11 ms·

Kobo announces color e-readers

396 points by lxm 3y ago

tinix 3y ago
there have been color ereaders for over a year now...
- presbyterian 3y ago
  Not from Kobo, though, which is what this article is about.
- mikestew 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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 700€, for the headlines". But they are color ereaders for 150€! For the first time ever, I'm very tempted to buy one, even knowing that I don't need it.
  - gnicholas 3y ago
    I was also pleasantly surprised by the price. I think these are similar to existing ereaders, except that the reliability and support expectations are different for Kobo. I've been watching as other companies have rolled out devices and none of the companies are as reliable as Kobo. There have been botched releases, delayed Kickstarters, etc. I would not hesitate to get one of these and not worry about warranty issues or other fly-by-night company problems. Kobo will stand behind these devices, and if there's a problem it will be easily refunded. I wasn't willing to risk $450 on a no-name company, but I'll happily plunk down half that (or less) for one of these devices!
- AshamedCaptain 3y ago
  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 3y ago
looking forward to reviews
noemit 3y ago
i have too many devices to get an ereader.
- rokkamokka 3y ago
  Two hundred books or one e-reader though? Easy choice in my book (ha)
- WolfeReader 3y ago
  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 3y ago
    you probably dont draw
    - WolfeReader 3y ago
      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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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.
teroshan 3y ago
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-things-to-know-before-buying/ https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2024/04/05/color-e-ink-5-t...
- thisislife2 3y ago
  > 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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
    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.
  - AstralJaeger 3y ago
timvdalen 3y ago
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 3y ago
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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax#Compression
- swsieber 3y ago
  Mmm... I patched a fax4 decoder for rust the other day. It's an interesting format. But amazing really. It's still widely used the mortgage industry, specifically the land record systems.
dvfjsdhgfv 3y ago
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 3y ago
  > the screen is glossy, not mat Would a screen protector fix that? Not ideal but it might be an option.
hgyjnbdet 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
    I didn't know you could do that! I've only been using it as intended.
    - ornornor 3y ago
      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 3y ago
        > 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 3y ago
        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.
tiltowait 3y ago
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 3y ago
  There are other makers that have larger color e-ink displays, such as Boox.
- AlotOfReading 3y ago
  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 3y ago
    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 https://youtu.be/U7V2EFAcbtU
ashton314 3y ago
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.
- Brian_K_White 3y ago
  I've been very happy with koreader on my Aura H2O since... 2014? Wow. So that's a yes.
- rrix2 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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.
dustincoates 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
    The Kobo software cannot reflow the hard-wrapped lines?
    - mcpherrinm 3y ago
      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.
      - 3y ago
yoavm 3y ago
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 https://github.com/bjesus/air
- summm 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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 https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill
  - yoavm 3y ago
    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 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
    Onyx Boox makes a reader that's roughly the size and dimensions of a modern cell phone https://onyxboox.com/boox_palma https://onyxboox.com/boox_palma
    - bityard 3y ago
      Oh, that's interesting. Pretty much exactly what I'm after! It has better specs than my phone. Says it runs Android, so I assume it's reasonably "open".
      - seam_carver 3y ago
radarsat1 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  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-board/ https://soldered.com/product/soldered-inkplate-6-6-e-paper-b...
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  Have you looked? The devices exist. Onyx Boox has a diverse line of readers, tablets and monitors. Their competitor Dasung offers a bunch of monitors, phone displays and other e-ink stuff as well. But large e-ink screens are expensive compared to small.
- vantassell 3y ago
  There are e-ink license plates in California now. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/10/digital-license-plates-approved-for-all-vehicles-in-california/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/10/digital-license-plates-...
AdmiralAsshat 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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 3y ago
  MIP (memory in pixel) LCDs might offer what you're looking for. They're popular in watches like Garmins and some Amazfits.
- tiltowait 3y ago
  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?
- seam_carver 3y ago
  Try the newer kindles, they have an alternative page turn animation that's a wipe instead of a flash.
- _thisdot 3y ago
  Newer Kindles have something called a page-turn animation. Not exactly high refresh rate. But no flickers either https://youtu.be/QBev52EYJi4?si=-0l-2u2Hq3_6PeXN https://youtu.be/QBev52EYJi4?si=-0l-2u2Hq3_6PeXN
