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I will just stick with Kindles. Indian heat and humidity make a Kindle unusable in 7-8 years, unless you have a 100% AC life. Kindles last a month on a charge

I will just stick with Kindles. Indian heat and humidity make a Kindle unusable in 7-8 years, unless you have a 100% AC life. Kindles last a month on a charge or two. It's very light. It's affordable. It doesn’t show colors, but I have an android tab to read papers and technical content, anyway. I tried looking at alternatives, but low price + extreme power efficiency + being able to sideload books is just great.

jay_kyburz 5mo ago
Kobo is all that but without Amazon.
- kstrauser 5mo ago
  Seconded. I bought a Libra 2 a few years ago and loved it so much that I’ve gifted a couple more. There’s nothing about it I’d want to change.
  - Lanrei 5mo ago
    I'd change mine so that the portrait and landscape button layout were separately configurable.
    - kstrauser 5mo ago
      Huh. OK, fair point. I have my portrait buttons swapped because my thumb naturally rests next to the top button. I don't use in landscape enough to be an issue. BTW, slapping a pop socket on the back so I can comfortably read with one hand was a game changer.
- stock_toaster 5mo ago
  Unfortunately a lot of fiction (sci-fi/fantasy) ebooks are effectively kindle exclusive these days (amazon publisher deals exclusivity), due to the near monopoly amazon has… and since they have locked things down even harder lately, it is much more difficult to export purchases to other readers.
- ornornor 5mo ago
  Switched to kobo years ago, will never buy a kindle again. Also, koreader!
  - BeetleB 5mo ago
    koreader works on Kindles.
    - GlitchRider47 5mo ago
      Only if jailbroken
- rypskar 5mo ago
  I did consider a Kobo, but the terrible website did turn me away. When trying to browse it was wait for button on tracking consent to be active so I could click reject. Then change language to what I'm fluent in instead of getting language based on IP, reject tracking, reject changing region back to IP based and the same two reject for every link clicked. Half the times pages was still shown in language based on my location instead of what I have set or what my user agent tell I want. When a site ask about allowing tracking for every page shown I assume the company care more about selling PII than getting customers, so not a company I want to use
  - MrDOS 5mo ago
    This argument would hold a lot more water if the alternative you're siding with weren't Amazon.
    - rypskar 5mo ago
      How did you get siding with Amazon from giving up on the Kobo website? There are more than two options, re-reading some of the dead-tree variants I have would keep me occupied for years. Hopefully a new alternative would come out before I run out of space for books
mrec 5mo ago
I was about to complain that my Paperwhite only lasts a couple of days between charges (it shuts down when battery drops to ~50%) but then realized that I've had it 7-8 years. No Indian heat here though, I'm in the UK.
- brycethornton 5mo ago
  Try keeping it on airplane mode if you don't already. It definitely improves the length of a charge.
  - mrec 5mo ago
    Already do. I hate to think what it would be like now otherwise.
- strooper 5mo ago
  I replaced the battery after using the kindle Paperwhite for 7+ years. And now its battery life is as good as the new one's.
  - mrec 5mo ago
    Ooh, I honestly hadn't considered that; thanks for the tip. The waterproof seal around the screen has degraded too, but I very rarely read in the rain these days.
    - stavros 5mo ago
      [dead]
j45 5mo ago
There are other similarly priced and equally capable e-readers.
- NetMageSCW 5mo ago
  They aren’t similarly capable unless they have access to the same books.
Insanity 5mo ago
There is a Kindle Color<something>. Haven’t used that yet either.
- liveoneggs 5mo ago
  I just replaced my old kindle with a colorsoft. It was annoyingly white until I figured out how to get that old school kindle yellow/newspaper/paperback look going again. The newer battery is nice and usb-c is a big upgrade instead of finding my last mini usb (or whatever it was). I think I'm down to just one last thing on that stupid cable (a camping lantern).
gibber878 5mo ago
[flagged]

jay_kyburz 5mo ago

Kobo is all that but without Amazon.

kstrauser 5mo ago
Seconded. I bought a Libra 2 a few years ago and loved it so much that I’ve gifted a couple more. There’s nothing about it I’d want to change.
- Lanrei 5mo ago
  I'd change mine so that the portrait and landscape button layout were separately configurable.
  - kstrauser 5mo ago
    Huh. OK, fair point. I have my portrait buttons swapped because my thumb naturally rests next to the top button. I don't use in landscape enough to be an issue. BTW, slapping a pop socket on the back so I can comfortably read with one hand was a game changer.
stock_toaster 5mo ago
Unfortunately a lot of fiction (sci-fi/fantasy) ebooks are effectively kindle exclusive these days (amazon publisher deals exclusivity), due to the near monopoly amazon has… and since they have locked things down even harder lately, it is much more difficult to export purchases to other readers.
ornornor 5mo ago
Switched to kobo years ago, will never buy a kindle again. Also, koreader!
- BeetleB 5mo ago
  koreader works on Kindles.
  - GlitchRider47 5mo ago
    Only if jailbroken
rypskar 5mo ago
I did consider a Kobo, but the terrible website did turn me away. When trying to browse it was wait for button on tracking consent to be active so I could click reject. Then change language to what I'm fluent in instead of getting language based on IP, reject tracking, reject changing region back to IP based and the same two reject for every link clicked. Half the times pages was still shown in language based on my location instead of what I have set or what my user agent tell I want. When a site ask about allowing tracking for every page shown I assume the company care more about selling PII than getting customers, so not a company I want to use
- MrDOS 5mo ago
  This argument would hold a lot more water if the alternative you're siding with weren't Amazon.
  - rypskar 5mo ago
    How did you get siding with Amazon from giving up on the Kobo website? There are more than two options, re-reading some of the dead-tree variants I have would keep me occupied for years. Hopefully a new alternative would come out before I run out of space for books

mrec 5mo ago

I was about to complain that my Paperwhite only lasts a couple of days between charges (it shuts down when battery drops to ~50%) but then realized that I've had it 7-8 years. No Indian heat here though, I'm in the UK.

brycethornton 5mo ago
Try keeping it on airplane mode if you don't already. It definitely improves the length of a charge.
- mrec 5mo ago
  Already do. I hate to think what it would be like now otherwise.
strooper 5mo ago
I replaced the battery after using the kindle Paperwhite for 7+ years. And now its battery life is as good as the new one's.
- mrec 5mo ago
  Ooh, I honestly hadn't considered that; thanks for the tip. The waterproof seal around the screen has degraded too, but I very rarely read in the rain these days.
  - stavros 5mo ago
    [dead]

j45 5mo ago

There are other similarly priced and equally capable e-readers.

NetMageSCW 5mo ago
They aren’t similarly capable unless they have access to the same books.

Insanity 5mo ago

There is a Kindle Color<something>. Haven’t used that yet either.

liveoneggs 5mo ago
I just replaced my old kindle with a colorsoft. It was annoyingly white until I figured out how to get that old school kindle yellow/newspaper/paperback look going again. The newer battery is nice and usb-c is a big upgrade instead of finding my last mini usb (or whatever it was). I think I'm down to just one last thing on that stupid cable (a camping lantern).

gibber878 5mo ago

[flagged]