one, though, at least not immediately.
| I'm perfectly happy with my Kobo Sage. While I'd _like_ to one
| day have a color e-ink device, the color reproduction just isn 't
| good enough for my use case. Reading comics on my AMOLED tablet
| is a joy, and I don't see e-ink getting to that level for at
| least another couple years.
|
| Plus, I don't want to take the hit of _worse_ PPI for B &W text
| just so I can have a book cover or some highlighted text in
| color.
| christkv wrote:
| My main reason for thinking about getting one is because i like
| to sit on the terrace with a lot of indirect sunlight and eink
| is just so much better in that situation. However prices are
| still way too high and it's impossible to find a place to see
| them in person before buying.
| amelius wrote:
| Give me high refresh rates before giving me color. What I don't
| get is that people say that e-readers are easy on the eyes, but
| you still get this epilepsy-inducing flicker all the time when
| changing pages.
| otherme123 wrote:
| Your ereader might be broken. I don't see any flickering when
| page turning, other than obviously replace current text for the
| next. Some ereaders take a bit longer than others to change the
| text, but even then no flickering.
| user_7832 wrote:
| MIP (memory in pixel) LCDs might offer what you're looking for.
| They're popular in watches like Garmins and some Amazfits.
| tiltowait wrote:
| I haven't seen an eReader that does a full refresh on each page
| turn in years. Kobo, Amazon, and B&N are all per-chapter by
| default. Maybe some bargain-bin brands still use the old
| displays or have bad software?
| EGreg wrote:
| So what? I went on Amazon and I see tons of color e-readers
| already
| rvz wrote:
| I tried to tell everyone about color e-readers 4 years ago but
| apparently, "thE rEquIRed haRdWarE technOLogY doEs noT EXisT".
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24296880
| EGreg wrote:
| I guess some people would rather downvote inconvenient truths
| than update their point of view based on facts
| spxneo wrote:
| how far are we from seeing magazine quality e-ink with animation?
| the colours always look bland and animations still isn't very
| good. I don't know why progress here is so much slower than other
| tech
| tsunamifury wrote:
| This is like optimizing a horse and carriage for modern era. The
| price is nearly that of an iPad mini with vastly fewer
| applications.
| quicksnap wrote:
| Here's a current-day horse carriage that costs as much as a
| cheap engine vehicle:
| https://www.carolinacarriagesuperstore.com/product-page/bran...
|
| Same price, fewer applications.
| hollow-moe wrote:
| can't wait to see third party android e-readers with that tech
| system2 wrote:
| I had major overchoice anxiety on their website. Why do they need
| to create 20 e-readers looking nearly identical? And why are
| color ones cheaper than the black and white ones?
|
| https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders
| paulcole wrote:
| I've bought the Remarkable 2 and probably 10 Kindles over the
| past decade.
|
| I have never once been like, "You know what this eink device
| needs? Color!"
|
| I get that it might be a draw for some people but this just isn't
| appealing to me and I can't see the mass market use case for
| color besides color being neat.
| futureshock wrote:
| E Ink has been developing a full color tech they call ACeP. This
| tech has no color filter like Kaleido 3 so can run at full
| resolution and better contrast. Wonder if this tech will reach
| ereaders soon. Rumors are that Amazon is considering ACeP.
| AshamedCaptain wrote:
| And a refresh rate in the tens of seconds.
| futureshock wrote:
| Yes, current ACeP displays have an extremely slow refresh and
| low resolution. They are sold exclusively for digital
| signage. Potentially in the next few years, according to
| rumors there may be a version suitable for ereaders.
| paradox460 wrote:
| Posy has an excellent video, full of great macro shots, of how
| color E-Ink works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIHCUWAgh4
| legohead wrote:
| Been wanting a new e-reader. The power button on the bottom of
| the Kindle has driven me insane. How somebody could actually
| design something so stupid boggles the mind.
| babypuncher wrote:
| > Both use E Ink's latest Kaledio color screen technology, which
| has subtle, pastel-like hues and drops from a 300ppi grayscale
| resolution to 150ppi when you view content in color.
|
| Sounds like color accuracy might be poor, which means comics
| might not fare so well.
| propter_hoc wrote:
| A friend of mine has a Boox color e-reader and absolutely loves
| it. There's a lot of skepticism out there (I was a skeptic myself
| before she bought it) but it's honestly quite impressive.
|
| She made a post on reddit here:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/18ns9z3/three_da...
|
| It has some pictures - the color really does add something. Glad
| to see Kobo doing this too.
| unsupp0rted wrote:
| What's stopping Kobo (or somebody else) from making a calm color
| e-ink smartphone?
|
| Calm as in no animations, b&w + a couple bright accent colors,
| say like red for icon badges.
|
| People seem to like the b&w e-ink smartphones, but a color one
| would be a homerun.
| codetrotter wrote:
| I have an old Kobo Glo HD that I bought in 2015. The battery no
| longer holds a charge, so I opened it and removed the battery.
|
| Since a lot of Kobo fans seem to be ITT, does anyone know where I
| can buy a replacement battery for my Kobo Glo HD?
|
| I mean, obviously I could randomly pick one from AliExpress like
| https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003176213860.html
|
| But I would like recommendations about specific sellers, from
| fellow Kobo users who have bought from those sellers and replaced
| the battery in their own Kobo.
| OnionBlender wrote:
| Which e-ink reader do people suggest using for textbooks?
|
| I had a Kindle DX but the screen has lines through it and the 3G
| connection no longer works (and no wifi).
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