EGreg 3y ago
So what? I went on Amazon and I see tons of color e-readers already
- rvz 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - EGreg 3y ago
    I guess some people would rather downvote inconvenient truths than update their point of view based on facts
spxneo 3y ago
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 3y ago
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 3y ago
  Here's a current-day horse carriage that costs as much as a cheap engine vehicle: https://www.carolinacarriagesuperstore.com/product-page/brand-new-black-hearse https://www.carolinacarriagesuperstore.com/product-page/bran... Same price, fewer applications.
  - myself248 3y ago
    And runs a lot longer on a battery charge.
hollow-moe 3y ago
can't wait to see third party android e-readers with that tech
- gnicholas 3y ago
  Don't those already exist?
system2 3y ago
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 https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders
paulcole 3y ago
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.
- abdela 3y ago
  Honest question, why did you buy 10 kindle devices in 10 years?
  - paulcole 3y ago
    I like to upgrade them (the battery life, screen, refresh rate, etc. have all gotten consistently better over the years), I usually have one to leave at work and one for home use, and I give the hand-me-downs to friends and family. You can also sell them back to Amazon for a pretty good bonus when it’s time to upgrade. I think I sent back an old paperwhite and got $50 + 20% off my Scribe. Right now I have an Oasis and a Scribe that I use about equally. Reading is one of my bigger hobbies, I read around 100 books a year on Kindle.
    - abdela 3y ago
      Interesting, thank you. With regard to the refresh rate, I saw a recent eReader recently, the difference with my nine year old eReader is striking indeed.
futureshock 3y ago
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 3y ago
  And a refresh rate in the tens of seconds.
  - futureshock 3y ago
    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.
- mikepavone 3y ago
  There was one on the market, but not from the well-known names: the Bigme Galy. Doesn't seem to be available anymore though and Bigme's site has no mention of it
  - futureshock 3y ago
    Interesting. Yes looks like that ACeP screen had reasonable specs on paper with 300dpi and as low as 500ms color refresh. Seems like this tech could be getting closer. Reviews of the Galy were terrible though and it’s unclear how much of that was from the screen vs. the device around it. Still watching this space and holding out with my Kindle Paperwhite.
paradox460 3y ago
Posy has an excellent video, full of great macro shots, of how color E-Ink works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIHCUWAgh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIHCUWAgh4
legohead 3y ago
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.
- chadk 3y ago
  Same!
babypuncher 3y ago
> 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 3y ago
À 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_day_review_of_boox_note_air_3c/ 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 3y ago
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.
- dboreham 3y ago
  Boox make a kind of smartphone device. It doesn't have the WAN, so wifi only but it's phone form factor.
- seam_carver 3y ago
  Well, it's one thing to make an ereader. It's an entirely other thing to make a smartphone. It's not trivial, that's why Onyx released a phone-sized reader instead of a phone. Hisense made color e-ink smartphones but they didn't make a color model of their latest Hisense A9.
codetrotter 3y ago
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 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.
- abdela 3y ago
  I just got the best-selling one from aliexpress. Also replaced my bluetooth speaker battery like that.
OnionBlender 3y ago
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).
- seam_carver 3y ago
  Kindle Scribe?
eiiot 3y ago
I have a Kindle Oasis right now that I want to get more use out of, but also can't stand using Amazon products (and have found the Oasis increasingly frustrating as of late, especially as I download more content from non-Amazon sources for my classes). Can any Kobo owners speak to how much of an improvement it is over the Oasis (or any other more recent Kindle)? Should I pre-order the Color or just get one of their existing models?
downrightmike 3y ago
Can't wait until we can make photo frames out of these for $20/ea
hinkley 3y ago
Is Kobo Libra supposed to be a play on the "Cuba Libre" beverage?
mark_l_watson 3y ago
This looks good, but I probably won’t get it. Just today I bought on Kobo the works of Michel de Montaigne, a natural philosopher nestled between the Stoics and later philosophers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. This book I just bought has some color illustrations so I also opened the book on my iPad using the Kobo app, and while I enjoyed seeing the color illustrations, not a big deal. All that said, I like being a Kobo customer, and I really like that my local physical bookstore gets a little money each time I make a Kobo purchase.
ryzvonusef 3y ago
If you want to learn more about e-ink ereaders/tablets etc, I suggest this youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@goodereader/videos ____ My problem with the e-ink devices is that they still require the same chips/battery/etc as any other tablet, but provide a much limited display to use... so you spend the same money for less. What we need is some sort of dual display system, maybe a display that can switch between OLED and E-Ink layer... or literally have two displays (Colour E-Ink on the back maybe) so that one can the same processors/storage etc and not have a "waste" (also fewer devices to carry).
Wildgoose 3y ago
I really wish someone would revive mirasol displays. Sunlight-readable fast colour displays for e-readers and everything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R352WObkU3Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R352WObkU3Q

