I have been wanting to have an e-reader so I can stop piling up physical books (takes a lot of space) and im not sure if i should straight buy an e-reader (do they have programmed obsolence issues too?) or an affordable and durable netbook/notebook/tablet
You must log in or register to comment.
I use a Kobo Libera h2o (which I think is discontinued now), and I’ve been extremely pleased with it. Kobo doesn’t lock down the device, so transferring books to it is as simple as plugging into a PC and pressing a prompt that allows it to be opened like a thumb drive.
Personally I would recommend any of the Kobo devices, which appear to all be waterproof now as well.
+1
I have a Tolino Shine, which is basically a german rebranded version of the Kobo.
I believe the OS/ software is different tho.I’m relatively happy with it. The battery lasts very very long, I can offline drag and drop transfer .epub and other document files, and even customize my lock screen!
It appears so to really be discontinued but it’d not be a dealbreaker for me, I hate constant updates (i know security updates are for good but still annoying, i dont know if E inks do security updates like usually on mobile/PC though, do they?), interesting about the book transfer, is it natively supported by the device or do you use something like Calibre (which would be fine too)? Waterproof could also not be a dealbreaker for me I guess I could buy a case for it? I certainly wouldn’t stand in the middle of a rain to read
Book transfers are supported by the device itself, no extra software required. It genuinely acts as a USB thumb drive once permission to give access to the PC is allowed on the device, similar to an Android phone. Once a book is put onto it and it’s unplugged, it will automatically find the book and add it to the library screen.
The h2o model is also waterproof, which was a unique feature at the time, while the new Kobo models are all waterproof.
Very interesting, thank you for clarifying and the other informations, i might look if I can find an used Kobo h2o
I highly recommend getting a used (screw Amazon) Kindle. I very much enjoy the Paperwhite.
Next, jailbreak it with WinterBreak.
Load all the books you want without dealing with Amazon.
Kindle is very affordable but can you jailbreak non-Paperwhite Kindles too? I thought Kindles were very strictly hard to jailbreak while keeping it usable
Yes absolutely. Almost any Kindle model can leverage WinterBreak to install whatever software you prefer.
Thanks!
Depending on your needs, you can get a very basic e-ink reader for not that much.
My e-reader, the Kobo Libra Color, has an e-ink color display, stylus capabilities (I’ve been doing crossword puzzles on it), WiFi so you can download books straight from the store as well as Dropbox/Google Drive integration if you store downloaded books there. It also supports Adobe DRM which Kindles don’t.
But my mom has the Boox Note 4C which runs a full version of Android. Since it’s e-ink, don’t expect it to play video or games at all. But for productivity, they’re pretty good. Similarly you can get the reMarkable which is like a large e-ink tablet.
As far as obsolescence goes, you can’t go wrong with an e-reader. It uses very little battery, so wear is minimal. The build is not too complex and usually quite sturdy. You might have to rely on WiFi 4 or 5 but that is no issue for the foreseeable future.
The only thing is new e-book formats. Pdf is very basic and is not subject to change, but epub, the more interactive e-book format is currently on v3. It’s basically just an extension of HTML, xHTML to be precise, so it’s unlikely version 4 won’t open on older readers. But considering the capabilities of v3 I won’t expect v4 to be coming any time soon.
I never truly understood the use of epubs to be honest, I usually convert them to PDF. Also I didn’t know you could do crossword puzzles on E ink that does sound very nice, so I assume you could do Sudoku as well? I have heard of reMarkable and it sounds perfect for me but its not within my reach atm unfortunately. I never heard of Boox so I will check it out. Is Kobo durable too?
Well me and my wife both have Kobo and I’m very impressed with the build quality and battery usage. You could definitely do sudoku on the Libra, although at 350 plus stylus makes 410 it’s a bit more expensive than the Clara, but you can’t do puzzles on that.
Good to know, I appreciate you taking the time to clarify it to me, thanks
ePubs are generally a bit smaller than PDF’s, and more critically, allow the text to reflow to fit the screen of any device, or to your personal preference (such as spacing, font size, ragged edge vs full justification, etc). It’s the best open-source format for reading on a device, IMHO.
Is it safe as PDF (i know PDF can be virus ridden by usually embedding the virus in specific parts of the PDF layers or so I heard a while ago, which I usually am careful what PDF i open) or more/less?
Should be, yes.
Thanks, I’ll try it
