Hi,
My Kindle won’t boot anymore and keeps getting stuck in boot screen, so I thought this might be a good time to get away from Amazon, even though that device was great.
So, what non-kindle readers would you recommend?
It should have color and background light and it shouldn’t be huge so I can keep it in the back pocket.
And, since I don’t have any experience outside the Amazon ecosystem: how is the experience of buying and transferring books to non Kindle readers?
Update: I did research based on your recommendations. Thanks for all the input, that was way more than I expected! I settled for the Kobo Clara Color since it seemed to almost perfectly match my needs and Kobo and the model itself got heavily recommended here and on the web.
The Kobo is great. Very moddable, you can set it up in sideload mode so you never even need to register for an account, just move files to it via USB.
I have a Kobo Libra 2 and can sync it wirelessly to my Calibre library. Love it!
How do you sync it wirelessly? The most common solution I found online for wireless book transfer was to use the web browser on the kobo and download books from the calibre content server
I use Calibre Web for this.
So you download the books from calibre-web using the browser on your own kobo?
No, I just “sync” my kobo to my home network with the Calibre Web instance running and it syncs the library automatically.
In order to do that you have to edit the Kobo device configs and replace the Kobo store address with the local address of your Calibre web server.
I would set it up like this. Everything you have in Calibre Web, or only on a shared shelf, will show up in your Kobo reader book section and is ready to download.
No plugins or extra software, it just works.
https://brandonjkessler.com/technology/2021/04/26/setup-kobo-sync-in-calibre-web.html
Huh, that’s neat
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enable calibres Server Funktionality
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connect to Server with plugin
I have an older kobo, the h20 Libra, some years old. I have my eye on a new version but I don’t replace things that aren’t broke. Let me tell you, that Libra will last me years to come still, amazing quality. I haven’t even mentioned the easy USB connect to add books, or the great Kobo store.
My next one will definitely be a Kobo as well.
I have a kobo from 2016 that still works alright. I kind of want to buy a newer model but it’s not broken yet so…
Terrible, such sturdiness. I’m starting to fear this will be my last e-reader ever… :)
I got a Boox about a year ago and am very happy with it. In addition to the built in reader, I have the Kindle, B&N, Kobo and Google Play books apps on it. I only buy epubs without DRM these days, and I’ve de-DRMed all my purchases from all these platforms and backed them up, but if there’s something I want to re-read, I find it’s easier to use the apps.
I could put other apps on it, since it’s essentially an Android device, but I keep it strictly for reading.
I have a boox for bigger screen reading and a Hisense touch for on the go. I like them both. Wish I could more easily tweak the boox, and wish I could more easily ditch all the vendor crapware off the Hisense, but they do their jobs well enough. Hisense gets bonus points for being a hi-fi device that can drive my IEMs.
Im running a Kobo Libra Colour before that an old model Kindle that crapped itself.
Lots to like
Things I don’t like
- No charging LED so you know when it’s fully charged
- My books are sidleloaded from Calibre and 70% of the time when i go to start reading a book that I’m part way through, it opens on a different page , often 20-40 pages away, so much confusion. Not sure if it also does this to books sourced from the Kobo bookstore, or its a Calibre thing
- Used to piss me off the power button being on the back, flip the cover over to read, it covers the power button. Put the Libra down, come back to it, the kobo cover covered the power switch, DOH! . They have since allowed a work around in the firmware where you can press the page turn button to restart reading, so it’s no longer really an issue.
Onyx Boox are the best imo. I am not sure exactlyabout which the latest model is, mine is a few years old.
Android, has a web browser, file transfer over network. Getting books is very easy and you can even put a library app on there, or any store that is on an app store. But also of course just download from the browser is fine. You should be able to strip drm from current purchases with calibre and then just use the network file transfer and get them on there, for example. There is support for any mayor format, epub, mobi, pdf, cbz…
Battery lasts very long time. Has backlight. Newer models have color but I have not tried those myself.
The reader is awesome and has built in dictionary and translation for individual words. Some basic reading tracking statistics as well. You can of course install any other reader you want from app store or apk.