396 points by lxm 3y ago

tinix 3y ago

there have been color ereaders for over a year now...

presbyterian 3y ago
Not from Kobo, though, which is what this article is about.
mikestew 3y ago
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 3y ago
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 700€, for the headlines". But they are color ereaders for 150€! For the first time ever, I'm very tempted to buy one, even knowing that I don't need it.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  I was also pleasantly surprised by the price. I think these are similar to existing ereaders, except that the reliability and support expectations are different for Kobo. I've been watching as other companies have rolled out devices and none of the companies are as reliable as Kobo. There have been botched releases, delayed Kickstarters, etc. I would not hesitate to get one of these and not worry about warranty issues or other fly-by-night company problems. Kobo will stand behind these devices, and if there's a problem it will be easily refunded. I wasn't willing to risk $450 on a no-name company, but I'll happily plunk down half that (or less) for one of these devices!
AshamedCaptain 3y ago
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 3y ago

looking forward to reviews

noemit 3y ago

i have too many devices to get an ereader.

rokkamokka 3y ago
Two hundred books or one e-reader though? Easy choice in my book (ha)
WolfeReader 3y ago
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 3y ago
  you probably dont draw
  - WolfeReader 3y ago
    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 3y ago
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 3y ago
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.

teroshan 3y ago

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-things-to-know-before-buying/ https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2024/04/05/color-e-ink-5-t...

thisislife2 3y ago
> 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 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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.
- AstralJaeger 3y ago

timvdalen 3y ago

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 3y ago

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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax#Compression

swsieber 3y ago
Mmm... I patched a fax4 decoder for rust the other day. It's an interesting format. But amazing really. It's still widely used the mortgage industry, specifically the land record systems.

dvfjsdhgfv 3y ago

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 3y ago
> the screen is glossy, not mat Would a screen protector fix that? Not ideal but it might be an option.

hgyjnbdet 3y ago

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 3y ago
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 3y ago
  I didn't know you could do that! I've only been using it as intended.
  - ornornor 3y ago
    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 3y ago
      > 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 3y ago
        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.

tiltowait 3y ago

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 3y ago
There are other makers that have larger color e-ink displays, such as Boox.
AlotOfReading 3y ago
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 3y ago
  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 https://youtu.be/U7V2EFAcbtU

ashton314 3y ago

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.

Brian_K_White 3y ago
I've been very happy with koreader on my Aura H2O since... 2014? Wow. So that's a yes.
rrix2 3y ago
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 3y ago
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 3y ago
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 3y ago
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.

dustincoates 3y ago

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 3y ago
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 3y ago
  The Kobo software cannot reflow the hard-wrapped lines?
  - mcpherrinm 3y ago
    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.
    - 3y ago

yoavm 3y ago

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 https://github.com/bjesus/air

summm 3y ago
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 3y ago
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 https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill
- yoavm 3y ago
  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 3y ago

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 3y ago
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 3y ago
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 3y ago
  Onyx Boox makes a reader that's roughly the size and dimensions of a modern cell phone https://onyxboox.com/boox_palma https://onyxboox.com/boox_palma
  - bityard 3y ago
    Oh, that's interesting. Pretty much exactly what I'm after! It has better specs than my phone. Says it runs Android, so I assume it's reasonably "open".
    - seam_carver 3y ago

radarsat1 3y ago

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 3y ago
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 3y ago
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-board/ https://soldered.com/product/soldered-inkplate-6-6-e-paper-b...
carlosjobim 3y ago
Have you looked? The devices exist. Onyx Boox has a diverse line of readers, tablets and monitors. Their competitor Dasung offers a bunch of monitors, phone displays and other e-ink stuff as well. But large e-ink screens are expensive compared to small.
vantassell 3y ago
There are e-ink license plates in California now. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/10/digital-license-plates-approved-for-all-vehicles-in-california/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/10/digital-license-plates-...

AdmiralAsshat 3y ago

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 3y ago
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 3y ago

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 3y ago
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 3y ago
MIP (memory in pixel) LCDs might offer what you're looking for. They're popular in watches like Garmins and some Amazfits.
tiltowait 3y ago
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?
seam_carver 3y ago
Try the newer kindles, they have an alternative page turn animation that's a wipe instead of a flash.
_thisdot 3y ago
Newer Kindles have something called a page-turn animation. Not exactly high refresh rate. But no flickers either https://youtu.be/QBev52EYJi4?si=-0l-2u2Hq3_6PeXN https://youtu.be/QBev52EYJi4?si=-0l-2u2Hq3_6PeXN

