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So I’ll ask here as there may be some lurkers who can help me in my quest: I am trying to find a basic e-reader. I have a simple want: I want a built in brows

So I’ll ask here as there may be some lurkers who can help me in my quest: I am trying to find a basic e-reader. I have a simple want: I want a built in browser that will let me download ePub and pdf etc from the browser. I’m not interested in bundled bookstores. I’m not keen on having to load books onto it via a pc app nor emailing them nor having an Amazon account neither. I just want to be able to browse and download FanFiction and stuff like that from a basic browser. I am guessing I want an android tablet with an e-ink screen? What choices do I have and what do people recommend?

SamuelAdams 6y ago
I use a Kobo Clara HD. It has a Kobo store where you can buy books, or you can use the “experimental web browser”, point it to libgen or your libraries website, and download whatever book you want. More often than not though I just hook it up to my Linux laptop and transfer books via usb.
- Sparkle-san 6y ago
  I use a Kobo Libra H2O which has been quite good to me. For people that want to take it to the next level, there's the calibre-web project[1]. It's able to tie into calibre and push books to kobo devices through the built-in sync command. [1] https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web
  - leokennis 6y ago
    I have the same ereader, and I can understand the want for wireless book loading from a convenience point of view. But from the “I don’t want to depend on proprietary software and/or require a privacy breaching login account” point of view, a Kobo is just fine. If you so desire, it’s just a USB drive with an e-ink screen attached. Connect - drop files - eject - read files.
- willvarfar 6y ago
  Aha, this brand is easy to get ahold of where I am! Googling suggests the “beta” browser has been beta forever; does the software never update? And does the beta browser support multiple tabs and copy+pasting urls? (FanFiction doesn’t do ePub, but there are several helper websites that provide it if you can copy paste the FanFiction URLs) Thanks awfully for helping me with my research!
smeej 6y ago
I recently bought the Onyx Boox Poke 2 Color. [0] I love the little guy. Lighter than any paperback I've ever owned. Fits in a large pocket. Displays in color! Which lets me highlight in color! And runs Android 9.0 with Google Play Services (though activating this is a bit hacky). Can install whatever Android browser you want. It's the "Gameboy Color" stage of color vibrancy, but it's color. Problem is, to my knowledge, this was a limited run. I got mine from Good eReader, but they sold out of this model, and I don't know when or if there will be more. I haven't tested, but I think the Onyx Boox Poke 3 (not color) might be able to install GPS too. [0] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/hands-on-review-of-the-onyx-boox-poke-2-color https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/hands-on-review-of-the-... ETA: Note about quality of colors.
mPReDiToR 6y ago
I got my MobiScribe last week after trying out a ReMarkable (v1) for a bit. The screen isn't as nice to write on, but the software works better for me (I hate to say that; it's Android (4.4!)) and it has a backlight. There's the option to sideload apps, but there is a browser installed when you buy it. Downloading books and apps can be done over WiFi. I have to say I like it. The option to replace the reader gives you flexibility, as did the community offerings on the ReMarkable. MobiScribe costs less, and is smaller.
- Qwertious 6y ago
  Do you mean the "Mobiscribe Origin"? The original Mobiscribe (which is just called the "Mobiscribe", for anyone who's confused) has major lag issues and I wouldn't recommend the note-taking unless you want to wait 30+ seconds at times, switching between virtual notebooks. I suspect it's partially due to bad coding that scales up poorly (the .note files have to re-render their vectors every time you turn the page, including completely erased parts), and it didn't pop up until I'd owned it for a while.
maratc 6y ago
In the same place, I think I have contradicting wishes. The hardware resources needed for "basic e-reader" and the ones for, basically, a modern browsing machine are very different. Something gotta give there, you will either have an overpowered and overpriced reader, or a clumsy browser. Additionally, having to type on a virtual keyboard on a e-ink screen is not a top-notch experience. Kobo looks like a good direction for me, I can have my reading matter formatted exactly as I wish and USB-transfer it over. For my parents who are not tech-savvy, Kindle is great, as I can prepare books and email them to their kindle.
mackrevinack 6y ago
i bought an onyx boox nova3 last month and you can install the play store on it which means you might be able to use some apps (not all will work well with eink or the custom android ui that they use. the idea i had was to mostly manage adding and removing books/articles from my laptop or phone and then have them sync across to the ereader using syncthing. (mainly because its slower to do any of that from an eink) im using a firefox extension that saves articles to epub. i think there are android apps where you can do something similar through the share menu. but i might just try out wallabag next which is like pocket/read-it-later and then install the wallabag app on my ereader anyway, I've only messed around with it for a few days but I'm liking it so far, i just have to figure out why syncthing isnt syncing in the background. resilio sync or others like dropbox, google drive might work either. for the moment i just need to open them syncthing app to activate a sync

SamuelAdams 6y ago

I use a Kobo Clara HD. It has a Kobo store where you can buy books, or you can use the “experimental web browser”, point it to libgen or your libraries website, and download whatever book you want. More often than not though I just hook it up to my Linux laptop and transfer books via usb.