I don’t agree with this. Boox devices are notorious for not getting updates. As they are running on Android, security updates are crucial. But they keep churning out so many devices per year that they usually don’t bother to keep existing ones up to date.
In general, I wouldn’t recommend an Android device for reading books. They are usually heavier than regular readers like Kobos for example. They also have atrocious battery life. Compared to a regular tablet it might be fine but compared to a dedicated ereader it’s usually crap.
Their UI is also not as intuitive and needs some getting used to. But I guess that’s subjective.
I think for only reading there is no need to get a full fledged Android device.
Lastly, there is also the fact that it’s a Chinese company. People can make of that what they want. Kobo is Canadian, although the parent company, Rakuten, is Japanese.
You’d figure not providing the source code of GPL licensed applications they use should free up plenty of time to make updates.
Battery for a week is pretty good to me. The UI is fine, but as you say that is personal preference. I agree that it is worth mentioning that it is chinese. It is not heavy at all, it is very light.
Android is useful if you don’t want to be tied to a specific store, for being able to read documentation and articles as well as easily getting new books. It is not meant to be used for web browsing or any serious app use, but I disagree that having Android is pointless, as it allows for alternate readers (like Mihon) and getting books from the web.
True, having Android on it definitely has advantages. You can read RSS feeds easier, use established note taking tools etc. But it comes with its own set of downsides. It’s definitely not pointless!
Regarding battery, sure a week is nice when compared to an iPad or Android tablet. But a dedicated reader running for a month is hard to beat :)
I just looked up the weight of the Boox Note Airs C and it’s actually lighter than I remembered. 410g compared to Elipsa 2E at 390g. That’s pretty nice.
A month sounds nice lol.
I think it comes down to use case a lot. I use it (aside for regular reading) for PDFs from school, I can’t risk not having fast transfer of anything they send me or having to use USB to transfer would be tedious. I could use a tablet, but I like reading with a normal lamp and never use backlight. Enough screen time already really.
Also for anyone reading manga having an app means new releases quick!
If you are looking at the onyx boox leaf range, I think a new one is being announced in the next week or so… May be worth holding out if you can.
Lenovo m9 with readera app and a pirate library
This but a 7" tablet. And man, if I could find a current one that ran an older version of android that didn’t have a screen lock enforced, I’d buy 10 of them. I hate waking up in the middle of the night and having the full brightness of the lockscreen in my eyes until I can swipe and get my max-dimmed FBReader screen. Never had that problem on Android 4.X
My m9 and s20 respect my brightness settings on the lock screen. Have you gone through the settings to see if something is forcing your lock screen to stay full brightness?
I have used PocketBook touch lux 5 but the screen cracked twice. (User error but still, screen is a weak link)
KoReader made it so snapy I couldn’t believe it at first.
Now I have got kindle as I received it as a gift, so I jailbroke it and also installed KoReader on it.
i have a kobo libra 2 and it’s served me very well. I sail the high seas for most of my books and I haven’t had any issues at all loading content onto it, it’s always fast and responsive, and I cannot understate how nice having physical page turn buttons is. highly recommend if you can find one, though theyve been mostly discontinued to make room for the color model that came out recently (would not recommend the color version, color e-ink is very hit or miss right now and it’s not worth the screen quality trade-off).
You might possibly be interested in checking out the YouTube channel MyDeepGuide. Guy does in-depth reviews ofbmostly e-ink writing tablets, which perhaps is more functionality than you’re looking for, but some of those manufacturers also do standalone “just” readers. Or maybe you’ll be convinced to get a writing tablet :p
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I use a Kobo, sideloaded with KoReader. I use Calibre to manage my ebooks, which takes a bit of a learning curve, but is definitely worth learning!
Kobo for sure. Great devices.
You bought the kindle books, Amazon took away what you bought. Anna’s archive without any guilt - boom, your kindle books are now yours to read on any device of your choosing again.
You don’t need to fiddle with calibre or managing files. This website works great for transferring books to the kobo. https://send.djazz.se/
You’re welcome :)