EGreg 3y ago

So what? I went on Amazon and I see tons of color e-readers already

rvz 3y ago
[flagged]
- EGreg 3y ago
  I guess some people would rather downvote inconvenient truths than update their point of view based on facts

spxneo 3y ago

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 3y ago

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 3y ago
Here's a current-day horse carriage that costs as much as a cheap engine vehicle: https://www.carolinacarriagesuperstore.com/product-page/brand-new-black-hearse https://www.carolinacarriagesuperstore.com/product-page/bran... Same price, fewer applications.
- myself248 3y ago
  And runs a lot longer on a battery charge.

hollow-moe 3y ago

can't wait to see third party android e-readers with that tech

gnicholas 3y ago
Don't those already exist?

system2 3y ago

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 https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders

paulcole 3y ago

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.

abdela 3y ago
Honest question, why did you buy 10 kindle devices in 10 years?
- paulcole 3y ago
  I like to upgrade them (the battery life, screen, refresh rate, etc. have all gotten consistently better over the years), I usually have one to leave at work and one for home use, and I give the hand-me-downs to friends and family. You can also sell them back to Amazon for a pretty good bonus when it’s time to upgrade. I think I sent back an old paperwhite and got $50 + 20% off my Scribe. Right now I have an Oasis and a Scribe that I use about equally. Reading is one of my bigger hobbies, I read around 100 books a year on Kindle.
  - abdela 3y ago
    Interesting, thank you. With regard to the refresh rate, I saw a recent eReader recently, the difference with my nine year old eReader is striking indeed.

futureshock 3y ago

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 3y ago
And a refresh rate in the tens of seconds.
- futureshock 3y ago
  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.
mikepavone 3y ago
There was one on the market, but not from the well-known names: the Bigme Galy. Doesn't seem to be available anymore though and Bigme's site has no mention of it
- futureshock 3y ago
  Interesting. Yes looks like that ACeP screen had reasonable specs on paper with 300dpi and as low as 500ms color refresh. Seems like this tech could be getting closer. Reviews of the Galy were terrible though and it’s unclear how much of that was from the screen vs. the device around it. Still watching this space and holding out with my Kindle Paperwhite.

paradox460 3y ago

Posy has an excellent video, full of great macro shots, of how color E-Ink works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIHCUWAgh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIHCUWAgh4

legohead 3y ago

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.

chadk 3y ago
Same!

babypuncher 3y ago

> 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 3y ago

À 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_day_review_of_boox_note_air_3c/ 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 3y ago

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.

dboreham 3y ago
Boox make a kind of smartphone device. It doesn't have the WAN, so wifi only but it's phone form factor.
seam_carver 3y ago
Well, it's one thing to make an ereader. It's an entirely other thing to make a smartphone. It's not trivial, that's why Onyx released a phone-sized reader instead of a phone. Hisense made color e-ink smartphones but they didn't make a color model of their latest Hisense A9.

codetrotter 3y ago

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 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.

abdela 3y ago
I just got the best-selling one from aliexpress. Also replaced my bluetooth speaker battery like that.

OnionBlender 3y ago

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).

seam_carver 3y ago
Kindle Scribe?

eiiot 3y ago

I have a Kindle Oasis right now that I want to get more use out of, but also can't stand using Amazon products (and have found the Oasis increasingly frustrating as of late, especially as I download more content from non-Amazon sources for my classes). Can any Kobo owners speak to how much of an improvement it is over the Oasis (or any other more recent Kindle)? Should I pre-order the Color or just get one of their existing models?

downrightmike 3y ago

Can't wait until we can make photo frames out of these for $20/ea

hinkley 3y ago

Is Kobo Libra supposed to be a play on the "Cuba Libre" beverage?

mark_l_watson 3y ago

This looks good, but I probably won’t get it. Just today I bought on Kobo the works of Michel de Montaigne, a natural philosopher nestled between the Stoics and later philosophers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. This book I just bought has some color illustrations so I also opened the book on my iPad using the Kobo app, and while I enjoyed seeing the color illustrations, not a big deal. All that said, I like being a Kobo customer, and I really like that my local physical bookstore gets a little money each time I make a Kobo purchase.

ryzvonusef 3y ago

If you want to learn more about e-ink ereaders/tablets etc, I suggest this youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@goodereader/videos ____ My problem with the e-ink devices is that they still require the same chips/battery/etc as any other tablet, but provide a much limited display to use... so you spend the same money for less. What we need is some sort of dual display system, maybe a display that can switch between OLED and E-Ink layer... or literally have two displays (Colour E-Ink on the back maybe) so that one can the same processors/storage etc and not have a "waste" (also fewer devices to carry).

Wildgoose 3y ago

I really wish someone would revive mirasol displays. Sunlight-readable fast colour displays for e-readers and everything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R352WObkU3Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R352WObkU3Q