Sparkle-san 6y ago
I use a Kobo Libra H2O which has been quite good to me. For people that want to take it to the next level, there's the calibre-web project[1]. It's able to tie into calibre and push books to kobo devices through the built-in sync command. [1] https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web
- leokennis 6y ago
  I have the same ereader, and I can understand the want for wireless book loading from a convenience point of view. But from the “I don’t want to depend on proprietary software and/or require a privacy breaching login account” point of view, a Kobo is just fine. If you so desire, it’s just a USB drive with an e-ink screen attached. Connect - drop files - eject - read files.
willvarfar 6y ago
Aha, this brand is easy to get ahold of where I am! Googling suggests the “beta” browser has been beta forever; does the software never update? And does the beta browser support multiple tabs and copy+pasting urls? (FanFiction doesn’t do ePub, but there are several helper websites that provide it if you can copy paste the FanFiction URLs) Thanks awfully for helping me with my research!

smeej 6y ago

I recently bought the Onyx Boox Poke 2 Color. [0] I love the little guy. Lighter than any paperback I've ever owned. Fits in a large pocket. Displays in color! Which lets me highlight in color! And runs Android 9.0 with Google Play Services (though activating this is a bit hacky). Can install whatever Android browser you want. It's the "Gameboy Color" stage of color vibrancy, but it's color. Problem is, to my knowledge, this was a limited run. I got mine from Good eReader, but they sold out of this model, and I don't know when or if there will be more. I haven't tested, but I think the Onyx Boox Poke 3 (not color) might be able to install GPS too. [0] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/hands-on-review-of-the-onyx-boox-poke-2-color https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/hands-on-review-of-the-... ETA: Note about quality of colors.

mPReDiToR 6y ago

I got my MobiScribe last week after trying out a ReMarkable (v1) for a bit. The screen isn't as nice to write on, but the software works better for me (I hate to say that; it's Android (4.4!)) and it has a backlight. There's the option to sideload apps, but there is a browser installed when you buy it. Downloading books and apps can be done over WiFi. I have to say I like it. The option to replace the reader gives you flexibility, as did the community offerings on the ReMarkable. MobiScribe costs less, and is smaller.

Qwertious 6y ago
Do you mean the "Mobiscribe Origin"? The original Mobiscribe (which is just called the "Mobiscribe", for anyone who's confused) has major lag issues and I wouldn't recommend the note-taking unless you want to wait 30+ seconds at times, switching between virtual notebooks. I suspect it's partially due to bad coding that scales up poorly (the .note files have to re-render their vectors every time you turn the page, including completely erased parts), and it didn't pop up until I'd owned it for a while.

maratc 6y ago

In the same place, I think I have contradicting wishes. The hardware resources needed for "basic e-reader" and the ones for, basically, a modern browsing machine are very different. Something gotta give there, you will either have an overpowered and overpriced reader, or a clumsy browser. Additionally, having to type on a virtual keyboard on a e-ink screen is not a top-notch experience. Kobo looks like a good direction for me, I can have my reading matter formatted exactly as I wish and USB-transfer it over. For my parents who are not tech-savvy, Kindle is great, as I can prepare books and email them to their kindle.

mackrevinack 6y ago

i bought an onyx boox nova3 last month and you can install the play store on it which means you might be able to use some apps (not all will work well with eink or the custom android ui that they use. the idea i had was to mostly manage adding and removing books/articles from my laptop or phone and then have them sync across to the ereader using syncthing. (mainly because its slower to do any of that from an eink) im using a firefox extension that saves articles to epub. i think there are android apps where you can do something similar through the share menu. but i might just try out wallabag next which is like pocket/read-it-later and then install the wallabag app on my ereader anyway, I've only messed around with it for a few days but I'm liking it so far, i just have to figure out why syncthing isnt syncing in the background. resilio sync or others like dropbox, google drive might work either. for the moment i just need to open them syncthing app to activate a sync